Troy King, third from left, is flanked by Bradley Williams, far left, and Josh Speakman, far right, along with Brandin’ Iron employees at the restaurant Thursday evening. (Nick Griffin for The Tribune)
WEST POINT – West Point’s Brandin’ Iron Steakhouse welcomed a special guest Thursday night, when Republican candidate for Alabama attorney general, Troy King, had dinner and visited with his supporters.
King, who served as Alabama attorney general from 2004-2010, didn’t need a menu; he’s been to the Brandin’ Iron before and already had an idea of what he was getting.
“I’ve eaten here before, when I was attorney general I came here, and I usually get a ribeye,” King smiled. “I haven’t looked at the menu, but I’m sure I had ribeye when we were here before, so when they told me we were coming here, I remembered how good it was, so they didn’t have any trouble talking me into coming back.”
When asked if it was the food that keeps bringing him back to town, King mentioned the personal relationships he has in Cullman as well as one of his favorite local dishes.
“I have so many friends here. The answer to the food question is orange rolls. I love those but what really drew me back here is all the friends I have in Cullman. I first got into politics back in 2002, and I’ve been coming to Cullman ever since then and a lot of my friends aren’t here, anymore like Floyd and Dot Lawson who were just pioneers of the Republican Party up here, and folks like Wayne Walker, and I have so many friends in Cullman that I love coming here and I love connecting,” King said. “Guy Hunt was one of my best friends, and I spent a lot of time with him and spoke at his funeral, but I spent a lot of time with him in the last year when he was so sick.”
King said that one of his biggest motivators for running is seeing the recent dysfunction in Montgomery.
“It’s shameful to have had a governor that parents could not point to and tell their children ‘If you work hard and you study hard, you can grow up to be like the governor.’ But what parent in their right mind would’ve told their children that with all the stuff going on in Montgomery? Only in Montgomery would we put up with that, only in Montgomery would we cut a deal to let him (former governor Robert Bentley) go home to Tuscaloosa with no consequences if he would appoint you attorney general. It’s disgraceful.”
Shifting topics to the campaign, King talked about why he feels it’s important for a Republican to sit in the attorney general’s office.
“My message to Republican voters who vote in the primary is that it’s time to elect Republicans. The guy I’m running against is a nice guy but he’s not a Republican. He had an Obama bumper sticker in 2008. Nobody that had an Obama sticker in 2008 is a Trump Republican in 2018, I don’t care what they say on their TV commercials,” King said. “He was appointed by Don Siegelman, a Democrat, he ran as a Democrat, he gave money to Democrats, he was on the ballot with Democrats. He gave money that went to Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama. This guy is not a Republican, and the only way the Democrats have a chance of taking the attorney general’s office is if there’s two Democrats on the ballot in November. I’m going to make sure there’s a Republican and a Democrat on the ballot. I’m the Republican and he is not.”
King said he sees a disconnect between politicians and the public.
“One of the real concerns I have is that politics is losing touch with the people. Facebook is great, but it doesn’t take the place of a handshake, it doesn’t take the place of looking somebody in the eye and talking to them and listening to what they say. So, these are really, really important events, the opportunity to come and connect directly with the people and to help them understand that Montgomery is very disconnected,” King said. “We’ve got to reconnect it. The theme of our campaign is that it’s time to take Alabama back. Back from the corruption, back from the crime, back from the establishment that thinks they can buy and sell politicians, and this is how we do it, with a popular uprising of people that are fed up to here with the stuff that has been going on in Montgomery.”
King will face off against incumbent Steve Marshall in the July 17 run-off election.
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