Sheriff, D.A. Back Strange for Attorney General

By Michael Mee

St. Clair County District Attorney Richard Minor announced on Monday that he and Sheriff Terry Surles will be pulling for Luther Strange in next year’s attorney general’s race.

Minor spoke to a small crowd gathered across the street from the St. Clair County Courthouse in Pell City on Monday and said, “Today I speak for myself, Sheriff Terry Surles and retired District Attorney Van Davis. As a career prosecutor, I have had the honor to serve the citizens of Alabama as a District Attorney, an Assistant District Attorney and as an Assistant Attorney General for both Jeff Sessions and Bill Pryor; both of whom had the character and integrity one must possess to serve as Attorney General. For that reason I stand before you today to endorse Luther Strange for Attorney General. Luther is dedicated to working with District Attorneys and Law Enforcement to serve and protect the public.”

Minor continued, “As a former prosecutor once said, ‘It’s a luxury of a lifetime to be able to pursue only those things that are right. You are unencumbered by the bad ideas of a client who is paying you money. You are only encumbered by your own desire to do the right thing and to make sure justice is done.’ I know Luther will do the right thing and make sure justice is done for all of Alabama. Its time to send someone with high moral values, the strongest ethical standards and foremost someone with a commitment to integrity.”

Sheriff Surles issued his own statement Tuesday, backing Strange for his strong commitment to law enforcement.

"I have been associated with the family of Luther Strange for approximately forty years. I truly feel when he is elected that he will be the people's Attorney General and represent the State Of Alabama to the highest degree possible," Surles said.

"I can't tell you how honored I am to have this support," Strange said. "DAs are the ones in the court room every day protecting the citizens of this state, taking care of victims, making Alabama the kind of place we want for the future. I look forward to restoring the close working relationship that Attorney General's office has always enjoyed with the DAs."

These endorsements signal growing law enforcement support for Strange. In October, Shelby County DA Robby Owens and Sheriff Chris Curry endorsed the campaign based on Strange's experience practicing law and his commitment to working with officers of the law as Attorney General.

D.A. Minor and Sheriff Surles, both Republicans, have been in headlines over the last year in regards to the current handling of St. Clair’s card-verses-electronic bingo ordinance. Legal hurdles in Montgomery kept the electronic bingo issue on the backburner until recently.

In recent weeks, electronic bingo has again raised its presence in the greater Birmingham area and continues to be debated.

D.A. Minor said last week that after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that Governor Bob Riley’s Task Force could conduct raids on electronic bingo hall that questions still remain in the bingo debate. He said that St. Clair County’s still-pending case could act as a guideline for electronic bingo across the state. Minor said, “One issue that the White Hall [ruling] didn't answer is whether under our amendment and those amendments with similar language must use only paper cards.”

The bingo battle drove a rift between many citizens in the county. The City of Ashville, American Legion Post 170 and Shooting Star Entertainment Group, LLC, asked Circuit Judge Charles Robinson for a declaratory judgment this past spring to see if they were in compliance with State Amendment 542, when the Ashville council passed an ordinance allowing for permits to be issued for electronic charity bingo in December of last year.

Robinson’s ruling a month later denied the motion put forth in April on behalf of Sherriff Surles and D.A. Minor, who are still waiting until the Alabama Supreme Court rules on the issue.

Traditional card bingo has been played at the American Legion Post 170 in Ashville since the 1970s and was officially allowed in 1989. Electronic bingo was allowed at the American Legion Post 170 for about a week before it was shut down.

A video of the endorsements by Minor and Surles can be found by visiting www.LutherStrange.com

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