The Associated Press - Folsom, Ivey Differ on Key Issues

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Alabama's two candidates for lieutenant governor, Democratic incumbent Jim Folsom Jr. and Republican challenger Kay Ivey, have views on electronic bingo gambling that are as far apart as "B" and "O."
Their views on how to preside over the often rambunctious state Senate differ, too.

Folsom, a former governor who is finishing up his third term as lieutenant governor, and Ivey, a two-term state treasurer, face off in the general election Nov. 2.

The gambling issue dominated the spring session of the Legislature and is poised to do it again in 2011. That's because the gambling task force organized by outgoing Gov. Bob Riley succeeded in closing all electronic bingo casinos in the state except the three run by the Poarch Creek Indians.
"We will have a new governor and Legislature in six months, but the issue will still be there," Folsom said.

He said the only way to resolve it is for the Legislature to vote to hold a statewide referendum that will allow Alabama citizens to decide the issue.
Folsom said that referendum should address only bingo, not dog tracks.
"We need a referendum addressing the status of that industry to address where bingo can exist or can't exist, what form it can exist in, what the procedure is for deciding bingo is allowed and the process it is legitimized," he said.

If approved, electronic bingo should be operated under strict regulation and heavy oversight and should be taxed by the state, he said.
Ivey, an opponent of gambling, said the Legislature has spent too much time fighting over gambling issues.
"The Legislature in the last four years has been an absolute shell game focused on electronic bingo and gambling. That's unconscionable for one issue to tie down a body that cannot be responsive to the people of Alabama in times when we need really meaningful legislation," she said.

Ivey, 65, said she believes the Legislature has the power to make sure electronic bingo is removed from the state. But if it doesn't, she supports the proposal by the Republican nominee for governor, Robert Bentley, for the Legislature to put before the voters a straight up or down referendum on all gambling. Bentley's plan would shut down existing dog tracks and paper bingo games if voters said no to gambling.

Ivey said she would work hard to get voters to vote no.
Part of Ivey's campaign plan includes criticizing how the state Senate has operated.
"Go to Google and put in the words "Alabama State Senate.' See what comes up. It's a picture of the fist fight on the floor. That's the kind of leadership that has created an environment of friction, inability to accomplish anything and dysfunction," she said.
Ivey is referring to a member of her own party, Republican Sen. Charles Bishop of Jasper, hitting a Democratic senator, Lowell Barron of Fyffe, in 2006, when Folsom wasn't lieutenant governor.

Ivey said Folsom hasn't used the presiding officer's gavel to keep the Senate focused on issues important to Alabama citizens. "If there wasn't so much power there, why does the Democratic incumbent want the office again?" she said.
Folsom, 61, said that when he began his current term in 2007, he found a Senate hampered by distrust and a lack of communication. He said he started getting Democratic and Republican leaders to meet with him each Tuesday morning before the Senate convened for the week, and the results of that regular communication were a smoother working Senate the past two years.
Folsom, long known for his laid-back, slow-talking manner, said, "I have the ability to work with both sides because of my temperament."

Ivey said Folsom worked with the Senate in 2007 to allow a voice vote rather than a recorded vote on approving a 61 percent raise for the Legislature. If elected, she said, "We will have recorded votes on key issues."
Folsom said the Senate did have a recorded vote before the issue was resolved because senators had to vote to override the governor's veto of the pay raise.
Republican challengers for state Senate seats this fall are using that vote to criticize senators who supported the raise.

Folsom's leadership in the Senate is endorsed by the officers of Save Alabama PACT. The parents' group worked to get the Legislature to allocate $548 million in April to salvage the state's financially troubled Prepaid Affordable College Tuition plan.

Folsom helped start the program 20 years ago and was serving on its board when it ran into financial problems. Ivey administered the program as state treasurer.
The president of Save Alabama PACT, Patti Lambert of Decatur, said Folsom worked "from day one" to save the program, while Ivey was not around when Save Alabama PACT was negotiating with legislators to get the appropriation passed.
"When we needed her the most, she was absent," Lambert said.
Ivey said she was always straightforward about how the downturn in the economy had hurt the program's investments, while Folsom sent stand-ins to PACT board meetings until it became a legislative issue.
"They know I'm a straight shooter and they know I will share the facts with folks even when it's inconvenient," she said.
Both candidates have been picking up endorsements in advance of the vote Nov. 2.

Ivey's supporters include former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, the Alabama Farmers Federation and the Susan B. Anthony List.
The latter group praised Ivey for trying to prevent abortions by supporting tax breaks for adoptive and foster families.

Folsom's endorsements include the usual Democratic groups, like Alabama AFL-CIO, but he also stretches across the political spectrum to the Alabama Association of Realtors.
"I've been noted as a pro-business Democrat," Folsom said.

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