Author

Craig Ford

Craig Ford is the owner of Ford Insurance and the Gadsden Messenger. He represented Etowah County in the Alabama House of Representatives for 18 years.

This 4th of July, remember what it means to be an American

This week, our nation celebrates its 243rd birthday. Most of us will spend the day celebrating with family and friends, barbecuing and watching fireworks. But between the fireworks and cheeseburgers, it is important that we take a moment to think about what it means to be an American and pause to remember those who have … Continued

Craig Ford

July 2, 2019

Opinion

Equal pay is a huge step in the right direction

One of the positive things to come out of the 2019 Legislative Session is a piece of legislation that has finally brought pay equality to Alabama. Until last week, Alabama was one of only two states in the country that don’t have any laws requiring equal pay for equal work. The other state, if you … Continued

Craig Ford

June 7, 2019

Opinion

Education and state retirees also deserve a pay raise

Sometimes I feel like a broken record, but here we are once again. Another year, another budget, and another failure to provide our retirees with a cost-of-living pay raise. It’s becoming a disturbing tradition that every year I have to write about our State Legislature’s failure to treat our retirees with the respect they deserve. … Continued

Craig Ford

May 17, 2019

Opinion

A good solution to the two-tier retirement system

Unintended consequences are a common problem when it comes to making laws and government policy. A good example of this is the changes lawmakers made in 2012 to the retirement systems for education and state employees. The economic recession that began in 2008 had severely hurt the Retirement Systems of Alabama’s investments. The slowness of … Continued

Craig Ford

April 11, 2019

Opinion

Robbing Peter to pay Paul

One of the problems exposed during the gas tax debate was the fact that $63 million a year gets diverted out of the Alabama Department of Transportation’s road and bridge funding to pay for state troopers and the court system. The logic (if you can call it that) for this transfer of funds is that … Continued

Craig Ford

March 21, 2019

Opinion

We should be building great schools, not great prisons

Earlier this month, the governor announced her plan to spend almost a billion dollars of taxpayer money to build three new prisons for men (there will be no new prisons for women, even though it was the conditions at the women’s prison in Elmore County that started the whole prison debate). There’s no question that … Continued

Craig Ford

February 27, 2019

Opinion

Alabama Policy Institute’s four lies about “school choice”

In a recent editorial, the Alabama Policy Institute attempted to label four of the arguments against “school choice” as myths. I guess that’s what you have to do when the truth doesn’t fit your agenda. But, the truth does need to be told, and the misinformation coming from the API needs to be corrected. The … Continued

Craig Ford

February 6, 2019

Opinion

Gas tax is first test of our new Legislature

When I was in the Legislature, I opposed tax increases unless we had tried everything else and the money to be raised from the tax was earmarked for very specific purposes. In my personal opinion, we shouldn’t even be talking about raising the gas tax until we pass a lottery and see what kind of … Continued

Craig Ford

January 30, 2019

Opinion

Alabama wants its own bridge to nowhere

You may have seen ads on TV recently talking about a bridge project in South Alabama. If you hadn’t heard of this project before those ads, you’re not alone. Most people, including legislators, were not aware of the plans to build this $87 million taxpayer-funded bridge to nowhere that even many Baldwin County residents are … Continued

Craig Ford

May 14, 2018

Opinion

Alabama’s pre-k program continues to lead the nation, but thousands of kids still don’t have access

When I was growing up, kids didn’t start learning the alphabet until they began kindergarten. Today, kids are expected to be able to write their names and read at least some words before they even begin kindergarten. The expectations are higher, and starting off behind everyone else in their class can leave a kid feeling … Continued

Craig Ford

May 4, 2018