Checking in with old friends and political legends | INSIDE THE STATEHOUSE

I hope you all voted in the Super Tuesday primary. You have an advantage on me in that I have to go to press with my column before the votes are counted. Therefore, you know the results. However, I doubt there are any surprises.

We do not have any good state races this year.

We have four open seats on our state Supreme Court. However, three of the four seats are held by popular incumbents, none of which received even token opposition from either Republicans or Democrats. Justices Will Sellers, Jay Mitchell, and Tommy Bryan have won reelection to new six-year terms on the state’s high tribunal.

Winning the Republican nomination is tantamount to election in the Heart of Dixie. All nine of our Supreme Court posts are held by Republicans.

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Another very popular jurist, Chris McCool of Pickens County lore, is moving up to one of the four open seats on the Supreme Court. Judge McCool is moving up from the Court of Criminal Appeals to the Supreme Court seat being vacated by Sarah Stewart, who is running for chief justice.

Speaking of popular state judges, my friend William “Bill” Thompson has retired from the Court of Civil Appeals effective Feb. 1. Thompson served 27 years as a judge on the appellate court, including the last 17 years as the presiding judge.

Thompson is the longest-serving judge in the Court of Civil Appeals, and the longest-serving presiding judge in the history of the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals. He was first elected in 1996 and was reelected in 2002, 2008, 2014, and 2020.

Hopefully, he will have an enjoyable retirement. Thompson grew up in Autauga and Elmore counties. He and his wife, Melinda, live in Homewood, where they raised their three children. Gov. Kay Ivey made an excellent appointment to this plum vacant appellate court seat by selecting Elmore County Circuit Judge Bill Lewis. He is a fantastic appointee.

My friend Tom Parker will be retiring as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court at the end of the year. Alabama has an antiquated law that requires judges to retire after age 70. Parker and I went to Boys State together in 1969. He is from Montgomery and I'm from Troy. We became friends at Boys State and have remained so over the years. He and his wife Dottie are high-minded and quality people.

Fortunately, the newspapers in the state do not have a mandatory age 70 retirement mandate, so I will keep writing this column for a few more years.

One of my favorite political legends in state history is former attorney general and lieutenant governor Bill Baxley. Baxley is now in his 80s and remains one of Alabama’s premier defense attorneys.

Back in December, the presiding judges and Bar in Houston/Henry counties honored Baxley with a portrait unveiling in the Dothan courthouse. The portrait was hung in the courtroom that Baxley grew up in watching court as a boy in Dothan. His daddy was Presiding Judge Keener Baxley. He and his daddy would walk home together to have lunch with his mama, Mrs. Leema.

The portrait and ceremony meant a lot to ole Bill.

Baxley became district attorney of the Houston/Henry circuit at the ripe age of 24. He was elected attorney general of Alabama four years later at 28.

Baxley moved to Birmingham to practice law after politics. His brother, Wade Baxley, remained one of the most prominent lawyers in Dothan until he succumbed to cancer.

While we are on the subject of old friends and Alabama political legends, my peer and lifetime friend George Wallace Jr. has penned a marvelous book about his daddy, former Gov. George Wallace Sr. The book came out last year. It is entitled simply, "George Wallace, from Segregation to Salvation."

George Jr. tells the story of his growing up the son of one of the most well-known and controversial figures in America’s 20th century. He talks about how his father truly changed and had the courage to ask for forgiveness and how he meant it. Obviously, Black Alabamians believed him, because Black Alabama voters helped elect the elder Wallace to his final term as governor in 1982.

George Wallace Jr. is truly a very genuine, good guy. He has the same quiet, humble, and unassuming manner as his mother, Lurleen Wallace, who also was elected governor.

He had a successful career in politics himself. George Jr. served two terms as Alabama treasurer, as well as two terms as a member of the Public Service Commission. George Jr. and his wife, Elizabeth, live in a suburban Shelby County neighborhood and very much enjoy their peaceful life together.

Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve can be reached at www.steveflowers.us.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Tales of old friends and political legends | INSIDE THE STATEHOUSE