Bob Riley

Infobox Governor
name= Bob Riley


caption= Governor Riley greeting National Guard soldiers in January 2004.
order= 52^nd
office= Governor of Alabama
term_start= January 21, 2003
term_end=
lieutenant=1st Termndash Lucy Baxley2nd Termndash Jim Folsom, Jr.
predecessor= Don Siegelman
successor= Incumbent
birth_date= birth date and age|1944|10|3
birth_place= flagicon|Alabama Ashland, Alabama
death_date=
residence= Ashland, Alabama
spouse= Patsy Riley
profession= automobile dealer, real estate developer
party= Republican
state2=Alabama
district2=1st
term_start2=January 3, 1997
term_end2=January 3, 2003
preceded2=Glen Browder
succeeded2=Mike D. Rogers
alma_mater=University of Alabama
religion=Baptist
footnotes=

Robert Renfroe "Bob" Riley (born October 3, 1944) is an American politician in the Republican Party. He is the current Governor of Alabama, first elected in 2002, and re-elected during the 2006 mid-term election. [cite web
url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/07/AR2006110700766.html
title=Election Results from the South
author=The Associated Press
accessdate=2006-11-08]

Riley was born in Ashland, Alabama, a small town in Clay County where his family ranched and farmed for six generations. Riley attended the University of Alabama, graduating with a degree in business administration. Riley is married to Patsy Adams Riley, also from Ashland. The couple has four children (one of whom is deceased) and seven grandchildren.

Riley was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996, defeating his Democratic opponent, State Senator T.D. "Ted" Little (Auburn, Ala.) and Libertarian John Sophocleus. Riley served as a representative of Alabama's 3rd congressional district from 1997 to 2003.

2002 Gubernatorial election

Riley did not run for re-election to the House in November 2002 (as a supporter of term limits, he imposed a three-term limit on himself), instead running for Governor of Alabama and defeating the Democratic incumbent by approximately 3,000 votes - the narrowest margin in the state's history for a gubernatorial race. The result was controversial, as the initial election night count showed a 2,000-plus vote victory for Riley's opponent, Don Siegelman.

Amendment One

In the first year of his administration, Riley proposed "Amendment One", which would have made sweeping changes to the state's tax system. The plan essentially consisted of income tax breaks for lower brackets, offset by various tax hikes on consumption, property and income from higher brackets. Part of the problem that this plan sought to address was the strong dependence the Alabama tax system placed upon sales tax, which makes the state budget dependent upon the economy in the state. The plan was estimated to yield an overall state revenue increase of $1.2 billion per year. [ [http://fs.huntingdon.edu/jlewis/AL/ALtaxReform03arts.htm AL tax Reform '03 articles ] ] The plan also included accountability reforms, including changes to teacher tenure policies, accountability for school systems, and bans on pass-through pork. This plan also included provisions for a scholarship program for Alabama students to attend college and funding of other education initiatives.

Support as well as opposition for this plan came from traditionally opposing forces in Alabama, crossing party lines. This included support from pro-business organizations, including the Business Council of Alabama and many Chambers of Commerce, as well as prominent education organizations, including the Alabama Education Association. Other progressively-minded non-profit groups supported this plan, including many organizations that had sought changes in the Alabama tax system for many years. These organizations saw this as an opportunity for Alabama to invest in the future of the state through investments in education and governmental reforms. Riley also presented this plan using Christian terms, building upon language already present in the state to argue that the Alabama tax system placed the heaviest burden upon the poorest citizens of the state. Opponents to the plan included the Alabama chapter of the Christian Coalition (splitting with the national Christian Coalition who endorsed the plan), and the Alabama Farmers Federation (ALFA). A number of the people who opposed this plan, included both organizations mentioned, had strongly supported Riley for Governor in 2002. These opponents based a campaign upon a criticism of the state legislature and used the complexity of the plans to claim that taxes would go up on people in the state. While proponents had pointed to studies of the plan showing the majority of Alabamians seeing a lower overall tax burden, polls indicated that most citizens - likely influenced by the proposed property tax increase - believed their personal taxes would be higher under the plan.

