BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — During an appearance on WAPI’s “Matt Murphy Show” on Thursday, Yellowhammer CEO Cliff Sims said that voters have given the Alabama Legislature a rare opportunity to make their state a model of conservative governance, and believes Republicans must capitalize on the opportunity by delivering in a big way.
“The people gave a serious mandate to Republicans in this state, and I think it’s really a unique moment in the history of Alabama because Alabamians just gave their trust to this group of Republicans in a really big way, and now they’ve got to deliver,” he said. “They’ve got enough conservatives in the Legislature to do whatever they want, and an opportunity to make the state of Alabama a real test case in conservative governance… We’re going to really find out what are the priorities of the Republican Party in the state of Alabama this quadrennium.”
Murphy said it was clear to him that the electorate was happy with the job Republicans had done since taking over the Legislature in 2010 and believed they would continue to do a good job. He also credited voters with “seeing through” the onslaught of attack ads being run by the Alabama Education Association (AEA) and other liberal groups and candidates.
“(Number one), I think (Republicans’ success on Tuesday was) a bi-product of the voters feeling comfortable with conservatives,” he said, “and two, the voters are simply smarter than a lot of these organizations give them credit for.”
Sims agreed, and also noted that many Democrats and political pundits had mocked Republicans for constantly criticizing President Obama in their ads, in spite of the fact that the president himself had said his policies were “on the ballot” around the country, even if he wasn’t.
“You saw throughout this election that there were a lot of folks, especially the armchair quarterbacks… who were making fun of Republican candidates for including Obama in their messaging, (saying) ‘You can’t do anything about Obama.’ Well, it really came down to ideology. This was an ideology-driven (election) where people all across this state — and, frankly, people all across the country — said ‘whatever that guy is for, I’m not for that. This is not moving the country forward, I am against that.’ And they were looking for (candidates) who were saying ‘I’m against that, too, and I want to move our state in a direction that is diametrically opposed to what (President Obama) is doing to our country on the national level.’ People responded to that.”
Do you think Republicans will deliver and continue to push toward making Alabama a model of conservative governance? What issues do you want them to make a priority? Let us know in the comment section below.
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