From AP Studios in downtown Montgomery.

I'm Todd Stacey, welcome to Capitol Journal.

We've got a good show for you covering the week that was in Alabama politics and government.

Stick around for our interview portion of the show when I'll sit down with Tom Heflin and Tom Perry of the harvesters of Hop initiative that is helping place much needed attorneys in rural communities.

After that, I'll be questioning the two candidates for state auditor, incumbent Republican Andrew Sorelle and Democratic nominee Violet Edwards.

But we begin our coverage this week looking at the start of a new school year.

This time last year, Alabama schools were implementing a brand new law that banning the us of smartphones in the classroom.

Now, that policy is just another rule at school, and educators are sayin it is making a real difference in helping students concentrate on academics and connect personally with one another.

Capito Journal's Jeff Sanders reports.

At Pike Road Middle School in Montgomery County.

Principal Christy Wright says less time on cell phones is giving students more time to learn.

We first visited with Wright more than a year ago as Alabama lawmakers considered the statewide ban.

Her school already had a polic in place with students securing their phones and locking pouches before the school day began.

Wrigh shared her school's experience with lawmakers at the state House.

And now, she says, the benefits are continuing.

We've seen a lot more of academic engagement where our learners are actually able to dive deeper into the instruction, are learning, are laid, learners are able to reall focus on the student's learning instead of having to remind them to put up their cell phones.

Alabama's focused act took effect last school year, and state superintendent Doctor Eric Mackey says teachers are reporting a difference statewide.

We did a survey of teachers this past year and it's over 95% positive.

So in general, teachers have told us that, yes, they like the policy and that they're enforcing policy and their principals are enforcing the policy.

Back at Pike Road, Principal Wright says the change extends beyond instruction to the relationships students are building.

And that's just making connections with other peers and also with adults.

And we've just noticed that that has increased a lot over the years.

Now, our learners are not concerned at all about not having their cell phones because it's just an expectation of ours.

It's our culture.

And whether that translates into higher test scores will be harder to measure.

Doctor McKee says any academic gains would have to be considered alongside other changes in schools.

It it'll be hard to ever come back and say, oh the test scores went up in 2028 because we took cell phones out of the schools in 2025.

Will it have some impact?

Absolutely.

It's already having impact.

And that's why we survey teachers to say, hey, what is the impact in the classroom?

And and in general, teachers are telling us a much better learning environment because of this move.

Wright says the habits students develop now could also prepare them for life after graduation.

The new generation that's out there working, you see them looking at their phone during the day when they're at wor and when they should be doing, you know, you know, their job or something.

And so I think this protects that time.

It teaches them that, hey, there's a time and place for cell phones.

There's a time and place to be connected.

And that consistency year after year, we're going to see the results of that in our workforce.

And while the Focus act itself requires students to turn off and put away their cell phones each day, it's up to each individual school district to decide how they do it and the consequences if they don't.

Reporting from Montgomery.

I'm Jeff Sanders for Capitol Journal.

Thank you Jeff.

New school year always seemed to come with optimism and excitement.

And some it comes with a reminder of the goal of education to help students learn, grow, and build the skills they need for a rewarding career.

Capital journal's Randy Scott reports on how that is happening u and down the education ladder.

It's a subject that's always a hot topic to talk about education in Alabama.

You'll see people in th political world making comments, read initiative and writing.

And this has done really well.

It's gotten better, but we can make it better.

We just got to keep emphasizing our fourth grade math scores were out of sight or.

Unbelievable.

So we're making progress.

But again, it has to be a focus.

You just can't say, you know we're going to do it for a while and then take your eyes off the ball.

Education is a key.

Making sure that we're partnering, with our, workforce development programs, with our community college, our two year college system is instrumental in this.

Our public school systems.

With all of the workforce development programs and CTE programing that we're seeing across the, the state now is instrumental in this effort.

And so it's a joint effor and something that we're happy to be able to contribute t in Washington, creating a push to elevate education in Alabama higher than before.

The world is changing.

We've got to make sure that we have the people in the right place, making sure that there's a lot of people that are teaching right subjects.

Doctor Jim Purcell serves as the executive director of the Alabama Commission on Higher Education.

He sees education in Alabama as a common thread connecting various tool needed for the state's success.

You know, the world is changing a good bit for, education in general and in higher education, artificial intelligence, changing budgets.

Federal government no longe given much guidance, reductions in those, salaries and pay scales that you can provide somebody because of those budget cuts.

He says the changes won't stop there.

And I think the other one i the state legislature is aware that we're going to have perhaps a budget shortfall this next year, or at least less money coming forward.

So everybody's going to have t be, able to do more with less.

He says other concerns deal with personnel within school facilities.

One of them was pay.

The legislature responded by giving them pay, and other was, they were going to all retire it.

You know, after ten years of service, they would have get their te years and go do something else.

The legislature very wisely changed the benefit program so that if they stayed 14 years, that there would be a, an exponential increase in their potential, pension.

So there was ways to work with, what the needs of those individual were to, to stay in our system.

Changes needed to help build Alabama's future workforce.

And our strategic plan, actually, student success is a big part of it.

And one of the objectives is to make sure that we have more students coming into the system, both as, peopl are at a high school and adults, and then also making sure that they're more prepared.

