Op-Ed Columns

(Now that the dust kicked up in the Anniston mayoral election has sorta settled, I figure it is safe to make an outsider observation. Maybe.)

It goes by a lot of names.

"Gas money." "Riding money." "Driving money."

But in recent years the term most frequently used is "walking-around money" — money paid to key figures in a community to "walk around" and spread the word that certain candidates are more acceptable than others.

After the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and with the registration of large numbers of African-Americans, "walking-around money" came to be associated with efforts by white candidates to get black support.

One of the most productive places to place "walking-around money" was into the hands of black preachers. Long before the civil rights movement rewove the social and political fabric of the South, black ministers served as bridges between the white and black communities. So when members of black congregations got the vote, it was only natural that white candidates should turn to black preachers for help.

And to assist and reward church leaders for spreading the word, it was only natural for white candidates to compensate them for their time and effort — compensation that might come in the form of gas money, meal money or as a contribution to one of the many church funds that were running short of cash.

"Walking-around money."

Plenty of folks knew about it. And knew not to talk about it.

Not because it was illegal. But because of the political baggage it carried.

Apparently no one told Gene Robinson.

Now, I am not going to fault mayor-elect Robinson for doing what so many before him have done. Had word leaked out that he had paid a couple of prominent black Annistonians to get out the vote, no one would have blinked an eye. Well, someone might have blinked a bit at who got the money and what they said they used it for, but most everyone else would have taken it for what it was — politics as usual.

Folks, my daddy even handed out "walking-around money."

Yessir.

And I took it.

So did my friend Ted.

Back in 1958, when Daddy was running for office the first time, he enlisted Ted and me to walk the streets of Jackson, Alabama, handing out campaign literature and urging voters to vote for Harvey H. Jackson Jr.

And we walked.

Around.

And for our efforts he gave us $5 each. Cash.

Which even adjusted for 50 years of inflation is considerably less than what mayor-elect Robinson shelled out to the guys who walked around for him.

Daddy won.

So did Robinson.

Then the mayor-elect of Anniston violated the first commandment of politics — he put down the folks who elected him.

Flush with victory, Robinson told the press that he won because he paid "walking-around money" to a couple of prominent members of the African-American community to turn out the black vote for him.

But it wasn't what he said, it was how he said it.

He won, Robinson boasted, because "I bought into the black corruption in Anniston."

Now, you all know the furor that created.

So what did the mayor-elect do to make things right?

He met with local members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to explain why what he said was really what it sounded like he said.

Rather than get into a matter that has been well reported in this newspaper, let me simply observe that if Robinson had met with these folks before the election, maybe even contributed a little "walking-around money" to their cause, he might have avoided the mess he got himself into.

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference is full of preachers — politically savvy preachers. Preachers with churches and congregations that could have put to good use the money Robinson paid others to work for him.

Why didn't Robinson get in with the preachers?

I wondered.

And then I thought back to another election. November 2006. I was down in Grove Hill, celebrating the 20th anniversary of my daddy opening the 'Poutin House. Old political allies were there, except for one. The festivities were already under way when he drug in.

Someone asked him, "Where you been?"

Knowing he was among friends, the late arrival replied, "trying to pass out 'walking-around money'."

"How'd it go?"

"Preachers wouldn't take it."

As an incredulous silence settled over the group, he added, "When a preacher won't take 'walking-around money,' what's America coming to?"

I had an idea, but I didn't say. I didn't say that black preachers know when to "walk around" and when to stay home. They know when to speak up and they know when to shut up.

Mayor-elect Robinson should have talked to the preachers before he did what he did, 'cause they would likely have told him not to do it.

Or at least told him what to say if he did.

Maybe he will next time.

If there is a next time.