HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Gov. Robert Bentley on Thursday took his first trip to the Huntsville area since he put roughly $100 million in local road projects on hold as retaliation for a north Alabama senator not supporting his tax hike. In remarks to local business and political leaders, the governor reiterated that taxpayers whose representatives do not support his $541 tax increase proposal should not expect him to fund road projects in their communities.
“We need to encourage our legislators to help us solve the real problems in the state,” Bentley said. “You know, I don’t want to embarrass any of our legislators by bringing tax dollars into their district when they really don’t like taxes.”
When asked by a Huntsville City Councilman what he should tell his constituents, Bentley said “you tell them to encourage their legislators to do what I want to get done and we’ll do it.”
The controversy began a month ago when Yellowhammer broke the news that Bentley Administration officials decided multiple major road projects totaling roughly $100 million would be shut down in north Alabama because Sen. Bill Holtzclaw (R-Madison) took out a billboard opposing the governor’s tax proposal.
“They were put on hold because of the billboard Senator Holtzclaw put up,” ALDOT Director John Cooper told Yellowhammer. “The governor is aware that I did it.”
Yellowhammer later asked Cooper if playing politics with infrastructure funding sets a dangerous precedent, when projects are presumed to be funded on the basis of need.
“It’s not something we’ve made a habit of doing, but in this case we felt like the billboard was simply a step too far,” Cooper replied. “If Sen. Holtzclaw feels that strongly about taxes, we felt certain he would not like a lot of tax money being spent in his District.”
The Bentley Administration’s decision to place the road projects on hold appears to have initially been follow though on a threat the governor made to members of the legislature during a closed door meeting prior to the legislative session. According to numerous sources who were in the meeting, Bentley told lawmakers he would take infrastructure and community development funding away from the District of any legislator who does not back his tax increase.
He has since then made it his political weapon of choice.
Past governors have undoubtedly used road and bridge projects to coax legislators into supporting their proposals. However, that tactic was typically employed one-on-one in a proverbial “smoke-filled back room” and did not play out in public, the obvious concern being that local residents feel victimized because of a disagreement between politicians.
But at this point it appears that Gov. Bentley is unapologetic in his belief that local taxpayers should be punished with inadequate infrastructure if their representatives don’t agree to raise taxes on them.
(h/t AL.com)
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