History of ACCR Foundation and ACCR Inc.

(as of 2012)

Soon after the 1901 Alabama Constitution was fraudulently enacted, state leaders, including several governors, saw the need for reform. Almost a century later, journalist, Bailey Thomson wrote extensively about problems with that Constitution. His efforts along with reforms started by Gov. Albert Brewer and with the help of the late Dr. Thomas Corts, President of Samford University, resulted in a movement for reform that began in Tuscaloosa with a rally attended by hundreds. Bailey founded Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform (ACCR) in 2000 with the help of others, including lawyer Tom Carruthers, Sid McAnnally, Dr. Corts, Gov. Brewer , Brunson White, Odessa Woolfolk, Judge Gorman Houston, Professor Wayne Flynt and others. ACCR Foundation, the 501 c 3 education organization was incorporated 9-18-2000. ACCR, Inc., the 501 c 4 advocacy organization was incorporated 2-13-2001. A political action committee (PAC) was established in 2002 but is now inactive. The founder was the late Bailey Thomson, Professor of Journalism at the University of Alabama. Sid McAnnally, an attorney, handled the filings. Dr. Thomas Corts, President of Samford University, served as the original boards first President. The original Board served both organizations, until 2003 when the Boards were separated in order to keep the official 501 c3 and 501 c4 records separate. The two organizations have operated in a legally separated manner since, managed by two separate Boards of Directors, by-laws and financial records The first Board consisted of the late Dr. Thomas Corts, the Honorable Jack Edwards, Sid McAnnally and Odessa Woolfolk and others. The first President of the original Board was the late Dr. Thomas Corts, President of Samford University. In 2003 when the Boards separated, Brunson White became the Foundations President and Sid McAnnally became the Inc. President. In 2004, Sid McAnnally encouraged Lenora Pate to succeed him as President of Inc.(called Chair) with Former Congressman Jack Edwards as Co-Chair. Early Boards included former Governor Albert Brewer, the late Dr. Thomas Corts, Jack Edwards, Bobby Aycock, Odessa Woolfolk, Sid McAnnally, Judge Gorman Houston, Professor Wayne Flynt , Scott Douglas and others. Kathy Bowden became Executive Director of ACCR Inc.in August 2001 (at that time only Inc. was active) and served for a little over 2 years through an office in Montgomery. Although many in ACCR stopped working for ACCR in 2003, and switched over to help Governor Riley get his tax overhaul called Amendment One passed, Kathy continued working for ACCR in the Montgomery office. Funding for

ACCR had been solicited by Brunson White and others who lobbied major corporations in Alabama. But funding began to dwindle as corporate donors shifted their contributions toward the Amendment One campaign rather than ACCR. At this point, ACCR could no longer afford to operate a full time office staff and the Board asked Kathy to shut down the Montgomery office. She moved all the files to Birmingham to Brunson White, ACCR Board member, and the late Dr. Sandra Behel at Energen. Sandra was instrumental in all the ACCR activities including the Annual Meetings held every fall in keeping records of the organization and in the petition drive held in 2004 and 2005 Anne Kilgrow, David Perry, and Kevin Garrison worked with Kathy. Anne was Executive Assistant and David and Kevin were outstanding grassroots workers. Bill Smith provided media and public relations help as an independent contractor. They held four statewide conferences in 2001 and 2002: in Huntsville, Birmingham, Mobile and Auburn. In an effort to bring some kind of reform, ACCR established the Alabama Citizens Commission on Constitutional Reform under the leadership of the late Dr. Thomas Corts in 2002 when he was Chair of ACCR. It was chaired by then Secretary of State, Jim Bennett and made several recommendations.
Click here for the complete report of the Alabama Citizens' Commission on Constitutional Reform (PDF File)

But none of the recommendations became law. Governor Riley praised the Commission for their work and then in 2003, set up a commission to study parts of the Constitution with a goal toward reform. It was called the Alabama Citizens Constitution Commission. It was chaired by then Secretary of State, Jim Bennett, with Vice-Chair, Lenora Pate. The Commission studied recompilation, limited home rule, excessive earmarking, line item veto, a higher vote threshold for tax increases and recompilation. A very limited home rule law was approved by the legislature and recompilation was carried out by Legislative Services. The complete document can be seen here: http://www.constitutionalreform.org/pdf/ReportRileyCommission.pdf Bailey Thomson, as the founder of ACCR, was a major motivating force until his untimely death in 2003. His death hurt the movement but it regained momentum after Huntsville volunteers, initiated by Bill Giardiani, started a movement to get signatures on a petition to allow a constitutional convention. This was the Incorporated arm. Because the 1901 Alabama Constitution does not allow Initiative,