Doctor Priscilla says this opens the door for more progres in other educational programs.

We've been involved in a lot of the conversations about, helping the K-12 students become better prepared for college.

Helping with the reading initiative with our teacher ed programs, with the math program.

We've tripled NI based aid, making sure Alabama's education system gets passing grades in Montgomery.

Randy Scott, Capital Journal.

Thank you.

Randy.

And speaking of the workforce, the submarine building industry is bringing a wealt of new opportunities to mobile.

More than $14 billion in ne and expanding capital investment along Alabama's Gulf Coast is driving demand for welders, pipefitters, ship fitters, electricians, machinists and other skilled trades.

A new partnership announced this week, the Alabama Restart Initiative, will help develop a talent pipeline that meets the growing demand for those skilled workers.

Those partners include Workforce Alabama, the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles Ingram State Technical College and the Southwest Alabama Partnership for Training and Employment.

Pardons and parole director Kim Ward and Secretary of Workforce Greg Reed were in mobile for the announcement and said working together is key to making that job pipeline successful.

For too long, Alabama has stood in the way of progress by keeping silos.

Silos.

Being that this is my area o stay out of it, this is my area.

Stay out of it.

This is my budget.

Stay out of it.

But today represents one of those great opportunities.

We break down those silos because you have tremendous partnerships, not only in reentry services but in job placement.

We talk about the $4 million federal grant to do the Alabama Restart program.

It represents not just a grant, but it represents job placement that solves so many different issues.

I'm selfish.

I want recidivism to be low in Alabama.

I want it to be reduced.

And the way it is is because of people getting back to work getting back to a good paying, jobs, sustaining job that makes them.

It's a livable profession and a way they can sustain their life.

When you do that, the odds of going back and committing crime drop dramatically.

Such a breath of fresh air and being able to work collaboratively with the two year colleges, with the local leadership that we have and certainly with the director and all of his team, our folks have been excited to be the lead agency in filing for the resources.

And when you wind up with a circumstance to where everybody's working together, you wind up where you get agreement, even with the federal government, that you're doing good things.

And then as a group, you're able to bring to bear what's going to be 4 million plus in resources to be able to help move this mission forward, to help these folks accomplish what they want to accomplish, and be able to do tha in a way that benefits Alabama's economy and them individually and their families.

Campaign season continued this week, as we are less than 50 days fro the November general election.

Many Republicans spent the week in Dallas at the unusual midterm convention headlined by President Donald Trump.

But one Republican in a key race skipped the tri to campaign here in the state.

Rep.

Marcus, a current state representative who is running for Congress in Alabama' second district, held an event in his hometown of enterprise to tout the endorsement of the National Federation of Independent Businesses.

I'm going to represent Alabama values, and I'm going to represent common sense.

I have worked at the stat level, and I will work in D.C.

to cut the regulations for small businesses and make sure it's easie to live out the American dream like I live.

And I and I think that's a ver important thing because of the those hardworking Alabamians need to make sure that the small businesses that they rely on are able to function like they want to.

Every step of the way, he has voted with the Democrat leadership.

He has voted with the Socialist, he has voted with the radicals every time he could.

It is important for every member of the state to go vote and give their opinion, because it is going to matter only on a scale, not only for the state, but for this country the direction of this country.

Do you want the radical left in the communists running the Democrat Party, or do you want the Republicans to cut taxes and take care of the people of this of the state in this country?

I want to take care of the people and cut taxes and take care of the people of the state.

I don't want a government intervening in my business or my personal life, and that's exactly what you'll get if you vote for the Democrats.

Marcus is of course, challenging incumbent Congressman Shamari figure for that second district seat, which was redrawn by th legislature earlier this year.

And we will have both candidates here on Capitol Journal here in the coming weeks.

Okay.

We'll take a quick break and be back with Tom Heflin and Tom Perry.

Stay with us.

The 375,000 acres that make up the three Ranger districts of Talladega National Forest were purchased by the federal government in 1936 as part of an effor to restore clearcut timberlands and farmlands no longer capable of producing crops.

The beautiful reserve includes the 102 mile, pin holding National Trail System and Alabama's highest and second highest points, Mount Chia and Duggar Mountain.

Welcome back to Capital Journal.

Harvesters of Hope is a new nonprofit with the mission of rebuilding the legal infrastructures of underserved communities particularly in rural Alabama.

And joining me next to talk about it are the attorneys that started that organization, Tom Heflin and Tom Perry.

Gentlemen, welcome to Capital Journal.

Thank you for having us.

I just have it's good to be here.

Well, look, I' fascinated by this organization.

We were talking earlier.

There's all kinds of reporting.

There's so much awareness abou the rural health care problem.

Right?

We've got problems in health care.

I had not heard about it in terms of legal deserts in rural communities and the consequences.

Can you kind of talk about how you identified this problem that led to the founding of this organization?

Not to start with you.

Well, I heard people talk about it, and I started doing a little research, and I found out that lawyers that live and practice in Alabama, we've got betwee 12,000 and 13,000, but of them, 78% of those lawyers live in practice.

And seven counties, which leaves 60 counties with 22,500 lawyers.

And that's just not enough.

And they're not, drilled deeper.

And the county that I live in, is most of our lawyers are over 70.

