By SCOTT STANTIS, for Alabama Daily News
The state of Alabama just got a big, fat coronavirus check from the federal government, which should come in handy to alleviate at least some of the pain caused by the pandemic. Weirdly, in the middle of all of this, Alabama State Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh and other legislative leaders pitched spending a large chunk of the money on a new State House. Marsh’s office has since said funds will not be used for that purpose, per CARES Act restrictions on relief money uses.
Now, granted, the current State House looks a lot like a badly kept 30-year-old Comfort Inn but, come on! With Alabama, like the rest of the states, down on its knees grasping for any relief from Covid-19 is now really the time to ask for something so unrelated?
Scott Stantis is an award-winning political cartoonist who spent several years drawing and writing for The Birmingham News before moving to The Chicago Tribune in 2009. His work on Alabama Politics is legendary, from his caricatures of former Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford to his illustrations of the battles between former Republican Gov. Bob Riley and the Democratic Alabama Legislature. Follow Scott on Twitter @ScottStantis.