7 Things: Ivey backs one-time tax rebates, redistricting lawsuit bores with outcome inevitable, and more …

7. Shutdown electronic bingo sites get national coverage 

• The Alabama Supreme Court may have recently dealt some of Alabama’s questionably-legal gambling outlets a death blow, opening the door to some form of gambling legislation. The national gambling news outlets are now taking note.
• Predictably, Play USA, Casino.org and World Casino Directory are less than thrilled about the state of play in Alabama. They accurately noted this is over and operators, “must stop offering electronic bingo games within 30 days of the injunctions” and hype the argument that the games, “provide jobs and revenue for the area” but it is important to note the same could be said for bookies and pimps.

6. Birmingham’s mayor applauds gas prices around $3 a gallon

• Instead of focusing on a murder rate far higher than the rest of the state, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin is hyping gas prices that are still a full dollar-plus higher than when President Joe Biden took office.
• Woodfin, the try-hard mayor, tweeted, “Saw gas under $3 this morning on the west side of Birmingham. That’s big. [prayer hands emoji]” but the average price for a gallon of gasoline in Alabama is still $3.189 when he sent the tweet and up almost 40 cents in the last year.

5. Inmate work stoppage appears to be falling apart

• As Gov. Kay Ivey gives striking prisoners the stiff-arm, most prisoners seem to be returning to work. WSFA’s Erin Davis tweeted out a statement from the Alabama Department of corrections noting that 5 of 15 Alabama prisons are still seeing a total work stoppage.
• While this is seemingly far from over, inmates are now alleging retaliatory efforts by leaders to break the “strike.” A corrections officer in Limestone County says the gap between food service in the prison is being elongated intentionally with 14 to 15 hours between meals. Prison sounds terrible.

4. Katie Britt called 2nd most anti-illegal immigration candidate

• In political campaigns there is paid media and earned media, earned media is media you get for free that really helps your campaign. Republican U.S. Senate candidate Katie Britt is being called the 2nd most anti-immigration candidate in 2022 and it probably makes her campaign pretty happy.
• Reading like the campaign staff wrote it but it was meant as an insult, “‘A staunch supporter of ‘securing America’s borders,’ Katie Britt wants to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, bring back Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy, and supports increasing military spending and Border Patrol funding. She blames immigration for the spike in ‘deadly drugs, violence crime and human trafficking’ in Alabama and for fueling the nation’s opioid and fentanyl crisis”.

3. Tuberville voting “no”  on continuing resolution

• U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) has explained his no vote on another stop-gap funding mechanism saying that the bill is too large and “inflation is out of control.”
• While speaking to WABC’s Larry Kudlow, Tuberville said, “I didn’t go and run for this job to run our country into the ground and people in Alabama want us to quit spending … this CR is just the standard for us to just continue to spend at the current levels that our government and Congress has passed.”

2. Alabama congressional districts will be in court

• While redistricting lawsuits are a regular occurrence in the state of Alabama, never before has the position of the folks arguing they are unfair been weaker.
• The plaintiffs claim that the state’s population that is nearly 25% black should lead to at least two districts drawn for black voters, but the state’s lawmakers were told not to use race as a guide with Attorney General Steve Marshall telling the AP, “The VRA is meant to prohibit racial gerrymanders, not require them.” The Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that political gerrymandering is permissible AND state legislators have control of the redistricting process.

1. Ivey supports taxpayer relief

• There will likely be no massive changes to the Alabama tax code after Gov. Kay Ivey threw her weight behind the idea that Alabama taxpayers deserve a one-time rebate.
• The governor issued a statement declaring, “Last week, we closed out the fiscal year, and I am proud to report to the people of Alabama that thanks to the conservative management of our budgets for the past several years, Alabama’s financial footing is very strong.” Because of this, Ivey says she “will work closely with the Legislature to provide relief directly to the people of Alabama” even while blaming reckless D.C. spending for the surplus and noting that pain is coming.