Gov. Robert Bentley moved to remake the panel that reviews property values in Mobile County, replacing three appointees of his Republican predecessor, Bob Riley, with a slate that included a surprise choice from across the aisle.
A bipartisan pick
The most talked-about of the governor’s appointments to the Mobile County Board of Equalization was William Clark, a former Democratic state legislator and retired school administrator. Clark, a party stalwart whose extensive rental holdings gave him a working familiarity with real estate, was an unorthodox choice for a Republican governor. Bentley’s two other selections were former state Rep. Ken Kvalheim and Tommy Tyrrell, the latter also recently appointed to the Board of Water and Sewer Commissioners of the city of Mobile.
The part-time board seats pay roughly $12,000 a year. Leaving the panel were three Riley appointees: former state legislator Jeanette Greene, real estate businessman Ruffin Graham and former county Revenue Commission official Doug Sanders. Under the process, municipalities across Mobile County recommend prospects to the state revenue commissioner — at the time Julie Magee of Mobile County — who forwarded her picks to the governor.
Party loyalty in the background
The appointments landed against a backdrop of recurring friction within the local Republican Party, which had been tested repeatedly on questions of loyalty and ideological purity. Officials pointed to episodes ranging from Jeff Glidewell’s judicial campaign years earlier to more recent legislative contests in south Mobile County involving Scott Buzbee and David Sessions, as well as executive committee members who had backed Constitution Party nominee Bill Atkinson over Sessions in the special House District 105 election.
Although the Mobile County Republican Executive Committee had weighed disciplining members Mike Burdine and Lee James for straying, the committee was not expected to take punitive action. Still, there were rumblings that the party would move to “inform” voters of what some described as “RINO-like” conduct by candidates in the coming primaries.
MCREC Chairwoman Terry Lathan struck a conciliatory tone about Bentley tapping a Democrat for the local board. “I have not heard any information on the decision, but I do know the governor served with Rep. Clark and is probably showing a bipartisanship appointment for our county,” she said. “I also know that Ken and Tommy are great conservatives, as are Jeanette and Doug. A new governor gets to place people in appointed positions at his choice. It’s very common.”
What the board does
The Board of Equalization occupies a quiet but consequential role in county government, hearing challenges to property assessments and helping ensure that valuations are applied fairly. For property owners who believed their assessments were out of line, the board offered a first avenue of appeal — making the makeup of the panel a matter of more than passing interest to homeowners and businesses alike.
Observers noted that the reshuffle reflected Bentley’s willingness, still early in his term, to make appointments that did not always follow strict party lines, even as local Republican leaders continued to grapple with the steady migration of longtime Democrats into GOP ranks.