'Ten Commandments' Judge on Alabama's Republican Primary Ballot
by Allie Martin
May 31, 2006
(AgapePress) - - The man who was at the center of a controversy several years ago over the public acknowledgment of God is in a race for governor of Alabama. Three years ago Judge Roy Moore -- who was then chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court -- made national headlines when he refused a federal judge's order to remove a 5,300-pound Ten Commandments granite monument from the State Judicial Building. A state judicial court removed Moore from office over the incident.
Now Moore is running in the June 6 Republican primary as a candidate for governor. He is opposed by the incumbent, Governor Bob Riley. A recent poll conducted by SurveyUSA for a television station in Mobile showed Moore trailing Riley by more than two-to-one.
Moore's platform is called "Return Alabama to the People." He says special-interest groups have a stranglehold on Alabama politics.
"The main thing, of course, [is] when money controls your government, the people don't have a voice," the gubernatorial candidate says. "[In that situation] the people don't control the government; the government controls them, and it answers to special interests. And we certainly have that in Alabama."
Moore states that if elected he will not attempt to return the Ten Commandments monument to a state building in Montgomery. But he says he will work for term limits for legislators to curb influence from special interests. And as for the pre-election polls, he believes he will benefit from a strong voter turnout.
"People have to understand: in this state we don't have party registration -- [therefore] you can vote in any primary that you wish," he explains. "So we encourage all people in Alabama to come in and ask for the [Republican] ballot ..., to vote so we can return a godly understanding of government to our state and representative government to our people. We need to return the government of this state back to the people of Alabama."
Moore also vows to push for tougher penalties for businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants. His campaign website also states Moore's opposition to gambling, pornography, and same-sex "marriage," as well as his promise to defend individuals' rights to "publicly acknowledge God as the moral foundation of law, liberty, and government."
On the Democratic side of the Alabama gubernatorial primary, former Governor Don Siegelman appears to have a slight lead over Alabama Lt. Governor Lucy Baxley.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
