Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox is running for governor and leading the field as a Democrat (more photos below): Glynn Wilson

By Glynn Wilson –

DAPHNE, Ala. — The “unwavering hero” of the massive tornado that struck Tuscaloosa in 2011, Walter Maddox, at 45, may be the early front runner in a crowded field of candidates for governor of Alabama.

On a campaign swing through Baldwin County and Mobile Thursday night, the Tuscaloosa mayor said why he wants to take his experience running one of Alabama’s largest cities for 12 years and replicate the success in the state capital in Montgomery. He was clear about what he wants to do as governor.

“Why do I think a Democrat can win? I look to December 12,” he said, the night Birmingham attorney Doug Jones beat Republican Roy Moore for a seat in the United States Senate, the first Democrat elected to a Senate seat in the conservative state in a quarter century.

“That’s a pretty good reason,” he said, to a round of applause and cheers in a suburban community center in Daphne, where many of the residents have long voted Republican. Many of them went for a Democrat this time around, searching for a competent alternative to the corruption and incompetence of the Republicans who took over all three branches of government in 2010. He later spoke briefly at a bar in downtown Mobile

Walt Maddox, as he likes to be called, faces opposition in the Democratic primary June 5 from former state Supreme Court Justice Sue Bell Cobb, who quit her post after serving only two years but is now trying to get back into public office, along with lesser known candidates James Fields of Hanceville, Jason Childs, a truck driver from Oxford, and Anthony White of Dothan.

In the general election November 6, he will likely face with the winner of the Republican primary, either Governor Kay Ivey, who is running for reelection, or Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, Birmingham evangelist Scott Dawson, state Senator Bill Hightower of Mobile or Birmingham businessman Josh Jones.

National Spotlight

Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox is running for governor and leading the field as a Democrat: Glynn Wilson

Maddox was thrust into the national spotlight on April 27, 2011, when a major category 4 tornado struck Tuscaloosa and Birmingham, killing 53 people in Tuscaloosa and inflicting $100 million in damage. Two days later, Maddox toured the tornado damaged area with President Barack Obama and then-Governor Robert Bentley and was later recognized nationally for his crisis management skills.

In the wake of the devastating natural disaster, The New York Times reported that Maddox “emerged as an efficient, earnest, unwavering hero of the storm,” and American City and County magazine named him its 2012 Municipal Leader of the Year.

One of the reasons he thinks he can win is that he has been looking at voter demographics and turnout, and said, “I’m seeing something that’s been emerging.”

“The people in Alabama are creating a nexus between the things that are happening in their communities,” he said, such as hospitals closing or the threat of closing, schools not performing at a level they need to be, along with roads and bridges not adequate to handle the future of their communities.

“Then they look at Montgomery,” he said, which has been under Republican control since 2010. They control the executive branch, the legislative branch with super majorities in both houses, and all the seats on the Supreme Court and the courts of appeals.

“They could have solved any of these problems any time that they chose, and they decided not to,” he said. “Voters are smart. They understand you can only use smoke and mirrors so long. They want to begin to see results.”

Why does he think a mayor can be successful?

“Because as a mayor I don’t have the luxury of waking up every morning and just talking about issues,” he said. “I have to go solve them.”

He said in 12 and a half years as mayor, “we’ve done it in the most effective manner possible, with one of the lowest city tax structures of any city in Alabama. The lowest debt per capita.

“We took on the Great Recession and a tornado that destroyed 12 and a half percent of our city and we did it without raising taxes or borrowing a dime,” he said. “We rank ninth in the nation in reducing poverty. We have begun the process of rebuilding our city that was destroyed by the tornado.”

