By Jacqueline Chandler/Messenger Correspondent
On Aug. 28, people lined the cobblestone of Court Street in downtown Gadsden for the ribbon cutting of the Democratic Headquarters.
Democratic candidates met with supporters and discussed their plans for a new direction in Alabama. The main focus on doing away with the supermajority in Montgomery and the desperate need to create jobs in Alabama. The candidates focused on reviving the economy, improving education and creating a better Alabama.
Gubernatorial candidate Dr. Parker Griffith expressed a deep sense of frustration with the direction the state has taken.
“Democracy is disappearing in Alabama and we’ve got to change that,” he said.
According to Griffith, Alabama is the last in the country on job creation and the only state with a rising unemployment rate.
Griffith expressed the importance of a state lottery in wake of surrounding states receiving revenue from Alabamians who cross the state line to play, which helps fund education in those states while our children do without.
“The governor of Tennessee announced any child that finishes high school in good standing may go to a two-year college or apprenticeship program free of charge because of their reserves and their lottery,” said Griffith. “In the meeting I attended, he thanked Alabama for being able to do that.”
Griffith blamed the supermajority for the state’s issues.
“The supermajority is taking this state back to a plantation mentality, where 5 percent of the very elitist want to run 95 percent of us who are working every day in Alabama. This is not about anything except a power grab funded by out of state billionaires that have bought Mike Hubbard, they have bought Bentley, and they have bought Del Marsh, and they will buy anybody they can buy but they can not buy the democratic party.”
Lt. gubernatorial candidate James Fields promised to give the voice back to legislature in Montgomery and discussed the importance of education and prison reform in the state.
He also referenced the failed PACT fund that many parents invested in to ensure their children’s college aspirations.
Fields, who graduated from Jacksonville State University, is a pastor and serves on the board of trustees for several organizations.