by: countrycat

Fri Aug 21, 2009 at 15:23:02 PM CDT

After the PACT board declined to discuss the RSA study of the PACT trust fund’s financial situation at Wednesday’s meeting, Ivey attended the “meeting after the meeting” with worried PACT contract holders.

Ivey was number 4 on the list of gubernatorial hopefuls who spoke – after Congressman Artur Davis, Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, and former 2 yr college chair (and PACT board member), Bradley Byrne. Reporter Bob Lowry from the Huntsville Times noted the “political turn” of the discussion. Jeremy Sherer, who’s running for Treasurer, also spoke to the group.

Like the other candidates, Ivey pledged to work to keep PACT solvent, and – as Mooncat noted – probably made points with the crowd just by having the nerve to show up. What a brave cowgirl she was!

Things went well for her until the questions began. It was soon obvious that Ivey prefers to speak to a crowd, not talk with voters.  It wasn’t quite a gunfight at the PACT corral, but she certainly did quite a dance trying to dodge the lassos of PACT parents who want her to include a blurb about Save Alabama PACT in future PACT mailing.  It’s the only way, organizer Patti Lambert, explained, to get the word out to all 48,000 contract holders.

Without the combined voice of those thousands of parents, grandparents, students, their friends, and families, there may be no chance of the Legislature acting quickly enough to save the program.

Watching her desperate attempts to dodge the question, I was reminded of the song in “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” where the governor danced about singing:

Ooh, I love to dance the little sidestep / Now they see me, now they don’t / I’ve come and gone / And ooh, I love to sweep around a wide step / Cut a little swath / And lead the people on! 

The Kay Ivey sidestep video is on the flip.  Watch to see how much MORE concerned she seems to be about the reputation of the PACT board’s attorney than she about the program.  AND read excerpts from Jeremy Sherer’s statement about the PACT meeting and parents’ request for help.

When Treasurer Ivey spoke, the prevailing issue at hand was the ability of Save Alabama PACT to reach out to other PACT members through placing an informational insert into the regular mailings of the Treasurer’s office to PACT families. Despite there being no explicit regulation against it, that Save Alabama PACT would carry all costs, and that no private information would be shared, Treasurer Ivey refused to allow PACT families network with each other via the Treasurer’s office.

Following the gubernatorial candidates, I shared my thoughts regarding the RSA study and various PACT political solutions with the attendees of the Save Alabama PACT meeting. I told them that I believe the most positive item to come out of the RSA study was the clear and explicit statement that all PACT contracts, regardless of what year the contract was drafted, would hold the same binding legal obligation as earlier PACT contracts.

Some in Alabama have contended that later PACT contracts do not guarantee tuition, but as the RSA study points out, this proposition is factually flawed. Further, the RSA study provides a starting point and various solutions to PACT.

I went on to state that PACT is an apolitical issue. It is one that spans party differences and speaks directly to the integrity of our government and its promises. Solving PACT is not politics as usual. PACT families are in the right, and if they maintain their non-partisan stance, grounded purely in obtaining the state’s promise to honor all contracts, I am sure they will have the bipartisan backing in the legislature. But, it will take continued dilligence and advocacy by PACT families to ensure that right makes might in the solution of PACT.

Of course, the big, big issue is: where will the money come from?  Hard choices will have to be made.  And without a critical mass of citizens demanding a solution, I can see the Legislature following the example of the PACT board and trying to kick the can down the road until the program collapses entirely.