Our Alabama constitutional officials were inaugurated on Monday. Our state constitution requires inauguration to take place on the third Monday in January. As you might expect, and as the almanac suggests, it’s usually a cold day. Over the years, countless people, especially women who were majorettes, have been reminded of the experience of their high school band marching in the inaugural parade. They had to march in skimpy, legless swimsuit-style outfits in 20-degree temperatures and turn the baton. It left them with an unforgettable memory of the Alabama governor’s inauguration.
I wasn’t there, but all the veterans who have talked politics with me over the years and watched quite a few inauguration ceremonies, the most is George Wallace’s first gubernatorial inauguration in January 1963. I would say it was cold. There was a lot of frostbite that day. But George C. Wallace’s inaugural address was hot and heavy. That was the day Wallace threw down the challenge and declared “quarantine today, quarantine tomorrow, quarantine forever.” Exactly 60 years ago.
A lot has changed since that day. It was during Wallace’s time that the civil rights movement changed the political climate of the country, especially the South. Wallace was an integral part of that historical era. He was responsible for much bloodshed as he watched it all unfold from his Goat Hill office overlooking Dexter Avenue. Every time I watch the inauguration on the steps of the Capitol, I am reminded of the history made on that block of Dexter Avenue in Montgomery.
The men who drafted the overtly racist 1901 Alabama Constitution and the mob that roared in defiance when Wallace made his 1963 proclamation marveled at the change and diversity in Alabama today That’s right. It is both poetic and ironic that this year’s Inauguration Day, January 16, 2023, coincides with Martin Luther King Day, a state and national holiday.
Kay Ivey grew up in the heart of the Wallace era in Wilcox County. She sharpened her political teeth in the Wallace family’s campaign. When she was a student at Auburn University, she was particularly involved in Lalene Wallace’s 1966 gubernatorial campaign. After Auburn, she worked in banking for a while and taught on mobile. She began her career in Montgomery as a reading clerk in the Alabama House of Representatives under House Speaker Joe McCorquodale. Like McCorquodale, the Black Belts controlled the House and Senate. Kay Ivey’s melodious, pronounced black belt accent drew people’s attention to her reading even the most mundane of legal terms for hours on end. She later served on the Alabama Commission on Higher Education. As head of public relations and government relations, she studied the legislative process. She stepped into politics when she was elected State Treasurer in 2002. She served in that post for eight years. He was subsequently elected Lieutenant Governor in 2010 and re-elected in 2014. Midway through her second term, she became governor after Dr. Robert Bentley resigned. She served the final 18 months of her term and was elected Governor of Alabama in 2018. She was reelected by an overwhelming majority last year. At the end of this four-year term, Kay Ivey will have served as governor of Alabama longer than anyone other than George C. Wallace. She is the first woman elected as a Republican. She is the second female governor, second only to her idol, Lalene Wallace, 56 years ago.
Also joining Kay Ivey were Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth, Attorney General Steve Marshall, State Treasurer Young Boozer, Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate, Secretary of State Wes Allen, and State Comptroller Andrew Sorrell. bottom.
Jeremy Oden and Chip Becker have sworn into four-year terms on the Public Service Commission.
Two Supreme Court Justices, Kelly Wise and Greg Cook, were sworn in to six-year terms in a special installation ceremony last Friday. Judge Kelly Wise was sworn in for a third term. She served 12 years on the Supreme Court and 10 years on the State Court of Criminal Appeals before being elected to the High Court. Justice Greg Cook has been appointed to his first term on the High Court. He is a competent and conservative lawyer who would fit well with the Supreme Court.
It was an important day for Alabama politics.
see you next week.
