Round two: GOP candidates meet for second forum

Published 5:15 am Friday, April 27, 2018

FAIRVIEW — Republican candidates for office got another chance to make their appeals to the people of Cullman County and share their ideas at a candidate forum in Fairview Town Hall Thursday night.

In the second of three planned forums hosted by the Cullman County Republican Party, local and state-level candidates got the chance to field questions from County GOP Chair Waid Harbison and members of the audience.

The candidates for Alabama Senate District 4, incumbent Paul Bussman and challenger Garlan Gudger, fielded several questions about the state’s budget and how they would save money or raise the state’s revenue.

To raise revenues, there are only a few ways that a legislature can go, and rather than see a tax increase, many people in Alabama have expressed their desire to vote for a state lottery, Gudger said.

“If people want to be able to vote on a lottery, I would allow them to vote on a lottery before we had to raise taxes,” he said. 

Gudger also pointed to his voting record as a Cullman city councilman, and said he has always prioritized education as an elected official. 

“I’m asking for your vote to go down to Montgomery and actually make that change so we can put money back in K-12 education,” he said. 

Bussman said he would also support a lottery if the people of the state voted for one, but there needs to be a clear destination for the money that is collected, unlike the last lottery bill that came before the legislature.

“You should know where the money’s going,” he said. 

Bussman said the K-12 education budget is getting the short end of the stick, mainly due to the higher education lobby pulling money away for projects that don’t have anything to do with K-12 schools, such as the University of Alabama’s purchase of the Bryce Hospital property.

Even though that purchase only affected UA, the K-12 budget paid for 73 percent of that purchase, he said. 

Bussman also spoke out against Gudger’s assertion that he hasn’t been doing all he could to make sure schools are funded. He said he has spent days on the floor of the Senate over the past few years to do just that.

“He’s not been down there to see what I’ve done,” he said. “When he’s talking about people who aren’t helping, he’s not talking about me.”

For the candidates for Cullman County probate judge, incumbent Tammy Brown and challenger Carol Berry, mental health was a hot topic of discussion.

Brown spoke about some of the work she has done for mental health issues, including joining a task force that is meant to tackle the issue at a local level. 

Brown said the task force is in the process of implementing a plan to help people with mental illness at a community level, instead of waiting for someone else to step in.

“What we are going to do is start at a local level,” she said. “We’ve got something in place, but we’ve got a long way to go.”

Brown also pointed out that addiction is not considered a mental illness by state law.

Berry pointed to another section of the law to show that addiction can be interpreted to be a mental illness. 

“Yes it is. It is a mental illness,” she said.

She said there are doctors who want to diagnose addicts with a mental illness, but they are stopped from doing so by Cullman Area Mental Health. 

“It’s a money thing,” she said. 

Berry said there are ways to help people with addiction, including detox units that are in place in other states that could be established here to help lessen the load that is put on local hospitals and law enforcement. 

“Sheriff Gentry is not a detox unit, Cullman Regional is not a detox unit,” she said. “We’ve got to be able to get these people the help that they need.”

There are people in the state who do probate court well, but Cullman County is not, Berry said.

Brown said she works as hard as she can to help people, but is limited by what the law allows her to do.

“I follow the laws, I don’t change the laws,” she said. “According to Alabama Code, we can’t commit people for substance abuse.”

After the lengthy discussion about mental health, Brown also reminded the audience of the importance of the other duties of her position, including things like handling estates, name changes or other administrative tasks, as well as serving as the county’s election officer.

“It’s not just about addiction, it’s not just about mental illness,” she said. “You can’t be probate judge and focus on one thing.”