By Mazie Bryant and Katherine Owen
United States Representative Josiah “Jo” Bonner, R-Ala., will resign from office at the end of the summer to take a new position with The University of Alabama system as Vice Chancellor for Government Relations and Economic Development, beginning August 16. Jo Bonner is the brother of current UA President Judy Bonner.
His decision to resign from United States Congress was announced at a press conference in Mobile on Thursday, May 23 after reports circulated that he planned to accept the position and return to his alma mater, where he graduated in 1982 with an undergraduate degree in journalism and attended law school.
In a statement released on May 23, Jo Bonner said the offer was both unexpected and unsolicited, but he could not turn down the opportunity.
“That said, while I had every intention of completing this term, sometimes opportunities come along that are so rare – and so special – that it forces you to alter even your best-made plans,” he said in the statement. “Such an opportunity arose a few days ago when I was contacted about the chance to go to work for The University of Alabama System.”
Kellee Reinhart, vice chancellor for system relations, said the position will involve heading up the University of Alabama system statewide government relations efforts, advocating and representing the UA system campuses legislatively and focusing on job creation, recruitment and retention for the system.
Reinhart said Jo Bonner’s new position comes from the outgrowth and reorganization of the government relations branch under Bill Jones, the recently retired director of the government relations initiative. The official salary for his position will be known closer to his start date in August, Reinhart said.
A native of Camden, Ala., and resident of Mobile, Jo Bonner was first elected in 2002 to represent Alabama’s 1st Congressional District, which includes Baldwin, Clarke, Escambia, Mobile, Monroe and Washington counties. In 2012, Jo Bonner ran unopposed in the general election and was re-elected to his sixth term serving the largely conservative Gulf Coast-area communities.
As a congressman, Jo Bonner served on both the House Committee on Appropriations and House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, also known as the Ethics Committee. His website states he is a staunch defender of taxpayer money and played a role in bringing the assembly plant for aircraft manufacturer Airbus to Alabama in 2012.
