Six contenders seeking to unseat incumbent Gov. Kay Ivey faced off in a sold-out live debate at the Event Center at Roto Rooter in Huntsville Tuesday night.
Lindy Blanchard, Tim James, Lew Burdette, Dean Odle, Dave Thomas, and Donald Trent Jones all agreed to participate in the debate while contender Dean Young of Orange Beach and the incumbent governor both declined. The live-streamed debate, conducted in front of a live audience and media representatives, was moderated by Scott Beason of the Scott Beason Radio Show and the 1819 News podcast Alabama Unfiltered and Rebecca Rogers of the debate organizer, Focus on America.
The closest thing to a heated disagreement during the debate came when Dean Odle accused Burdette of “basically giving my speech points” from one of Odle’s first television campaign commercials that described how Florida had seen the national ranking of Sunshine State K-12 schools rapidly rise from 29th to third after they eliminated the Common Core program there. Odle said he overheard Burdette “doing what a politician does” by using the points made by Odle in his commercial while talking to a member of the media inside of the Event Center prior to the debate.
Burdette fired back by telling the audience, “I don’t follow Dean Odle, so if he has a commercial that I haven’t seen, I’m sorry that I haven’t seen your commercial. I don’t know if anybody else here has seen his commercial, nor do I follow your campaign particularly closely. We’ve been in a lot of these gubernatorial forums, these are all things that we’ve shared at each one of them, and I don’t even remember, Dean, you sharing that statistic.”
Odle claimed that he had used it many times.
Tim James, who was standing between Burdette and Odle, quickly lightened the contentious mood and drew a short outburst of laughter from the audience by saying, “I’ll get out of the way if you two fellows can settle this right now.”
Opening statements
Lindy Blanchard was the first candidate to give a two-minute opening statement, and former President Trump's ambassador to Slovenia immediately introduced herself as, “the outsider in this race.”
Businessman Lew Burdette opened by going after incumbent Gov. Kay Ivey for not showing up for the debate by pointing out that “even Joe Biden would debate.”
Tim James used his opening statement to warn the audience that the country is under “assault from within."
“We are in a cultural war for the soul of the nation,” he said.
Opelika church minister Odle emphasized what he called the “threat from the U.N., international organizations and rogue federal government members,” and said, “There are infiltrators in the camp."
“We’re going to keep Alabama free,” he stated, even if it means calling up the Alabama National Guard or a militia force.
Springville mayor Dave Thomas described himself as “an ordinary man who has been given extraordinary opportunities.”
"...when it came time to look at who’s running for governor, it appeared, now there some exceptions to the rule, I’ll give you that, but we still have nonetheless, career politicians and those who are beholden to special interests," Thomas said.
Each candidate railed against Ivey’s policies during the COVID-19 pandemic, with Burdette proclaiming that “masking our kids was wrong. That’s a parent’s decision. Churches should’ve never been closed.”
Blanchard declared that she is “a no COVID mandate candidate”, and that “while [Ivey] shut down the churches, she shut down the businesses, and she shut down schools, and she masked everyone, she also allowed abortion clinics to stay open."
Odle accused Ivey of violating the First Amendment by shutting down churches and schools. Odle said that the position of State Health Director “must be changed to an appointment by the governor, confirmed by the Senate, and the governor must have the power to fire that individual if they go crazy wanting to quarantine us or put us in quarantine camps.”
Education
Each candidate was also asked to address three issues related to schools in the state. The first was the controversial Common Core educational program agenda that set standards for mathematics and English language arts taught to K-12 students, including the Numeracy Act, which requires hiring teachers to reteach even very experienced math teachers how to teach math. They were also asked about school mask mandates, and critical race theory or Social Emotional Learning (SEL).
“All of this junk needs to be totally removed," James said.
James added, “Common Core, critical race theory, all of these things just didn’t come out of nowhere. They’re by design, they’re intentional, and their intention is to undermine the nation, and the target is always our children.”
Thomas said, “Yes, strip Common Core, get rid of it once and for all.” He also said that his administration would work for what he describes as “real education reform”.
Thomas shared his school reform plan by contending, “By the time a kid finishes the eighth grade, we have a pretty good idea of what their academic career and trajectory is. If a kid is college-bound, then by all means let’s keep him on the college prep course, but if they’re not, let’s stop trying to teach them how to write a thesis paper, and let’s teach them how to earn a solid living. A skilled trade.
“Education has got to be number one. Education has got to be number one, not this year or next year, but until we get it right.”
Blanchard, who holds a university degree in mathematics, attacked the Numeracy Act by saying, “That just drops my jaw. To hire teachers to teach teachers how to teach Common Core math. I’m a mathematician, and that just doesn’t make sense to me.”
Closing statements
During the closing statements that followed nearly two hours of debate, James summed up the essence of the conservative Alabama beliefs shared by most of the Republican contenders on the stage Tuesday evening.
“There're two nations in history that were created in covenant with God: Israel and America. If we do not return to our Judeo-Christian foundation, all of this stuff doesn’t matter that we talk about.”
Odd man out
With one exception, all the candidates vying for victory in the May 24th Republican Primary checked most of the boxes on issues that concern Alabama conservative voters. The only exception was Montevallo’s Donald Trent Jones who wore John Lennon-style, amber-tinted eyeglasses, a beauty contest style white sash with the Alabama state flag and the word GOVERNOR printed across it, and a black jacket covered with colorful 1960s symbols, such as butterflies, stars, hearts, peace symbols, guitars, and other symbols of the hippie era. Jones introduced himself by proclaiming, “I am your Yoga Governor.” Other than suggesting that Alabama could help stop election day fraud by dipping the fingers of voters in indelible ink so that they couldn’t vote more than once, Jones managed to work his yoga philosophy into almost every one of his question responses and statements. When asked if that was his motivation for running for governor, Jones admitted that his candidacy was only a ploy to promote his not-for-profit yoga enterprise.
Tuesday evening’s debate was sponsored by Focus On America (FOA), a group that relies on volunteer support to help, according to their website, “promote individual liberty, family values, and the U.S. Constitution by actively participating in the political process”.
There have also been two candidate forums this year, one of them sponsored by 1819 News. You can watch the complete video below.
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email JimMcDade@1819News.com.
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