The 'Punch' Goes Unpunished

The Montgomery Advertiser is reporting that the Senate Ethics Committee voted to TAKE NO ACTION against Sen. Charles Bishop for punching Sen. Lowell Barron on the last day of the 2007 legislative session.

I find this lack of condemnation repulsive, insulting and embarrassing for the state. What kind of message does that send to companies looking to locate here? What does it say to the kids who have been expelled from regular school and made to attend 'alternative prison school' because of a playground scuffle? What does it say to the citizen's of this state? What does it say to the folks in jail or prison for assault?

It says that those who make the rules get to live by a different set than the ones they make to govern us peasants.

Since it apparently ok, legal, condoned and rewarded (trophy, standing ovation for Bishop) I wonder when all of our elected officials will line up and let the citizen's have a go? If anybody has the right to punch our do-nothing-get-a-big-pay-increase-act-like-WWF-wrestlers-with-a-camera
-rolling-joke-of-a-legislative-body then it is the citizen's of this state.

Who's first?

Governor Riley STRICKEN with Aristocracy Syndrome

Danny over at Doc's Political Parlor is reporting that Governor Riley wants the assault on the Senate floor forgotten. Apparently Gov. Riley has succumbed to the condition known as 'aristocracy syndrome'. Little is known about this condition, in which elected officials become convinced that they are entitled to live by a different set of rules than the ones they impose on the rest of us. There is no cure.



I am no fan of either Bishop or Barron so I have no dog in this fight. But violence against another person is not something that should be forgotten. It should be denounced....very forcefully it should be denounced and Senator Bishop should face very severe consequences for his actions.

Alternative School For Senator Charles Bishop

By PHILLIP RAWLS
Associated Press Writer



MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- The Alabama Senate blow seen around the world has resulted in a complaint to the Senate Ethics Committee over the conduct of Sen. Charles Bishop, who threw the punch, but Bishop figures there won't be enough votes to expel him.

The Ethics Committee, which hopes to get organized this week, could take any kind of disciplinary action ranging from a warning to recommending Bishop's expulsion.

Bishop, R-Jasper, said Monday some members of the Senate's Democratic majority would like to expel him or force him to quit over hitting one of its leaders, Sen. Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe.

"That group would like to see me gone, no doubt about that," Bishop, 69, said in an interview.

But he said he plans to file his own ethics complaint accusing Barron of calling him a "son of a bitch" before the blow. He said he had "absolute evidence" to back up the claim.

Barron did not immediately return telephone messages left on his cell phone and at his business and legislative offices Monday. An aide said the 65-year-old senator was traveling and unavailable for comment.

Bishop hit Barron with a fist to the head during a heated exchange at Barron's desk on Thursday, the final day of the 2007 session. The blow, captured by Alabama Public Television, quickly became one of the most popular videos in the world, showing up on news media Web sites, on international television and on YouTube.

After the blow Thursday, Barron and four other senators filed the complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee. On Monday, an Ethics Committee member, Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, said he forwarded the complaint to Bishop, who has 15 days to respond.

The committee, which has not yet met, hopes to get together this week to elect a presiding officer and decide how to proceed, said another member, Sen. Kim Benefield, D-Woodland. Benefield said any comment beyond that would be inappropriate until the committee reviews the complaint.

Beason said he hopes all the members will address the complaint with an open mind and won't let it linger.

"It's best to go ahead and get things like this out of the way," he said.

Under the Senate's rules and the Alabama Constitution, the committee can do anything from nothing to issuing a warning to recommending the Senate take more drastic action, including voting to expel Bishop, committee member Zeb Little, D-Cullman, said Monday.

Doing nothing or issuing a warning would require the vote of three of the five members. Recommending the Senate do anything stronger, including expulsion, would take four votes.

Bishop said he doesn't expect an expulsion recommendation because the Senate's Democratic majority only has three members on the Ethics Committee and the minority, of which he's part, has two members.

