Irons is first Shoals woman elected to Legislature

Two local legislative seats were up for grabs in this year's general election.

In fact, one seat -- District 1 -- was voted on twice.

Both times, Tammy Irons came out the winner in District 1, becoming the first woman to win the post in the district.

Mike Curtis won the District 2 seat, which means the Shoals will bring an all-Democratic legislative delegation to the capital in 2007.

The races in the two districts were ranked as the 10th biggest local story in 2006, according to a poll of TimesDaily staff.

Irons defeated Republican William Smith in a March 23 special election to fill the spot left open by the Dec. 15, 2005, death of longtime state Rep. Nelson Starkey.

After winning by a 23 percent margin in March to complete Starkey's term, she had to run for the seat in November's general election.

So, she and Smith again hit the campaign trail. This time, Irons won by about 30 percent.

"As I say, I can never do anything the easy way," Irons joked this week, recalling the long campaign that entailed two elections in eight months. "But I love being with the people, so it was a lot of fun," she added.

The timing of the first election allowed Irons to serve for the final eight days of the 2006 legislative session.

"It let me understand how the process works, from a practical standpoint," she said. "It'll allow me to kind of hit the ground running in 2007."

Also locally, Democratic incumbent state Sen. Bobby Denton defeated Buddy Brook for the District 1 Senate seat; Democratic District 7 House incumbent Jody Letson was the winner over challenger Michael Robinson; and Democratic District 4 Senate incumbent Zeb Little won over Harold Sachs.

Curtis defeated Mary Pettus by about a 30 percent margin in the general election. Incumbent Lynn Greer did not run for re-election in that race.

Curtis has been studying for the upcoming session, as well. In fact, he recently traveled to Montgomery with District 3 state Rep. Marcel Black to a legislative caucus.

"I learned so much, going three hours down there and three hours back with Marcel Black," Curtis said. "I asked him question after question."

Curtis said he has undergone a legislative orientation, and organizational meetings will start in January. The regular session begins in March.

"The local delegation is going to work real well together," Curtis said. "We're going to do what we can for the Shoals area. That's our main focus."

Irons said the local delegation already has met to discuss the upcoming session. She said one item that was discussed is a state transportation commission to take the politics out of decision-making for road projects.

Bernie Delinski can be reached at 740-5739 or bernie.delinski@timesdaily.com.