I think I've in the 17th judicial circuit, which is Marengo Grain and Sumter County, and we show 24 lawyers that live and work there, but 11 of them are ove 72 and only two were under 37.

So we have a small problem now, but it's going to be a bigger problem.

But there are other counties that had significantly bigger problems, and lawyers are needed.

Yeah.

Well, I mean, and that's just you can just do the math in your head and see how eventually that's going to tha problem is going to get worse.

Mr.

Heflin, talk about what happen in a community, the consequences when there are not enough lawyers to do the basic things that need to get done?

Well, we look at it as three primary problems.

One is access to justice.

Individuals who live in communities.

If there's not a lawyer there are not adequate numbers of lawyers.

There.

And you have a legal problem or need assistance with the matter that requires a lawyer.

You don't have someone available locally to do it.

Now you might be able to get it.

And you go to Birmingham or Montgomery or Mobile or even adjoining county, but you're going to end up paying that lawyer more because you're having to pay for them to travel.

So if you are and, I am Geneva, Alabama, and you have you've got a legal problem and you need it.

There's no one locally.

You wouldn't maybe go to Dothan or Ozark or Enterprise or Montgomery, all of those.

And closest is 30 minutes away.

So you just add to your expense the availability.

They're not going to be available on a quick notice to meet with them.

And it's not just like courtroom stuff, not trials and things like probat and simple things that that we, we maybe we take for granted.

One of the things that I wa thinking about coming here, that if you think abou if you have a, a small business and you want thank God I've got a good idea, I want to grow tha and we'll, use this fictitious, if you make really good sausage somewhere.

And, so whe you think, I think expand this.

People love my sausage.

And you're probabl going to end up talking not just to a lawyer, but you need to talk to an accountant, an insurance agent, banker, probably your minister, to help you with this venture, or other professions in your community.

So those are the infrastructure that if they don't exist, then you don't have economic development, and that takes place.

And that's one of the main points.

Our other is that we have the consequence of deserts.

We have counties that are getting smaller and smaller as Tom talked about.

We have some counties now with only one lawyer in them who's under age 70.

Well, that's important because if there was an unfortunate event on the bench, there's nobody to fill that position.

Or maybe only there's no choice.

Only that one lawyer.

I could feel it because the only resident of that county, and the only lawyer of the age wise that could qualify.

So we don't have a future administration of justice available to us.

So those are three main purposes, I say.

So how does harvesters for Hope go about addressing these problems?

How do you go about solving this legal desert issue?

Well, one thing that Tom Heflin and I know because he's had a law practice in Tuscumbia and I live and work in Demopolis, and I say returning home to Demopolis is the best decision I ever made, that it's a great life in our rural communities, and it's a good law practice.

So with that knowledge, we tried to develop a program to encourage people to com and enjoy this quality of life while making a good livin and help them have the support, the encouragement and then the support when they take the step to be supportive as they build a law practice in these communities, which rebuilds the community and everything.

And we're really excited because our harvesters have done outstanding.

Yeah.

And, you know, I can understand.

And young lawyers fresh out of law school wanting to go to the big cities and be in the white shoe law firms.

But I can understand that.

So is part of it, as you kind of said, changing the perception of what small town law firms can be and, changing the perception amongst those young that younger generation.

I think that's part of it.

But, I always use this example.

If you're opening a new business, whether it be a law practice or anything.

Do you want to go where there's competition on every corner?

Do you want to go where the community's begging yo to come and need your services?

Good point.

So that's, that's part of changing.

The perception is they realize that they're if they work hard and do what they're supposed to do, they're going to do wel and have a wonderful life there.

Yeah.

Well, y'all have already, in just your first year of existence, made a big difference.

I was looking on your website.

There are new law offices tha have opened up in Union Springs.

Scottsboro, Haynesville.

I saw Cherokee County on.

They they they're Fayette County.

I may be missing out on a couple.

So y'all have already had success in building law firms and new lawyers in those pretty rural areas.

Talk about the success so far.

Well, when we set off on this and back in 2024, we kind of gave set some more benchmark where we'd like to get because it's other states of doing this and they're had difficulty.

Tom approached this differentl that there's opportunity there.

And we need to demonstrate to our lawyers that and law students that you can go there and make a good living there, he said.

So we going that so we said that those goals of having two lawyers in 2025 and expanded up to six lawyers by 2026, then as of today, we had 12 lawyers in place and one one month over a yea less than one month over a year.

We have now up to 12 before the end of this month, I expect two more offices to open.

Hopefully one in Sumter County, Livingston, and another in DeKalb County.

Range will.

If the bar results ar favorable, we hope they will be.

We have four law students who are willing to go out on their own and communities and we think we may have 18 by the 1st of October.

That's terrific.

But that's absolutely terrific.

And talk about the difference that makes in a community.

Y'all are both from small rural towns.

Talk about the difference that makes one man a brand new law office open.

Maybe it was a legal dessert before, you talked about economic opportunities and how does it change that town when when that harvester gets there?

Well, a little bit.

We have part of our program we try to have or sometimes have a grand opening, a special someone.

And it's just been a county commissioners, mayors, pastors, bankers, and doctors.

And the people in the community have just been amazing, which is an awfully good symbol or sign of how they're going to do.

And it's exciting because and I think our harvesters, Tom' worked very hard to put together some projections.