Amendment One was rejected by voters on September 9, 2003, with 68 percent opposed. While Riley's Amendment One was soundly rejected by Alabama voters, it did gain him national recognition. For his leadership in addressing the state’s fiscal crisis, Governor Riley was named the “Public Official of the Year” by Governing magazine [cite web
url=http://www.governing.com/poy/2003/intro.htm
title=Public Officials of the Year
accessdate=2006-10-08
date=2003-11-01
work=
publisher=Governing Magazine] in 2003, and Time magazine hailed him for being one of the nation’s “most courageous politicians.” [cite web
url=http://www.time.com/time/columnist/frank/article/0,9565,476249,00.html
title=Alabama's Most Courageous Politician
accessdate=2006-10-08
date=2003-08-15
work=
publisher=Time Magazine]

The overwhelming rejection of this plan forced Riley to mend fences within his own base and seek to do some reforms without the broad tax increases that Amendment One sought. Some parts of the proposal have been enacted, such as efforts to raise the minimum tax threshold in Alabama.

Industrial development

Riley has claimed credit for helping to spur economic development in Alabama, although the previous governor, Siegelman, had initiated the industrial growth. Riley points to the opening of an aeronautics engineering facility in Mobile by EADS, the parent company of Airbus, which may ripen into an aircraft assembly plant if EADS secures future contracts. [cite web
url=http://www.al.com/business/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/business/114811664853990.xml&coll=3
title=Mobile, state win economic accolades
accessdate=2006-10-08
date=2006-05-20
work=
publisher=AL.com] Riley's critics have pointed out that Riley has failed to emulate the success of predecessors, such as Siegelmanndash during whose administration the Hyundai plant was successfully recruited [cite web
url=http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/specialreports/hyundai/060802_hyundai.html
title=Governor speaks in South Korea
accessdate=2006-10-08
date=2002-06-08
work=
publisher=Montgomery Advertiser] [cite web
url=http://www.hyundainews.com/hyundainews/corporat31.htm
title=Hyundai Moto Company Announces it Will Build
accessdate=2006-10-08
date=2002-04-02
work=Press Release
publisher=Hyundai Motor America] ndash and Jim Folsom, Jr., in securing automotive manufacturing plants. Specifically, when Kia announced in March 2006 it would build a maunfucturing plant in Georgia, [cite web
url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/12/business/main1391772.shtml?CMP=OTC-RSSFeed&source=RSS&attr=Business_1391772
title=Kia Motors To Open Plant In Georgia
accessdate=2006-10-08
date=2006-03-12
work=
publisher=CBS News] Riley was criticized by Siegelman, [cite web
url=http://www.oanow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=OAN/MGArticle/OAN_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137835645927&path=!news!localnews
title=With trial set to start Monday, Siegelman campaigns in a hurry
accessdate=2006-10-08
date=2006-04-28
work=
publisher=Opelika-Auburn News] for Alabama's failure to mount a serious bid for the plant.

Under Riley's administration, unemployment in Alabama fell from 5.3% in January, 2003 when Riley took office to 3.3% in March, 2006. [cite web
url=http://www.econstats.com/BLS/blsla/blsla_cn_1_m1.htm
title=Alabama Econstats
accessdate=2006-10-08
date=2006-06-01
work=
publisher=Econstats.com] This rate was the lowest ever recorded since statistics began being tracked in 1976 and was among the nations lowest. [cite web
url=http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2006/04/17/daily31.html?from_rss=1
title=Alabama unemployment rate last month was among nation's lowest
accessdate=2006-10-08
date=2006-04-12
work=
publisher=Birmingham Business Journal] In April 2007 the unemployment rate once again reached 3.3 percent. [http://www.governorpress.alabama.gov/pr/pr-2007-05-18-01-unemployment_rate_falls.asp]

Critics have claimed that recent developments are a consequence of national economic recovery and pointed to the loss of thousands of Alabama's historic textile jobs under Riley. Nevertheless, the state under Riley's administration was recognized as "State of the Year" by "Southern Business and Development" magazine four years in a row and received other awards for competitiveness, job creation and economic development. [cite web
url=http://www.edpa.org/docs/Alabama-Achievements.pdf
title=Alabama Achievements
accessdate=2006-10-08
date=2006-08-11
work=
publisher=Economic Development Partnership of Alabama]

