State Sen. Orr: ‘I think you’ll see the AEA back in force in the 2022 election cycle’

For decades, the single most powerful entity in Alabama politics was the Alabama Education Association (AEA), which represents teachers’ interests across the state.

The organization rose to prominence in the early 1970s under its former head Paul Hubbert. However, the AEA’s influence waned after the 2010 elections, as Republicans took control of the Alabama Legislature for the first time since Reconstruction.

However, during an appearance on Huntsville radio WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show,” State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur), the chairman of the Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee, predicted that could soon be changing.

Host Dale Jackson asked Orr about the political threat to Republicans seeking to reopen schools amid the COVID-19 pandemic and cited pushback from entities such as the AEA. Orr noted that while the AEA’s influence was not what it used to be, the 2022 elections for state offices may signal a reemergence.

“I think the Republicans, including the President, God bless him, have been on their heels, backpedaling, having to, as you said, getting browbeat and beaten down by the media and the left until they acquiesce,” he said. “You did say one thing that I would take small issue with is that the AEA has been completely neutered. I would make maybe a bit bold prediction — it may be wrong, you sometimes are — but I think you’ll see the AEA back in force in the 2022 election cycle here in the state of Alabama in a big way.”

The Morgan County Republican lawmaker said the union’s ability to influence education policymakers in Montgomery did not necessarily signify the body’s real strength. However, he argued its presence would be different from what it was over the last 10 years.

“I don’t know if that’s where we’re headed, but I wouldn’t make whether schools open or not the litmus test as to the power and authority of the AEA just because their power used to come more from the legislature or even governors. The opening decisions are local school boards and locally appointed school board members. Of course, you do have a state school board, but it is a little bit different when it comes to reopening as far as the politics and the decisionmakers in that realm. But anyway, I think we’ll be seeing them more and more here than we have in the last decade.”

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly and host of Huntsville’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN.