TUSCALOOSA — U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) served as the keynote speaker for the Tuscaloosa Rivermarket on Monday at the "Earn Local, Keep Local" Summit.
The summit, hosted by Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox, included 130 local community political leaders from across the state. Maddox emphasized the need for reforming the Simplified Sellers Use Tax, which he described as a threat to large cities across Alabama.
In his speech, Tuberville, who is running for governor of Alabama, outlined his plan to run the state like a football coach, the job he had for nearly 40 years before entering the political arena. He said he intended to be the "head recruiter" and hire good assistants to help grow and improve the state.
"When I become governor, it's going to be kind of like being a football coach," Tuberville outlined. "You're only as good as the people around you who know what to do, whether it's the kicking game, offense, defensive, offensive line or wide receivers, it is no different in any business or in state government. You have got to have good people in the positions that understand what they're doing who can build and work and pass things along to all the cities, municipalities, all the mayors across the state, we have got to do it together."
"[W]hat I'm looking forward to is putting good people in positions who understand what they're doing and working with people all across this state to make things better," he added.
Tuberville noted he had been in almost every high school in the state and had seen the problems that needed to be addressed. He likened running the state to "coaching in the SEC" when it comes to recruiting manufacturing.
"It's so important that we understand that we have got a chance to get people to come to the state of Alabama," he stated. "But I'm going to tell you, it's like coaching the SEC. We're going to have to take on Georgia, we're going to take on Florida, we're going to have to take on Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana because they're all going to be doing the same thing we're doing. They're going to be recruiting. I'm going to be the head recruiter. We're going to get manufacturing to come to our state."
In a later press gaggle, Tuberville said his connections would make him a good governor, much like with coaching.
"Politics, and I found out it's not much different than coaching. You've got to get along with people, you've got to communicate with people, you've got to make a deal with people, you've got to be able to work with other people," he said. "And again, in politics, I would say at least 50% of people are lawyers. I didn't work with a lot of lawyers in coaching, but coming back and being the CEO of a state, you do what you did in coaching. You set up your coaching staff, you know the people that are going to work for you. But people that know what they're doing."
"If I know more of what anybody is doing on the state level or the federal level, I've hired the wrong people," he added, saying he would hire people who loved the state and understood what they were doing and willing to do it.
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