“It’s important that all of you get to meet all of us and have a chance to speak to each one of us one on one, if one of us is going to represent you in House District 40.”

These are words spoken by K.L. Brown, one of five Republican candidates attempting to fill the vacant Alabama House District 40 seat. All seven candidates spoke Thursday, Dec. 10, at the Piedmont Municipal Building.

With three weeks remaining before the Republican primary on Jan. 5th, Brown’s comments couldn’t be more accurate. Barring a runoff, the general election will be at Feb. 16th. Only one Democrat, Ricky Whaley, and one independent, Carol Hagan, made the ballot.

Piedmont Mayor Brian Young arranged the meet-and-greet that gave each candidate 10 minutes to make their argument. No questions were permitted, though most of the candidates stayed afterward to talk with residents.

Republican Bill Lester, a political science professor at Jacksonville State University and Jacksonville resident, spoke first.

“I think I’m well equipped to be able to interface with federal government.” Lester said. “I’ve done it in the past. I continue to do it today.”

Lester spoke of his training in public management, budgeting, and personnel, as well as disaster management, a topic he’s currently writing a book on.

“Grant writing is massively important,” said Lester. “That federal money … that 1.4 trillion dollars that’s out there right now. Everybody’s trying to get a piece of it. The money is going to end, and it’s going to mean more and more competition to get at that money.”

I think it’s also very important for local projects, things that are going on that are near and dear to all of us that we have a legislator who can, and has experience in writing grants, experience in shepherding through the process, who understands committee systems, who understands state and local government. I teach these things. I’ve been doing this for a very large part of my life.”

Job creation ranked high on most candidates’ platforms.

“We need to attract business and industry. We need to have the industry and businesses that are here now, strong,” Lester said. “We do that, then what will happen is the pie will grow for everybody.”

Lester worries about the future.

“We are very, very close as a nation, as a state and even I our communities, very close to dropping the baton and not handing it off to the next generation. I want to be able to look into my children’s eyes and say, ‘I did what I could, that I tried, that I gave it my best.’ I want to leave an Alabama and a Calhoun County, and a Piedmont, where the rest of the nation can look at our room and say that’s how it ought to be done.”

The lone Democrat, Whaley, spoke next. Whaley is an AG teacher at Jacksonville High School, and has been an educator for 25 years.

Speaking of recent rumblings from the state Republican Party over campaign contributions he received from education interests and political action committees, Whaley said he’s already seeing attacks “particularly by the big wigs out in Birmingham,” he said. “But I’m not going to let that bother me, and you can count on me to run a clean campaign.”

In a Nov. 26 article in the Anniston Star, Dan Whisenhunt reported that Whaley said, “I’m not ashamed to take money from teachers, and Goodyear workers and depot workers. I’m not ashamed of that at all. If I’m guilty for representing working class people, so be it.”

Whaley focused much of his speech on two issues: Jobs and education.

“You have to look not too far to find that Honda was brought to Alabama by the Alabama Development Office. I will work them constantly,” said Whaley. “They have to know that there’s somebody in Piedmont, in Jacksonville and Ohatchee representing the people in this district that can help us get staff jobs from these factories that we have with Honda, with Mercedes, with Hyundai.”

On education, he’s concerned about a lack of funding. “We’re really having to dig into our own pockets. I am, you are, the whole community is in order for us to get what we need,” he said.

And he thinks it’s time for everyone to pay their fair share towards education.

“Some corporations in Alabama are getting away with not paying their fair share, and last year some of those corporate loopholes were closed and so we gained ground as far as funding goes, but there’s many more out there that need to have those corporate loopholes closed.”

Whaley also discussed the importance of protecting small city schools from being shut down in favor of charter schools. “The state Republican Party Chairman Mike Hubbard and the state Republican gubernatorial candidate Bradley Byrne are after public schools. They are after putting in charter schools and home schools, and you know, I’ll never let that happen,” Whaley said.

Republican Tom Shelton served as an Alabama state representative from 1974 to 1978. His speech centered on our area’s recent job losses and the need for new industry.

“It’s been devastating for this community, what you’ve lost. And God knows it needs to be worked on. I know Mayor Young has got it high on his agenda to do that, and I will be sure and cooperate with him and the city council to do whatever we can do to make it happen,” Shelton said.

