From: Auburn Chapter, American Association of University Professors (AAUP)

Several people have asked about the public remarks Andy Hornsby, Sen. Ted Little, and others have made regarding Lowell Barron’s involvement in blocking confirmation of the new trustees to the AU Board of Trustees. Both Hornsby and Little have been directly involved in the selection process. Hornsby is vice-president of the Auburn Alumni Association and a member of the Board of Trustee Selection Committee. Little is a member of the Senate Confirmations Committee, Alabama Legislature.

The following is a sampling of news stories, editorials, and opinion pieces from Alabama newspapers addressing this issue, including what Mr. Hornsby and Sen. Little have had to say about failure of trustees to be confirmed on September 25, 2003. These excerpts are taken from an Associated Press story, The Auburn Observer, The Birmingham News, Cullman Times, Mobile Register, Montgomery Advertiser, and Opelika-Auburn News. The opinion piece from The Birmingham News (October 2) also appeared in The Huntsville Times (Oct. 6).

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THE CASE AGAINST LOWELL BARRON

9-25-03 Associated Press story, Phillip Rawls

Auburn trustee nominees stall in Senate

Three nominees for Auburn University’s board of trustees stalled in the Senate Thursday [Sept. 25] when several senators skipped a meeting where the three were hoping to get approved. Only six of the 13 members of the Senate Confirmations Committee showed up for the 9 a.m. meeting. . . . “It was by design. Senator Barron’s forces were the ones who didn’t show up,” said Andy Hornsby, vice president of the Auburn Alumni Association and a member of the selection committee that nominated the three.

9-25-03 The Auburn Observer, Jacque Kochak

Trustee hopes dashed today

Seven senators failed to show up for a Senate Confirmations Committee meeting this morning, despite the fact that one Auburn University trustee nominee contacted all members and the meeting received ample press coverage. As a result, the meeting was called for lack of a quorum, meaning Sen. Lowell Barron will probably keep his seat on the AU Board of Trustees until the end of the year. “This is a travesty,” said Auburn alumna Brenda Green, one of more than a dozen alumni who attended the meeting along with a full contingent of newspaper and television reporters. . . . McClain, the Confirmations Committee chair, was instrumental in defeating two earlier nominations, those of Guntersville physician Neil Christopher and former Alabama Power CEO Elmer Harris.

9-26-03 Opelika-Auburn News, Roxana Correa

AU trustee nominations in limbo

State Sen. Ted Little, D-Auburn, said the lack of a quorum at the meeting was done intentionally by people wanting to temporarily stall the nomination process. “There is no question in my mind that the lack of a quorum was orchestrated, said Little, a member of the Confirmations Committee. Little would not say who he believed was responsible for Thursday’s actions, but an official of the Auburn Alumni Association blamed state Sen. Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe. Andy Hornsby, vice president of the alumni association and a member of the selection committee that nominated the three candidates, told the Associated Press that the committee members that did not show up to the meeting are supporters of Barron. . . . “It was by design,” Hornsby said.

9-26-03 Montgomery Advertiser, Editorial

The manner in which the Alabama Senate, under the leadership of Senate Pro Tem Lowell Barron, has mishandled the nominations of new trustees for Auburn University is indefensible. Barron, whose clout in the Senate is without equal, is also one of the trustees who would be replaced. The Senate stonewalling on the issue is allowing Barron to continue to serve for an additional year. . . . Barron dill-dallied for the first few days of the special [legislative] session, claiming he was too busy with the budgets to forward the names to the Senate committee that has to approve the nominations. Only after considerable criticism in the news media did Barron forward the names. . . . That prompted Andy Hornsby, vice president of the Auburn Alumni Association, to claim that the absences were the result of a deliberate strategy to allow Barron to hang on to his Auburn post until the end of the year. State law allows trustees whose terms have ended to remain in office for a year if their successors have not been confirmed. . . . Barron denied orchestrating the absences, and a couple senators who missed the meeting also claimed it was not be design. But considering the history of political gamesmanship that has been played with these nominations, Hornsby has every right to be suspicious. . . . The gamesmanship being played with this trusteeship provides a fine example of why there should be a legal ban on legislators serving on the board of public institutions. There is simply too much of an opportunity for politicizing the appointments process and for conflicts of interest. An even greater concern than the appearance that Barron is derailing the nominations process so that he can cling to his trustee post for a few more months is that he is trying to orchestrate his reappointment to the board. Barron, of course, can put those rumors to rest in two ways. Either see that a meeting is scheduled of the nominations committee today to approve these nominations, or simply resign from the Auburn board now and publicly promise to never again accept an appointment.

