These policy initiatives were bad. So bad, in fact, that they either never came to fruition, or were abandoned over time.
5. Double-dipping
Allowing legislators to hold down two state jobs enabled the Alabama Education Association to set up an unprecedented system of cronyism throughout state government. The two-year college system was the primary vehicle for the scam in which lawmakers were given cushy state jobs to subsidize their legislative pay.
Some people called double-dipping the last bastion of political feudalism in Alabama. Most citizens simply called it corruption.
Republicans rode into power in 2010 on a wave of public backlash against such practices. The ban on double-dipping was one of the first things the GOP put in place once they took over the majority.
But old habits die hard.
After receiving complaints from Democratic Senators, legislation was introduced during the 2013 session that would have “grandfathered in” those who were double-dipping before the ban. That legislation was DOA.
The double-dipping ban has gone a long way in helping Alabama shed its reputation for maintaining one of the most ethically challenged state governments in the country.
4. Siegelman’s lottery
The “Education Lottery,” as it was billed, was sold as a program to provide scholarships to the state’s universities. In reality, the AEA saw a chance to rake more money into their coffers and balloon the size of the state’s budget.
They ran into a buzz saw from conservatives — particularly the Christian right.
Siegelman may have made a strategic error when he decided to put the initiative up for a statewide vote during the fall of 1999, an off-year for elections. Opponents turned out en masse and defeated the amendment 55% – 45%.
Could the initiative have passed if they waited until the 2000 elections to put it on the ballot? Possibly. But the conservative base was motivated that year to turn out for Bush to beat Gore, so the defeat could have potentially been even worse.
3. Terry Dunn’s enviro invasion
Few Alabama policy initiatives have been so misguided as Public Service Commissioner Terry Dunn’s environmentalist push. Dunn’s Chief of Staff, a long time friend to Alabama’s budding environmentalist movement, successfully convinced Dunn to go all-in with the global warming crowd in 2012.
It has backfired in a major way.
Dunn failed to help environmental groups advocate for closed-door legal proceedings to go after Alabama’s utilities. Then, the open process his Commission colleagues opted for resulted in a major rate decrease for Mobile Gas customers, debunking Dunn’s publicly stated rationale for holding closed hearings in the first place.
Closed legal proceedings were used in Georgia, resulting in environmentalists successfully shutting down 15 coal-fired plants. Dunn has been unsuccessful in gaining those same groups a seat at the table in Alabama.
Dunn may have cloaked his environmental advocacy in consumer friendly rhetoric, but no one stands to lose more from his policy initiatives than Alabama consumers whose bills would skyrocket if the enviros got their way.
However, unlike the rest of the “worst failed policy initiatives” on this list, this fight isn’t completely over.
2. DROP
Alabama’s two top teachers’ union bosses were given millions of dollars in taxpayer money upon their retirement.
Wait, what?
The AEA, the State Employees Union and the Retirement Systems of Alabama (RSA) suggested Alabama could save money by adopting a Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) for state workers. The program allowed state and education employees who are 55 years old and have 25 years of service to receive their salary and retirement benefits, while continuing to work. The stated goal of the program was to retain more top flight state employees as they neared retirement. But in the end, it was abused and turned into little more than a mechanism for corruption and cronyism… Oh, and it cost the state a fortune.
According to the Alabama Policy Institute, DROP was “in essence, a way to turn highly-paid, long-term state and education employees into millionaires prior to their retirement.”
AEA bosses Paul Hubbert and Joe Reed, who weren’t even state employees, road off into the sunset with $1.3 million and $1.4 million in taxpayer money before the DROP program was dismantled by Republicans in 2011. That’s an impressive feet, even for Alabama’s two most successful public leeches.
1. Riley’s Amendment 1
Upon taking office, Governor Riley was confronted with massive looming deficits leftover from the Siegelman Administration. Rather than making significant budget cuts, Riley offered a $1.3 billion tax increase on everything from oil changes to land and personal property.
Conservatives, led by an anti-tax coalition consisting of ALFA, the Forestry Association and Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform, among others, went nuclear.
The ballot initiative went down in flames by a wide margin — 68% – 32%.
Three years after proposing the biggest tax increase in Alabama history, Governor Riley ran on a platform of tax cuts for small businesses and won re-election by a wide margin in an impressive feet of political resiliency.
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.