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Clare Huddleston ‏@Fox6Clare 51m51 minutes ago
#freeuab group headed to Montgomery to lobby AL lawmakers today. Will hand out this snapshot showing support @myfoxal

I really like the summary sheet.

Is it true Witt has refused to meet with Jack Williams?

That is what I heard via twitter.

They were supposed to meet last Thursday but apparently something suddenly came up for Witt.

Hope that Jack can find ways to stick it to Witt & the BOT.

(03-31-2015 11:31 AM)the_blazerman Wrote:  That is what I heard via twitter.

They were supposed to meet last Thursday but apparently something suddenly came up for Witt.

Hope that Jack can find ways to stick it to Witt & the BOT.

I can't image Dr. Witt meeting with Rep. Williams under any circumstance after his statement. There is too much danger in it for him, regarding who said what. That would be foolish on his part.

Wish I could have made this trip to Montgomery also, but the timing was impossible for me ( Spring Breakin it ).

I'd love to hear how it went for those that went down there.

Its going good. Talked to the reps who support Jack's bill and thank them. We've talked to senators and made sure they know Jacks bill is in house committee and hope they give it a good look. Most senators I've talked to know of the bill and the events at UAB.
It's going good. Press the flesh.

(03-31-2015 01:47 PM)rook360 Wrote:  Its going good. Talked to the reps who support Jack's bill and thank them. We've talked to senators and made sure they know Jacks bill is in house committee and hope they give it a good look. Most senators I've talked to know of the bill and the events at UAB.
It's going good. Press the flesh.

Follow up letters (yes sometimes I still do those) headed out today to the committee members

Also talked to the Senators too. Many of the ones I spoke to know about what's going on with IAB and the BOT, and they know of Jack's bills but haven't read them yet. Good chance to explain and clarify what each bill actually does.

(03-31-2015 01:47 PM)rook360 Wrote:  Its going good. Talked to the reps who support Jack's bill and thank them. We've talked to senators and made sure they know Jacks bill is in house committee and hope they give it a good look. Most senators I've talked to know of the bill and the events at UAB.
It's going good. Press the flesh.

I agree. Generally our lobbying effort has gone well; we are being well received.

As you may already know, Jack was able to secure a large number co-sponcership for all three UAB bills.

HR-339 - Ethics and SACS training for the BOT - 56 co-sponsers

HR-340 - Reorganization of the BOT - 43 co-sponsors

HR-341 - Bring back UAB football - 39 co-sponcers

There are 105 Representatives in the Alabama House so those are large co-sponsorships numbers. Now keep in mind that co-sponsors are not the only Representative who will ultimately vote for a bill. (Once a bill is filed, no one else can co-sponsor it.). However this large number of co-sponsors is unusual so it looks good for the bills' passage. Both HR-339 and HR-340 are constitutional amendments so they will require 2/3 majorities. HR-341 requires a simple majority.

Most on both the Senate and House sides have given us good receptions. There are exceptions. One I personally encountered was Senator Dial from T-town. No way in heck is he ever going to be with us. However, I did find his wardrobe amusing - nice suit with high top top dress shoes with no socks. With others we have to try to overcome petty political stables, sometimes with Jack's help. Many tell us up front that they are with us; others are more noncommittal wanting to study the bills more closely before committing.

Overall, this experience has been a lot more favorable than I thought it would be. I think we have good chance of passing all three bills in the House. We will know more about the Senate after the bills after they are introduced there. The House bills have been sent to the House Education committee. I believe that we have enough co-sponcers on that committee to move the bills out of committee and on to the House floor for a vote fairly quickly once the bills come up on the committee agenda. There is still a long way to go, but so far so good.

Guys, thank you for the great work.

I've never seen the word sponsor spelled so many different ways in one post.

Good job anyway.

(03-31-2015 10:37 PM)KevMo4UAB Wrote:  Guys, thank you for the great work.

Absolutely. As much as this board has gone to crap the past few weeks, your efforts are greatly appreciated.

Thanks to everyone who went. You guys are great. Saw you on the news and was proud.

We Are All Blazers!

(03-31-2015 11:03 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  I've never seen the word sponsor spelled so many different ways in one post.

Good job anyway.

How about a "good job" and then STFU

For those of you, for what ever reason, are unable to help with the lobbying efforts in Montgomery, here is how you can still help:

Someone mentioned earlier about writing emails to your legislators - that is still needed. Personal phone calls from people in their own districts are probably the most effective way to get their attention. Politicians cannot afford to not pay attention to the voters in their districts.

I think there needs to be emphasis in two specific area:

The first is legislators in both the House and the Senate representing area of the state not in the Birmingham metro area. Like the rest of us in the metro area, our legislators have been bombarded by the local media every time there is an event or some new revelation has come to light. So those legislators in the metro area are well aware of what is going on and are thus more likely to be supportive. However, the media coverage has been less intense in the rest of the state. If live in these other areas or know folks that do, contacting legislators from those "outlying areas" would be very useful.

The second area of emphasis should be the Senators. So far all of the emphasis has been on the House because that is were the bills were introduced - there are no equivalent Senate bills yet. So it is understandable that we are finding that the Senators are not as knowledgeable abut the situation or Jack's bills as their House colleagues. There are far fewer Senators - only 35 - and they have much larger districts than their House counterparts. We need the Senators, in particular those not in Birmingham metro area to understand that their support of the UAB bills is important to the voters of their districts.

That said, anything you can do to keep reminding all of the House and Senate legislators that the voters in their districts are paying close attention to the UAB bills would be very helpful.

I will give you one example of how you can make a difference. When I first called and talked to the newly elected Representative from my House district he was not very knowledgeable about the situation and he was totally non committal to our efforts. In fact, he asked some questions and made some statements which indicated to me that he might be even vote against the bills. I wrote him several emails, talked to him on the phone again, and sent him several emails with links to pertinent articles. I went to see him a couple of times in office in Montgomery and Kris talked to him in Montgomery as well.

Since our visit to Montgomery two weeks ago I noticed that he was proudly advertizing on his Facebook page that he was the first to sign on as a co-sponsor of two of Jack's bills. Yesterday, I went by his office to thank him for his support, but the was out. Later as a few of us were walking to the cafeteria for lunch, I heard someone call out my name and when I turned around to respond, there he was smiling and extending his hand. I of course thanked him. He went on to tell me what an absolutely deplorable situation Watts and the BOT had placed us in and how badly it needs to be corrected for once and for all.

I'm her eto tell you that felt so good and to assure you that each of you can make a real difference.

(04-01-2015 11:17 AM)rook360 Wrote:  

(03-31-2015 11:03 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  I've never seen the word sponsor spelled so many different ways in one post.

Good job anyway.

How about a "good job" and the STFU

LOL! Yea, I wrote that on my Ipad and its spell checker apparently isn't very discriminating. I am lost without a spell checker.

This goes for everyone.

Instead of insulting people how about doing something constructive to help. Fighting between each other is what they want.

Conversation is healthy. The insults and smart comments are not. The people we are up against play dirty. People are putting their careers on the line for UAB. Please keep that in mind.

Any threads that turn into bickering will be moved. I am sick of it and I think I speak for the other mods as well.

(04-01-2015 12:10 PM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  This goes for everyone.

Instead of insulting people how about doing something constructive to help. Fighting between each other is what they want.

Conversation is healthy. The insults and smart comments are not. The people we are up against play dirty. People are putting their careers on the line for UAB. Please keep that in mind.

Any threads that turn into bickering will be moved. I am sick of it and I think I speak for the other mods as well.

This!!!!