INSIDE THE STATEHOUSE
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Posted by: Steve51
Date: Dec 13 2017 12:27 AM
By Steve Flowers
The legendary Speaker of the U.S. House, Sam Rayburn, coined a famous phrase he used often and imparted to young congressmen when they would arrive on Capitol Hill full of vim and vigor. He would sit down with them and invite them to have a bourbon and branch water with him. The old gentleman, who had spent nearly half a century in the Congress, INSIDE THE STATEHOUSE
after hearing their ambitions of how they were going to change the world, would look them in the eye and say, “You know here in Congress there are 435 prima donnas and they all can’t be lead horses.” Then the Speaker in his
Mr. Sam Rayburn ruled as Speaker during the Franklin Delano Roosevelt post-Depression and World War II era. The Democrats dominated Congress. Mr. Sam could count on the big city Congressmen from Tammany Hall in
One of Mr. Sam Rayburn’s young pupils was a freshly minted congressman from
Speaker Rayburn saw a lot of promise in freshman congressman Jones. The ole Texan invited Jones to visit his Board of Education meeting early in his first year. He calmly advised Jones to sit on the right side of the House chamber in what Mr. Sam called his pews. He admonished the young congressman to sit quietly for at least four years and not say a word or make a speech and to always vote with the Speaker. In other words if you go along you will get along.
Bob Jones followed the sage advice of Speaker Rayburn and he got along very well. Congressman Bob Jones served close to 30 years in the Congress from Scottsboro and the
At the time of Bob Jones’ arrival in Congress in 1946 we had nine congressional seats. By the time, he left in the 1960’s we had dropped to eight. We now have seven. Folks, I hate to inform you of this but population growth estimates reveal that we are going to lose a seat after the next census in 2020.
Our current seven-person delegation consists of six Republicans and one Democrat. This sole Democratic seat is reserved for an African American. The Justice Department and Courts will not allow you to abolish that seat. Reapportionment will dictate that you begin with that premise.
The growth and geographic location of the Mobile/Baldwin district of Bradley Byrne cannot be altered, nor can the urban
However, Roby may exit before she is carved out. She made a colossal blunder in 2016 by denouncing and publicly stating that she was not going to vote her party’s GOP nominee, Donald Trump. The fallout was devastating. She has become a pariah in her southeast
She may survive 2018, because any serious challenger who has their own money to buy the seat may be wise enough to realize that District will not be here in four more years. It will be over in
See you next week.
Steve Flowers is
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