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January 29, 2008

Fields gets historic win

By David Lazenby and Brittany Woodby

The victory party started early at James Fields’ political headquarters in Cullman as preliminary results indicated a win for the State House District 12 special election held Tuesday.

Denise Learned’s announcement of the City Hall results showed Fields leading his opponent, Republican Wayne Willingham 51-29 sparked a barrage of cheers and clapping at the Democrat office.

Further totals would prove the first box results to be a microcosm of the election as Fields beat Willingham by 1,188 votes, taking 59.34 percent of the ballots.

“History is being made tonight,” said Sen. Hinton Mitchem, who supported Fields. The 54-year-old resident of Colony already made history this year when he became the first black person to win a party nomination to represent the district in the Legislature.

Cullman County’s population is more than 96 percent white and 1 percent black according to statistics from the Cullman Economic Development Agency.

Fields said he does not feel the color of his skin was an important matter in the election.

“Being an African American just doesn’t matter,” Fields said. “I think it’s a historical moment because we were given an opportunity to run.”

Fields will complete the term of fellow Democrat Neil Morrison, who resigned in August to accept a position as interim president at Bevill State Community College.

Mitchem was not the only state politician waiting for results at the Cullman Civic Center where ballots were being counted.

“He will keep up the same tradition that I think we’ve had in this county of good legislators,” Nancy Worley, vice-chair of the Alabama Democratic Party, said. “I think Cullman County will be very well represented.”

State Democratic Chairman Joe Turnham agreed.

“Mr. Fields’ victory is a victory for all of Cullman County,” he said. “James Fields is going to be able to transverse a lot of the divide that exists not only in this county politically, but in Montgomery.”

Fields said he plans to represent the district by listening to his constituents.

“Really the best way to represent this area is to listen to the people,” Fields said. “You’ve got to hear their voices and you’ve got to be able to understand.”

Fields said one of the first issues he intends to address once in Montgomery is water.

“We’ve got to do something about it,” he said, saying Cullman county and the City of Cullman must work together to find a solution.

“Let us pool our resources together. This is a valuable commodity,” he said. “All we’ve got to do is work together.”

Fields’ victory will further tip the scale towards a Democratic rule in Alabama Legislature, with Democrats holding 61 House seats and Republicans filling 43. The legislative session starts Feb. 5.

Fields worked for nearly three decades with the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations, the last four as an unemployment fraud investigator. During former Gov. Don Siegelman's administration, he was assistant director of the agency in Montgomery.

During a political meet and greet at Fields’ Cullman headquarters on Saturday, the former minister compared the election to a pivotal scene in “The Matrix Revolutions” in which a young revolutionary tells the movie’s main character “I believe.”

“When he said that chills went over my bones,” said Fields, repeating the words again: “I believe.”

While Democrats celebrated reclaiming the District 12 seat, Fields' opponent, Republican Wayne Willingham, said he was disappointed about his loss.

“We worked hard, ran a clean campaign and talked about the issues,” he said. “The other candidate didn't talk about no issues, so I don't understand what it is people want.”

Willingham said he is not sure if he will run for a legislative position in the future and said for now he will continue to serve the community as a county commissioner.

“I only did this because I thought I could do some good,” he said. “But I'm happy in the county commission. ... I don't know what I'll be doing three years from now.”

While voters had few problems casting their ballots — a total of 6,223 — technical malfunctions and forces of nature prevented officials from easily determining the results. The computer system maintaining the numbers initially failed and Cullman County Probate Judge Leah Patterson-Lust said officials were preparing to count all the ballots by hand.

It was nearly two hours after polls closed before the probate office could announce totals from the first 10 precincts.

Strong winds caused a power shortage at the Cullman Civic Center and halted results with only five ballot boxes left to be counted. For more than 30 minutes officials and residents waited in the dark to find out the final totals for each candidate.

After calling multiple agencies across the county, officials were able to secure power from a region law enforcement truck with an on-board generator and at 10 p.m., power was restored.

"Who could have predicted this?" Lust said. "No one expects the power to go out."

Lust said overall she was pleased with how staff and officials handled the crises and is prepared for next week’s presidential primary.

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