Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
John Mountain for JT. And we turn our attention now
to what's going on in our state, and we're joined
by former Representative Paul DeMarco, and Paul, I understand that
the governor is already working on her priorities for twenty
twenty six.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
That's correct. This will be Governor Ivy's last State of
the state and last session after her term of office.
She's going to be the longest serving consecutive governor for
the state of Alabama. Obviously George Wallace served more terms,
but the governor, I bey serve consecutives. So this will
(00:37):
be her last year. So we'll be watching what all
will be on her priorities as she kind of cements
her legacy and her last term.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Paul is the governor of Alabama. Are they term limited
like the presidency where you have two I believe the
President of the United States it's you have two full
terms and then like half of a term. So like
if you took over for somebody else, like say Johnson
did when he took over for Kennedy, he could have
served a second term after elected to another term after
his first, but he chose not to run a second time.
But k Ivy. She took over after a Bentley stepped down,
(01:10):
so she had two years there, I think, and then
and then she was liked at two more times.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Right, right, She took over after Robert Bentley, Governor Bentley resigned,
and then she's been elected herself for two full terms.
So yeah, she's had she's been in office, and if
you think about what she's been in office, you know,
we've been through the pandemic, a lot of good economic
(01:35):
term uh news in the state as well as bad.
So it's been an interesting uh I guess ten years
plus for for Governor Ivy, uh serving through all those years.
So but this will be it. Actually, if you if
you look at it next year, there's gonna be a
sea change at the top. Both not only Governor Ivy,
but Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth and Attorney General Steve Marshall
(01:58):
are term limited. And then you've got Senator Tuberville leaving
the Senate. So really in twenty twenty seven, it's gonna
be a real turnover when it comes to the state's
top leadership. John Well, at.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Least, you know, we've always got a We've at least
got one senator who's still staying around with US Paul
to talk about legacy. Is there ever a talk about
the governor's late We think about the presidential legacy, but
with the governor, what do you think k Ivy's legacy
would be?
Speaker 2 (02:28):
You know, I think we've got to have to really
think about that and kind of look back. You know.
I guess she was the governor during the pandemic, so
a lot of folks will talk about that, you know,
some good and some bad. You know, Now we have
had a strong economy, and I think the governor can
rightly talk about you know, we've had record low unemployment,
(02:50):
We've had record budgets. There's been a lot of companies
that have come to the state, and so I know
she'll be able to talk about it from that perspective.
You know. Now there'll be others that talk about other
aspects of the governor's term that they're not as leads with,
but I think the governor will be able to look
(03:12):
back and talk about economic development. It's been very successful
since she's been governored.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I always feel like with her that a lot of
the economic success that she had was really on the
back of Donald Trump's success because he was the country
was doing well because of Donald Trump, and Alabama was
doing well because we're part of the country. And so
I wonder how much that success you can actually put
on her, because I'm trying to think of like a
(03:38):
specific policy that she had that really stewarded us towards
economic success versus basically she just kind of got out
of the way and let the economy do what it does.
And while Donald Trump was in there with policies that
were very friendly towards government grow I mean private sector growth,
and I wonder if that is really what she kind
of benefited from.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Well, think that the state of Alabama as a whole
has been very pro business, has been ranked as one
of the top ten states to do business when it
comes to you know, less regulation, better training for employees.
So I think it's it's a combination of a also
just don't get in the way that success we've had,
(04:19):
so she has been supportive of those as well. So
that's I said this, We're going to be looking back,
you know, over the next year at her ten years
in office and looking at, you know, what was successful.
It might not have been successful, but definitely we'll be
looking at the next year to see what she does
to kind of cement that legacy.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
And you know, we to look forward past Governor Ivy's term.
I know we can't officially, we don't have a crystal ball,
but it looks right now it's very likely we're going
to see a Governor Tubberville. And if he does go
and move into office, has he really given any idea
as to some of the things that he wants to
champion as the governor of the state.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I think if you want to see how Senator Tuberville
is going to be his governor Tuberville, I think you
really look at what is going on in Florida's Brown
to Santus with, you know, really changing the way that
state operates when it comes to less fewer taxes, less regulation,
(05:19):
really cutting state government, stronger criminal justice system. I think
that's what he's been talking about. I think you'll see
more of that. He's gonna bring down kind of what
you've seen in the current administration down to the state level.