And harvesters are exceedin those projections in most cases.

That's great.

Talk about the mentor program.

We were talking about this before all fair, about how it's not just getting a lawyer somewher they're going to need mentors.

Someon if you can't work in an office, maybe it's someone that is committed to the program.

Talk about the mentor part of the harvest program.

Well, we look at it like it is the critical one of the critical keys.

One, because to recruit a lawye or particularly a law student, you want me to go out on my own and I have no clue what to do, including where to go get a business license, even come to our law school.

But we can help them through that process.

We have lawyers, over 50 lawyers right now, and we're always adding in recruiting.

We can always use mor that will advise these lawyers on a phone call to help them.

You know, how they create a filing system for them?

To what?

To do in a complicated, matter criminal, civil, probate, whatever, because they may not have experience but somebody else is going to.

Somebody has that experience.

And those mentors are a lot of them been practicing a lot over 50 years and know they're the fields.

They're they primarily done as well as anybody who's ever existed in the state.

One, it's like you were saying at a big firm or even a just a medium size firm, you can walk down the hall and have that mentor right there.

But in a small town, you may not have that.

So you'll have these mentors are volunteers, I'm guessing.

Yes, yes.

And then the Alabama State Bar has been extremely supportive of us.

And on the other side, even if you know how to practice law, you may not know how to ru a law office or business office.

And the Alabama State Bar has the, Alabama law practice section that they are.

Our harvesters can call get help on what computer systems to buy, how to calendar, how to do things.

So we try to have support in all levels to get our guys going an make sure they are successful.

They are helping to begin the revival of a community that needs them.

Well, talking abou the legal profession in general, is this part of this?

I mean, I'm not a lawyer, but I hear a lot about pr bono work and things like that.

And your work at the State Bar, you're the former president?

Is is volunteering pro bono work giving back?

Is that just kind of a basic responsibility of your, of being an attorney in the state of Alabama?

Is that and so is this a good way for people to fulfill that responsibility?

Go ahead.

Tom, I think it is.

And I think if part of our program, we have certain requirements that our harvesters do a certain amount of pro bono, which means unpaid work, and it helps get them experience and also let people see the wonderful, caring professionals that they are.

So the answer is yes and yes.

Yeah, it we'r and we're constantly looking for ways to not.

And it's a combination of mentoring.

What it does i are there things that they could do in their communitie maybe nobody's ever done before?

We're exploring, different programs that, that maybe they could assist in getting rehabilitation for houses and stuff.

Work.

There's some programs by the federal government.

They're available out there, but people don't know about.

Well, we're going to try to train our lawyers to know about these.

And then they can help that there, funds that can be used to restore homes, get them up to date, replace bad roofs.

The so low income.

But there's a way for them to get paid to do this and als to get this into the community.

So it's a win win and it helps.

Well we want to share your website and everything like that.

But I was going to ask you, how do folks get involved?

First of all, like I said, I'm not a lawyer.

So how can non-lawyers get involved?

And then how do lawyers get involved?

I'll start with Egypt.

From the lawyer's standpoint please sign up to be a mentor.

And if you're looking and remember, they we stay away from the term legal desert that was coined by the ABA because we believe their legal opportunity dissolves.

So if you need in a change of view, consider becoming a harvester and letting us support you.

Opening a practice in one of these underserved areas because you're getting people that want you.

So lawyers can either volunteer to be mentor or just help wherever they can.

Or if you're interested, contact us.

Yeah, okay.

What about non-lawyers?

Not lawyers.

There.

Support those community, bu get engaged with your community.

You're the mayor is the county commissioners, the council people that talk about what you don't have in your community.

If you're in an underserved area, these are things get involved in.

The brilliance that exist in our small towns is always amazing to me.

I've seen it for years and years.

This is where a lot of, greatness comes from.

There are small town that have produced world leaders from Alabama and continue to d so, and I expect to continue in the future.

Great ideas come from these communities.

They can ask and say, all right, we are really maybe we're running out of lawyers, but maybe we got enough.

We can get by, but we don't have an account.

How can we take steps?

They can contact us.

We'll try to help them.

We're already been in contact with the county's contact with bankers, with the insurance companies and stuff.

We're trying to build tha whole network that would involve revitalization of our small towns.

So that's, it's not just for the lawyers that were looking at this.

Yes, we we feel that obligation.

That's what we do as a profession, what we know we want to be keep those lawyers doing well, but we want these communities to thrive because if they're not thriving, you're not probably going to get doctors to move there.

You're not going to get dentist to move back.

You're not going to get, economic development, economic development.

If someone's looking at you and they got a company from France that's looking to expand somewhere into Alabama or some other southern state, and they look and there's not that infrastructure in that community, maybe they still will pick it.

They may not because of that, because their workers and their people won't have that.

They're available for them.

So these are keys for economic development throughout the state.

Well, look, thank you all for what you're doing.

I think it's a very noble project.

And, congratulations on early success and thanks for for coming on the Capital Journal and sharing all this with us.

Thank you for having us.

Thank you.

And thank you for the work and the mission you all do here at the Capital Journal.

Now, about public television.

It's a great read.

So it's for our tonight.

Appreciate that.

We'll be right back.

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And you.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is Violet Edwards, Democratic nominee for Alabama State Auditor.

