Less than a week after longtime party leaders rankled several newly-elected Republican senators in the Alabama legislature with a controversial hire for the Senate Republican Caucus’ public relations spot, the man at the center of the backlash voluntarily has withdrawn his name from consideration for the still-open position.

 Cullman native Paul Hamrick, who is several years removed from a series of controversies and legal allegations tied to both a former Democratic governor and the near-demise of a Birmingham-based health care corporation, notified Senator Jabo Waggoner (R-Birmingham) Wednesday that he would not move ahead with a contract with the caucus that would have retained his services for the duration of this year’s regular legislative session.

 The 22-member Senate Republican caucus includes 14 newcomers to the State House, legislators who rode a statewide sentiment of conservative-minded change to an unprecedented tally of Republican victories in last November’s general election. The Senate and House both hold a Republican super majority for the first time in the legislature’s 136-year history, and much of that majority is comprised of newcomers outside the incumbent-controlled political power structure.

 Cullman Republican Senator Paul Bussman, himself embarking on his first term, had voiced strong opposition to the Hamrick hire earlier this week. Citing dissatisfaction with both the candidate and the unilateral manner in which caucus leaders allegedly made the hire, Bussman questioned the leadership and pledged not to use Hamrick’s services if he remained in the position.

 A chorus of other new Senate Republican voices joined Bussman’s, and by midweek Hamrick had removed himself from consideration for the job.

 “I appreciate Mr. Hamrick understanding that feeling among the caucus, and removing his name from consideration,” said Bussman Wednesday. “It’s been very clear to me since we first started getting together as a caucus that the new members of the Senate — the newly-elected non-incumbents — are very independent thinkers and very strong personally, and that’s a tremendous benefit to our caucus. And when you have people like that, people who will stand up and say what they think, that is a very positive thing for the State of Alabama.”

 Hamrick, a Cullman native who was former Gov. Don Siegelman’s chief of staff and manager of his successful 1998 election bid, was drawn into the legal debacle surrounding the near-collapse of HealthSouth, the massive Birmingham-based medical company that narrowly avoided bankruptcy in 2003 following an accounting scandal that ultimately led to prison time for Siegelman, who was released from prison in 2008 after serving time for bribery, conspiracy to commit fraud, mail fraud and obstruction of justice. He has appealed his conviction.

* Read the complete story in the Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011, print edition of The Cullman Times.

* Benjamin Bullard can be reached by e-mail at bbullard@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131 ext. 270.