OMG, don't let the federal Congress critters hear about this

Members of the Alabama House and the Alabama Senate have each introduced bills to create the "Association of Former Members of the Alabama Legislature."

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The Association of Former Members of the Alabama Legislature would come complete with paid administrators, state retirement benefits for association employees, state-sanctioned sanctimony and the same travel expenses and per diem as state employees.

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The bills - HB93 sponsored by Rep. Jack Williams and SB110 by Sens. Greg Reed, Jabo Waggoner, Del Marsh and Bobby Singleton - sets up the association that ostensibly would "work in cooperation with incumbent members of the Alabama Legislature, through the offices of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, to create a better understanding of the legislative process throughout the state."

A better understanding? They can't do that as elected public officials. And now they want a state-approved association to fund their delusion?

This thing ought to be called the Unmitigated Gall bill.

  AL.com

No shit. You elect them once and then you can't get rid of them. Who pays them?

To be fair, the association would not be funded by state money. But the bill would allow it to "accept gifts, contributions, membership fees, donations of funds, real or personal property, bequests, grants, appropriations, or other forms of financial assistance for the purposes provided in this act, from any federal entity, from the State of Alabama, or from any state agency or political subdivision of the state, or from any foundation, corporation, private individual or other entity, and the board and the association may engage in fund raising to support the purposes of the association."

So...the next thing is to set up a taxpayer fund for grants, right? Maybe there already is one.

The bill does not allow the association itself to engage in politics, endorse candidates or lobby, but it points out that as former legislators they would not be public officials. And therefore - it doesn't bother to say this - not subject to the pesky reporting requirements of public officials.

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Influence peddling and lobbying by another name, contracts and contacts and good old boys simply wasting money and state resources for personal and political gain. The possibilities are endless.

[]n my experience, there always are former state legislators who hang around the capitol buildings because they’ve never found anything else to do with their lives. I didn’t realize they could unionize. Of course, nobody else in Alabama can.

  Charlie Pierce

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.