Charles Bishop bows out of Senate

It is probably a dicey affair to be talking about your boss when your boss is a state senator making news, but it is quite public that District 5 state Sen. Charles Bishop, R-Arley, also is behind the new radio talk show, "Voice of the People," that I joined recently on WIXI, 1360 AM, along with Bucky Rizzo. Bishop himself sometimes appears on the program as a host.

Of course, you would think if Bishop was going to announce that he was not going to run again, his resident news anchor would be the first to know. Well, you just have to know Bishop. He is unpredictable, but that's what makes him so interesting. He really got interesting just after lunch Thursday when I read on the Birmingham News Web site that he was not going to run again for the Senate in 2010.

"I've been giving you hints," he told Bucky on the phone before the show, confirming the news. (We must train the old man on the difference between hints and confirmation. I take it this could be useful in the future. As in, "We can't use hints.")

Having said that, I didn't know what Bishop would do. In fact, Bishop still hints he could run for another office or participate in someone else's campaign. At 71, I don't doubt he wouldn't do either. Time will tell.

The immediate impact, of course, is that we have an open seat in District 5. When Bishop came out of retirement to run for an open seat in 2006, that race became hotly contested in both the primary and the general elections. The primary season was fairly civil, but the general election became the stuff of legend. It was brutal and there was little area for gray. The Democrats and the Republicans both opened up the wallets wide for quite an ad campaign. The Daily Mountain Eagle, eager for revenue like all newspapers these days, is probably salivating at what is coming next year in revenue - and dreading the accusations that may make their way into proposed ads.

Suffice it to say we already have candidates on both sides. Steven Aderholt, who lost the District 4 Walker County Commission race last year, announced in the middle of the 2008 election cycle he was running for the seat. Minutes after I announced the news Thursday on WIXI, Walker County Republican Party Chairman Curtis Poe called the show to say that state GOP executive committee member Vicki Drummond of Jasper had told him she was running for the position. (Interestingly, Poe admitted on the air she didn't know he was going to announce this to the public. So much for party discipline.) Poe said Vicki ran for a seat on the national committee and lost by like two votes.

I expect the crowd will only get thicker with time. It would be interesting to see if some of the candidates from the last race, including Republican Ed Frazier and Democrats Byron McMath and Larry Cagle (the latter being the general election nominee last time), will enter the race.

Something else that should be fascinating is to watch the money trail. There can be no doubt that electronic bingo forces will filter money or advertising to some Democratic candidates. (Keep in mind the Senate will now lose both Bishop and Sen. Hank Erwin, two of the strongest opponents of electronic bingo. Erwin is running for lieutenant governor.) State Rep. Ken Guin's newspaper, the Corridor Messenger, practically became a party newspaper in 2008 with extra editions and full page ads paid for by the state Democratic organization. Between all that and an open seat, the money should flow like Niagara Falls after a rain.

Of course, Bishop will miss out on some of this. It would have been another bitter race probably, and we would have been sick of seeing Democratic TV and print ads reminding us of the punching incident Bishop had with Sen. Lowell Barron. Bishop may have been thinking of this, but I suspect his business interests, which continue to take up more time, and the changing climate of Montgomery had more to do with it. He also went down to help out Future Interstate 22 and instead found much of his time devoted to fighting electronic bingo.

At any rate, even if he runs for something else, it ends a chapter in the Senate that will have stretched for nearly three decades, as he previously served in 1983-90 -- a time that included George Wallace's last term as governor. No doubt he will be remembered for the punch -- something he has regretted to some extent -- but he's done much good for the county in that seat as well. Over the years he fought for agriculture and industry, including his time when he held posts in the cabinet over those areas. Certainly in his last term, he fought electronic bingo tooth and nail to help prevent the county from having a black eye for industrial development. Perhaps it was more of a draw at times, but he certainly prevented victories for the other side.

There is probably much more to be said, but I admit to being a little biased. Over the past few months, as my career has been trying to find itself after leaving the Daily Mountain Eagle, Bishop has been as helpful as anyone out there and has been a good friend -- a little unpredictable at times, yes, but in the end loyal and supportive. He has provided a means to keep bread on the table and give me a new lease on a local news career that I didn't expect to have. I don't know what I would have done without him. Many people don't see this side of him while he is in the public eye, but he has done many acts of kindness when you were not looking. I'm grateful that I'll still be working with him in the future.

And, of course, still trying to guess what the old fox will do next. If you find out first, let me know.