Gov. Bentley’s beach house blunders
The 2010 BP oil spill damaged plenty of things along Alabama’s Gulf Coast. The governor’s beach house wasn’t one of them. But here we are, spending BP money to fix it up.
No other governor has been willing to touch the dilapidated eyesore, which was abandoned after damage from Hurricane Danny in 1997. Most have been sufficiently politically astute to realize that renovating a beach house isn’t a sound priority for a cash-strapped state. Nor did any governor want to let the property revert to its prior owners, as required if it isn’t used as the governor’s retreat.
So there it sits and slowly falls apart.
But Gov. Robert Bentley won’t stand for that any longer. It is, in Bentley’s eyes, an absolute embarrassment to all five of the people who actually know where the governor’s beach house is located. After all, what would business and industry think if they knew our governor’s 7500 square foot beach house was in such sorry shape?
Don’t worry. The governor apparently intends the $1.5 to $1.8 million beach house restoration to be an “economic development” initiative. Because nothing entices entrepreneurs to do business in Alabama quite like driving halfway between Gulf Shores and Fort Morgan to visit a beach house in a random subdivision for a state-sponsored vacation.
The renovation looks even more suspect in light of the fact that Bentley just lost his two Gulf Shores vacation homes in his recent divorce. If the optics of reversing course on tax hikes while Bentley’s campaign website still boldly declared “No New Taxes” was bad, this is just plain awful.
In politics, perception matters.
Regardless of the governor’s intentions, the narrative is too easy to construct and simply looks improper. No other governor has seen the residence as a critical economic development tool, but the one who does coincidentally lost his personal vacation properties a month or so before repairs began.
Either the governor simply doesn’t care about public perception anymore or he’s getting terrible counsel. Maybe, it’s both.
The money used for the project comes from one of two $25 million grants BP gave Alabama shortly after the spill. It may not be tax revenue, but it is money designed to ameliorate the impacts of the disaster. It’s shocking that years after the spill we still don’t already have better priorities spelled out for the funds.
Don’t worry. The governor apparently intends the $1.5 to $1.8 million beach house restoration to be an “economic development” initiative. Because nothing entices entrepreneurs to do business in Alabama quite like driving halfway between Gulf Shores and Fort Morgan to visit a beach house in a random subdivision for a state-sponsored vacation.
The renovation looks even more suspect in light of the fact that Bentley just lost his two Gulf Shores vacation homes in his recent divorce. If the optics of reversing course on tax hikes while Bentley’s campaign website still boldly declared “No New Taxes” was bad, this is just plain awful.
In politics, perception matters.
Regardless of the governor’s intentions, the narrative is too easy to construct and simply looks improper. No other governor has seen the residence as a critical economic development tool, but the one who does coincidentally lost his personal vacation properties a month or so before repairs began.
Either the governor simply doesn’t care about public perception anymore or he’s getting terrible counsel. Maybe, it’s both.
The money used for the project comes from one of two $25 million grants BP gave Alabama shortly after the spill. It may not be tax revenue, but it is money designed to ameliorate the impacts of the disaster. It’s shocking that years after the spill we still don’t already have better priorities spelled out for the funds.
