This Month's Speaker - Mike Hubbard

For its next meeting on Monday, March 16th, the Montgomery County Republican Club is very pleased to welcome Mike Hubbard, Chairman of the Alabama Republican Party.  Recently elected to a second term as state party chairman, Hubbard will speak to the Club about the state of the Alabama Republican Party and the current legislative session.

This will be Chairman Hubbard's first opportunity to address the Club.  Please make plans to attend what promises to be a very interesting and insightful meeting.

This month, we present statements from two of the candidates in Montgomery's upcoming Mayoral election.  Each candidate was asked to state what he believes is the most important issue in the final week of the mayoral race.

The candidates' statements are presented in alphabetical order.  To view each candidate's statement, scroll down or click on the candidate's name below:

Jay King  - Todd Strange

www.kingformayor.com

Although I am the youngest candidate at 36 years of age, I have more time in Public Service for the City of Montgomery than any other candidate. 15 years with the Montgomery Police Department. I am a Public Servant, not a Politician. I am not the type of person who will say whatever it takes to get into office. I have experience in modern Law Enforcement, City Budget and Development.

The issues facing Montgomery are Crime, Development, Education and Taxes.  Public Safety is the most important. Crime prevents growth. Crime Prevention gives us the foundation for the other issues to grow.  Montgomery Mall provided jobs, places to shop, entertainment for families,  and a source of revenue. But when Public Safety became the key issue, Montgomery Mall failed.

I want to provide more police/fire protection, rid the city of
"out-of-code" boarded-up buildings, encourage private investment into our older commercial areas and neighborhoods, recruit multiple entertainment venues to encourage tourism, establish a "MENTOR" program in our Public Schools and encourage youth involvement in public service related organizations.

Year round concerts, theme park style attractions, historical landmark promotion and the recruitment of major sporting events will allow Montgomery to become a major tourist destination. Increased tourism means increased revenue. Through increased public safety, enhanced appearance of the city and proper placement of businesses, we can maintain our current businesses and recruit new businesses. I would much rather increase revenue through increased jobs, sales, and tourism dollars rather than taxing the citizens of Montgomery.

www.toddstrangeformayor.com

I have 37 years of business experience and 8 years in state and local government working with others to achieve common goals. I’ve said many times that you can’t run government like a business, but there are business principles you can apply to government.  Throughout my career, job creation has proven vital across the board.  Jobs fuel the economy.

As director of the Alabama Development Office, I led the team that brought Hyundai, its suppliers and over 10,000 related jobs to Montgomery.  As chairman of the county commission, we’ve worked to balance the budget, build new schools and double the capacity of the jail.  We opened our new Industrial Park that created more than 400 jobs.  We have proposals that will bring as many as 1300 new jobs to Montgomery over the next year.

Education and crime are major concerns for us in Montgomery.  But in order for teachers to teach and police to protect, they must have rivers of resources to draw from that are reliable and growing.  Job creation provides that.

With this election, we have the opportunity to move forward as a team that pushes Montgomery to be the best city it can be.  I want to be your mayor so that, together, we can make that happen.