As mayor he’s had to work for results, “not rhetoric,” he said. “That’s why I believe this election is important. As governor you are the chief executive officer of the state. It’s different than being a judge. It’s different from being CEO of a company, quite frankly. When you are CEO of a government organization you’ve got to know how to make it work … through collaboration, finding common ground, then creating results. That’s what I have done for 12 and a half years as mayor. And that’s what I am going to do when you elect me your next governor. ”

Lottery Money

When asked about his proposal for a state lottery as opposed to tax increases to pay for improvements in health care, education and infrastructure, he contrasted his proposal with all the other Democrats and Republicans running who say they are going to address those things “without a dime to pay for it.”

“Now where I come from, to build a bridge you’ve got to have money to pay for it,” he said. “To have better schools you are going to have to invest in the schools. So I believe that a lottery in Alabama is our best hope of investing into an education system, not to just be mediocre, but a standard of excellence that’s up here,” he said, raising his hand above his head.

Right now Alabama ranks 46-50 out of the 50 states in public education on every indicator that matters, he said. His lottery proposal does four things. It provides funding for universal pre-K, which was started in Tuscaloosa in 2005. It includes a scholarship program for in-state college students like the lotteries in George and Tennessee, but he is including support for apprenticeships for the building trades, where a labor shortage exists, along with trade programs across the state.

“If we don’t build that work force,” beginning in the public education system and continuing through the two year college trade programs, he said, “we will not be ready for a 21st century technology driven economy.”

He said we’ve had to import 100,000 people to the state for the jobs that exist because the local population is not prepared.

Third, he said, he wants to change the balance of the foundation program that funds education based on property taxes. He said the system has created discrepancies in funding for the school systems between richer, urban schools like those in Mountain Brook and poor, rural schools like those in Marengo County.

He said $60 million in the lottery plan will go to even those gaps.

“I believe that wherever you are born in this state you should have an opportunity for a quality public education,” he said, to more cheers and applause.

He said 42 percent of students in the state are born in areas with rural school systems, so they must be funded.

Four, his lottery plan would provide funding for community innovation grants to provide wrap around services for health and mental health in failing schools.

“We’re asking teachers to be nurses, psychologists, health professionals, and at the same time, oh by the way teach seven hours a day,” he said, “and now carry a gun, which is one of the most insane things I’ve ever heard.”

If we can provide every child a ride to school, he said, “why would we not want to provide those mental health services at the school campuses where they are?”

Charter Schools

He does not support charter schools.

“I do not support the idea of taking public tax dollars out of a struggling school and providing it to a charter school,” he said. “Find me a business model where to make something a success you rob it of resources. It’s insane.”

If you look at the Alabama Accountability Act, which he said, “was shoved down the legislature’s throat,” it has not improved education. It provided tax breaks for those that did not need it, and did not improve the outcomes in those schools that lost the funding.

“Certainly I’m not in favor of that,” he said.

He said the entire system needs to be realigned in terms of the thought processes behind career, technical education. Automation has eliminated workers from self-check out lines to automobile manufacturing, where Mercedes needs 25 percent fewer workers than they did 20 years ago.

Along the Gulf Coast and in Huntsville, for example, education should be designed to meet the needs of the “customer,” the businesses that are hiring, such as in the field of aerospace, while in Tuscaloosa the focus should be on advanced manufacturing in the automobile industry.

He mentioned the brain drain, when “brilliant people leave their community because there is no job for them.”

Guns in Schools

Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox is running for governor and leading the field as a Democrat: Glynn Wilson

On President Donald Trump’s plan to put more guns in the schools, he said: “That is the most insane thing I’ve ever heard in my life. I am a child of the public schools. Both of my children go to public school. If they start arming teachers I will pull my children out.”

One of his largest responsibilities as mayor is to oversee the Tuscaloosa Police Department, which gets about 25 percent of every dollar spent by the city, for a $200 million budget.

“Before we let one of our 300 police officers go out with a sidearm or any type of weapon, and go out into the field by themselves to discharge that weapon, is after a year-long training program and dozens of hours of tactical command of that weapon. What do we think the outcome is going to be if we start arming teachers? Who by the way will be going up against someone with an AR-15 (assault rifle)?”

