Vote 2010: Alabama, better off red?

Robert Bentley, Dianne Bentley

Robert and Dianne Bentley on Election Day.

The mandate from Alabama’s voters on Election Day could not be more clear: Turn everything, and I mean everything, over to the Republicans for at least the next 2 years.

Let them screw things up for awhile.

The Democrats have screwed up plenty in the previous 136 years, and really, could the GOP do much worse? Alabama continues to trail in health, per capita income, transportation, education, crime, your category here. If this red state becomes any redder, you’d hope it would be from embarrassment rather than another shift to the right.

Not that conservatives haven’t been in control since the days of the Gipper. Essentially, most state races came down to the conservative Democrat or Republican since Ronald Reagan entered the White House. Which flavor of conservative suits you best?

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Winners and losers from Tuesday
around Alabama and metro Birmingham.

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So while the brand names may change, what can we really expect from the Republicans in power?

The new crew, including Gov.-elect Robert Bentley, has promised ethics reform out of the gate. We shall see, though my cynical side expects only token changes. Politicians are politicians after all, and you can hardly expect Republicans to clean up the cesspool in Montgomery if it also hides their fattened pockets.

Look back a mere month, and relive that infamous day when the FBI arrested four state senators (two Democrats, one Republican, one independent) in connection with selling votes on a gambling bill. Alas, the bingo bots and the mafia will have to try again in 2 to 4 years.

The mandate must include more jobs and a better economy. Like the president, the governor will likely receive an undue share of the credit or blame, though one leader has little say in global economic dynamics. Still, continuing to attract industry must remain a priority.

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More Vote 2010 coverage.

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With an all-Republican government, are we headed for sideshows popular in Texas and Arizona, from illegal immigration to revising school textbooks to repealing national health care? Let’s hope not, with more pressing issues such as constitutional reform and education funding.

Er, scratch that. Forget constitutional reform for at least another 4 years (sigh) and don’t hold your breath for an education miracle, though Gov.-elect Bentley has vowed to switch to a budget that determined by the previous year’s numbers (holds breath anyway). He took money from the Alabama Education Association and later lied about it. Such petty sins aren’t enough to keep you out of the governor’s mansion; likely, they are the only path to it.

Just imagine if it had been the learned Bradley Byrne had led the Republican charge instead.

Rural voters swept the new legislators into power and didn’t much care for the citified Byrne. City folk aren’t well represented in the new Republican regime. As a member of the city folk, I cast a wary eye at my country cousins calling the shots, probably no less menacingly then they’ve eyed us with suspicion.

They found a kindred spirit in Bentley, the dermatologist from Tuscaloosa. As he leads a unified party and state government, let’s pray feverishly that it marks the start of 136 years of progress and prosperity.

Otherwise, red state Alabama could end up dead state Alabama.

Wade Kwon is publisher of Wade on Birmingham.

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