Commissioner Edwards, thanks for coming on Capital Journal.

Thank you for having me.

Well, we'll get to the race.

I was hoping that you could offer our audience some information about your background and what led you to enter this race.

Wonderful.

So I am a journalist by trade.

So I've sat there where you see.

Okay.

University of Alabama and University of Alabama, Huntsville.

And I went to 13 years into as a journalist, both radio and television.

And from ther I got into nonprofit management.

I did higher education for a while and straight from my higher ed into this, into commissioner.

I'm Madison County, Distric six, district six commissioner there in Madison County, one of the largest counties in Alabama.

Yes.

Yeah.

Well, well, and see if you start out in journalism, you can go anywhere.

You start there.

Sorry.

You're going to there.

Well all right.

So that's what gets you.

It's your backgroun will get you into this.

Correct.

But why do I always ask this of candidates.

Not just why are you running?

But why do you want to be state auditor?

What is it about that job that shouts out to you?

Now I want to.

I want to serve in that job, in this position where I started bac from running for commissioner.

I would like to say tha I've been studying in politics my entire life, but like so many, until you just really realiz how politics affects your life.

That's really when I got in there, and that happened about 12 years ago.

You realize if you're not at the table, then you're on the menu.

I'm sure you've heard that.

And so I realized I was on the menu, and that's how I ended up running for commissioner.

And so I was elected in 2020 and again in 2024 with a great amount of success.

And so the auditor position is an extension of what I'm already doing.

I have a staff of 21 people.

I manage a buildings, I manag facilities, I manage a budget, and this is an extension of it.

And in my role as commissioner, I'm also the liaison of the Board of Registrars in Madison County.

So already working that knowin how important it is for the 66 appointments that the audito has really piqued my interest, that importance of being havin the right people in those roles on the board of registrars.

So when I decided to do it, it was an open seat.

And that's right.

It was it was an open seat when I decided to do it.

But, onc I made the decision that this is what was next for me, and this is where I wanted to be in talking to my family and really just knowing the importance of the role, the integrity and the accountability that comes with the role.

There was no way I could step back.

I knew I had to push forward, to go forward.

Well you mentioned the local level.

There's a lot of county commissioners, city councilman, mayors, all this that run for the legislature or in your case, for statewide office.

Do you think that there are things the state can learn from those that local perspective, whether it's the county or city level?

Yes.

How to listen?

Because as a commissioner, people have my phone number.

I'm still running into them at Kroger, you know, at the at the school with the kids.

And so it's really just how to become connected with the community and how to listen.

You are right there in the heart of it.

And that's something that I plan on carrying with me into this position in Montgomery.

Going ove some of your campaign materials.

The one word kept coming up and that was accountability, which obviously is a big role, for the state auditor.

In terms of, you know, keeping track of property and all that kind of stuff.

Is there anything specific that the incumbent has done, your opponent now, or tha it has been done by the state?

Anything specific that you say?

Nah, that's not right.

That's why I'm running.

And I want to fix this one specific problem.

So when I started the race, I wasn't focused on the incumbent because it was the open race.

The accountability measure comes because it is the being able to look people in the eye.

When you make a decision.

So as a commissioner, I sit back and I think of the decisions.

Can I live with this decision?

Am I working for the greater good?

Can I can I live with this decision that I'm making when it comes to the auditor it needs to be the same thing.

And it's a role that is not always because you're dealing with the asset management.

It's not always dealing one on one with the people, but you're dealing with their assets.

You're still dealing with with the taxpayers dollars.

And so they still need to b able to have that access to you, and you still need to be held accountable for the decisions that you're making or the decisions that you let stay on the table because that's also part of it.

And that is what I feel like I bring just also just my lived experiences in my voice, the transparency and the integrity that I bring to the table.

That is something that I'm not saying anybody else doesn't have, but I will not be outworked and I know what I bring.

Well talking about the auditor role, anytim it's been a big campaign issue, there's almost been a night and day or a, you know, like what, one side of the coin versus the other.

Yes.

And that is the scope of the office is and this is what I mean, because the state auditor is only in charge of so much, and the actual auditors o the state are at the examiners of public accounts.

Right.

When you go agency by agency and offic by office, they do a lot of that nitty gritty work.

So some people have run for state auditor and said, well, we really need to expand tha and work more with the examiners and really give the office a greater role in the state.

Others have run for it, saying, actually if I'm elected, I'll abolish it altogethe because we just need to kind of consolidate and all that.

Do you come down on a side in terms of, yes, we really need to expand this and get it more integrated in state government or abolish it altogether and, and really combine it with the Office of Examiners.

So when it comes to abolishing that is a decision of the people right now this is a constitutional position.

So it is very important to have the right person in this job for as long as the people of Alabama say they want this position, and this opportunity, thi and it is an elected position.

So I think that taking it seriously and longest is in existence.

It needs to have a person ther with discernment and integrity.

And that's really where I fall on it.

As long as the people of Alabam feel like this is the position that they are putting on this ballot, that you absolutely should have the right person in there.

And I feel like that is me, and I would work to grow tha office and absolutely keep it, keep it.

There is the Office of Checks and Balances, and you want to do away with th Office of Checks and Balances.