Then when the police come into the building … storm the building as part of their active shooter protocols, he said, “they are not going to know who is the shooter and not the shooter.”

“You keep asking these questions and this really becomes insane,” he said.

“Do you know what gun kills most officers?” he asked. “Their own. They are lost in a struggle. What happens when you have guns with a teacher?”

Just having a gun introduced into the environment and accidentally going off is a problem, which is apparently what happened in Huffman High School in Birmingham this week.

“And a beautiful young girl is dead,” Maddox said.

He indicated that we have to bring common sense to the problem.

“I will veto the hell out of any legislation that brings this to my desk,” he said. “No way are we going to put more children at harm because we don’t have the guts to do what’s right and take on this issue head on.”

Government Whipping Post

Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox is running for governor and leading the field as a Democrat: Glynn Wilson

He said state government has been a whipping post for many years, but the Republicans have now had control for seven years and haven’t fixed anything.

“If after seven years you can’t whip state government into shape, I don’t know what we can do, right? I mean they’ve had complete control for seven years,” he said, while they just attack the government as “a bogeyman to distract you from the real issues.”

We could be more efficient in health care, Medicaid and corrections, he admitted. He collapsed seven city departments in Tuscaloosa to make local government run more efficiently and effectively.

“We have to continue that, but we are kidding ourselves if we believe our state has enough money to operate its services,” he said. “We don’t. Unless our standard is to be poor. If our standard is to be excellent, then no we don’t.”

From the general fund budget side, four mental health hospitals have closed since 2009.

“We are 3,000 beds short in our state in just providing basic mental health needs,” he said. “Then our correction system is about to be taken over by the federal courts.”

If that happens, he said, the money to meet the court order to fund prisons will be taken from education.

“Our state has been living on one time money for way too long,” he said, talking about most recently the BP Gulf oil spill settlement money provided during the Obama administration’s tenure.

He said the people of Mobile and Baldwin Counties were cheated when the Republicans took the money and used it to balance their books in Montgomery.

“It was a disservice to this region of the state that felt the impact of that presidentially declared disaster. I know how you feel,” he said. “My city was subject to a presidentially declared disaster, and money my citizens earned by going through hell and back was lost because of politics. That’s not fair.”

He indicated the state always fails to budget money wisely and has to borrow one time money to balance the budget.

He wants to reach a pact with the Poarch Creek Indians and allow them to go to class 3 gaming. Revenue paid in lieu of taxes is projected to raise more than $100 million for the state, he said, which will be used to expand Medicaid and provide funds to invest in mental health and corrections.

“I’m smart enough to know no one is going to vote for increased taxes, not right now,” he said. Most people in Alabama work too hard to really keep up with all the news about politics, he said, but they do know that the Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court, the Speaker of the House and the governor “were either indicted or left under a cloud of shame.”

“You know what they are going to say to tax increases? Uh, uh,” he said. “We can’t trust you.”

“As governor I am going to build trust with the things we think can get passed. That can then begin a new covenant to move the state forward. You have to elect leadership the people can trust to run the day to day operations of government,” he said. “That’s what we’re going to bring to Montgomery in a way they’ve never seen before.”

He indicated he’s gone 12 and a half years without one ethics complaint, “without one hint of corruption in one of Alabama’s largest cities. Those are the values and beliefs we will bring to the capitol.”

When asked why the state doesn’t have a lottery, he pointed out that gambling interests outside the state have pumped money into the political system here to fight it to protect their interests, some people object for moral or religious reasons, and others say it taxes the poor.

“My response is, when you don’t provide health care, when we provide poor schools, when you don’t have a road to go over you’re taxing the poor too,” he said. “You know what at least I’m trying to find a solution. If you think I am wrong help me find a way to get this done.”

When asked how he would deal with the partisan divide, he said he was elected by 89 percent of the vote in a city that is purple on the political map.

“The reason is not because I do something magical except get up every day and work towards results and try to work with people to solve problems,” he said.