I think I think you'll see more of that from
Senator Tuberville when he's governor.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
And he also has a lot on his plate in
terms of the prison system in Alabama because that's one
of the areas. I feel like we've really been lacking
in lacking in in leadership from the governor's office. Do
you see that Senator Turberville would I guess Governor Turberville
would be making some moves to kind of fix up
the way sentencing and the way the prince the prison
system works in the state.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Let me tell you that that has been an issue
that goes back to Fob James and Governor Fob James
and before I mean we've been home about this forty years,
that the chronic issues with our prisons and right now
they were supposed to build two prisons, four thousand bad
prisons for a billion and now it's going to be
two billion. So that is going to be one of
those issues that Governor Tuberville's going to have to deal
(06:17):
with and get straight because we've got federal litigation with
our prison system, but you got to have the prisons
because eighty percent of those in prison have been convicted
of violent felonies. So that's going to be one of
the harder issues he's going to have to deal with.
What it's got to be dealt with.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
And I know there's a lot of people who very
much because we see situations like what happened with n
I have Blanchard and I as law that sort of thing.
We definitely have a problem in our state with crime,
and the solution isn't while we have overcrowding in our
prisons just let them all go. We need to get
more people. Unfortunately, once they go, get behind bars, keep
them behind bars, make them serve their full sentence or
(06:55):
at least a lot more of their sentence than what
we've been seeing before where we've let them out after
you know, eighteen months or whatever.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Well, I'm hoping Governor Tuberville will champion what we dearly
need Alabama, which is truth and sentencing, which is closer
to a federal sentencing where the victims know what they're
going to actually these criminals are going to see when
it comes to their sentences, and we don't have that
right now, and we need that, and that's we need
(07:22):
to make sure that we put crime victims first when
it comes to the criminal justice system, and we're not
doing that right now.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
I agree with you, Paul DeMarco, form a Representative, Thank
you so much for joining us this morning on Alabama's
Morning News.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Thank you, John
John Mountain for JT. And we turn our attention now
to what's going on in our state, and we're joined
by former Representative Paul DeMarco, and Paul, I understand that
the governor is already working on her priorities for twenty
twenty six.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
That's correct. This will be Governor Ivy's last State of
the state and last session after her term of office.
She's going to be the longest serving consecutive governor for
the state of Alabama. Obviously George Wallace served more terms,
but the governor, I bey serve consecutives. So this will
(00:37):
be her last year. So we'll be watching what all
will be on her priorities as she kind of cements
her legacy and her last term.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Paul is the governor of Alabama. Are they term limited
like the presidency where you have two I believe the
President of the United States it's you have two full
terms and then like half of a term. So like
if you took over for somebody else, like say Johnson
did when he took over for Kennedy, he could have
served a second term after elected to another term after
his first, but he chose not to run a second time.
But k Ivy. She took over after a Bentley stepped down,
(01:10):
so she had two years there, I think, and then
and then she was liked at two more times.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Right, right, She took over after Robert Bentley, Governor Bentley resigned,
and then she's been elected herself for two full terms.
So yeah, she's had she's been in office, and if
you think about what she's been in office, you know,
we've been through the pandemic, a lot of good economic
(01:35):
term uh news in the state as well as bad.
So it's been an interesting uh I guess ten years
plus for for Governor Ivy, uh serving through all those years.
So but this will be it. Actually, if you if
you look at it next year, there's gonna be a
sea change at the top. Both not only Governor Ivy,
but Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth and Attorney General Steve Marshall
(01:58):
are term limited. And then you've got Senator Tuberville leaving
the Senate. So really in twenty twenty seven, it's gonna
be a real turnover when it comes to the state's
top leadership. John Well, at.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Least, you know, we've always got a We've at least
got one senator who's still staying around with US Paul
to talk about legacy. Is there ever a talk about
the governor's late We think about the presidential legacy, but
with the governor, what do you think k Ivy's legacy
would be?
Speaker 2 (02:28):
You know, I think we've got to have to really
think about that and kind of look back. You know.