Well, and as much as I understand the abolish it part because it it look compared to the examiners, it's yes it's small potatoes but at the same time the it's on the ballot.

Yes.

I mean it's accountable to the people.

Yes.

There's something important about that in terms of accountability.

Voters having a say if it was just the examiners will, it's a lo less in terms of accountability.

And and they're the kind of the watchers and people should take it seriously is absolutely just is one more position on that ballot that they have a voice and the power of it to make those appointments to the Board of registrars is absolutely.

We need people who are accountable.

We need people who are capable, people who are competent, running those board of registrars.

If you are a friend of a friend of a friend and you get that appointment, you still need to have certain qualifications and certain qualities about you.

And that is something tha the people of Alabama should not and can not afford, especially right now to overlook.

So while there are some people that belittle the position, it is still very powerful when it comes to who is sitting in the rol and who is sitting at the table, which is why this position is very important.

We mentioned i being a crowded ballot and it is this is our big year.

I mean it's a midterm for the president.

But this is our big year.

Everything from governor, you know lieutenant governor ag state auditor, the entire legislature.

So that being the case, you know, you've got to stand out as a candidate, but also, you know you're the Democratic nominee.

It's a very Republican state.

It's been a while since the Democrats won statewide.

So how do you stand out in terms of a candidate on a very crowded ballot, but also compete, understanding that, you know, it might be an uphill battle running as a Democrat?

Yes, yes, I love that question because I can hear my mother just saying that I am fabulous.

I'm Violet.

Let's start there.

Dressed appropriately.

But in addition to that, the Democrats have not had a choice for eight years.

Democrats a a whole has not had someone run in every constitutional position for the last 20 years.

So that within itself that excitement and the momentum to be able to have options, to be able to have choice, and then when it comes to just standing out as a whole, is what I bring to the table.

I think that my walk, my career background, my personal background, my boldness, am I able to build bridges is something that you don' always see in state government, local government, you just really don't see.

I think that that is a strength that the state of Alabama could really benefit from.

And that's why I'm putting my name, my resume out there.

There you go.

Well, more people want to see that resume as I did earlier.

Go to your website.

Do you have can you share with us on your website?

Vote.

Violet.com I made it very easy.

You did an action vote.

Violet.com is where you can find out more information of course on social media.

I am Violet Edward on all social media platforms.

There we go.

We'll put that on the scree and check that out.

We'll look.

Good luck on the campaign trail and we'll see you.

Thank you so much for having me.

We'll be right back.

Mary Evie Birch was a leading force behind the founding of the Alabama Conservancy, the state's first independent environmental organization.

She served as its first president, its first executive director, and the chair of its wilderness Committee, overseeing the group's successful campaign for the creation of the Gypsy Wilderness Area, now known as the Alabama Environmental Council.

The organization still exists today.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is state Auditor Andrew Soro, who's running for reelection on the Republican ticket.

Mr.

auditor thanks for coming on the show.

Thank you.

I always enjoy being on with you.

Well, it's campaign time.

So I'll ask you the very basic question to ask all the candidates.

In your case you're running as the incumbent.

Yes.

Not a lot of incumbents on the ballot this year.

So why are you running for reelection?

To be the state's auditor.

You know, I love being auditor.

If you'd have told me te years ago that I was going to be a statewide constitutional officeholder, I never would have believed you.

So it's a real honor to serve and represent the people of Alabama.

Thoroughly enjoyed being auditor the last four years.

I think I've done a lot of good there.

And I think there' some more good that we can do.

I think that we have run th office very, very efficiently.

I think that we have put in place some really good registrars around the state.

You know me, I'm very concerned about election integrity.

I think we've had that discussion before.

And with the appointments of registrar in 66 of our 67 counties that continues to interest me.

That's that was one of my big motivating factors to run for auditor the first time back in 2022.

So I'd love to continue what started and serve another term.

Are there some unfinished any unfinished business from your first term as auditor that you're thinking, okay, if I had another term, maybe we could make more progress because four years can go pretty quick.

Yeah, I can.

We've made a lot of progress.

In my first term, we finished Jim Ziegler's project of RFID, chipping all 300,000 pieces of state inventory.

That has made our audits almost twice as efficient.

So we are running as a RFID RFID chip.

So it's an electronic chip we tag.

It's a little tag that sticks o every piece of state property.

And when we walk in a room with a scanner, we can scan the room and read what's in the room electronically, rather than having to crawl under the desk and physically scan labels.

That has really sped us up.

I mean, Odyssey used to take five weeks for finishing in two weeks.

Now, we've moved to four day workweeks.

We've doing four tens no because my auditors, I realize we're driving two hours to an audit, working four and driving to back home incredibly inefficient.

Send up for two hours, have them work six and then drive back home much more efficient.

So we've moved to four ten on the workday on the workweek.

They like it better, and we'r getting our audits done faster.

We're completely caught up on all of our audits.

I think we're losin less property than ever before.

I've made a real point of emphasis.

My first term, the negligent loss of state property, not just getting it of the rolls when it goes missing, but why did it go missing in the first place?

And how can we fix that?

And there's a piece of legislation that I want to pass that will establish a property investigations division.

And you're going to probably see that in this coming.

Quadrennial that's going to be introduced every year until it passes.

I want a property investigations division to where the auditor's office is, the ones determining if the loss of state property was negligent or not.