the petition had no legal authority, but did have considerable public relations significance. Volunteers gathered 70,000 signatures and presented them to the Legislature at a rally on the steps of the Capitol in 2005. ACCR held annual meetings of Inc. and the Foundation until 2008 when the Bailey Thomson Award Luncheon began. In the beginning, the focus was on reform, but after 2003, the organization shifted direction and began to work for a convention. Throughout the years, Gerald Johnson, of Capitol Surveys Inc., conducted polls which always showed that a majority of voters would vote in favor of holding a constitutional convention if they had the chance. All those polls are listed on the website under "POLLS". (http://www.constitutionalreform.org/polls.shtml) Also, throughout the years, Greater Birmingham Ministries has been a leader and key player in education and advocacy. Executive Director Scott Douglas was instrumental in educational efforts. And Hill Carmichael headed up the Constitutional Convention Coalition while he was with GBM. Callie Greer is now the community organization and education chair for GBM. And throughout our history, Professor Howard Walthall who teaches constitutional law at Samford University has been our resource for information. Incorporated held rallies on the steps of the Capitol most years; some were organized by the College Council. ACCR Inc. set up the College Council as well as the Constitutional Convention Coalition together with Greater Birmingham Ministries. The Coalition has 37 member partners. Those groups are listed on our website under "WHO WE ARE". (http://www.constitutionalreform.org/whoweare.shtml) Since its founding, ACCR volunteers have traveled the state speaking to groups, schools, community, civic organizations, and churches on the need for a new constitution. Forums in Birmingham and Huntsville invited the public to come and let their voices be heard. Those forums are listed on the website under "RESOURCES". (http://www.constitutionalreform.org/resources.shtml) Every year Inc. has worked with Senator Ted Little and Speaker Pro Tem of the House, Demetrius Newton to sponsor legislation that would allow a convention. Each year the number of co sponsors has increased. The last two years, the legislation reached the floor of the House but failed to pass because of stalling tactics by some legislators. Those bills are available on our website under "LEGISLATION".(http://www.constitutionalreform.org/legislation.shtml) Incorporated has been the advocacy group, working with the public, the legislature, and the media, and in 2004, began using a registered volunteer lobbyist, Cary Page

who met with legislators and attended all the Legislative Sessions. When Cary left in 2008, Nancy Ekberg took that role. Lenora Pate continues to serve as its Chair. The Foundation became active in 2008-2009 under the leadership of Mark Berte, Grassroots Organizer. Mark initiated the Mock Convention, the student essay contest and the Bailey Thomson Award luncheons. The Mock Convention brought together 140 citizens who volunteered their time to write a new constitution. See http://www.constitutionalreform.org/mockconvention.shtml for copies of that constitution. Audrey Salgado was hired by the Foundation to help organize the Mock Convention with Mark and later became Executive Director and then President of the Foundation. Bob Jones, a retired aerospace engineer, is the current President of ACCR Foundation. Previous presidents of the Foundation, after Brunson White, include Rev. Jim Nash, Dr. James Vickrey and Audrey Salgado. One initiative of the Foundation has been a program to take education statewide to 67 counties through its Bring It Back Home campaign. Jonathan Boatright is Executive Director of the Foundation and editor of its BIBH newsletter. In 2011, Governor Bentley, Speaker of the House, Mike Hubbard and President Pro Tem of the Senate, Del Marsh, established a Constitutional Revision Commission with leaders from the Legislature and nine citizens to revise 11 of the 18 Articles of the Constitution. Three of those revised Articles will appear on the ballot in November of 2012. The Alabama Law Institute is instrumental in guiding the Commission, under Bob McCurley, with Professor Walthall as the ultimate constitutional authority. Several organizations have joined efforts with both arms of ACCR, to bring reform to the 1901 Constitution. They are called the Constitutional Revision Coalition (originally called the Constitutional Convention Coalition) and are listed at www.constitutionalreform.org under Who We Are. Six of those same organizations have created a close-working group called the Constitutional Reform Collaborative and they are Alabama Arise, the two arms of ACCR, The Alabama Poverty Project, GBM and Appleseed. A very creative DVD called Its A Thick Book that described the 1901 Constitution in a humorous way was created by a Homewood high School student named Lewis Lehe and has been a source of education for several years. A re-enactment of the 1901 Constitutional Convention called Open Secret was created by Melanie Jeffcoat in 2010. Actors voice the actual words of the convention members as taken from the official transcript of those 82 days in 1901. John Northrop has been the editor of the ACCR VOICE newsletter that has appeared three or four times every year.

Some very creative ways of drawing attention to the need for reform included: rallies on the steps of the State Capitol and cities throughout the State; a mule and cart that traveled from Huntsville to Montgomery to illustrate the backward way in which Alabama governed itself; a bright yellow school bus that stopped in each city throughout the state to allow supporters to sign their names and hopes for reform; a quilt of messages from those hoping for reform that was originated by Greater Birmingham Ministries, a parade float of Halloween messages asking for reform of Alabama's "frightening" Constitution; pages of the Constitution strung out on clotheslines on Samford's campus and read nonstop by students and Dr. Corts on the steps of the college.