State Sen. Scofield on new State House saga: ‘Last week was not a good week,’ ‘Hopefully, it is a learning experience’

As it appears that Gov. Kay Ivey “intends” to work with the Alabama legislature to resolve an impasse regarding funding allocated by Congress through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act for COVID-19 relief efforts, disappointment in the governor is still widespread within the legislature.

Count State Sen. Clay Scofield (R-Guntersville) among those disheartened by a dispute that played out in public over $1.8 billion in CARES Act funding, including the release of a so-called “wish list” to a handful of choice members of capitol press corps that showed a line-item for $200 million for a new Alabama State House.

Scofield told Huntsville radio’s WVNN he notified Ivey of his disappointment and added he thought State Senate President Pro-Tem Del Marsh (R-Anniston) got a “raw deal” given it was Ivey’s office that had requested the list.

“[I] think that last week was not a good week,” Scofield said. “It was very rare. I haven’t seen that type of politics from across the street. Governor Ivey is a great personal friend. I think a lot of members, including myself, were very disappointed at the whole State House thing. I sent a message over expressing my disappointment in that.”

He added, “She clarified, I think it was on Saturday, that 99% of the legislature didn’t know it. Frankly, I think the pro-tem kind of got a raw deal on that. They asked for a list. That was dead-last on the list. It was only on there because we literally have a lot of problems with that building. A lot of those problems are accessibility to the public. You’ve been in there. Some of those committee rooms that the public should have access to are standing-room-only. There’s not much room at all. We actually enlarged one of the committee rooms.”

The Marshall County Republican lawmaker said despite the need for a State House, he disagreed with the idea of using CARES Act funding as a means of financing for a new structure. He also said it was his hope this incident would be a “learning experience for all involved.”

“Look, I’m not saying we need to spend the money on a new State House,” Scofield added. “I very much disagree with that, and I think pretty much the whole legislature does. But I just think that was a little dirty pool. I was disappointed to see, and I know a lot of my colleagues, too. But with that being said, hopefully, it is a learning experience for all involved. And we’ll pick up and begin to work with each other. We have enjoyed nothing but a stellar working relationship with the governor.”

“And I’m convinced we’re going to get back to that point, and we’re going to be very transparent how these dollars are spent through the budgeting process of the legislature working with the governor and the department heads to make sure that money is going to be spent for the recovery and with the benefit of all the people of Alabama,” he continued. “We all have thick skin, or we better get thick skin. We just have to say, ‘Hey, we don’t agree with it. I wish you would operate differently.’ Let’s do in the future, pick up and move on and continue to work for the great state of Alabama and the betterment of her people.”

@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.