District 07 GOP Senate Race (Montgomery, Huntsville: section 8, real estate, 2014)

[zenjenn]

Paul Sanford vs. David Blair.

Discuss.

[pyro4ik]

who?

[Reactionary]

Paul Sanford is the incumbent State Senator; David Blair is the Huntsville Board of Education member for District 2. I have voted for and campaigned for each of them, so this will be a tough decision. However, I tend to vote for the incumbent if they perform well - and both of them have represented me well.

Don't forget the Democratic Party primary: Mitchell Howie vs Rose Gaskin.

Meet the Democratic hopefuls for Alabama Senate District 7 covering Huntsville, northern Madison County | AL.com

[NoleFanHSV]

I was living in district 2. I don't know any of these candidates for district 7 since now I live I live in this district.

While education is a huge issue, so are the roads. The article talks about 1.6B required to fix the bottlenecks.

Anyone ever see where the gas tax goes to? Much of it doesn't even go to road projects. It goes to fish and wildlife funds and water way funds. Why? Then, the remaining isn't even distributed by population to the counties. Much of it is dispersed equally to all counties.

From al.gov:

[SIZE=3]Distribution
[/SIZE][SIZE=3][SIZE=3]Gasoline – 1.23% of the $.12 levy goes to the Conservation Department.
35% of 1% of the $.12 levy is credited to the Water Safety Fund and the Seafood Fund.
70% of 1% of the $.12 levy is credited to the Game and Fish Fund.
18% of 1% of the $.12 levy is credited to the Water Safety Fund and the Seafood Fund.
60% of the $.05 supplemental tax goes to the State Road and Bridge Fund.
Remaining 40% is distributed according to the 45%/55% pattern below.
The balance of the $.12 levy and the entire $.04 gasoline levy are distributed as follows:
(1) 45% to the State Road & Bridge Fund. The distributions to the Game and Fish Fund (70%) and the distributions to the Water Safety Fund and the Seafood Fund (18%) are deducted from the State Road and Bridge Fund.
(2) 55% to be shared by the counties and their municipalities as follows:
(a) 25% of the net tax proceeds are distributed equally to the 67 counties;
(b) 30% of the net tax proceeds are allocated to the 67 counties based on population.
1. 10% of the counties’ share received shall be allocated to each municipality therein, based on a population ratio.
2. Remaining portion to the county.
Motor Fuels – The $.13 and $.06 levies are distributed as follows:
$.13 to Department of Transportation
$.06 as follows:
.93% of net collections is allocated among the incorporated municipalities of the state and distributed as provided in Section 8-17-91(a) (2) c.
4.69% distributed equally among each of the 67 counties of the state monthly.
Balance paid to the State Treasury to be used for highway purposes by the State Department of Transportation.

[/SIZE][/SIZE]

[zenjenn]

This GOP primary is of particular interest to me because I feel Sanford has represented us well. I don't know much about Blair - except to say not impressed with some of the changes in HCS and he seems to be attacking Sanford for reasons I'm not yet persuaded are valid.

[Jan5555]

Does anyone know anything about Steve Livingston for state senate?

Steve Livingston for State Senate | Vote Steve Livingston

He is a Republican candidate for District 8 state senate.

[Reactionary]

Steve Livingston is a great guy and I'm confident that he would be a fine representative. Livingston is from Scottsboro and knows Huntsville (his late wife was a real estate developer). Livingston's company (gas stations / jobber) gives him insight into area business needs.

zenjenn - agree about Sanford; Paul doesn't get in the news much but he has established himself as an influential player (kind of like south HSV Representative Howard Sanderford - never in the news but nothing happens without his support).

I've been pleased with Blair's performance on the school board. Hiring Wardynski was a happy start, the AEA union despises him, and he tries to ensure that children get the best education possible - Blair has his priorities right. IMO Blair has been fairly restrained in criticizing Sanford (he has to think he could do a better job), but he knows that people like Sanford.

[LCTMadison]

Steve Livingston was married to Sandra Steele, of Enfinger-Steele. She just passed away a few weeks ago, she was a very special lady.

I don't know specifics about Steve as far as his platform, views, etc but he's a great guy and like has been stated, a businessman which should serve him well in Montgomery. I think he would do a good job in Montgomery

[NoleFanHSV]

Generally, if I don't know the incumbant or new guy too well, I usually vote the new guy in. I like change. I don't like good old boy politics which can happen with politicans who end up serving for years and years.

It seems like Blair is taking the stance that we need to make sure Redstone is still an important part for Government funding. Sandford wants to broaden the industrial economy of the area. Blair seems to have done a good job on HCS side of things. I do wonder why it took Battle to get the funds and if Sanford was around trying to get those funds too.

Looking at the Gaskin-Howie race, I don't have enough information to make an informed opinion. However, the few articles on al.com on both don't leave me impressed at all.

[catfishin2000]

Not to hijack, but this is a political thread so ...

Why has there been no mention or thread about Sarah Palin speaking tonight at New Hope's graduation? This is a big deal for the area.