Saturday former Attorney General Troy King spoke to the Etowah County Republican Breakfast Club,
King is an attorney from Elba. He is campaigning for a return as Alabama Attorney General. King was appointed by Governor Bob Riley when AG Bill Pryor was appointed to the federal bench by then President George W. Bush.
King said that people ask him why he went into Alabama politics.
King said that he decided to campaign for the former Governor of California Ronald Reagan.
King said that as AG he convinced the legislature to passed the toughest sex offender law in the country. They said that you would never pass that, but it passed. To promote the use of attaching GPS tracking devices to sex offenders, King wore an ankle bracelet and people could follow him around the state on their computers. He even wore it on vacation to Calloway Gardens and everyone fled the swimming pool while he was there wearing his ankle bracelet.
The board of Pardons and Paroles granted parole to Melanie Lowery. King said, “It was a horrible murder. I asked them to reconsider. They agreed to reconsider; but Don McGriff said they weren’t going to change their mind. The Birmingham News was writing editorials every day blasting me. They said I was bloodthirsty. They were fake news before Donald Trump.”
At the hearing King said that he told the Board, “What you have done is a mischaracterization of Justice. Don McGriff signed the order for there to be a parole again. The other two didn’t. “It was a bad experience but who was attorney general that day was the difference between her being released back into your community or not and I am proud to say that Mallory Lowery is still where she belongs.”
King said that he is running again because, “I saw what has been happening in our state for the last eight years and I was absolutely ashamed.
King said that it appears that Steve Marshall traded an appointment for a plea deal (for Gov. Bentley), where he could just go back to Tuscaloosa and be a dermatologist again.
“I decided to run for attorney general,” King said. “I can’t take Montgomery back by myself, but with your help I can. Fixing corruption in this state is not difficult, all you have to do is to enforce the laws that are on the books.”
Troy King is running in a crowded Republican field that includes present AG Steve Marshall, former U.S. Attorney Alice Martin, and Chess Bedsole.
Joseph Seigelman and Chris Christie are running in the Democratic primary.
The major party primaries are on June 5.
The Etowah County Republican Club meets on the third Thursday of every month in the Western Sizzlin in Rainbow City at 7:30 a.m.
