Things got personal as candidates for the Alabama District 4 Senate seat met head to head at a forum on Tuesday.

At the forum, jointly hosted by The Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce and The Cullman Times, candidates showcased their political platforms in answering questions asked by Times editor David Palmer and Brian Lacy, of the Chamber’s Governmental Affairs Committee.

 Democratic incumbent Sen. Zeb Little and his Republican challenger, Paul Bussman, focused on the most pressing issues facing legislators in Alabama during the next term, but the most heated moments occurred when personal issues came to light.

When questions arose regarding political advertisements created by the Little campaign that bring to question Bussman’s failure to pay child support following a divorce from his first wife, the candidates both took a firm stance.

Little told the audience that Bussman had made child custody and family values an issue in the race.

“Character is always an issue, and if what somebody says doesn’t match what they’ve done, the public deserves to know,” Little said. “Everything we said in those ads is true; Paul continues to refuse to answer legitimate questions about those issues.”

Little turned to face Bussman with a bundle of documents in hand and told the audience that if anyone wanted to see the records, they were there.

“Paul, you’ve told people one on one that what we’ve said is not true; you know what we’re saying is true,” Little said. “It is an issue in this campaign because he made it an issue, and I’ve got a duty to tell you because you deserve to know.”

Bussman stood to take his turn at the question.

“Oh my God,” Bussman said as the audience laughed. “I don’t remember Mr. Little being involved in any of my divorce proceedings, I don’t remember Mr. Little sitting in the courtroom when any of my divorce proceedings occurred. If he would like for me to bring the seven file boxes of court papers, I’ll be glad to — we can pick a few out of there if he wants to.”

Bussman said that there is no justification for using the events of his divorce to gain an edge in this race, contending that it was a non-issue. The squabble between the two candidates continued over the issue even as they answered questions of a more political nature. Audible groans could be heard from some members of the audience as it was mentioned a third and fourth time.

“Enough,” was overheard from one female audience member as Little again berated Bussman for the handling of his divorce.

Between comments about the issue of Bussman’s alleged non-support, issues with a more political focus took center stage.

Bussman said that the most challenging issue facing Alabama legislators is corruption. He vowed to take steps to clean up corruption.

“We’ve got to stop the things in Montgomery that aren’t right, we’ve got to stop the things going on in Montgomery that are more interested in legislative power than your power,” Bussman said.

The theme of rampant political corruption in Alabama carried into a discussion by the two regarding the Cullman County Commission and current issues regarding water utilities in the county.

“In the first two years, I will ensure that the assets of the Water Department are returned to the people of Cullman County,” said Little. “I  have a plan, I am the only candidate in this race that has a plan to do that, and that is by constitutional amendment. I have drafted a constitutional amendment and that will be the first bill that I will introduce.”

Little told the audience that currently a non-elected board is in control of $30 million in water related assets that belong to the citizens of Cullman County.

“That’s wrong, wrong, wrong,” Little said. “The board can give it back, but they refuse to do that, so I’m going to pass a bill allowing you to take them back so that the city and the county can work together like they were doing. We were on a path to creating another water source, until the actions [that] were taken by the outgoing county commission. We need to get back on that path.”

Bussman cited the near drought conditions in 2008 and said that a lack of actions by legislators and community leaders was evidence that poor leadership has caused the problems that Cullman County residents now face regarding the water supply.

“We were in phase three restrictions, that means we couldn’t get a glass of water in a restaurant unless we asked for it. We almost had a disaster in Cullman County because we ran out of water,” Bussman said. “That would have killed our industry, that would have killed the poultry industry, and it would have killed it in a matter of days, not weeks or months.”

Bussman said that during that time no action was taken by political leaders to remedy the problem.

“That’s when I as your senator would have stepped in and said guys we’ve got to figure this out, and we would not be in the situation that we’re in now had that occurred,” said Bussman.

Both candidates are in support of moving forward with the Duck River project.

Alabama senators recently received a 62 percent pay raise that was cause for much debate during the forum.

