I agree 100% that the raise was uncalled for and inappropriate at best. Because of my feelings on this matter I took the opportunity prior to the veto override vote to contact both Representative Tammy Irons and Senator Bobby Denton. I sent both an email, which I copied to Matt Murphy of 101.1 the Source in Birmingham who was a driving force in the protest at the capital earlier this week.
Much to my surprise, Representative Irons not only returned my email, and invited me to contact her on her cell but further explained her stance on the matter. Representative Irons stated that both Mike Curtis and She had indeed voted no during the voice vote and also took the extra step of having their voice vote be recorded as part of official record, making them one of the few that did this.
After seeing the abstaining vote, I recontacted on Wednesday morning Representative Irons cell phone, leaving a message asking her reasoning behind this abstaining vote. I felt that I had been lied to and wanted to personally ask her about her reasoning.
Representative Irons did return by call yesterday afternoon, and spoke to me at great lengths about this abstaining vote and gave me the following as her reasoning. Mrs. Irons, explained that the situation was of course highly political and that she felt that Governor Riley had only added to the political nature of the override vote by vetoing the measure instead of giving an executive amendment by which he could have reduced the pay raise to whatever he felt was acceptable whether it be 3% or 20% by which the vote outcome would have been the same but the cost savings to the taxpayer would have been significant. Mrs. Irons also says that by abstaining both Representative Curtis and her sent a no message without getting into the politics of the process.
Although, I don’t agree with her, I can honestly say that Representative Irons took enough time to speak to me, return email me and listen to my concerns. She didn’t ask if I voted for her, and didn’t seem to care when I told her that I didn’t, simply stating that she was my Representative and wanted to make sure that she represented all people in her district.
On the other hand Senator Denton hasn’t returned my emails or my calls.
We all need to realize that we can not forget this happened and vote accordingly during the next elections. However, many will forget this happened and that is why the Alabama Legislature knew it could get a pay raise, and why Governor Riley felt that he needed to make this more political. I think we should fault all involved in this matter and make sure that NO ONE that voted for this pay raise is returned to the Legislature, and demand term limits to protect us from the career politicians.
