Did Judge Billy Jackson Throw a Monkey Wrench?

We’ve received many inquiries as to why Lauderdale County Circuit Judge Billy Jackson is retiring 50 weeks before the end of this term. We can only speculate and are still left with more questions than answers. Jackson had already announced he was not running for re-election, leaving only the two Republican candidates, Florence attorney/license commissioner William Smith and property manager/municipal judge Ben Graves, in the running for the office.

Now a replacement will have to be found. He, or she, will almost certainly be a Republican, or at least one who like Jackson is capable of donning the mantle of the Grand Old Party when it suits their interest. Gov. Bentley has already pulled Will Motlow from the fray by appointing him probate judge to succeed the late James Hall. What our governor will do now is anyone’s guess.

Perhaps the one burning question is did Jackson plan to thwart anyone’s chances in the upcoming election? We eagerly await comments.

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Several months ago we debated with a regular contributor on the issue of voting against someone. Our reader felt it was better not to vote at all if one couldn’t vote “for” someone on the candidate’s merits alone. We disagreed.

Now we have an interesting problem that a reader has presented to us. A certain “businessman,” not well thought of in this area, is backing a candidate in a very public way. Is this the candidate’s fault? No, obviously not, but it does precipitate some interesting thoughts on the subject of the relationship between these two men. Are they cut from the same disreputable cloth? Comments (no names, please).



Shoalanda