Photo: l-r, Donnis Leeth, new mayor of Colony; Nancy Worley, chair of the Alabama Democratic Party; Ron Crumpton,candidate for U.S. Senate; Karen Johnson, with the Cullman County Democrats; Roger Duke, with the North Central Alabama Young Democrats; Ernestine Linton, with the Cullman County Democrats; and Josh Coleman, president of the North Central Alabama Young Democrats
CULLMAN – it appears that Donald Trump has awoken even the most dormant of dragons; the Cullman County Democratic Party Campaign Headquarters (HQ) is open for business, officially kicking off today at 11 a.m. The Cullman County Democrats, in conjunction with the North Central Alabama Young Democrats (NCAYD), are excited about this election and see it as their opportunity to establish a foothold in Cullman County with an influx of passionate voters who, in their view, will make this county blue if enough people show up to vote.
James Fields, former Alabama State Representative and the first African American to be a candidate for elective office in Cullman County, said, “This day will be remembered as the day that Democrats stood up as one voice,” as part of his opening invocation. Fields was not the only one to speak at the event. Nancy Worley, state chair of the Democratic Party; candidate for U.S. Senate Ron Crumpton; Josh Coleman, president of NCAYD and vice president of programs for the Alabama Young Democrats; Bob Barker, representative of Forward Alabama; and Shirley A. Mitchell, representative for the Walker County Democrats, all spoke this afternoon to a crowd of approximately 60 people.
The first speaker of the afternoon was Worley. “Isn’t it nice to have all of these young, energetic Democrats?” This was met with deafening cheers from those in attendance as the state chair stressed the importance of having energetic county parties all over the state of Alabama, setting her goal of turning Alabama purple and later blue. “Cullman is a great place to start; you have had a history of electing Democrats; you have had some wonderful people come from this county and they have served us so well in state and national government. They have served us with the greatness expected from this county,” stated Worley.
She then shifted the discussion to the Republican Party. “They’re not looking out for us. They’re looking out for those rich folks, giant corporations; they do not care about working people,” she said, before she then made her case for Hillary Clinton. “Ladies and gentlemen, listen very carefully to (Donald Trump) because, quite frankly, all of us are in danger. If you’re a senior citizen, your social security and Medicare are in danger. If you’re a working man or woman, he may outsource your job or even do away with the minimum wage. If you’re a young person, he has absolutely no plans for further education,” she said, criticizing Trump’s controversial statements and business practices.
“I want you to vote for Democrats because it’s going to be Democrats that are going to look after you,” continued Worley as she then shifted to reasons why one would consider voting for a Democrat. “We believe in keeping our jobs here. We believe in giving Americans good paying jobs and increasing the minimum wage. We support a strong economy and working people.”
Labor Day is this Monday and to many it’s a free day from work; however, the Worley gave the crowd a brief history lesson. “Let us not forget the working men and women who banded together to improve the lives of other working people and the labor allies of the Democratic Party.”
Worley concluded, “We have a candidate that’s ready to be president on her first day in office. We have a person that’s got great experience and we have someone who will be a great leader for this country. I issue you this challenge, Cullman County, let’s turn this county solidly blue like it used to be.”
The next speaker, Barker, was shocked at the number of people in attendance as he made his case for Democrats across the state to start to get organized. “We have to give people hope to run. We have to get folks elected to county office, county commission, city council, House, Senate so that we can field strong candidates at a statewide level,” stated Barker in his plea for voters to break the Alabama Republican supermajority. “Doing what you’re doing here today and working with other parties is paramount,” concluded Barker.
“Isn’t this (election) the craziest thing that you’ve seen in your life?” asked Crumpton as he began to speak. He then started off by stating just how un-Republican Donald Trump is. “He insulted a Gold Star Mother. He tore down a decorated war hero, regardless of what I think of John McCain politically, McCain was shot down in Vietnam. He spent four-and-a-half years in Hanoi Hilton and had the opportunity to leave but he chose to stay with the men there; to me, that’s a war hero. Not to mention the fact that Donald Trump has virtually crawled into bed with the Kremlin… These are things that would normally kill any Republican candidate.”
Crumpton then went on to describe what he calls “Alabama’s buyer remorse” with state Republican leaders. “Mike Hubbard was just convicted of 12 counts of public corruption, you’ve got (Governor) Robert Bentley who is under investigation, and then you have Roy Moore who was just removed from the bench and is awaiting trial to see if it is permanent… Even Republicans in the deep-red state of Alabama are having problems with their own party.” Crumpton continued, “Trump is driving independents and moderate Republicans to Hillary by the bus load. Moderate Republicans are just as mad at the ones that are in there, the Richard Shelbys, the Jeff Sessions, the ones that are either standing up for Trump or not saying anything about it.”