“I don’t know anybody here that could get away with taking a 62 percent pay raise and not get fired,” said Bussman. “I will eliminate that pay raise. I should have to come back to the people of Alabama and ask for a pay raise.”

Little told the audience that he supported the pay raise only because it make it possible for average people to take time from their regular careers in order to run for legislative positions.

“When [the pay raise] did go up and we hit proration, I voluntarily put it into a separate account and have used that account for local projects — to help education, and to help other local project,” Little said. “Because when Alabama hit tough times I thought I should sacrifice too.”

Both candidates agree that Alabama’s economy is in trouble and that Alabamians desperately need more job opportunities.

“We’re in the worst economy in this nation’s history since the Great Depression,” said Little. “We have got to work to continue to create jobs.”

Little also emphasized that he has a conservative record of working to create jobs in Cullman County through support of infrastructure improvement projects and tax incentives for employers. He cited his conservative legislation as the reason he is supported by the National Rifle Associating and other traditionally conservative organizations throughout the state.

Bussman said that jobs would only be created by legislators who were willing to work with industry, small business, and retail in order to create jobs.

“You can stand up here and you can say what you want to say,” Bussman said. “But when push comes to shove, I’m the one that has been endorsed by the Alabama Retail Association, the Business Council of Alabama, and the National Federation of Independent Business. These are the business people of the State of Alabama, they know what they’ve been getting over the past couple of years— they can’t even sit down with the Senator and talk to him.”

Bussman vowed to meet with Alabama business leaders in order to find a solution to the statewide unemployment crises.

“We have to continue to work together with cities, counties, and elected officials to create jobs. Over the last ten years we have created over 8,000 jobs ,” Little said. “I’ve been privileged to be a part of that team. A team that last year, made Cullman County the number one county in the state for getting and expanding industry, a team that made Cullman County one of the top ten in the country for expanding industry.”

Little also cited Royal Technologies as a success of efforts to further develop industry in the area.

In light of concerns about proration and Alabama’s education budget crises, Bussman expressed his support of applying a 15 year rolling reserve to the state education budget.

“We’ve had proration 16 times in the past 60 years. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that we’ll be prorated again in the next few years if we don’t do something quick,” Bussman said. “The rolling reserve will allow schools to budget and to know what their money is next year.”

Little said that he doesn’t support the rolling reserve, and that proration is only a byproduct of the education budget problem in Alabama.

“We don’t adequately fund education in Alabama, we always do more with less in Alabama,” said Little. “I’m open to trying any idea that works.”

He said that at this point he does not support a rolling reserve style education budget.

“If you apply a 15 year rolling balance to the last 15 years, we would have cut education an additional $1.5 billion,” Little said. “Eighty percent of our education budget is sales and income tax, that means when the economy is growing people are making money, they’re hiring workers— our education budget is great. It is in those years that we should strive to fully fund the needs of education— we have never done that”

The indictments of several Alabama senators related to the gambling controversy in Alabama allowed the candidates to again discuss corruption in the state.

“Nobody in this room should be surprised that 11 people were indicted for corruption and bribery,” said Bussman. “It is embarrassing to me as a citizen of Alabama that we can’t trust our government to do what’s right.”

He said that he in no way is he in support of the expansion of gambling in Alabama, citing problems caused by electronic bingo, which he likened to slot machines.

“There is legal gambling going on in this state,” said Little. “So I favor a constitutional amendment letting the people decide whether they want to pass and regulate the legal gambling that is already going on or to do away with it.”

Bussman said that each time an issue was brought up about corruption in Montgomery, Little reverted to speaking about Cullman County issue.

“Let’s get the problems in Montgomery fixed first and then we can go on to other things,” said Bussman. “If I’m senate majority leader, my problem is what’s at home in Montgomery, not what’s going on in another county.”

Little responded that his number one priority has always been and will always be Cullman County.

Bussman and Little will face each other for the District 4 Senate seat during the November 2 General election.



* Sam Rolley can be reached by e-mail at srolley@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131 ext. 225.