Joey Kennedy

Joey Kennedy, a Pulitzer Prize winner, writes a column each week for the Alabama Political Reporter. You can email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter.

An Independence Day wish

A friend asked her Facebook followers this question on Independence Day: “On this beautiful 4th of July, I am just wondering what freedom means to you?” It’s a great question, and one well worth thinking about. One person wrote: “The right to think for myself is one thing.” Another quoted Nelson Mandela: “For to be … Continued

July 4, 2018

Elect women to change the conversation

Many years ago, back in the last century, I was writing editorials in Alabama supporting a program known as Children First. There was plenty of opposition. But Children First eventually passed, and while the ultimate credit goes to the Alabama Legislature, many good women led the effort for our state to do better by its … Continued

June 28, 2018

The most important election ever

Is this the country we want to be? Is this the state we love. I truly wonder. We always say there is never an election more important than the one at hand. It’s become a cliché. But, folks, there’s never been a more important election than the mid-term election this November. It may be cliché, … Continued

June 22, 2018

We’re perfecting the “art” of being mean

My mother, Patricia Ann Harper Kennedy, has been dead more than 21 years now. She died young, in 1997. She had cancer. She did not have health insurance. Mom couldn’t get health insurance because she had a “pre-existing,” non-malignant tumor a decade before her fatal cancer. She wanted insurance. She could have paid for insurance. … Continued

June 14, 2018

The devastating loss of Judge Sandra Storm

This is a big political week, and normally I’d comment about that. But there’s plenty of commentary on the Democratic and Republican Party primaries. I’d like to write about a loss for Alabama that not many people are writing about because of all the election noise. On Monday, retired Jefferson County Family Court presiding Judge … Continued

June 7, 2018

Message from Alabama’s election system: Don’t vote

The two gubernatorial debates this week before the American Legion’s Alabama Boys State at the University of Alabama were important. There couldn’t be a better contrast between the Republican and Democratic parties based on these debates. On Tuesday night, only two of the four Republicans showed up to speak before the 600-plus Boys State delegates. … Continued

June 1, 2018

Boys State debate couldn’t come at a better time

What do you think about political debates? Do they matter? I think they do. I’m going to participate as part of a panel for two gubernatorial debates next week at Alabama Boys State. The Republican gubernatorial candidates will meet on Tuesday evening (7 p.m.) at the University of Alabama’s Morgan Auditorium in Morgan Hall, and … Continued

May 24, 2018

All you need is love

Oh, Alabama, I cry for you. I cry for you, too, Birmingham. We make progress, then we wipe it out. It’s the old cliché of two steps forward, one step back. Except during election years, it seems we take no steps forward and 100 years back. What’s wrong with us? When will we stop hating? … Continued

May 17, 2018

Straight party? That’s lazy, or stupid

A few years ago (more than a decade), a friend was running for circuit judge in Jefferson County. He is a Democrat. His opponent was, obviously, a Republican. An incumbent Republican. My friend was much more qualified than the Republican incumbent, who had made a number of questionable decisions from the bench. This Republican was … Continued

May 11, 2018

Roy Moore: Carrying sore loser to the extreme

Attorney Paula Cobia was succinct in describing disgraced former Chief Justice Roy Moore’s defamation and conspiracy lawsuit filed this week against four women who accused him of molesting or harassing them and a man Moore claims has a vendetta against him. “It’s a garbage complaint,” Cobia said in a telephone interview. Cobia represents one of … Continued

May 3, 2018