The Alabama Republican Party concluded its annual winter meeting this weekend in Birmingham with a host of significant candidates and figures appearing before members of ALGOP’s state executive committee.
The meeting, held at the Sheraton Hotel caddy-corner from the newly finished Protective Stadium in downtown Birmingham, provided a comprehensive who’s who of Alabama’s current Republican cadre and allowed the state executive committee to pass a handful of resolutions and rule changes.
Republican Senate candidates Mo Brooks, Katie Britt and Mike Durant were present at the meeting, along with gubernatorial candidates Linda Blanchard, Tim James and Dean Young.
Britt, who recently met with former President Donald Trump at his residence in Mar-a-Lago, did not mention her conversation with Trump while speaking before committee members but praised his term as president and compared him favorably to former President Ronald Reagan.
Despite reports that the former president is disappointed in Brooks’ performance in his race, Trump still officially endorses Brooks for Senate. Brooks’ campaign has denied potential backpedaling from Trump on his endorsement for Brooks.
In speaking before the assembly last weekend, Brooks repeated words of praise from several key members of the Trump White House, including from the president himself, and asked potential voters not to rely “on my words,” but rather “rely on other’s words” when deciding their support.
The executive committee passed three resolutions, all passing with broad support from 85 percent or more of attending members.
The resolutions included a declaration of support for the recent school choice bill sponsored by state Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston. State Rep. Charlotte Meadows, R-Montgomery, who sponsored the companion bill in the Alabama House, spoke in favor of the declaration.
“Until we do something to level the playing field so that all schools have competition, and every parent can choose to take their child to the school of their choice, we’re not going to improve our education,” Meadows said. “We’re working to get good amendments and to get this bill so we can pass [it].”
The bill, if passed, could potentially reduce the state’s Education Trust Fund by more than $420 million by allowing parents to use school tax funds to enroll their children in other schools outside of their school zone.
The Alabama Education Association’s executive director Amy Marlowe has warned in recent weeks against the passage of Marsh’s bill, pointing to the $420 million in cuts from the Education Trust Fund and stating that every line of the bill should be “properly reviewed and scrutinized.”
Two other resolutions passed with wide support during the gathering: One urging Gov. Kay Ivey to ban mask mandates in Alabama public schools, and another supporting legislation restricting certain topics taught under the American Schools Counselors Association national modal, including same-sex marriage, that the resolution alleges attempts to “indoctrinate” children in Alabama public schools.
A resolution that called for repealing certain portions of the recently passed medical marijuana legislation was tabled and not voted on by the committee.
