Mobile City Councilman Ben Brooks, unopposed only two months earlier in his bid for a second term, said in October 2005 that he was likely to seek another office in the following year’s elections, and that he was weighing two very different paths.
Brooks, then a 47-year-old Mobile attorney, confirmed he was strongly considering a race for either state Senate District 35, held by south Mobile County Democrat Gary Tanner, or the Mobile County Circuit judgeship set to be vacated by the retirement of longtime Circuit Judge Ferrill D. McRae.
A Decision He Said He Would Not Make Alone
Brooks emphasized that he would consult his District 4 constituents before committing to either race.
“It’s been weighing pretty heavy,” Brooks said. “The situation is amorphous. I’ve met with a lot of people who are really urging me to do that (run for state Senate). I’ve also been urged to run for the judgeship. They are both positions of great honor. I’m blessed and lucky to have an opportunity to consider them. I will think and pray over it with my family.”
He was direct about the obligation he felt to the district that had elected him. “I’m not abandoning anybody,” he said. “Before I make or announce a decision, I will be consulting with the residents of my district, my constituents. If these people told me ‘we cannot lose you,’ I’d have to rethink it.”
Asked whether he wanted one of the two offices, Brooks did not pretend otherwise. “Do I desire to be a part of one of those scenarios next year?” he asked. “There’s no question that’s of high interest to me. Again though, I will protect the interests of District 4 first.” He said he expected to make a final decision within a month to a month and a half.
The Mechanics of a Move
The rules gave Brooks room to look before leaping. He would not have to relinquish his city council post in order to run for either the judgeship or the Senate seat. Only if he won would he be required to resign the city office before taking the oath for the new one.
That departure would carry consequences for District 4. Brooks had nearly three years remaining on his council term, and his exit would require a special election; the next regularly scheduled municipal elections were not set until August 2009. Brooks said he was aware of three or four potential successors, all of whom he considered well qualified and interested in running. He declined to name them.
A Republican in a Nonpartisan Office
Mobile city council elections are nonpartisan, but Brooks had long been a Republican and said he would seek either office under consideration as a Republican. He first won office in 2001, defeating incumbent Councilman Mabin Hicks, who later became a Brooks supporter.
During more than four years in office, Brooks had built a reputation as a fiscal conservative who argued that the city’s tax and regulatory policies had hindered economic growth inside the corporate limits, a message with obvious appeal in a Republican primary.
The Two Openings
Each opportunity carried its own logic. District 35, covering south Mobile County, was held by Tanner, a Democrat, and represented a genuine partisan target in a region trending Republican. The circuit judgeship, by contrast, was opening because of the retirement of McRae, one of the most durable figures on the Mobile County bench, whose departure would create the kind of open seat that rarely comes along.
The choice between them was, in effect, a choice between two careers: the legislative one, contentious and public, run on two-year and four-year cycles in Montgomery; and the judicial one, insulated from ordinary politics once won, with a six-year term and a courtroom rather than a caucus.
What Followed
Brooks ultimately chose the Senate. By the spring of 2006 he was running for District 35 and would face former state Sen. George Callahan in the June Republican primary, with the winner set to challenge Tanner in November.
Brooks and his wife, Kathy, had three children: Megan, Ben and Elizabeth. He had lived in the Dog River area of Mobile nearly his entire life and was a member of Cypress Shores Baptist Church. He said he had long felt a strong calling to public service, and that the possibility of increasing his contribution was difficult to resist.
“You only go around once in life,” Brooks said. “It may be a chance to bring about even more advocacy for the residents of this district.”