9-6-03 The Birmingham News, Thomas Spencer

Senators don’t’ vote on AU trustee nominees

Andrew Hornsby, who served as an Alumni Association representative on the nominating committee, said several people told him a lobbyist under contract with the Auburn board of trustees was urging senators to stay away from the meeting. “I was told that Mr. (Rick) Heartsill, on behalf of Sen. Barron, was working actively to prevent a quorum,” Hornsby said. Heartsill strongly denied involvement, saying he attended the Confirmations Committee meeting only as an observer. Getting involved on that issue would have been a conflict, he said. “I have not talked to a single senator about this issue,” Heartsill said. . . . Barron said he had no idea what Hornsby was talking about. He said he had done his part as pro tem by accepting the nominations and passing them on to the committee. . . . Several senators, including Ted Little, D-Auburn, who serves on the Confirmations Committee, Gerald Dial, D-Ashland, and Sen. Tom Butler, D-Madison, said the lack of a quorum was pre-arranged. “It’s obvious when you look at it,” Dial said. “There were too many accidents and too many excuses that didn’t hold water.” . . . Little asked McClain [Confirmations Committee chair] to reconvene the meeting when the other senators arrived for the Senate’s session. Shortly after 10 a.m., when the Senate was convening and the missing senators were arriving, McClain left the Senate floor. He later said he’d had a painful flare-up of gout and had to return to Birmingham. McClain said that if he had gotten the nominations earlier in the session they could have gone through the process.

9-28-03 Cullman Times, Editorial

There is absolutely no reason for this special session of the Legislature to have passed without the new slate of trustees for Auburn University being confirmed. The blame can be placed on the selfish shoulders of one man: Lowell Barron, the president pro tem of the State Senate. Barron loves being a trustee and hates it that he wasn’t selected to serve another term. With the power he has running the Senate he successfully got a majority of the senators on the Confirmations Committee (including Cullman’s Zeb Little) to skip a scheduled Thursday meeting of the committee to deal with the nominees. Though some said they had conflicts, it seems doubtful so many could or would miss a committee meeting like this one without being asked to do it. The lack of a quorum meant no action could be taken. . . . Barron says he had nothing to do with the failed quorum, but most if not all of the senators who didn’t show up are allies of Barron. Sen. Ted Little, an Auburn Democrat who did attend the meeting, said those who didn’t attend were Barron supporters. This is hardly a coincidence. . . . Barron will have saved his spot in the executive suite for football games, but has earned the shame of those people who believe in the legislative process, though[t] Barron would not be vindictive and counted on the special session to finish the business of trustee selection. . . . Is being a trustee of Auburn so all-consuming for Barron that he would impede the process and hold up the confirmations out of spite? It sure looks like it.

