Gerald Dial Doesn't Care about Rural Alabama!
About "doing something meaningful" a good start would be to send Gerald Dial home. Kim Benefield will listen, work hard, and look out for rural Alabamians. Peace ... or War!... support from such groups as the Alabama Farmers Federation, the Economic Development Association of Alabama, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the Alabama Association of Regional Councils, the Association of County Commissions of Alabama, VOICES for Alabama Children and so many, many more.
About how the Senate version of the bill was co-sponsored by 16 senators from across the state, both Democrats and Republicans.Finally, HB 358 was called. Under the rules of the Senate that day, it had 10 minutes in which to pass.
But Sen. Gerald Dial of rural Clay County had a different idea: He held the floor for 10 minutes, and HB 358 was history.
All the miles, all the meetings, all the work, all the support -- everything went down the drain in 10 minutes, killed by a senator from one of the state's most rural counties, where median family income ranks 47 out of 67 counties.
Sen. Dial later put out a news release trying to defend his action. He implied that HB 358 would've hampered how local communities interact with the Alabama Development Office.
You have to wonder if he ever read the bill. The ADO wasn't even mentioned in it.
Maybe if he had done what other legislators did and attended one of the meetings, Sen. Dial would have understood what HB 358 was all about.Now we're again back to talking about rural Alabama -- rather than doing something meaningful.
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