ForestPAC, the political action committee of the Alabama forestry association, has come up in several conversations I’ve had with political insiders in Montgomery recently. Tom Saunders and his government relations crew are getting more active and closely aligning themselves with legislative leadership (i.e. Mike & Del). They’re making efforts to puff up their PAC and I expect them to have an increased role in races throughout the state moving forward.
Charlie Graddick just received ForestPAC’s endorsement in the Supreme Court Chief Justice race. The ForestPAC press release announcing the endorsement is below along with a cool old clip from Charlie Graddick’s gubernatorial campaign.
ForestPAC, the Political Action Committee of the Alabama Forestry Association has endorsed Mobile County Circuit Judge Charlie Graddick for Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.
Graddick, a familiar name to those of us who are over 40, first entered state politics as Attorney General in 1978. When most people think of Charlie they will recall his “tough on crime” stance and the “Jail House Door” commercials he ran during that race.
Indeed Graddick was tough on crime, having cut his teeth prosecuting often dangerous and violent criminals as Mobile County District Attorney before being elected AG.
Charlie’s tough on crime image, epitomized by his Jail House Door ad, made him a very popular Attorney General. Popular enough that he won the Democratic nomination for Governor in 1986, only to have a 5-member panel selected by the Democratic Party “handpick” his opponent as nominee in a dispute over crossover voting that year. This brazen action by the Democrats, couple with Charlie’s popularity, resulted in the election of Guy Hunt, the first Republican Governor elected in Alabama since Reconstruction.
It was Charlie’s election, and the subsequent denial of his win in the Democrat runoff, that brought conservative politics and the Republican Party to prominence in Alabama 26 years ago, and the state has not looked back since! To learn more about the man we enthusiastically support for Chief Justice of the
Alabama Supreme Court, click here.