9-29-03 Mobile Register

Auburn fiasco shows why Barron must go

The failure of the state Senate, yet again to confirm new appointments to the Auburn University board of trustees is emblematic of a much deeper, far more important shortcoming in state government. The problem is that Alabamians don’t trust their lawmakers. And the first (but far from only) step toward solving that problem should be for senators to depose Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe, as Senate president pro tem. . . . First, consider the issue of trust. If there was one overwhelming message sent by voters in the recent tax-reform election, it was that they don’t trust legislators–especially not with their money. The reason they don’t trust them is because they sense that the Legislature is corrupt. . . . Here is where the Auburn trustee nominations come in, as an obvious symptom of the malady. . . . In 2000, state voters reacted to continuing crises at Auburn by approving a commission to nominate new university trustees. Sen. Barron himself was one of the trustees against whose unpalatable performance the voters were reacting. On Jan. 10 of this year, Mr. Barron promised the Register editorial board, face-to-face, that he would not block the confirmation of new trustees, if he himself were not renominated. He has thereafter repeated that pledge several times. But when one slate of nominees went forward last spring, it was blocked. The commission sent forth another slate in the September special session–again without Sen. Barron’s name–and Sen. Barron refused for seven whole days to forward the slate to the appropriate committee. . . . When the time for the hearing arrived, the committee lacked the necessary quorum–a simple majority–to do business. Except for Sen. Harri Anne Smith, who had legitimate business of multiple-job-saving importance to her Slocum constituents, all the no-shows were Barron allies. Outside the committee room, Barron lobbyists and staff members walked the hallways, working to ensure that no quorum developed. Predictably, the committee did not “find time” to reschedule the hearing before the session adjourned. Result: The nominees again were blocked, quite clearly at Mr. Barron’s behest, despite all his assurances to the contrary. . . . That’s why it’s long past time for those and other senators to abandon Sen. Barron and find a less tainted Senate leader.

10-02-03 The Birmingham News, Opinion

Serving himself: Barron should lose leadership slot over AU trustee flap

Last week, Barron, the Senate’s president pro tem, did what was best for one person–himself. Barron, despite his claims to the contrary, made sure the nominations of three people to Auburn University’s board of trustees died during the special session of the Legislature. In doing so, Barron ensured that he would remain on the board through the end of the year, even though his term expired in January. . . . A meeting set for last Thursday, after Barron sat on the nominations for more than a week, collapsed for lack of a quorum because his allies failed to show. The committee never met before the Senate adjourned. That’s ridiculous. Barron had promised he wouldn’t stand in the way of the selection committee’s choices for Auburn’s board. He easily could have ensured the three nominees got a fair hearing with the Senate. He did nothing of the sort. It is time for Barron to lose his Senate leadership position. He has shown his first interest isn’t the people of his district or of Alabama; his first interest is Lowell Barron. Last week’s trustee fiasco was the second time this year the Senate failed to confirm nominees to Auburn’s board, extending Barron’s term as a trustee. During the special session, some senators circulated a petition urging Barron to move the nominations or face losing his leadership job.

10-07-03 Montgomery Advertiser, Editorial

Barron opposite of proper trustee

In one of the all-time examples of looking out for No. 1, Barron has thwarted the consideration of nominees to the Auburn board, one of whom would replace him. Barron’s term expired in January, but he continues to serve until a replacement is confirmed. There’s no valid reason for this delay, just to Barron’s obvious intent to hold on to his seat on the board as long as he can. This is shameful. It’s an affront to Auburn and to the Senate. . . . Barron has said he would not interfere with the trustee selection committee’s choices for the board. Clearly, he did not keep that commitment. The [three nominees] . . . deserve a fair hearing, not Barron’s blatantly self-serving obstructionism.

10-09-03 The Birmingham News, Opinion

Go Barron Go: State senator should resign as Auburn trustee

Auburn University's faculty might call for state Sen. Lowell Barron to step down from the college's board of trustees because of his shameful shenanigans during the recent legislative session. . . . The faculty senate is right. Barron needs to go. In fact, he shouldn't need a bunch of professors to tell him the right thing to do. He should resign. His stalling tactics on the confirmation issue showed that he doesn't have Auburn's best interest at heart. Rather, he's guided by his own selfish interests. . . . Barron disingenuously claimed he played no role in keeping the trustees from getting a vote in the confirmations committee. But his allies, oddly, were the no-shows who prevented the committee from taking up the trustee issue. An amazing coincidence? Even if that were the case, Barron is the Senate's powerful president pro tempore and he could have seen that there was a vote - if he weren't more interested in staying on the board himself. . . . Barron has done more than embarrass himself as an Auburn trustee. He

makes a good case for banning any state legislator from serving on college boards of trustees. With control over purse strings and confirmations, the potential for abuse is just too great.

Faculty members recognize that Barron has abused his position as trustee and as senator to further his own interests at the expense of Auburn. It's wholly understandable why many members of the Auburn family would like to see Barron gone. The bigger question is why he was ever there.