He helped negotiate $200 million for state road improvements for Tuscaloosa and fought former Governor Bob Riley in court for closing down Brice Hospital.

“I’ve always had a history of being able to find common ground and work with people on things that matter,” he said. There will be issues on which they disagree, but he said most legislators don’t want to see their local hospital close, they want to see that their people have jobs.

“I go by what Harry Truman said. If you want to live like a Republican vote like a Democrat,” he joked. “We are going to work extremely hard to show them what Harry Truman said is true.”

He said if you look back at the last few governors, “we haven’t had the leadership to say ‘this is where we’re going’ and ‘help me get there’.”

“I believe we can do that. We’ve done that in Tuscaloosa and I know we can replicate that down in the capitol.”

Once elected, he said, he plans to call a special session in Montgomery to deal with the lottery and expand Medicaid, “that is if Trump doesn’t do away with it.”

More than 331,000 individuals in the state lost the opportunity to have health care because Governor Robert Bentley and the legislature refused $1 billion a year in federal money to expand Medicaid. As a result hospitals lost their federal subsidy and did not increase the customer base, so eight rural hospitals have already closed. Two counties raised taxes to keep their local hospitals open.

“In fact in 54 counties in Alabama your life expectancy is six months less than the 13 other counties,” he said. “So expanding Medicaid is something we want to do on day one.”

According to David Bronner with the Retirement Systems of Alabama, it would have a $1.8 million economic impact that would create 30,000 new jobs.

“Think of the economic boon it would be for Alabama,” he said.

He said he thinks people can be convinced that the Democratic Party is the party to deal with health care, education and infrastructure, “because the other side has no answers for this, none, zero, zilch. I can’t wait to have the opportunity to say ‘why haven’t you solved this, but you are not going to answer it anyway, so let me tell you how we are going to solve this problem’.”

While the lottery does not deal with funding prisons, the gambling pact he’s proposing does.

The only answer from the Republicans has been to build a new $800 million prison with no bid contracts and no specificity on the details. It doesn’t deal with mental health issues, substance abuse, educational attainment, or work force development and training, he said. So when more and more prisoners are released early because of over crowding, they come out with a drug addiction, no education, no job skills.

“What has that meant for law enforcement across Alabama? It means we are arresting and rearresting the same individuals,” he said.

He told the story of a recent shooting on The Strip in Tuscaloosa which involved individuals with more than three dozen arrests.

“That is why solving this problem of corrections is so important,” he said. “Because, if we can change a person’s life, then they don’t commit crimes when they get out. But if we release people out with no hope of success, why are we surprised by this outcome?”

He also said more money is needed for prison staff and training.

“The understaffing levels in our prisons is downright scary,” he said.

Immigration

When asked about immigration, he said it would be up to the federal government to solve that issue. But he indicated he never declared Tuscaloosa a sanctuary city because it would have meant not following the law and would have cost the city millions of dollars in federal funds.

He said whatever we do, it should be done with “compassion” and human “decency.” He told a story about helping Hispanics in Tuscaloosa after the storm by getting them help from FEMA, although they were afraid of being turned in while the Republicans were debating House bill 56, one of the strongest anti-immigration bills in the country. He said immigration does not even make the top 100 list of issues he’s had to actually deal with in governing.

“In Tuscaloosa, our law enforcement officers are not concerned with immigration,” he insisted. “We’re concerned with drug dealers. We are concerned with the number of illegal guns going around on our streets. If it comes up we deal with it, but it certainly doesn’t have to be a priority.”

On the other hand, he hopes Congress will find a national solution to the immigration issue.

“I’m not in Congress, not in the Senate. But we have to find that pathway (to citizenship),” he said. “We cannot let Dreamers be excluded from the American Dream. We are a better country than that. We are a better people than that.”

More Photos

Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox speaking to Democrats in Baldwin County about running for governor: Glynn Wilson

A good crowd of Democrats turned out to meet Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox in Baldwin County, who is running for governor, in a very conservative Republican district: Glynn Wilson