FLIP FLOPS, WINDS, and MUSICAL CHAIRS in Lauderdale County....

From a reader:

Billy Jackson was appointed by Bob Riley as the District Attorney in 2002 as a Republican. He ran for re-election in 2004 (that was a condition of being appointed), lost, then ran for won in 2010 as a Democrat as the Circuit Judge. After being beat by Chris Connolly in 2004, the paper quoted Billy Jackson's wife as saying that he "could not support the Democratic Party because of the issues of partial-birth abortion and gay marriage." Yet despite those supposed beliefs, he ran in 2010 as a Democrat on the same ballot as the most pro-abortion major party Presidential candidate in known history (Barack Obama). What happened to his values?

Now that the winds have shifted yet again, he wants back into the Republican Party. So much so, that the Democrat Judge is visiting the Republican County meetings and politicking for votes to switch again. Kind of like Musical Chairs the children play.

It sounds to me like we've got our very own Parker Griffith. The Flip Flop Candidates. How are we to believe what he stands for from one day to the next? He ran as a candidate under a party banner that he'd previously said he "could not support" due to core platform issues. Did he change his stance on those issues? Has he changed them again? Which side of the mouth is he speaking from today?

If a public official can switch from party to party whenever they want, as many times as they want, what then is the difference between the two parties? What  line separates Republicans and Democrats? Or, is it the WINDS that separate?

Is this the sound rational political wrangling of a person that we should elect as a JUDGE? 

It would be a bad move for Republicans to let Jackson once again switch parties, but a victory for the Democrats. Voter's confidence and trust in the stability and standards of the Republican Party would greatly diminish . Billy's reputation as a fairly horrible judge may be one reason the Democrat party is working behind the scenes to help him "cross over" once again.  Gil Self was allowed to switch parties recently, which was a tactical move when the GOP realized they might not pick up that seat in 2016 since Gil is popular and has access to a large number of high dollar donors for his re-election campaign. 

Jackson is another story. Virtually none of his colleagues and peers give a good report on his job performance - at least in private. At this point, the lawyers have a strong viable GOP candidate, Ben Graves. Graves has the qualifications (Florence Municipal Judge), the reputation, and the organization, to take out a widely disliked incumbent judge. With an experienced, conservative, viable candidate in the race, why allow a baggage-ridden serial party swapper that doesn't know what he stands for?

The Lauderdale County Republican Executive committee members would be fools to allow him to switch. They already let 4 Democrats switch parties despite being given a very clear mandate last year by the voters that they didn't want to put any more Democrats in elected office. Billy Jackson is incompetent, unaccountable, inaccessible, and untrustworthy. The Executive Committee needs to remember that they are elected by the Republican voters every 4 years as well. A number of longtime incumbent Republicans were kicked off the committee last year - including the sitting vice-chairman Buel Springer, who had served on the committee for 28 years. If the new committee starts acting like the old committee, the odds are that the Republican Primary voters will kick them out too. 

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