EDITORIAL
Democrats in Legislature have lost vision
Democrats in the Alabama Legislature are giving public service such a bad name this may be their last quadrennium in power in Montgomery for a long time.
Rep. Guin developed diabetes last year, which makes his family history of early death from heart disease more problematic.
His health problems motivated the representative to want better diet and more exercise for schoolchildren. Lack of exercise and obesity are major factors in diabetes and heart disease.
His is a noble goal but he’s resorted to blackmail to force two programs on local school systems. “He said if we did not change our position, we would come to understand the kind of problems that could be brought by the chairman of the Rules Committee,” Decatur School Superintendent Sam Houston said.
Now, Superintendent Houston has the Examiners of Public Accounts asking for his central office records.
Mr. Houston was one of a group of superintendents who met with Rep. Guin to oppose his bills. Superintendents think that having to submit school menus to a state nutrition guru is a wasteful layer of bureaucracy. They also fear that requiring physical education as an elective will preclude some students from other extra curricular activities such as band. They also want to know where they would get the millions of dollars to fund schoolwide physical education programs.
The Examiners of Public Accounts auditors work for the Legislature, which makes the department highly political. For instance, legislators refuse to audit sheriffs’ controversial pistol permit money but auditors swoop down on school superintendents at the whim of a powerful legislator. An auditor working at the Morgan County Courthouse last week left his job temporarily to ask for Mr. Houston’s records. Democrats should be ashamed.
