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Tuesday, State Rep. Mike Holmes (R-Wetumpka) announced that he was endorsing Tim James for governor.

Holmes has been representing Elmore County, Alabama District 31, since 2014.

In a press release, the state representative said James was the candidate who best reflected his conservative values.

“Over the past eight years, I have worked hard to serve the people of my House district with a strong focus on grassroots, conservative State Government,” Holmes said. “It has proven to be a constant ongoing battle for lower state taxes, less government control in our lives, and preservation of our God-given, and Constitutional rights. During this battle, I have learned the importance of strong leadership. I firmly believe that Tim James has proven that he is the best-equipped candidate in the race for Governor of Alabama.”

Holmes said that his conversations with James convinced him to make the endorsement.

“In the past few months, I have had the opportunity to discuss with Tim James the challenges and opportunities our great State is facing,” he explained. “He has provided me with straightforward and honest answers and a strong, thorough outline of his action plan to lead our state into a better tomorrow. Alabama is poised and ready… it’s time to focus on our future.”

He then concluded that he was proud to support James for governor.

“I am honored to endorse Tim James for Governor of the great State of Alabama!” he continued. “As a proven business leader, Tim will bring an understanding of business culture to State leadership. He understands the pressure of being a business owner. Tim understands that there are issues in education that go beyond money. Alabama has been consistently rated at the bottom in K-12 education. It’s time to stop throwing money at this problem and make real changes, not excuses. Tim James will fight for our Christian values.”

James said he was glad to receive the endorsement from a trusted conservative in the Yellowhammer State.

“It is an honor to receive the endorsement of a constitutional conservative like Mike Holmes, who has a proven voting record and a history of putting Alabama first,” James said.

It is an honor to receive the endorsement of a constitutional conservative like Mike Holmes, who has a proven voting record and a history of putting Alabama first.

Release: https://t.co/lWDcuWHazT#timjamesgovernor #fightback #protectalabama #alpolitics #algop pic.twitter.com/wKlzWxbxqD

— Tim James (@TimJamesGov) April 19, 2022

Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee

Thursday, the Alabama Farmers Federation (ALFA) released its 10th round of endorsements for candidates seeking election to the state legislature.

ALFA, the state’s largest agricultural advocacy organization, utilizes its political action committee, FarmPAC, in selecting its preferred candidates seeking public office.

The following candidates now hold an official endorsement from FarmPAC: 

Additionally, the federation announced its endorsement of Elmore County Commission chairman Troy Stubbs, who is seeking election to the Alabama House of Representatives, District 31. The seat is currently held by retiring State Rep. Mike Holmes (R-Wetumpka).

In October, ALFA rolled out its first and second slate of legislative endorsements, followed by its third, fourth and fifth strings of endorsements in November. The federation in December announced its sixth, seventh and eighth round of endorsements. ALFA earlier this month made public its ninth round of legislative endorsements.

ALFA in September of last year officially endorsed its preferred slate of candidates seeking election to federal and statewide offices.

Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL

MONTGOMERY — The Alabama House Judiciary Committee voted down Rep. Juandalynn Givan’s (D-Birmingham) HB 8, a bill that would amend the Memorial Preservation Act of 2017.

The Act prohibits the removal and alteration of monuments and buildings more than 40 years old that are on public property.

The committee considered a substituted version of the bill introduced by Givan that she viewed as a “reasonable compromise” that would allow localities the flexibility to remove unwanted monuments while preserving the monuments following relocation. Her substitute would have allowed municipalities to remove monuments erected less than 50 years ago; monuments older than 50 years would require a designated statewide committee’s approval in order to be removed by a municipality.

An official from the Department of Archives and History voiced support for the substitute version of the bill. An original version of the bill would have repealed the Memorial Preservation Act, however Givan said she attempted through the substitute to balance the interests of local control and preserving history.

In a 4-6 roll call vote, the committee rejected a motion to give the substituted version of the bill a favorable report; HB 8 is likely dead for the session. (more…)

A report from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) published recently noted that 12 confederate symbols that had been publicly displayed in Alabama were removed in the last year.

“2020 was a transformative year for the Confederate symbols movement. Over the course of seven months, more symbols of hate were removed from public property than in the preceding four years combined,” SPLC chief of staff Lecia Brooks said in a statement.

SPLC, based in Montgomery, tracks the status of Confederate markers and monuments and urges local officials to remove them.
(more…)

On Monday, State Rep. Mike Holmes (R-Wetumpka) announced he would back legislation that would strengthen the existing Alabama Memorial Preservation Act.

The controversial law, which was passed in 2017, protects “monuments, markers, and other historical remembrances from removal, relocation, and destruction.”

