County View

By Jeff Poor

This time a year from now, we’ll not only likely know who the Democratic and Republican candidates are for the presidency, we’ll will know who the two party nominees are for the local offices.

I’m waiting with bated breath to see who the opposition is for each county commission district. Thus far, only Bayou La Batre councilman Henry Barnes has expressed interest in running. A lot hedges on whether we’ll be dealing with nominees in three commissioner districts or five commissioner districts.

No, Rep. Spencer Collier, R.-Bayou La Batre, says he is still not going to run for county commission in case anyone is wondering.

Fat Tuesday and Super Tuesday don’t mix in Mobile. A Jan. 30 primary?

Everyone who views the world from a Mobile-centric point of view is upset about the prospects of Fat Tuesday primary. The state has no plans of budging from the date, however one of the ideas being floated is moving the primary in Mobile County only to the preceding Wednesday on Jan. 30

“You’ll never get the Justice Department to approve it,” said Mobile County Commissioner Stephen Nodine. “Never.”

Currently, there are three precincts out of Mobile County’s nearly 100 precincts that would be directly affected by parade routes. Other problems Mobile County Probate Court Judge Don Davis might face are having people to staff the polls. Candidates are likely to have problems committing volunteers to serve as poll watchers and greeters on a Fat Tuesday date.

The state cannot move the primary earlier because it faces the prospects of losing delegates within the Republican and Democratic Parties. Moving it later would defeat the purpose of moving it from the June date in the first place, to give Alabama more clout in the selection of the national parties’ nominees.

Nodine thinks the state would approve a Jan. 30 date for Mobile County. There will be some 20 states with primaries on Feb. 5 with heavy hitters like California, New York and Texas commanding the national spotlight. Mobile’s week-early primary could put the city in the spotlight as far as exit polling and attention from the national presidential campaigns, according to Nodine.

However, if the state doesn’t go for it and the Department of Justice does not strike down the Feb. 5 date, there are other viable alternatives.

“I recommend absentee voting,” said Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich at an appearance in Mobile last week for the Alabama Policy Institute when asked about the Feb. 5 date. “I spent three years at Tulane, being in New Orleans, I can’t imagine trying to vote on Mardi Gras. I strongly recommend everybody in Mobile vote on the preceding Friday or Saturday. Those people in Montgomery weren’t thinking much about Mobile when they passed that rule.”

Renewed KC-30 optimism

The EADS/Northrop Grumman KC-30 roller coaster ride is becoming a little smoother. Earlier this month, Nodine told Lagniappe there was the possibility of a split contract in which the EADS/Northrop Grumman partnership and their competition, Chicago-based Boeing, could both receive parts of the contract. Marc Pelham, the marketing director of the Mobile Airport Authority, echoed those same sentiments in a newspaper report that appeared in The Vanguard, the University of South Alabama student newspaper and indicated there would be a “flurry” of activity for the nation’s largest defense acquisition ever.

Neither Sen. Jeff Sessions nor Rep. Jo Bonner directly commented about the potential of a split contract when asked last week, but both put a positive spin on the possible outcome when asked in sit-down interviews with both in their Washington offices earlier this month.

“It’s hard to believe that there will be 550 replacements of a single aircraft,” Bonner said. “But I don’t profess to know what would go into their thinking in terms of thinking which airplane first. That’s not my area of expertise. All I know is we worked hard to get on a level-playing field and I think we got one now.”

One of the biggest obstacles facing Mobile’s prospects for the economic boost was WTO bidding language that would have eliminated any chances for the Northrop Grumman/EADS team to participate in the bid. That language has now been eliminated, for the most part.

“There were a lot of things in there that would have made it difficult for the Northrop/EADS team to have a fair chance to win,” Sessions said. “For more than a year, the delegation has worked on that with the Armed Services committee. We were assured by the Defense Department there would be a level playing field.”

Both Sessions and Bonner emphasize the fact Northrop Grumman is still participating indicates there is a level-playing field.

“I think we have obviously made a significant amount of progress for the Northrop Grumman-led team, which they’re the quarterback, to go forward in the competition,” said Bonner “They gave us every reason to believe that if they didn’t think there was a level playing field, they wouldn’t put a bid in.”

Bonner said Ron Sugar, CEO of Northrop Grumman, indicated to him personally if they didn’t feel they had a fair opportunity, they wouldn’t put a bid in.

Sessions points out the EADS model has a built-in advantage over the Boeing model because it not only has refueling capabilities, but better cargo transporting versus its Boeing competition.

“The language isn’t crystal clear with absolute precision, but we do believe they’ll get extra credit for being able to carry cargo,” added Sessions.

Contact Jeff Poor at jeffreypoor@yahoo.com.

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