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Legislative stalemate Our hope for a productive legislative session with worthwhile accomplishments for Alabama citizens were not encouraged by the bitter tug-of-war for power that started off immediately in the State Senate. The Alabama Legislature is starting to resemble the U.S. Congress, with all the partisan bickering and posturing that goes on. We blame both sides. Republican Gov. Riley gambled on shaky ground- that one or two wayward Democrats would "stay hitched" (those are Bob Ingram's words, see his column at right) long enough to wrestle Senate control from the true "Yellow Dog" Democrats who have controlled the upper chamber for so long. Pegging such a coup attempt on one or two "unhitchable" senators was foolhardy. The old "Yellow Dogs" in the Senate are intent on retaining power and denying any of Riley's proposals. Now that they have successfully fought back an attempted take over, they may be more riled than ever to resist any of the Republican administration's ideas. The Senate Republicans may be more determined than ever to resist the Democratic leadership. The result will be a stalemate that will accomplish nothing, much like we have seen in the Senate in recent sessions. Not all of Riley's ideas are great. But not all are bad, either. We wish the Legislature- the Senate especially- and Gov. Riley could and would work together on the many problems that beset Alabama.
The organizational skirmish doesn't give us much hope.
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