Alabama State Auditor Jim Zeigler told WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show” that he has no plans as of right now to run for higher office.
This seems like a mistake on his part.
The guy is a bit of a kook. As a politician, he consistently finds himself in the middle of controversial issues in Alabama by nakedly pandering to the populist movement of the moment. And he is good at it.
When asked a question about what he would do with Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s $1,000 Universal Basic Income, Zeigler went after the toll issue in Mobile.
He said Friday, “$1,000, I would still be $80 short of the annual toll to cross Mobile Bay. It’s going to cost $1,080 per car for people to go back and forth on interstate 10, supposed to be an interstate, a freeway, so I’d have to save that money and get 80 more to go with the 1000 and that would pay my years’ worth of tolls per car.”
Most respondents answered with talk of new cars, lake houses, “hookers and blow,” but Zeigler was on message.
It is that issue that has Zeigler in the news again.
Zeigler is up on radio stations across the state running commercials imploring people to call Governor Kay Ivey to demand she does something to stop this toll.
That could be having some impact.
Here's some news: Gov. Kay Ivey has called a meeting of the Alabama Toll Road, Bridge & Tunnel Authority to discuss the latest plans for the I-10 Bayway in Mobile.
A public meeting is set for Sept 17 at the State Capitol.
Via @ALDailyNews https://t.co/cutvAF9y4g #alpolitics
— Todd Stacy (@toddcstacy) August 2, 2019
Zeigler is also running a Facebook page that has accumulated over 40,000 likes in three months.
The 40,000+ people in the group are likely dialed into what is going on in their community and state. They are voters.
Those voters could be activated for an election. Should he run for Senate? What about the race for Alabama’s 1st Congressional District?
His anti-toll activism is something that will motivate people even more if the tolls actually happen on the Mobile Bay bridge and other roads in the area.
Zeigler noted later in the interview, “The next one could be I-565, or it could be the new bridge over the Tennessee River towards Decatur, it could be Highway 280.”
He gets what people are talking about.
If Zeigler is leading this fight, he can capitalize.
This is not to say that I think Zeigler would/should/could win any of these seats. But I truly believe he could be a player in these elections because he understands the same thing as President Donald Trump: Things that bother people motivate them. And this toll talk is bothering people.
Listen:
Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 am weekdays on WVNN.
