Well, I didn’t think that anyone could have a worse week politically than Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after his disastrous visit to the White House.
I was wrong. Gov. Meemaw outdid Zelenskyy.
To start the week, she rescinded an invitation to the large and influential Alabama Federation of Republican Women (AFRW) to dine at the governor’s mansion merely because they indicated that they would take a vote resisting her gutting of the State Board of Veterans Affairs (SBVA) via Ivey-devised SB 67. That brilliant political move seemed to merely continue her retaliation for the SBVA’s support of the popular Commissioner of Veterans Affairs Admiral Kent Davis last fall. Ivey’s apparent pettiness prompted Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth to once again step in and save face for the Republican Party by hosting an alternate event for the great ladies of AFRW.
If that were not enough, later in the week Attorney General Steve Marshall blasted Ivey, noting that he was “astonished” and “bewildered” at Ivey’s commutation of a death row inmate’s sentence without even the professional courtesy of talking to him, after his office spent decades on the case.
These embarrassing moments came on the heels of revelations that Ivey hasn’t exactly been earning the salary that taxpayers pay her, as Mobile-based Lagniappe News revealed that her schedule reveals mostly ceremonial duties, limited substantive accomplishments, and very few workdays that extend beyond 3 p.m.
As Joey Clark once eloquently asked, who is actually calling the shots on Goat Hill? Is it Ivey and her apparently spiteful personality that seems to be affected by the decline of age? Or are her lapses in communication savvy and her horrible decisions regarding veterans in Alabama driven by young staffers and other unelected advisors? Are there DEI hires in her office calling the shots?
Who knows, but it apparently ain’t fully that GINO Kay Ivey.
Meanwhile, Ivey’s war on Alabama’s cherished military veterans continues unabated, all out of apparently needless retaliation for events that happened months ago, acts that will most likely lead Alabama government into yet another round of embarrassing litigation and intervention by the federal government . . . and all dangerously at a time when Alabama is trying to land the headquarters for the new U.S. Space Command by wooing military and political leaders in D.C.
As recently as two years ago, I would have thought the following unthinkable: Ivey should resign and turn over the reins of the executive branch to Ainsworth before more damage to the state’s reputation is done.
Now, with the historic legacies of her disastrous response to the COVID debacle (remember her angrily blaming the “unvaccinated” for all of our problems?), her apparent bullying of legislators to support her decidedly non-DOGE-like gas tax, her continued alienation of the large Alabama veteran community, her repeated communication failures, and the increasing questions about her health, it is time to think the thinkable: Ivey needs to step down, and unfortunately it ain’t that much of a high step down for her to do so.
There is a storm coming, Alabama … RLTW!
A version of this piece was presented on Joey Clark's radio show News and Views.
Troy Carico is both a former infantry enlisted soldier (11B) and infantry officer with branch qualifications including counterintelligence (35E) and military intelligence (35D). He served with distinction in the U.S. Army for more than 22 years, and is highly decorated and service connected disabled. He also has prior service as a civilian intelligence officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency Great Skills Program and has served in numerous clandestine assignments throughout the world.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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