Because honestly when you leave your window, roll down the state, issue laptop in the front seat and Walmart and the laptop gets stolen.

I think that's negligent, but the supervisor at that particular agency can mark it non negligent and the taxpayers are just out the money.

Some interesting things.

Well look, you obviously started this campaign cycle not running for reelection, but actually running for secretary of state.

Things change on the ballot and some political calculations there.

I don't think anybody saw.

It's all that is a surprise.

But that being the case, you hop back down to run for reelection would that being the case, how can you, I don't know, assure voters that you're truly in to the job, understanding that originally you wanted to run for something else?

Sure.

I don't deny that Secretary of State's a position that I would like to serve in at some point.

And I'm really passionate about election integrity.

And I think, if that's your number one topic, Secretary of state is obviously a position you're going to consider.

And I was in the race campaigned very hard for that.

Got a really tough opponen with a lot more money than I do.

And when money stops mattering in politics and I'll start factoring into my political decisions.

But we both know that it does matter.

And, and I thought about as like, you know, I'm not I'm not done with my public service.

I enjoy being auditor.

I don't I don't want anybody to think that that I backed back down to auditor.

And I'm disappointed by that somehow.

Man, the fact I'm running for reelection to a statewide constitutional office at age 40, that's really exciting to me.

I wake up every day happy to walk in the Capitol, humbled that I have a parking spot in the Avenue of Flags that I get to go in and represent.

5 million people in the auditor's office.

And I'm going to do, a really good job the next four years.

I assure you, my heart's in the job.

Okay, well talk about scope of the office, because this comes up every time there's an election and every time the state auditor is up.

And that is there' kind of two sides of the coin.

You hear a candidate say, hey, we need to take this to the office of state Auditor, really expand it to where?

Because because right now the examiners of public accounts, they really do the lion's share of like, well, auditing the money auditing.

Sure.

Yeah.

For, for so, and yet the property is for the state auditor.

So people have said over the years.

All right, let's expand the auditor's office to include the examiners of public accounts, because that would kind of seem to mess together.

The other side of the coin is some people have run for this office and said, if elected, I will abolis the office or I'll call for you.

So what's out of the corner?

You on?

It is would you like to see it more, you know, expanded in scope or do you think there's one day where it should actually not exist?

So first of all, everyone has ever run and said I want to eliminate the office.

I'm running for office, never want to let the office.

So I think that's a no no.

So I think that the public doesn't want the office eliminated.

And as you know it is a constitutional office, so it would require a constitutional amendment to actually disband the office now in 2022.

That bill was before the legislature.

It passed the Senate.

It came down to the House.

And I was a member of the House at the time.

So I ended up fighting against the bill that was going to eliminate the office I was then running for.

It was one of the craziest thing that's ever happened to my political career.

But you know what?

Every single Democrat in the chamber voted no on that bill that day, and a number of my Republican colleagues did as well, and that bill failed.

So I don't think there's a political will in the legislature to pass the bill.

And I don't think that even if they did, if it went on the ballot and you asked the people of Alabama, do you want to eliminate th government oversight position?

I think people would be a hard no on that.

So if we're not going to eliminate the office and I don't think we will, then the question is, will, what should we do with it?

Because yeah, we do property audits.

I do audit $1.3 billion worth of taxpayer property.

I serve on the Board of Adjustment.

We get millions of dollars of claims through there every quarter.

I work very hard at that, making sure that people are being treated fairly.

I do a point 66 registrars and three other election related appointments to various election integrity boards and stuff.

So I do have some duties, but honestly, my bandwidth I could handle more.

I would love to see the examiners that the public accounts pu back on to the auditor's office.

That's the way it was until about the 1940s.

And the Democrats actually were the ones who changed that.

I don't think it's right.

I don't think that's the way it should be done.

I would like to see the financial auditing of the state, those functions under a statewide office holder that is accountable directly to the voters.

That's how they do it.

In Mississippi, my friend Chad White over there, he's got 150 people in his office.

You know, they actually have uniformed people with arrest power and his office in Mississippi.

Just a totally different level of auditing from what we do here in Alabama.

Well, that goes to your point about having investigatory powers and things like that would I'm guessing that would also take the constitutional amendment to shift those authorities and things like that.

Not to no, I think statutorily you could move duties around.

You just can't abolish the office without a constitutional amendment.

So I think that would be an easier lift.

Well, okay, let's just sa you get you win a second term.

Will you seek to have more of the examiners or completely seek to have the examiners put back under the auditor's, office?

Yeah.

I don't kno if we're going to nibble at it or if we're going to g for the whole hog in the bill.

My approach, my first term was to try to piecemeal it and add some duties back under.

I think there's other things we could do if the legislature is not willing to put the financial audits back under the auditor, then we could say, okay, well could we do some other things?

Could we do some government efficiency type studies?

Where are we spending money that we shouldn't be?

You know, I'm a fiscal hawk.

I voted against five of the eight budgets when I was in the legislature because I thought we were growing government too fast.

You know, a lot of people campaign a small government conservatives and then vote for budgets that grow the budgets double digits faster than the state of California.

That's not small government and that's not conservative.

In my office, we actually run it fiscally, conservatively.

The last two years I've actually put in for a budget decrease.

