Saturday, the Mid Alabama Republican Club met for their regularly scheduled meeting at the Vestavia Hills Public Library.
Senate President Pro Tempore Del Marsh, R-Anniston, and House Majority Leader Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, gave a preview of the upcoming 2019 legislative session.
Marsh announced that he is “looking seriously” at running for U.S. Senator in 2020. “One thing I do know is that Doug Jones won’t be the Senator from Alabama in two years.”
The President of MARC is former state Rep. Paul Demarco (R-Homewood).
DeMarco congratulated Alabama Republican Party National Committeewoman Vicki Drummond on her recent election as Treasurer of the RNC.
Former Jefferson County Republican Party Chairman Sallie Bryant said that they planned to introduce a package of either legislation or an amendment to the 1901 Alabama Constitution that will change the qualifications to be a judge including raising the number of years that someone has to have been a lawyer in order to run for a judgeship. That might make a difference. They are also looking at re-drawing the lines of the Bessemer Circuit as well as creating a judicial commission that will recommend the names of attorneys that the governor can chooses from. “We are looking at that.”
Bryant is also the treasurer of the Alabama Republican Party.
Butch Zaragoza is the new Jefferson County Republican Party Chairman.
“It is gong to be hard to follow this lady right here,” Zaragoza said. “This is almost like following Adolph Rupp in Kentucky.” The Jefferson County Republican Party is adopting a new strategic plan and will incorporate young Republicans into all of our clubs. We also need to incorporate minorities and do a better job of making sure that we put the right candidates in place especially for judicial positions. We need to work on the bills that we are going to introduce in the legislature. They will “help not just Jefferson County; but the entire state of Alabama.”
While Republicans have completely dominated Democrats in the state of Alabama since 2010; Democrats have dominated the Republicans in Jefferson County. Since the election of 2008, Democratic judicial candidates have systematically defeated every GOP judicial incumbent and now control the Jefferson County judiciary.
Joan Reynolds is the Chair of the Shelby County Republican Party.
“We did meet yesterday with a group of young people” and our steering committee to work with developing an outreach to other organizations Reynolds said. We need to get more young people involved.
“The next meeting of the Shelby County Republican Party will be on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. in the Shelby County Services Building,” Reynolds said. Political columnist Steve Flowers will be our speaker.
We have two Republican Women’s groups in Shelby County, Reynolds said. The Republican Women of Shelby County who have their next meeting on Saturday and the North Shelby County Republican Women.
Chair Reynolds said that the Alabama Republican Party Winter Dinner will be on February 22, 2019 in downtown Birmingham at the Sheraton Hotel. Colonel Mark Tillman who was the pilot and commander of Air Force One on 911 will be the speaker.
President DeMarco said, “The most important thing is to leave early if you are going to the BJCC
Jefferson County Commissioner Steve Ammons (R) said, “We are spreading economic development all across the county.”
“It is a different commission,” Commissioner Joe Knight (R) said. “These new kids, we are bringing them along. We have to work with whoever gets elected. Some of them have a little different agenda. We are working on keeping Jefferson County on a fiscally conservative path.”
Phillip Brown is the Chairman of the Alabama Minority GOP.
“We are certainly working on a big tent philosophy,” Chairman Brown said. I would like to invite everyone to our annual banquet in Huntsville on March 15th at the Marriott Rocket Center and Conference Center. Dr. C. L. Bryant. He was a NAACP Chapter President who was removed for his conservative views. “He has a national radio show and is very powerful.”
The Mid Alabama Republican Club meets on the Second Saturday of each month at the Vestavia Hills Public Library at 8:30 a.m.
