Friday, September 15, 2006

Worley Watch: Blast from the Past

With Nancy Worley talking about witch hunts - and with Halloween not too far off - I was reminded of this article written by Elaine Witt of the former Birmingham Post-Herald.  It was originally published in October 2004. 
 
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Worley's tenure fit for Halloween
 
Yes, you're liable to see some creepy George W. Bush and John Kerry masks on the trick-or-treat trail this weekend. But with Halloween falling on the eve of an election in which both sides are spooked about ballot conspiracies, I'm planning to get a long black wig, wrap a wad of hair around my head, borrow one of
those Eddie Bauer SUVs and go as Alabama's scariest constitutional officer: Secretary of State Nancy Worley.

Only one of the state elections division workers who were on the job when Worley was elected in 2002 is still there. The others, as well as General Counsel Charles Grainger, have either resigned, retired or been fired, laid off or transferred under Worley. And the single remaining elections worker who was in the office when Jim Bennett was secretary of state, elections administrator Ed Packard, has a grievance pending against Worley with the State Personnel Board.

Few people outside Montgomery paid attention to these vanishings until Oct. 19. That's when Worley reportedly forced the resignation of Alabama's widely respected voter registration supervisor, Anita Tatum.

Now, Worley's own Democratic Party is abuzz with rumors about a primary challenge. And Alabama Republicans are smelling blood.

"The combination of the internal struggle she's having, even within the Democratic party, and then the controversy about the automobile has her pretty vulnerable," if she seeks re-election in 2006, state GOP chair Marty Connors said this week.

Oh, yeah, the automobile. That would be the special edition Ford Expedition Worley bought with state money during her first year in office. This shouldn't have been such a big deal — lots of public officials drive extravagant gas guzzlers at our expense. Worley just had the political stupidity to commit this gaffe in the midst of budget-related layoffs.

No political error, in any case, can match Worley's cumulative draining of the experience base in the elections division. If anything goes wrong on Tuesday — and if there's an election, anywhere in the world, you can bet there will be a glitch or two — Worley will get the blame.

Moreover, in the course of her various personnel actions, Worley has managed to tick off some key Democratic constituencies. One of the workers she ran off was on the board of the state AFLCIO. Stewart Burkhalter, president of the Alabama AFL-CIO, said Thursday he had no comment on Worley or her political future.

But Mac McArthur, executive director of the powerful Alabama State Employees Association, referred to Worley's behavior as "completely disturbing."

"I certainly believe Ms. Worley is in trouble, and her office is in trouble," said McArthur, who is seeking to have Tatum reinstated. You would think that Worley, a former president of the Alabama Education Association, would know better than to cross the state employees' unions.

But very little of Worley's behavior is making sense. The scariest possible scenario is that the brain drain in the state elections division will somehow affect the handling of election results from Alabama's 67 counties next week.

But that does not appear to be a great threat. Except for the advent of provisional ballots — part of a new procedure for handling ballots that have been challenged — this year's polling in Alabama is expected to be routine.

Scared you, didn't I?

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