Editorials

Alabama has had more disappointments, demagogues and downright incompetents occupying the governor’s mansion than any state ought to endure. Too frequently Alabama governors, despite their lofty campaign promises, have let down Yellowhammer State residents.

Yet in an unlikely turn of events the current governor is reversing our awful losing streak. Before winning the 2002 race by a razor-thin margin, Bob Riley was a Republican congressman from Clay County who aligned himself with Gingrichism and Delayism as that sort of hardball partisanship began down the path that now leaves it gasping for breath. In his almost four years in Montgomery, Riley has proven himself to be with a few exceptions that rarest of Alabama political animals — an effective governor.

Because of his steady leadership and his well-crafted and forward-looking plan, Bob Riley deserves a second term as governor.

The governor has grown in the job. From his 2003 tax reform package that went down in flames, the governor has pragmatically moved on. Working with (and sometimes around) the Legislature and the Goat Hill special interests, Riley has done what he could to right Alabama’s horribly unjust tax code that punishes the poor and rewards the comfortable.

Should he secure a second term, we expect Riley to continue chipping away until the state is no longer bringing up the rear in tax fairness. More than that, we challenge him to keep his eye on fixing the state’s other embarrassing failings. A short list includes lifting our per-pupil spending out of the national cellar, securing our flimsy social safety net, reducing the infant mortality rate and, most importantly, giving Alabama a democracy makeover by reforming its state Constitution.

Riley’s Plan 2010 wisely sets curbs on future tax cuts in order to make sure the state doesn’t tax-cut its way back to the poorhouse. In short, Riley pledges to not follow through on tax cuts until the state’s essential services are funded. It’s precisely what a true fiscal conservative would offer.

He and his staff installed a budget plan that requires middle- and long-range planning for state offices. SMART budgeting, his administration’s name for the plan, has forced agency heads to look beyond the next four quarters and plan for the long term — a common practice in the business world.

He has thought outside the “lock ‘em up” box in dealing with the state’s crime problem, one in which perhaps as many as three out of four new inmates are caught up in the illegal narcotics trade. The governor understands that unless the state intervenes in treating the underlying addictions of inmates, we might as well put revolving doors on our penitentiaries.

As the nation learned following the awful 2005 hurricane season, state and local elections are also about putting level-headed leaders into office. Riley’s and his appointees’ record on emergency management in 2004’s Hurricane Ivan and 2005’s Katrina is admirable, though the fair-minded must concede the state has yet to be tested the way Louisiana and Mississippi have been.

While his record is strong — perhaps the best of any governor in 30 years — Riley has made mistakes. He failed to work as hard as he could have to sell Amendment 1. If anything, that setback has led to an unnecessary timidity on Riley’s part. He has at times failed to engage with the statehouse leadership, squandering precious time for legislation while Montgomery’s Big Mules pulled the strings of lawmakers.

Although his appointments have been generally quite competent, his replacement of Attorney General William Pryor, who left office to take a seat on the federal bench, with the unqualified Troy King stands out as a huge disappointment. This space challenges Riley to put more women and minorities in his Cabinet in a second term.

His Democratic opponent Lucy Baxley has served this state faithfully as a public servant and deserves thanks. The ham-fisted smears leveled at her by candidate Riley are (a.) patently unfair to a politician with a record of moderation and (b.) unbecoming of a sitting governor who has generally stayed above such ugliness while in office. Still, Baxley has not forcefully nor adequately put forth a comprehensive vision for Alabama’s future.

It appears, according to polls, that Riley will get a second term. The Editorial Board of The Anniston Star endorses both Gov. Riley and the prospect that his next four years will be even better than the promise shown in the first four.