During an appearance on Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5’s “The Jeff Poor Show,” the Elmore County Republican lawmaker argued those monuments were worthy of protection and said those that take offense to them could “ignore them.”

(more…)

State Rep. Arnold Mooney’s (R-Indian Springs) campaign for the U.S. Senate has received an endorsement from 10 of his colleagues in the state legislature with less than two weeks to go before the primary election.

The endorsers include many of the most conservative members in the Alabama statehouse, like State Rep. Mike Holmes from the Montgomery area and State Rep. Tommy Hanes from Northeast Alabama.

The state-level endorsements fall in line with the prominent national conservatives who have endorsed Mooney previously. Conservative Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rand Paul (R-KY), along with conservative television host Mark Levin, and Alabama’s own Rep. Mo Brooks (AL-05) are among those who have thrown their support behind Mooney.
(more…)

I have never been a fan of the FAIR Tax idea on the federal level, and it seems to be like an even worse policy on the state level.

Sure, I want a simpler tax policy and would gladly take the FAIR Tax over the tiered system we have in place right now, but only because it isn’t as bad of a system.

The FAIR Tax includes a “prebate,” which is designed to keep people who aren’t paying taxes now from paying taxes if this passes. That doesn’t sound very “fair” to me. It sounds like, and is, a vote-buying scheme. (more…)

State Rep. Mike Holmes (R-Wetumpka) on Monday announced that he has prefiled legislation for the 2020 regular session that would eliminate Alabama’s traditional income tax and sales tax system and replace it with a “FAIR Tax” system based on consumption.

Holmes’ bill, known as the “Alabama Economic Freedom Act,” would repeal current state income and state, county and municipal sales tax levies, replacing all with a straightforward 8.03% tax rate on every purchase of new products and services.  The new tax would be collected by merchants at the point of sale.

“For too long, Alabamians have been burdened by a tax system that picks winners and losers in a never-ending maze of tax exemptions, deductions, and credits,” Holmes said in a statement.  “A system that is fair treats everyone identically by taxing them at the same rate when buying new goods or purchasing services.” (more…)

From left to right: State Rep. Mike Holmes, Sen. Slade Blackwell, Sen. Bill Holtzclaw, and Rep. Ed Henry
From left to right: State Rep. Mike Holmes, Sen. Slade Blackwell, Sen. Bill Holtzclaw, and Rep. Ed Henry

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The American Conservative Union (ACU) this week is rolling out its annual list of Alabama’s most conservative and liberal lawmakers, and the organization’s scores may come as a surprise to some legislator’s constituents.

ACU was founded in 1964 and refers to itself as the “nation’s oldest and largest conservative grassroots organization.”

“For more than fifty years, ACU has served as an umbrella organization harnessing the collective strength of conservative organizations fighting for Americans who are concerned with liberty, personal responsibility, traditional values, and strong national defense,” the group says on its website. “As America’s premier conservative voice, ACU is the leading entity in providing conservative positions on issues to Congress, the Executive Branch, State Legislatures, the media, political candidates, and the public.”

The organization has for years released annual conservative ratings for members of the United States House and Senate, and more recently began doing the same at the state level.

Here’s how Alabama legislature stacked up:

In 2015, the average Alabama Senate Republican scored 62% on a scale of 1-100, while the average Senate Democrat scored a 35%.

In the House, the average Republican scored a 48% and the average Democrat scored 46%, leaving very little gap between the two parties.

Only four lawmakers received the ACU’s Award for Conservative Achievement for scoring over 80%.

After calculating last year’s votes, Senators Bill Holtzclaw (R-Huntsville) and Slade Blackwell (R-Mountain Brook) and Representatives Ed Henry (R-Hartselle) and Mike Holmes (R-Wetumpka) were rated the legislature’s most conservative members.

Senators Holtzclaw and Blackwell, who were rated 86% and 85% respectively, were members of the Senate’s Gang of Nine, the small group of staunchly conservative lawmakers who refused to bend to pressure to raise taxes, consistently voting “no” and sometimes launching into filibusters of tax bills backed by their own party.

Holtzclaw, a Marine, also gained statewide attention last year for taking out a billboard in his district that said, “Governor Bentley wants to raise your taxes. I will not let that happen. Semper Fi.”

Blackwell, a successful real estate developer from Alabama’s most affluent city, is frequently mentioned as a possible statewide candidate.

Representatives Henry and Holmes, who were rated 82% and 81%, have almost identical voting records in the House, albeit with very different styles.

Holmes is a mild-mannered, longtime stalwart of local conservative grassroots organizations, including the Wetumpka Tea Party and the Elmore County Republican Party, of which he is a past chairman.

Henry is a north Alabama conservative firebrand who has become the most outspoken opponent of House GOP leadership. He is currently the Alabama co-chairman of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.