Now, how many politicians do you know that try to decrease their own budget?

We put in for a 1% budget decrease last fiscal year, and we are now putting in this month.

We were putting in for a 2% decrease this year.

So two years in a row I've been able to cut my own budget.

I've not taken a state vehicle.

I don't charge any out-of-state travel or conferences or anything like that.

The taxpayers don't pay for any of that for me, and I think I'm the perfect person.

If you're looking for how can we shrink government?

How can we save money?

I'd be a great person to head up that effort.

Maybe there's a bill there that a legislator would be willing to introduce that would give that that duty to the auditor's office.

And that's nothing to say that the examiners aren't doing a great job.

In fact, under Rachel Riddle, there have been more activ and transparent than certainly in the old iteration and an invaluable tool in state government.

This is not a criticism in any way.

The examiners, I think I think if you did return the examiners under the auditor, I think you could also potentially add some, qualification requirements.

The auditor's office, you know, maybe you require them to be a CPA and things like that, which I am not right now.

But I would be okay with that, too.

And I don't thin it would be an overnight change.

I think it would say maybe it would start the next term and the new qualifications would also start to look, we're in the, campaign, you know, middle of the campaign season after Labor Day.

You are the Republican nominee traditionally in Alabama the last couple of decades.

That's a really good place to be a Republican nominee, because it is still a very strongly Republican state.

And yet Democrats are more energized than they have been in a long time.

More organized, better organized.

They have been a long time a slate of candidates with with better qualit than we've seen in a long time.

Plus, you've got some headwinds on the Republican Party nationally just looking out there at the environment.

Does that give you any concern about, you know, facing those headwinds nationally and running as a Republican, understanding that there's a lot of momentum on the Democratic side?

You don't ever want to b overconfident in any election.

So I'm going to I'm going to work hard at it.

I'm going to be out there raising money.

I'm going to be doing events and be doing these media appearances like we're doing right now.

I'm not going to take anything for granted.

I do think the Republican nominees are going to win all nine of the state wides I do expect will win.

The question will more be what's the margin?

Because there's a big difference between winning in single digits like nine points and winning by 19 points.

And in 2022, you saw the Democrats not even field a full slate of candidates for the statewide office.

Indeed, I didn't even have a state an opposition.

I had a libertarian, but I didn't have a Democrat in 2022 because they didn't think they could win.

Well, now they believe they can win and they have a stronger slate than they've had in the past.

This is not the Will Boyd.

Yolanda Flowers Democrat slate of four and eight years ago.

This is Doug Jones.

This is former ad commissioner Ron Sparks.

This is state rep Phillip ends.

They're running for lieutenant governor.

It is a higher quality slate of candidates.

They're raising more money.

They're having huge rallies all around Alabama.

And as you noted, diesel is 585 a gallon.

There's an unpopular war going on, and we're in the midterms with a Republican president all these things add up to a very tough environment for Republicans to run in.

Am I concerned?

Absolutely I am I think we're going to win.

I don't think the margin will be what what we would hope that it would be.

But we as candidates have got to do a good job of getting our base out.

I don't believe that there are any more Democrats in Alabama toda than there were two years ago.

I believe the way Republicans lose is when we don't turn out and vote.

And that's how Doug Jones beat us last time in 2017.

Republicans didn't go vote in that special election for Roy Moore.

And Doug Jones won and 22,000 wen and voted and wrote somebody in.

Yeah saw that.

If it calculates up to all those write ins don' go a lot of them crossed over to I think there were plenty of those.

Well look we're out of time, but I always want to offer our viewers if they want to learn more about your campaign, you have a website they can go to.

Yeah, absolutely.

Andrew Ralph, our state auditor on Facebook and Andrew sorrell.com.

Sorry.

Well okay.

Awesome.

We'll put that up on the screen.

Well look good luck on the campaign trail and we'll see you soon.

Thank you so much.

We'll be right back.

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25 years today marks 25 years since our country was attacked on September 11th, 2001.

We naturally tend to think about where we were when it happened.

I was a senior in high schoo sitting in Susanna Cleveland's government and economics class.

We always watched the today show, which was both useful and harrowing that day, especial I believe part of the reaso we think back to where we were that day is it reminds us of a unique moment in history when we really felt togetherness as a country, togetherness with our fellow countrymen.

We were truly united as Americans.

I believe we quietly yearned to go back there, at least in thought.

Because as enraging as the attacks were, as horrifying as the loss of life was, we came together as Americans in a powerful and potent way.

Unfortunately, as we all know, that unique feeling was all too fleeting.

But at least we had it.

And we know what E Pluribus Unum feels like.

Remember, though that there is a whole generation of Americans who did not experience that, and they can learn about 9/11 in history class, but they cannot experience that feeling.

Which is why it is so important for older generations to convey it.

The best we can.

The last 25 years have been some of the most challenging politically in our nation's history.

And to many young Americans, ou modern division and bitterness is all they've ever known.

So on this milestone, while we mourn those we lost and honor the heroes who fought back for us.

Let's also remember that feeling of unity and convey how much it meant to those who weren't there to experience it.

And le us yearn not to go back in time, but to go forward in pursuit of that same unity that we will nee to preserve this great nation.

Thank you for watching Capitol Journal.

We'll see you next time.