I guess she was the governor during the pandemic, so
a lot of folks will talk about that, you know,
some good and some bad. You know, Now we have
had a strong economy, and I think the governor can
rightly talk about you know, we've had record low unemployment,
(02:50):
We've had record budgets. There's been a lot of companies
that have come to the state, and so I know
she'll be able to talk about it from that perspective.
You know. Now there'll be others that talk about other
aspects of the governor's term that they're not as leads with,
but I think the governor will be able to look
(03:12):
back and talk about economic development. It's been very successful
since she's been governored.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I always feel like with her that a lot of
the economic success that she had was really on the
back of Donald Trump's success because he was the country
was doing well because of Donald Trump, and Alabama was
doing well because we're part of the country. And so
I wonder how much that success you can actually put
on her, because I'm trying to think of like a
(03:38):
specific policy that she had that really stewarded us towards
economic success versus basically she just kind of got out
of the way and let the economy do what it does.
And while Donald Trump was in there with policies that
were very friendly towards government grow I mean private sector growth,
and I wonder if that is really what she kind
of benefited from.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Well, think that the state of Alabama as a whole
has been very pro business, has been ranked as one
of the top ten states to do business when it
comes to you know, less regulation, better training for employees.
So I think it's it's a combination of a also
just don't get in the way that success we've had,
(04:19):
so she has been supportive of those as well. So
that's I said this, We're going to be looking back,
you know, over the next year at her ten years
in office and looking at, you know, what was successful.
It might not have been successful, but definitely we'll be
looking at the next year to see what she does
to kind of cement that legacy.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
And you know, we to look forward past Governor Ivy's term.
I know we can't officially, we don't have a crystal ball,
but it looks right now it's very likely we're going
to see a Governor Tubberville. And if he does go
and move into office, has he really given any idea
as to some of the things that he wants to
champion as the governor of the state.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I think if you want to see how Senator Tuberville
is going to be his governor Tuberville, I think you
really look at what is going on in Florida's Brown
to Santus with, you know, really changing the way that
state operates when it comes to less fewer taxes, less regulation,
(05:19):
really cutting state government, stronger criminal justice system. I think
that's what he's been talking about. I think you'll see
more of that. He's gonna bring down kind of what
you've seen in the current administration down to the state level.
I think I think you'll see more of that from
Senator Tuberville when he's governor.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
And he also has a lot on his plate in
terms of the prison system in Alabama because that's one
of the areas. I feel like we've really been lacking
in lacking in in leadership from the governor's office. Do
you see that Senator Turberville would I guess Governor Turberville
would be making some moves to kind of fix up
the way sentencing and the way the prince the prison
system works in the state.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Let me tell you that that has been an issue
that goes back to Fob James and Governor Fob James
and before I mean we've been home about this forty years,
that the chronic issues with our prisons and right now
they were supposed to build two prisons, four thousand bad
prisons for a billion and now it's going to be
two billion. So that is going to be one of
those issues that Governor Tuberville's going to have to deal
(06:17):
with and get straight because we've got federal litigation with
our prison system, but you got to have the prisons
because eighty percent of those in prison have been convicted
of violent felonies. So that's going to be one of
the harder issues he's going to have to deal with.
What it's got to be dealt with.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
And I know there's a lot of people who very
much because we see situations like what happened with n
I have Blanchard and I as law that sort of thing.
We definitely have a problem in our state with crime,
and the solution isn't while we have overcrowding in our
prisons just let them all go. We need to get
more people. Unfortunately, once they go, get behind bars, keep
them behind bars, make them serve their full sentence or
(06:55):
at least a lot more of their sentence than what
we've been seeing before where we've let them out after
you know, eighteen months or whatever.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Well, I'm hoping Governor Tuberville will champion what we dearly
need Alabama, which is truth and sentencing, which is closer
to a federal sentencing where the victims know what they're
going to actually these criminals are going to see when
it comes to their sentences, and we don't have that
right now, and we need that, and that's we need
(07:22):
to make sure that we put crime victims first when
it comes to the criminal justice system, and we're not
doing that right now.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
I agree with you, Paul DeMarco, form a Representative, Thank
you so much for joining us this morning on Alabama's
Morning News.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Thank you, John
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