MONTGOMERY — A shouting match broke out on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives on Wednesday night after State Rep. Arnold Mooney (R-Indian Springs) surprised the chamber by introducing a request to “formally censure and condemn” State Rep. John Rogers (D-Birmingham) for his comments that went viral in recent weeks regarding abortion.
Mooney’s action came immediately after Rogers killed two non-controversial bills on a consent calendar and threatened to continue that trend until midnight. Rogers did this seemingly as a measure of spite, attempting to get revenge because a bill of his has not been moved by the House.
Mooney rose to the podium, saying he wanted to object to Rogers’ bill-killing rampage.
However, Mooney then really kicked things up a notch by introducing his formal complaint against Rogers.
That complaint as follows:
Before Mooney could read much of the complaint, shouting ensued by members of the House Democratic Caucus.
Speaker of the House Mac McCutcheon (R-Monrovia) called the spectacle inappropriate, and House Majority Leader Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) quickly moved to adjourn as the chaos continued.
The House did immediately adjourn for the night, prematurely ending their legislative day without accomplishing any of its consent calendar, which had some 40 bills on the agenda.
The future fate of Mooney’s request was not immediately clear.
Mooney calling on Rogers to apologize publicly for all of it. Rogers has previously apologized for saying “retarded” (even though he’s done it again since on the floor) but doubled down on everything else.
— Sean Ross (@sean_yhn) May 23, 2019
The complaint from Mooney states that Rogers’ “vile remarks” served to “denigrate, embarrass and demean the institution that is the Alabama House of Representatives.” Mooney said the comments brought “national shame and ridicule upon the House.”
This came the same day that Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) ducked a question again from a Republican tracker regarding Rogers.
Mooney is a Republican candidate for Jones’ seat in the 2020 race, along with Congressman Bradley Byrne (AL-01) and former Auburn University head football coach Tommy Tuberville thus far.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
