Guy Hunt's legacy lives on

Apparently the word came down about three hours ago on the Associated Press that former Alabama Gov. Guy Hunt has died. The news came in at the end of the work week, almost under the radar. How appropriate.

Guy Hunt was credited with being the man who helped the Alabama Republican Party to be part of a two-party system in Alabama, with making it a proud thing to say you are a state GOP member. No doubt, he did work to do that but it might be more accurate to say he was an instrument of history who achieved his goal despite expectations. He was in the ultimate situation of the turtle overcoming the rabbit.

For decades, the Democrats once roamed the state and ruled the earth like the dinosaurs, with no one else able to challenge them. Republicans ran token opposition, much like the Walker County Republican Party picked people for this past year's elections and ran them unopposed. That was once the norm statewide. If there was opposition, no one noticed or cared.

Hunt found himself running for governor, an improbable pick in 1986 after winning a three-man primary race. Then the Democratic Party imploded over what is still called the Graddick-Baxley fight. There were allegations that the Democratic runoff winner, Attorney General Charlie Graddick, encouraged Republicans to vote illegally by crossing over in the primary. The state party eventually awarded the race to the No. 2 finisher, Lt. Gov. Bill Baxley (yes, Lucy's ex-husband). The backlash was so severe and the party so split that Hunt won with 56 percent of the vote.

It was almost unthinkable. You could make a comparison with the Sarah Palin debacle, because Baxley charged Hunt did not have the credentials to be governor. Hunt was considered someone from the country who had not risen higher than probate judge of Cullman County, mainly on the coattails of the Barry Goldwater presidential bid in 1964 (really the first taste of victory some Republicans had in the state). He had lost bids for the state Senate in 1962 and for governor in 1978.

But the backlash to Graddick-Baxley mess was so bad that the state suddenly had its first Republican governor since 1872.

Of course, you don't underestimate those rubes who take high office, like Harry Truman. Hunt (who followed an almost incapacitated George Wallace in his last term) actually did fine on his own, enacting tort reform legislation that was later dismantled by the state Supreme Court (then dominated by Democrats, if you can believe that), and I recall he did work hard to recruit industry, perhaps setting the stage for the hands-on approach. US News and World Report named him one of the nation's top governors. He may have even topped himself by winning a second term against Alabama Education Association executive director Paul Hubbert, whose very presence raised fears the AEA would steamroller over everyone it hadn't steamrolled already. Come to think about it, it may have been a second opportunity to be governor by being compared to an unpopular Democrat.

I don't recall Hunt having necessarily having the best oratory, but he came across as a decent guy and his wife, Helen, was popular, too. I remember her campaigning on the courthouse square in Livingston, and I was scrambling as a young man to keep up with her.

I also recall that he was a primitive Baptist minister and would still preach at churches on the weekend. In fact, I heard him preach once in Marion County, using a rather old-fashioned preacher style that, frankly, was more effective than his political speeches. His personality on the stump was not terrific, but he was still effective. I recall he landed at Hamilton's huge runway that state Rep. Rankin Fite arranged, and Hunt told a Kiwanis crowd he had landed at "Hamilton International Airport." He made a good impression.

It was a shame that his achievement, which was a beacon to Republicans for years to come, was overshadowed in disgrace. In 1993, a jury convicted Hunt of violating the state ethics law by making personal use of $200,000 donated to a tax-exempt fund for his 1987 inauguration. He was given five years of probation and fined $211,000, but worst of all was the fact that it was a felony conviction.

I still remember the then-chancellor of the two-year system, Fred Gainous, walking into a meeting in Hamilton at what is now Bevill State's Hamilton campus, with state Board of Education member Victor Poole and some others. We were all chatting informally until Gainous dramatically walked in and said, "Gentlemen, the governor has been convicted." That meant he had been removed from office. We were shocked, and I remember thinking I was with some pretty high officials at an important moment in state history. Later that day, Jim Folsom, the Democratic lieutenant governor, was sworn in at the old Capitol, another governor made by the forces of history.

Hunt got a pardon, but he was ruined politically. He had to care for a daughter and suffered financial misfortunes, and then his health started failing. It was a sad, slow end. You would want a better end for an underdog who ushered in the two-party system in the state, but I think he would be satisfied to know that is what he will be remembered for, probably more than anything else. He was, like Wallace, a man who represented a growing segment of the state, the little man who was dissatisfied with the status quo, and eventually, even Wallace turned Republican in retirement, and Wallace's son won office as a Republican.

Folsom would be defeated in 1994 by Republican Fob James, who had been elected once before as a Democrat despite conservative leanings. Thanks to Hunt and the growing fortunes of Republicans in Alabama and nationwide, James didn't have to worry about running as a Democrat again by 1994.

Hunt recruited industry in the wake of tort reform by declaring that Alabama was "open for business." His life has come to a close, but the business he started as a participant of history lives on in a state system that, for better or worse, now has a more vibrant, diverse political discussion. That is something to be proud of.

(My appreciation to the work of Associated Press and Wikopedia for help in developing this post.)