Crumpton went on to state his position on education spending and the changes that he will bring to D.C. if elected. “Everything that we want for our nation and our state is in educating our children. Unfortunately, we live in a country that has people like Richard Shelby that make their careers talking about what they can do for our children and grandchildren to only then cut funding to education. Under my plan, we would invest $90 billion a year over the next 10 years in education; $65 billion would go to repairing and replacing our dilapidated schools, most of which were built for the baby boomers, that are not adequate today. The other $25 billion would go to making sure that our teachers have the technology and supplies that they need to teach our children. All over this nation there are children that are using computers that are more than 10 years old; there are schools with inadequate Wi-Fi access. What business in this nation could survive without proper computer and internet access? The answer is none; yet, we expect our teachers to teach our children the skills of the future using the tools of the past and that just doesn’t work.”
He continued, “There was a time that we were number one in education. We were the first to mandate that all of our children go to school and because of that, we were the innovators. If you bought a car anywhere in the world, it was an American car. If you bought a TV or radio, it was American.” Crumpton then connected what cutting education does to the American economy as a whole. “Over time, our share of the global market has fallen. If you look at what we have invested in education and our share of the global market, in comparison of then to now, there is a correlation.”
Beyond education, Crumpton discussed what he feels is an immediate threat towards Social Security from our current Senator. “Richard Shelby has advocated for turning Social Security into a voucher system; he’s voted to raise (the retirement) age to 70… this state has one of the poorest senior communities in the nation,” he said, citing a study that places Alabama seventh for seniors living in poverty and an AARP study that concludes that Alabama has the third hungriest senior population in the U.S.
“The last thing that Alabama needs is a Senator that’s going to make lives worse for those people,” said Crumpton as he laid out his plan for Social Security, “We (must) remove the cap on FICO taxes which would allow Social Security to remain solvent for at least the next 60 years while also increasing benefits by as much as half. That would help the people of Alabama”
Not only does Alabama have a problem with seniors in poverty, Crumpton says, the state as a whole is impoverished. “Forty-five percent of single parents are living in poverty; we have over 390,000 children who need food stamps… and Richard Shelby has voted to reduce food stamps. He has also voted time and time again to not raise the minimum wage. Alabama is fourth in low-wage jobs (jobs that pay minimum or just above minimum wage) and our Senator wants to make that problem even worse.”
Continuing on the issue of poverty, Crumpton cited Shelby’s position on a flat tax bill that Shelby sponsors, “He’s been pushing the same piece of legalization since the 1990s. Under this legislation, economists have said that it would provide an average tax break of $200,000 for the wealthiest one percent and about $58,000 in tax breaks to the next top four richest percent. Everyone else (95 percent of Americans) would see their taxes go up.”
Crumpton concluded with one last go at Senator Shelby and one last pitch for his candidacy. “He says that he goes to all of Alabama’s 67 counties at least once a year. That’s good. Senators should visit every county, but to go back to Washington and do absolutely nothing about the problems that you saw while you were there… you’re just driving around. You’re not doing anything for the people of Alabama. It’s time that Alabama elect a progressive Senator who will work for the people of Alabama. Someone who will be true, someone who will work for you. It’s time that we end Richard Shelby’s 30-year reign in Washington.”
Crumpton made the case that he can win and become Alabama’s next Senator. “Democrats have the perfect storm going on in this state and it’s something the Democrats need to take advantage of. Democrats have got to get out there and work. It’s that simple. Democrats can win in November; I’m the Democrat to beat Richard Shelby.”
Coleman stood up, representing NCYAD and the Hilary Clinton campaign “We are making phone calls for her as well as down ticket Democrats. We are also working on voter registration drives and phone calls to swing states including Florida and Georgia. We want to bring that push, the excitement that we have for Secretary Clinton into Alabama to support Democrats across the state.”
Mitchell says she is looking forward to the Walker County Democratic Party’s opening of a campaign HQ sometime in the next month in their effort to “fire up voters” because “now is the time to make a change, now is the time for us to get our county back in order, now is the time to work together, now is the time to show that (the Democratic Party) cares about the people.” Her enthusiasm was rich and contagious, but will it be enough to persuade voters?
Said Mitchell, “We are not going to stop trying to tell people to get fired up, to register to vote or to go vote.” Chants of “We’re fired up and ready to go!” erupted in the building. She concluded, “Democrats can win in November. We have to reach out to everybody; start with your family, your church, your neighbors, your friends and get them fired up.”
Ernestine Linton, co-chair of the Cullman County Democrats, commended Roger Duke of NCAYD for his efforts in getting this event planned.
“Not only is this the kickoff for our headquarters, but it’s also a kickoff for the party. We are going to bring this county party back to life,” said Duke, who believes the Cullman County Democratic Party is starting to be shaped by a new generation. He continued, “It’s time to get off of the sidelines; it’s time to wake up and get people in office. We have got to start working, not only on current races, but for 2018,” driving the crowd into a frenzy of cheer and applause. He concluded saying, “We are the future of this party. We need help. We need funding. We need people like you to help us through donations so we can continue doing stuff like this.”
If you are interested in volunteering for the Cullman County Democratic Party, please stop by their new HQ at 415 Second Ave. SW in Cullman. They need volunteers for voter registration booths, the fair parade, fair booth and phone callers. The next party meeting will be Saturday, Sept. 10, and the next NCAYD meeting will be Monday, Sept. 12. Both are being held at the new HQ.
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