Beason's Second Act: Alabama's conservative firebrand is out of office, still in the debate

Scott Beason discusses his plans for life after the Alabama senate in the Yellowhammer News offices (Photo: Yellowhammer)

For the first time in a decade and a half, Scott Beason, the longtime state legislator from the north Birmingham suburb of Gardendale, isn’t serving in public office. First elected to the Alabama Legislature at the age of 29, Beason served two terms in the House and two more in the Senate. He also ran for U.S. Congress twice, including in 2014 when he decided to leave the State House for good.

During much of his time in the Legislature Beason was perhaps Alabama’s most well-known conservative lightning rod — something like Alabama’s state-level version of Ted Cruz. But unlike the Texas firebrand whose voice is often louder than his actual legislative influence, Beason was often successful in bending the Senate to his will on a wide range of conservative priorities, from immigration to guns.

But while Beason’s time as politician has come to an end — at least for now — his desire to stay engaged in the policy debate has not.

Yellowhammer caught up with Beason last week and found out that he’s wasting no time jumping back into the fray.

Yellowhammer News:

So now that you’re no longer in the Legislature, what’s next?

Scott Beason:

For a while I thought, ’16 years in Legislature was enough, just be done,’ but it’s one of those things where the passion that made me want to run in the first place is drawing me back in. There have to be people out there talking about the things that affect our future. If that’s burning in you, you can’t get rid of it.

I believe there are thousands of Alabamians out there who want to be involved, they just need someone to say ‘Here’s what’s going on, here’s what you need to do.’ So I’m going to start by traveling around the state and speaking to groups about going back to the basics — the fundamental issues of freedom.

Yellowhammer:

What issues will you be discussing on this “Alabama Freedom Tour”?

Beason:

There are three primary issues I’m going to be focusing on: gun rights, school choice and energy. It was tough to narrow it down to just three issues, but these are the three that I really think are the most important to the state of Alabama right now, and fundamental freedoms are at the core of each debate. We can’t lose these battles; they’re too important. We have to be vigilant.

Yellowhammer:

You were a champion of the Second Amendment while in the Legislature, what more do you feel like the state could do to strengthen its gun rights?

Beason:

I believe gun rights are a great litmus test. If your elected official is willing to compromise your Second Amendment rights, your other freedoms are probably already compromised.

The gun legislation that I passed, elected officials at so many levels have decided to just ignore it. They’re even telling citizens, ‘If you don’t like what we’re doing, sue us.’ It has really opened my eyes to some serious issues that a lot of people aren’t aware of because Alabama is typically thought of as such a pro-gun state.

For instance, you should not have to pay for a concealed weapon permit to have a pistol in your car. That was the last bill I had in the Legislature and they wouldn’t even allow it to come up for a vote. You should not have to pay to exercise your God-given, Constitutional right to defend yourself.

Yellowhammer:

It sounds like school choice is going to be a big issue during the 2015 legislative session. Why do you think this issue should be so important to conservatives?

Beason:

It’s all about freedom. My kids go to public schools. I’ve had my issues with the direction public education has taken at different times, as have my friends and family. But what can you do? You either send your children to the school you’re assigned, or you home school. It’s almost like school prison. The government says ‘You will go here no matter what the outcome, no matter the special needs of the child.’ I believe every parent — regardless of their economic status, where they live or what they look like — ought to have a say in where their children go to school and what kind of education they get. The only way you can do that is by creating education freedom through things like charter schools and tax credits. I firmly believe that is the conservative position.

We can fix some of the problems in the inner cities and poorer parts of the state, but it’s got to start by giving people quality schools for their children to attend. Investment will follow and people will start moving into those areas, but it starts with the schools.

School choice — namely charter schools — could probably be the most powerful urban revitalization tool the state could ever have and it wouldn’t cost us one more cent than we’re spending today. Alabamians are not satisfied with a one-size-fits-all education system.

Yellowhammer:

The third issue you mentioned is energy. How does energy freedom fit in to what you’ll be talking about on your speaking tour?

Beason:

Jobs started moving South as the liberal environmental policies in the northeast and rust belt started to take hold, and now that we’ve become the economic engine of the country, they’re relying on the EPA to stop us. The South is taking a beating because of the Obama Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency.

Their regulations are already affecting us. Coal plants have closed and energy prices are on the rise and it is a direct result of the policies of the EPA.

I don’t know many people who can afford to pay hundreds of dollars more each year on their power bill just because some bureaucrat is going to force it down our throats, but that’s exactly what is happening.

Again, the three issues I plan to focus on all go back to freedom. When it comes to energy, we should have the freedom to use our God-given resources to create affordable energy that powers our economy.