Last week, a Tuscaloosa County judge ruled that the Board of Education election contest brought by Kelly Horwitz against Cason Kirby lacked sufficient evidence to proceed. Of the 397 votes contested by Horwitz, 87 had to be established as illegal to overturn the election results. Unfortunately, a mere 70 votes were found to be potentially illegal. The 17 vote difference may mean the end of this scandal, as Horwitz has only 14 days to appeal the decision.
The thing about historic moments, I was recently told by a professor, is that they don’t begin when everyone learns about them. The beginning of this scandal has its roots not in the conclusion of a radically unjust election, but in the origins of the Machine and in the decades old backwash of Alabama politics. This story that has captured our attention, at least until this town forgets it, will not begin and end with this election. It’s a long-running series, and the finale has not been scheduled.
What happened here is self-evident: A brilliant, capable, dedicated servant of this community was ousted from a position in which she was doing tangible good for the children who live here. She was ousted by a man less qualified, who had less experience, had demonstrated less commitment to this city’s children and had a vague and comparatively less impressive platform. This happened because a group of greek students were instructed to vote in a specific way and were bribed with free drinks and limo rides, and for some of them, that price sounded fair. A fun afternoon in exchange for the thoughtless exercise of a civic duty, never mind the impact that action will have on the community.
It would be comforting to think I’m being dramatic – after all, Kirby may not do a bad job. But a man who rides a corrupt political organization to the top of his university’s political ladder does not strike me as a promising candidate. A man who uses the same shady systems and connections to snag a seat on the School Board, even at the cost of unseating the best School Board representative this town has seen in decades, does not sound like someone with a commitment to his community. A man who thinks 70 illegal votes are no cause for concern when he won by a margin of 87 does not seem like a leader to me. I expect a higher caliber of character from my public servants.
The problem is that so many people in Tuscaloosa have come to regard our filthy household as a thing that cannot be cleaned up. The Machine’s roots are too deep; corruption is too far-flung; money is too powerful. But we don’t lose these fights because the Machine beats us down. We lose because most of us eagerly acknowledge our own lack of power and therefore rid ourselves of responsibility.
What happened here was an injustice. It has happened before and will happen again until the citizens of Alabama start picking up our own trash, cleaning our own house and standing together against the institutions that regard our public offices as stepping stones in a career.
Marina Roberts is a senior majoring in finance. Her column runs biweekly on Mondays.
