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Carrington is running for Governor

By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter

Monday May 8, 2017, Jefferson County Commissioner David Carrington (R) announced officially that he was running for Governor of Alabama.

Carrington gathered with over 200 friends, family, community leaders, supporters, and Alabama’s political reporters, and journalists at Vulcan Park to officially announce that he was launching his campaign for Governor of Alabama.

Commissioner Carrington said, “My experience in Jefferson County has prepared me to deal with incredibly difficult and complex issues. My vision is to embark on a path to move our K-12 education system from the bottom 10 percent to the upper 25 percent and to move Alabama’s median family income from the lower 10 percent to the top 50 percent over the next ten years.”

Carrington recounted how when first elected he had to deal with the county’s default on its $3.2 billion sewer debt. As President of the Jefferson County Commission, Carrington had to lead Alabama’s largest county out of the largest municipal bankruptcy in the history of the United States.

Carrington said that Cooper Green Mercy hospital was losing $millions of dollars a year, the County Nursing Home was losing over $one million a year, and the courts ruled that Jefferson County’s occupation tax had been passed illegally. That revenue, which the Alabama Legislature never replaced, was over a quarter of the County’s General Fund. Carrington was forced to take a hard look at the county budget in order to balance the budget and find the funds to make payments on the sewer bond debt so that that courts and the creditors would come to an agreement to bring the county out of debt.

Fellow Republican Commissioners Jimmie Stephens and Joe Knight both gave strong endorsements of Carrington as a strong leaders, a skilled businessman, and a man of faith. Knight said that with David you won’t have what we went through for the last year and a half with the last Governor.” Carrington was introduced by a President Teddy Roosevelt impersonator.

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Carrington said that his hardest decision was to close hospital services at Cooper Green. It was the right decision,” but the patients thought we were taking something away from them, which made it hard.

Carrington announced in his statement, “The Four U’s 4Us” Vision.

It focuses on:

Unifying us with trustworthy leadership
Upgrading education in and out
Unlocking jobs in and up
Untangling the mess in Montgomery.

Carrington said, “I have served in public service for over a decade and know that integrity is crucial to gaining and maintaining the public’s trust. I led Jefferson County, out of the nation’s second largest municipal bankruptcy and helped to eliminate the culture of corruption that lead to the county’s financial troubles. I’m prepared to bring a culture change to Montgomery and regain the public’s trust in our government. I’m excited to travel the State sharing my vision for Alabama with citizens and meeting with citizens to better understand their needs.”

Carrington is the owner of RacingUSA.com and has worked as an executive for multiple other businesses. David and his wife Sonia have been married for over 40 years. Sonia is a former public school teacher and principal and was named Alabama’s National Distinguished Principal of the Year in 2009. David and Sonia have two adult sons, two daughters-in-law and seven grandchildren.

Carrington said that we have over 500,000 working age adults without high school degrees and we need to get them the skills for them to succeed. Carrington said that we need to get Alabama K-12 education from the bottom ten percent to the top twenty five percent over the next ten years.

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The field for Governor is already getting crowded. Public Service Commission President Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh (R), former Morgan County Commissioner Stacy George (R), and Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle (R) have all declared that they are candidates for Governor. State Auditor Jim Zeigler (R) is exploring possible running for Governor. Equality activist Chris Countryman is declared as a Democrat. Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox is also exploring running as a Democrat. Gov. Kay Ivey (R) has not ruled out running for office herself.

 

Brandon Moseley is a former reporter at the Alabama Political Reporter.

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