Senate tensions high on last day

MONTGOMERY -- There was a lot of psychoanalysis in the Senate on the legislative session's last day Thursday but it's up to history to determine whether the dysfunction that struck the Senate will have long-lasting effects.

Colleagues were questioning Sen. Charles Bishop's sanity Thursday after Bishop, R-Arley, punched Senate Rules Chairman Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe, in the side of the head while they were on the Senate floor. Bishop was unapologetic.

Then, as the session was about to end at midnight Thursday, state Sens. Phil Poole, D-Tuscaloosa, and Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills, got into a shouting match over House bills that Poole began killing.

Whether Poole intended it, his deft use of Senate rules to slow the process successfully killed a statewide Sunday liquor bill that Poole opposed because it would have allowed a referendum in Tuscaloosa.

The bill also could have affected Florence and Sheffield.

Florence allows limited alcohol beverage sales on Sunday only in restaurants and hotels.

A separate, local bill successfully passed this session that will allow Sheffield officials to call for a vote in that city and allow residents to decide if they want to sell liquor on Sundays after noon in restaurants and hotels only.

The statewide bill would have allowed liquor sales on Sunday to extend beyond restaurants and hotels and include other locations such as package stores.

Tensions were still high from the Bishop--Barron fracas with less than two hours left in the session when Poole began stalling.

He did this by carrying over House bills of Republicans who kept the House from overriding Gov. Bob Riley's exclusion from the general fund budget of $1 million in road money Poole wanted for his district.

Waggoner said if Poole killed a bill that would penalize truck drivers who let heavy coils of steel roll off their flatbed trucks, the next death caused by a mishap would be on him.

With escalating voices, they each accused the other of lying. At one point Poole said to Waggoner, "If you think I'm going to do that, you're crazy.''

The Sunday liquor bill was two bills away from being called up for consideration when the clock struck midnight, ending the session.

All in all, with the punch and the anger, the 2007 legislative session that began March 4 ended with a bang.

"I don't recall a day like it,'' said William Stewart, a University of Alabama political science professor who has watched Alabama politics for 50 years and whose father was a two-term House member from Morgan County.

Stewart said Bishop's punch, which Barron said didn't hurt him, was seen round the world and probably hurts Alabama's image, "which is not good as we'd like it to be'' anyway.

On the other hand, sports talk radio callers across the state both decried Bishop's punch or applauded it.

"I'm from the Charles Bishop mold,'' said The Professor, a regular caller to Sports Line in Montgomery. "There's a lot of things you can't say about your Momma.''

Bishop said he punched Barron for calling him a son of a (expletive), which Barron and two witnesses deny. Bishop said a different obscenity to Barron twice right before the punch.

Stewart said he doubts whether the punch will hurt Bishop's reelection chances in his district even though it wasn't exactly laudable action. "It's not like a grade school playground,'' said Stewart.

Rep. Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, was the sponsor of the Sunday liquor sales referendum bill. The bill would have authorized the city councils in 14 cities to conduct Sunday liquor referendums.

Ford said a new bill will be introduced in the next session but he won't sponsor it because it won't require referendums.

Dana Beyerle can be reached at (334) 264-6605 or dtb12345@aol.com.