James to challenge Ivey for governor

BY BRUCE BRANUM

The Greenville Standard

 

Greenville businessman Tim James recently filed paperwork with the Alabama Secretary of State’s office to become a candidate for governor of Alabama on Friday, Dec. 3.

He is 59 and the son of former Alabama Gov. Fob James. This will be his third time as a candidate for the office.

In 2002, he ran for the Republican nomination but lost to Bob Riley. In 2010, he was beaten by Robert Bentley in the Republican primary.

James believes the third time will prove successful. By filing the paperwork, he can officially being raising support for his campaign, but the official kickoff will not take place until January.

Over the past several months, James has become publically vocal about the state of government in Alabama, especially the education system.

In an article for 1819 News, it was noted James said, “In this race, I take no pleasure in running against Gov. Ivey

“She has been a friend of the family for years. My dad gave her her first cabinet position (in 1979). So this is not something I look forward to. I have no personal issues with Gov. Ivey.

“But I do have issues with her performance and what has happened and it’s under this administration that they have passed a giant gas tax, public education [rankings] has fallen to dead last, we made a run to become a gambling mecca with a proposed nine casinos, they authorized a syndicated drug cartel with medical marijuana, and the list goes on and on. I think the system and structure has overwhelmed this governor and the administration has lost control of it.

“Whether she believes these things should have happened, I don’t know. But they have happened. And I intend to bring down the structures that have taken hold of Montgomery and reverse this, and the only way to do that is [to] be governor of Alabama.”

James was quoted as also saying, “This campaign will be about a plan to deconstruct public education as we know it, run [for office] and get a full mandate from people and go to the legislature and ram this through.

“It will require statutory change and possibly some constitutional provisions that will need to be voted on by the people. But for once in my life, I believe it’s possible.”

There are currently six candidates for governor and they include current Gov. Kay Ivey, Lee County Pastor Dean Odle, former Morgan County Commissioner Stacy George, Alabama State Auditor Jim Zeigler, former Ambassador to Slovenia Lynda Blanchard and James.

Primary elections will be held on May 24, 2022. The primary runoff is set for June 21, 2022