Speaking of drawing the automotive industry to our area, Shelton said, “I think it’s a strong possibility, especially if we can get the four lane completed out here. I want to get something down about Highway 9. Try to get it widened, and to complete the four lane.”

Shelton also made mention of Lea Fite, who held House seat 40 until his death earlier this year.

“I had a little grocery store and I got to thinking about wanting to run for it when it came up in the general election,” said Shelton. “I’ve been trying to get rid of it and sell it all off and then all of a sudden Lea Fite died. I am promising to you as I have to his family, that I will complete his agenda. The stuff that he was working on, I’m going to complete.”

Debra Jones has been a lawyer for 20 years. She currently lives in White Plains with her husband and five children. Jones spoke of her ability to recognize problems and make the necessary changes needed to solve them.

“The main thing in getting anything done, the main ingredient in leadership is working with people as a team,” Jones said. “Getting all the players together with one mind, in one accord to get the job done.”

Jones was instrumental in the creation of the Child Advocacy Center for Calhoun and Cleburne County. “Our prosecution rate for child sexual abuse and physical abuse went from about four a year to about four hundred in twelve months,” Jones said.

While working at the DA’s office, Jones was in charge of DUI prosecutions. “I would have four, five, six times the same people coming back in for drunk driving, and I would say, ‘didn’t we just do you last week?’ They would just let them out of jail, they’d be back on the roads, and again I was very frustrated because peoples’ lives were at stake. So again, I knew that other states had better laws, and I said ‘somebody ought to do something,’ so I did something about it.”

Jones wrote legislation that made a fourth DUI conviction a felony in Alabama.

K.L. Brown has owned and operated K.L. Brown Funeral Home and Crematory in Jacksonville for 31 years, and K.L Brown Memory Chapel in Anniston for the past 10 years.

Brown discussed his experience in business. “I know the every day struggles of building a business from the ground up, operating and maintaining businesses, and providing payroll and benefits for employees,” Brown said. “ I’ve been an active member of the Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce as well as the National Federation of Independent Business for many years, and we’ll use those relationships, along with many others, to try to bring industry and jobs to our area.”

Ethics reform is also something Brown would like to work on if elected. “It’s time we start to carefully examine those that we elect to serve us, and stop the practice of double-dipping and PAC-to-PAC transfers. We don’t want our state to be looked upon as Louisiana or Illinois, but unless we’re willing to pass some strong ethics reform, and clean up our act, that’s exactly what’s destined to happen.”

Republican Jay Dill works at Miller’s Office Furniture and Steel in Anniston. In his speech, Dill discussed lessening the heavy burden on businesses in Alabama. “While bringing new businesses to Alabama is important to Alabama and our district, we should do more to keep the doors open for our existing businesses through offering tax incentives and abatements,” Dill said.

Dill is also looking to loosen regulations on business. “As a state representative, I will promote an agenda that will make doing business in Alabama less burdensome, through eliminating red tape and unnecessary regulations.”

On education, Dill stated if elected he will “work to see that all available dollars go directly to the classroom on instruction rather than central office administration waste. We must put a stop to the stranglehold the unions have on public education.”

Carol Hagan received all the signatures necessary to put her name on the ballot as an independent. In her speech she likened the current state of our nation to that of the Roman Empire. Speaking of the fall of the Roman Empire, Hagan said they “fell from within, for two main reasons – immorality and heavy taxation. The immorality began with illegitimate births, then divorce, homosexuality and pedophilia.”

Hagan quoted figures of children born to unmarried women, and children living in homes with a divorced parent. “Homosexuals want to get married and man/boy relationships are considered love,” said Hagan.

Hagan is also a proponent of a flat rate income tax for Alabama. “I have written a tax plan which would repeal all 61, yes, 61 of the Alabama state and local taxes and institute a flat rate income tax,” Hagan said. She would also like to see the Alabama Constitution rewritten one subject at a time. She stated that if we “let the already elected state legislators rewrite one section, or one subject at a time, and then put it before the people to be voted on, and then we would know what people liked and what they don’t like.”

The candidates have been invited to another forum on Dec. 22 in Jacksonville. The forum will be at 6:30 p.m. in the Jacksonville Community Center. Questions from the audience will be allowed.