If he is expelled, Bishop said, "it will be enjoyable to go into their districts and raise money and tell the people what kind of senator they've got."
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Here is what I think. When Alabama school children get into a fight at school...no matter what the reason, the police are called, the kids are carted off to juvenile hall...in handcuffs, dragged through court, suspended, face expulsion, and more often than not they are forced into 'alternative school' which is a fancy way of saying 'prison school'. Quite frankly, if our elected officials are going to act like children settling a score at recess then they should be treated accordingly. After all, 'what kind of message are we sending to the children' to allow the folks who passed the laws that send kids to jail for striking another person to be exempt from those same laws?

Upside the Head

The entire country is still laughing at us this morning over the WWF style smackdown on the Alabama Senate floor yesterday. I hear we even made The Daily Show last night.

Splendid!

Pretty much every paper in the state is carrying some version of this story. The Birmingham News has Senator Hank Sanders, who has long had many problems and run-ins with Senator Charles Bishop, credited with the funniest quote in reference to the fight that I have heard so far.

Veteran senators said they never before had seen a senator hit another senator on the floor. "I have been down here 23 years. There have been many heated moments. But I don't know of a moment where a senator has hit another senator upside the head," said Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma.

I don't know exactly why that line about 'upside the head" makes me giggle hysterically....but it does. Perhaps because I have been around Senator Sanders some and I know it came out more like, "upsite ta haid" or perhaps because it is a term I haven't used or heard since I was in fourth grade. Either way...every time I read it, it does me in.

However, Bishops comments make me want to regurgitate the contents of my stomach.

....Bishop walked off the floor without senators barring him. "Yes, I'm going to walk out of here this afternoon. I don't want my colleagues voting on this," Bishop told other senators.

"But I can tell you, when I come back, and you call me a son of a ..., then yes, I might whup you again. I'm not going to lie to you. And I would hope that you would, if you've got any gumption or you have any respect for your mother.

It's pretty hysterical that this goon would claim that those around him lack gumption when clearly, that isn't the case. I promise to call Senator Bishop a son of a bitch next time I am within ear shot to see if I can get him to hit me 'upside the head'. I just cannot resist such temptation.

I do hope that charges are filed against Senator Bishop. He's a real piece of shit....one of those old, redneck, roughneck, Southern, racist dinosaurs that make this state look worse than we actually are.....which is extraordinarily hard to do. I sincerely wish we had recall and referendum so he could be forced out of office before his term is up. As I undersand it, if 24 Senators get together they can expel him for the remainder of his term.

This will be the main story on my favorite news show For the Record at 7 pm on Alabama Public Television. FTR was the only news organization in the state to capture video of the sparring match. Bless'em for that and tune in tonight at 7 pm if you are in Bama. Tim Lennox is bound to make us all howl with his commentary. For those of you unfortunate enough to live outside of Alabama...I'll post the FTR video here as soon as it is available.

Hell, That's the Most Action We've Seen All Session!!!

AP Story

Video of the Brawl

The Alabama Senate has been deadlocked all year long...refusing to pass almost any legislation...after voting themselves a 62% pay increase. I worked on the Compassionate Care Act again this year, only to have to do it again next year because of their inaction. It was so boring in Alabama politics this year that even hardcore junkies like me lost interest.

Then, today, on the last day of the "Do Nothing Senate Session", Senator Charles Bishop (R (big surprise huh?) Jasper) punched and knocked down Senator Lowell Barron (D- Fyffe) because he claims Barron called him a son of a bitch.

Hell, that's the most action we've seen all year. What a shame!

Senator Barron denies calling Bishop a son of a bitch or that he did anyting provocative. If he did it then he is wrong as well...but, not so wrong that he deserved to be punched and knocked down. You know....sticks and stones and all that.

I have to say that Senator Bishop is a son of a bitch (at the very least) in my book. He is racist, has reputed ties to the klan, and is what I consider a complete embarassment to the state of Alabama. The next time I am in within earshot of him I plan to call him a SON OF A BITCH to see if he will take a swing at me. I'll also ask him if he has stopped beating his wife yet.

It's people like Senator Bishop, who I am sure all the voters who voted for him expected to act like an adult, that make people and foreign investors write Alabama off as a redneck backwater.

What a way to show leadership.

I hope that Barron presses criminal charges. After all, they pass the laws that put regular people in jail for assault.