(Video Above: Gov. Bentley says he wants to be “the best governor (Alabama) has ever had.)
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley received an eye-popping 89 percent of the vote in last week’s Republican primary, and should coast do victory against his Democratic opponent in the fall. But although the roughly $3 million in his campaign account suggests Bentley’s not taking anything for granted, it sounds like he already has at least one lofty goal for his second term.
“I want to be the best governor this state’s ever had,” Bentley said bluntly in a video just released by the Republican Governors Association.
The governor cited his handling of the dire financial situation he was confronted with when he came into office as an example of the approach that he’s taken to get Alabama back on track.
“We’ve had some very tough times,” Bentley conceded. “In fact, when I came into office, we had nothing — all the stimulus funds were gone, all the money in our rainy day funds had been borrowed out. We basically were broke as a state. We chose not to raise taxes. We chose to make government more efficient, and by doing that we have saved a billion dollars annually for the people of our state.”
Bentley said that Alabama Republicans’ brand of small government conservatism has been the driving force in attracting companies to the state, including high-profile economic development successes like Airbus and Remington.
“Companies come to our state because of the environment that we’ve created,” he explained. “We’re a very pro-business state — low taxes, low cost of energy, a good working environment and, most importantly, workforce training… That’s why companies leave states like New York and come to Alabama. We have the automobile industry, we have the aerospace industry. In Huntsville we produce rockets. We produce rockets that shoot down rockets. We have Airbus in Mobile. We have steel mills. We’re busy working in Alabama and we’re busy recruiting jobs and trying to help the people of our state. I don’t believe the people want a handout for government. We’re not for that. We believe that you help poverty by educating the people and giving them the opportunity to work.”
But as optimistic as Bentley was about the approach he and his Republican colleagues are taking on the state level, he was equally pessimistic about what he’s seeing come out of the nation’s capital.
“Washington has forgotten where they came from. I think they forget the people that sent them there,” he said. “People in Washington need to go back to where I go every day, and that’s to visit the people of the state. They forget that it’s ordinary men and women out there that are working hard every day that sent them to Washington. If you forget about the people that sent you there, then you really ought not be serving. The answers obviously are not coming from Washington. The answers to help the people are coming from the states.”
Do you think Bentley has a chance to reach his goal of being remembered as “the best governor this state’s ever had”? Let us know in the comment section below or by tweeting @YHPolitics.
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