Remember the old days?
Governor Kay Ivey announced a massive plan to build at least two prisons. Republicans, Democrats, journalists, commentators, activists and even ex-felons criticized the plan.
Someone would surely launch a plan to stop this, right?
“Let people out of jail.” “Have the legislature do something because it is corrupt.” “Do something different!”
What? Who knows, because none of them offered anything up.
The legislators have proposed nothing that would stop Governor Ivey and not a single plan of their own.
Journalists and commentators have failed to expose the corruption, even though they implied it was clear and obvious.
But fear not, because State Auditor Jim Zeigler is on the case, and he already has one big win under his belt. He was a key part of killing the Mobile River Bridge and Bayway toll project (although I still credit Yellowhammer News’ Jeff Poor for exposing that issue to the masses).
The plucky state auditor appeared on WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show” to explain that he was ready to take the governor’s plan down.
His plan? Say Ivey’s decision is illegal.
How? Well, that is a bit more complicated.
Zeigler insists that he has a team of lawyers working pro bono to discover the illegal, unconstitutional and just plain wrong items that will allow this plan to be canceled.
He just doesn’t know what the angle is yet, but he believes there is one. He is sure of it.
That’s right. The state auditor is posting screeds on Facebook about Governor Kay Ivey. He is also engaging directly with people who say that the governor might be receiving kickbacks, deserves investigation, needs to be impeached and maybe even be looking at jail time.
When pressed on what exactly was corrupt, illegal or unconstitutional, Zeigler didn’t have a clear answer.
His people are looking into it.
This is tacky and beneath an elected official, as is Zeigler boosting the message that someone who gave him a tough interview should be fired but he did that, too.
Zeigler should apologize.
He is not alone. Alabama’s political media has also made multiple allegations without evidence or concern for the truth. I would argue that is beneath them as well, but I cannot tell a lie.
It’s OK to hate this plan. It’s OK to oppose it. But denigrating the governor of the state for no reason is unhelpful and a credibility killer.
If there are real issues, let’s discuss them.
Let’s not vaguely allege criminal activity against people we disagree with.
Listen:
Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 AM weekdays on WVNN and on Talk 99.5 from 10AM to noon.
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