Among other honors, "Worldwide Interactive Network" named the Alabama Office of Workforce Development the No. 1 U.S. employee development agency and "Expansion Management" magazine has ranked Alabama Industrial Development Training No. 1 among workforce training programs. [cite web
url=http://birmingham.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2006/08/07/daily26.html
title=Trade journal: AIDT No. 1 among workforce training programs
accessdate=2006-10-08
date=2006-08-10
work=
publisher=Birmingham Business Journal] Riley's Alabama Bureau of Tourism & Travel received the National Council of State Tourism Directors' annual Mercury Award recognizing its "Year of Alabama Food" as the nation's top tourism campaign. [cite web
url=http://www.touralabama.org/places-to-eat/yof.cfm
title=Tourism office wins award for campaign
accessdate=2006-10-08
date=2006-10-08
work=
publisher=TourAlabama.org]

In May 2007, Riley announced that ThyssenKrupp would build a $4.2 billion state-of-the-art steel mill north of Mobile, Alabama, the largest economic announcement in Alabama's history, and largest corporate project in U.S. history. The mill, to be operational in 2010, will employ 29,000 during construction and 2,700 once it is opened. [http://www.governorpress.alabama.gov/pr/pr-2007-05-11-01-thyssenkrupp-photo.asp]

Other issues

In 2005, Governor Riley was criticized by some Mobile County residents after issuing that area of the state a "mandatory" evacuation order in advance of Hurricane Dennis' landfall. Residents felt the issue was better addressed during Hurricane Katrina using a layered approach with sections of the county evacuated instead of the entire county.

On August 28, 2005, Governor Riley declared a state of emergency for the approaching Hurricane Katrina. On the same day, he requested president George W. Bush to declare "expedited major disaster declaration" for six counties of south Alabama, which was approved by the evening of August 29. 350 national guardsmen were called on duty as of August 30. [cite web
url=http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=3775450
title=Riley declares state of emergency due to Katrina threat
accessdate=2006-10-08
date=2005
work=
publisher=KATC, WorldNow]

On November 9, 2005 Riley called for a citizens' boycott of Aruba, alleging that the local government was engaged in a cover-up of the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. [cite web
url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,174934,00.html
title=Ala. Governor Calls for Aruba Boycott Over Holloway Case
accessdate=2006-10-08
date=2005-11-08
work=
publisher=FoxNews, AP] [cite web
url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0511/08/sitroom.03.html
title=The Situation Room transcript
accessdate=2006-10-08
date=2005-11-08
work=
publisher=CNN.com]

In November 2005, Riley was linked to the Jack Abramoff scandal when his former Congressional press secretary, Michael Scanlon, pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the matter. It further emerged that, as a Congressman, Riley signed a letter on behalf of the U.S. Family Network, opposing expansion of casino gambling in Alabama. [cite web
url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/30/AR2005123001480_pf.html
title=The DeLay-Abramoff Money Trail
accessdate=2006-10-08
date=2005-12-31
work=
publisher=Washington Post] The U.S. Family Network was revealed to be an Abramoff front, funded by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, which operated competing casinos. [cite web
url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/01/04/EDGV9GFGJM1.DTL
title=Abramoff's web of corruption
accessdate=2006-10-08
date=2006-01-04
work=
publisher=SFGate.com] Riley has denied knowing the source of this funding.

As part of his plan to provide open government, Riley has posted on the Governor's website the monthly expenditures from the Governor's Contingency Fund and the quarterly flight logs from all state airplanes. [http://www.governor.state.al.us/public_records.htm]

As Governor, Riley oversaw 13 executions in Alabama, more than any of his predecessors since 1983 (see Capital punishment in Alabama).

2006 Re-election campaign

In 2003, Alabama state politics gained national attention when the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Roy Moore, refused to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the rotunda of the court building. Riley reportedly supported Moore, but ultimately did not play a large role in the dispute. Riley stated there was nothing he could do to prevent Moore from being removed from office by a judicial ethics panel. Moore challenged Riley in the June 6, 2006 GOP primary.

In May 10, 2005, Riley's approval ratings were 36% approving and 52% disapproving of his job as governor. [cite web
url=http://www.surveyusa.com/50governorsrated051005.htm
title=Approval Ratings of All 50 Governors as of 5/10/05
accessdate=2006-10-08
date=2005-05-10
work=
publisher=Survey USA] . By September 20, 2005, Riley’s approval ratings had increased substantially to 58 percent approving and 38% disapproving. [cite web
url=http://www.surveyusa.com/50State2005/50StateGovernorApproval0905SortedbyState.htm
title=Approval Ratings of All 50 Governors as of 9/20/05
accessdate=2006-10-08
date=2006-09-20
work=
publisher=Survey USA] Analysis of this increase seems to indicate that it may be attributed to the public’s perception of Riley’s response to Hurricane Katrina. By February 14, 2006, Riley's approval ratings had slightly decreased, with 52% approving and 43% disapproving of his job as governor. [cite web
url=http://www.surveyusa.com/50State2006/50StateGovernor060214State.htm
title=Approval Ratings of All 50 Governors as of 9/20/05
accessdate=2006-10-08
date=2006-02-14
work=
publisher=Survey USA] As of August, 2006, his approval rating is at 62% with a disapproval rating of 35%. [cite web
url=http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollTrack.aspx?g=8cff2ad1-8645-4f49-b1ae-f329b62c6bcd
title=Poll Tracker
accessdate=2006-10-08
date=2006-09-18
work=
publisher=Survey USA]

Property tax appraisals became a major campaign issue with Riley's opponents claiming that Riley, acting through his revenue commissioner, ordered that property tax appraisals be made annually, rather than the quadrennial reappraisals that were established practice. Because property values tend to increase over time, making appraisals more frequent has the indirect effect of increasing the taxes paid by property owners. Riley's opponents claimed that by doing so, he raised taxes without a vote of either the Legislature or the people. [cite web
url=http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1147598726219070.xml&coll=2
title=Appraisals a weapon in race for governor
accessdate=2006-10-08
date=2006-05-14
work=
publisher=The Birmingham News] Riley claims he is merely following the language of the law, and the advice of his [cite web
url=http://www.madisoncountyrecord.com/articles/2005/11/17/opinion/oped2.txt
title=Siegelman shows political stamina
accessdate=2006-10-08
date=2005-11-17
work=
publisher=Madison Record] attorneys.

See Alabama gubernatorial election, 2006.

Electoral history

*2006 Race for Governorndash General Election
**Bob Riley (R) (inc.)ndash 717,287ndash 58.03%
**Lucy Baxley (D)ndash 518,750ndash 41.97%

*2006 Race for Governorndash Primary Election
**Bob Riley (R) (inc.)ndash 306,665ndash 66.66%
**Roy Moore (R)ndash 153,354ndash 33.34%

*2002 Race for Governorndash General Election
**Bob Riley (R)ndash 672,225ndash 49.2%
**Don Siegelman (D) (inc.)ndash 669,105ndash 48.9%
**John Sophocleus (Libertarian)ndash 23,272ndash 1.7%
**write inndash 2,451ndash .2%

*2002 Race for Governorndash Primary Election
**Bob Riley (R)ndash 262,851ndash 73.53%
**Steve Windom (R)ndash 63,775ndash 17.45%
**Tim James (R)ndash 30,871ndash 8.64%

See Alabama gubernatorial election, 2002.

References

External links

* [http://www.governor.state.al.us/ Alabama Governor Bob Riley] official state site
* [http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=bef7ae3effb81010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD National Governors Associationndash Alabama Governor Bob Riley] biography
* [http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/candidate.phtml?si=20062&c=418461 Follow the Moneyndash Bob Riley] 2006 campaign contributions
* [http://www.ontheissues.org/Bob_Riley.htm On the Issuesndash Bob Riley] issue positions and quotes
* [http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=BC033969 Project Vote Smartndash Governor Robert R. 'Bob' Riley (AL)] profile
* [http://www.bobrileyforgovernor.com/ Bob Riley for Governor] official campaign site