Bob Riley

Bob Riley

Republican Party

Prior offices

U.S. House Alabama District 3

Successor: Mike Rogers

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Governor of Alabama

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Compensation

Net worth

$(2012)

Education

Bachelor's

University of Alabama

Personal

Profession

Attorney

Robert Renfroe "Bob" Riley was the Republican governor of Alabama from 2003 to 2011. He was first elected in 2002 and was re-elected during the 2006 mid-term election. He was succeeded by Republican Robert Bentley in January 2011.

Biography

Riley was born on October 3, 1944, in Ashland, Alabama, a small town in Clay County where his family ranched and farmed for six generations. Riley attended the University of Alabama, graduating with a degree in business administration.

Riley was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996, defeating his Democratic opponent, state Sen. T.D. "Ted" Little, Natural Law candidate Lucy Lawrence and Libertarian Ralph Stokes. Riley served as a representative of Alabama's 3rd Congressional District from 1997 to 2003.

Education

• Bachelor's degree in business administration - University of Alabama

Noteworthy events

Hurricane Katrina evacuation

In 2005, Riley was criticized by some Mobile County residents after issuing that area of the state a mandatory evacuation order in advance of Hurricane Dennis' landfall. Residents felt the issue was better addressed during Hurricane Katrina using a layered approach with sections of the county evacuated instead of the entire county.

On August 28, 2005, Riley declared a state of emergency for the approaching Hurricane Katrina. On the same day, he requested president George W. Bush to declare "expedited major disaster declaration" for six counties of south Alabama, which was approved by the evening of August 29. By the next day, 350 national guardsmen were called on duty.

Natalee Holloway

On November 9, 2005 Riley called for a citizens' boycott of Aruba, alleging that the local government was engaged in a cover-up of the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.

Casino funding

In November 2005, Riley was linked to the Jack Abramoff scandal when his former Congressional press secretary, Michael Scanlon, pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the matter. It further emerged that, as a Congressman, Riley signed a letter on behalf of the U.S. Family Network, opposing expansion of casino gambling in Alabama. The U.S. Family Network was revealed to be an Abramoff front, funded by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, which operated competing casinos. Riley denied knowing the source of this funding.

Political career

Governor of Alabama (2003-2011)

Riley served two terms in the office of Governor of Alabama. He was first elected in 2002 and was re-elected during the 2006 mid-term election. He was succeeded by Republican Robert Bentley in January 2011.

In 2003, Governing magazine named Riley as one of eleven "Public Officials of the Year" for his "bold" but unsuccessful efforts to reform Alabama's tax code.

Issues

Amendment One

In the first year of his administration, Riley proposed "Amendment One," which would have made sweeping changes to the state's tax system. The plan essentially consisted of income tax breaks for lower brackets, offset by various tax hikes on consumption, property and income from higher brackets. The plan was estimated to yield an overall state revenue increase of $1.2 billion per year. Riley presented his plan in Christian terms, arguing that the existing system was unfair to the poor. Many conservatives attacked Amendment One on the basis of the tax increases. Riley's plan reportedly enjoyed liberal support. Amendment One was rejected by voters on September 9, 2003, with 68 percent opposed. This was partly due to massive advertising financed by opponents of the proposal, such as the Alabama branch of the Christian Coalition and the Alabama Farmers Federation (ALFA). While proponents had pointed to studies of the plan showing the majority of Alabamians seeing a lower overall tax burden, polls indicated that most citizens—likely influenced by the proposed property tax increase—believed their personal taxes would be higher under the plan. For his efforts, Time magazine named Riley "Alabama's Most Courageous Politician."

Transparency

As part of his plan to provide open government, Riley posted monthly expenditures from the governor's contingency fund and the quarterly flight logs from all state airplanes on his official website.

Industrial development

Riley claimed credit for helping to spur economic development in Alabama, although the previous governor, Siegelman, had initiated the industrial growth. Riley pointed to the opening of an aeronautics engineering facility in Mobile by EADS, the parent company of Airbus, which at the time was expected to ripen into an aircraft assembly plant if EADS could secure future contracts. Riley's critics pointed out that he had failed to emulate the success of predecessors, such as Siegelman—during whose administration the Hyundai plant was successfully recruited—and Jim Folsom, Jr., in securing automotive manufacturing plants. Specifically, when Kia announced in March 2006 it would build a manufacturing plant in Georgia, Riley was criticized by Siegelman for Alabama's failure to mount a serious bid for the plant.

Unemployment

Under Riley's administration, unemployment in Alabama fell from 5.3 percent in January 2003 when Riley took office to 3.3 percent in March 2006. This rate was the lowest ever recorded since statistics began being tracked in 1976 and was among the nations lowest. In April 2007, the unemployment rate once again reached 3.3 percent.

Critics claimed that these promising figures were a consequence of national economic recovery and pointed to the loss of thousands of Alabama's historic textile jobs under Riley. Nevertheless, the state under Riley's administration was recognized as "State of the Year" by Southern Business and Development magazine four years in a row and received other awards for competitiveness, job creation and economic development.

Among other honors, Worldwide Interactive Network named the Alabama Office of Workforce Development the No. 1 U.S. employee development agency and Expansion Management magazine had ranked Alabama Industrial Development Training No. 1 among workforce training programs. In 2006, Riley's Alabama Bureau of Tourism & Travel received the National Council of State Tourism Directors' annual Mercury Award recognizing its "Year of Alabama Food" as the nation's top tourism campaign.

In May 2007, Riley announced that ThyssenKrupp would build a $4.2 billion state-of-the-art steel mill north of Mobile, Alabama, the largest economic announcement in Alabama's history, and largest corporate project in U.S. history. The mill, then scheduled to be operational by 2010, was to employ 29,000 during construction and 2,700 thereafter.

U.S House, Alabama, District 3

Riley served two terms as a representative of Alabama's 3rd Congressional District, from 1997 to 2003.

Elections

2008

During his second term in the governor's office, Riley was considered a prospective 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate.

2006

On November 7, 2006, Bob Riley won re-election to the office of Governor of Alabama. He defeated Lucy Baxley (D) in the general election.

Governor of Alabama, 2006
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Bob Riley Incumbent	58%	717,287
	Democratic	Lucy Baxley	42%	518,750
Total Votes				1,236,037
Election results via Alabama Secretary of State.

• 2006 Race for Governor — Primary Election
  • Bob Riley (R) (inc.) — 306,665 — 66.66%
  • Roy Moore (R) — 153,354 — 33.34%

Race background

In 2003, Alabama state politics gained national attention when the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Roy Moore, refused to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the rotunda of the court building. Riley reportedly supported Moore, but ultimately did not play a large role in the dispute. Riley stated there was nothing he could do to prevent Moore from being removed from office by a judicial ethics panel. Moore challenged Riley in the June 6, 2006 GOP primary.

In May 10, 2005, Riley's approval ratings were 36% approving and 52% disapproving of his job as governor.. By September 20, 2005, Riley’s approval ratings had increased substantially to 58 percent approving and 38% disapproving. Analysis of this increase seems to indicate that it may be attributed to the public’s perception of Riley’s response to Hurricane Katrina. By February 14, 2006, Riley's approval ratings had slightly decreased, with 52% approving and 43% disapproving of his job as governor. As of August, 2006, his approval rating is at 62% with a disapproval rating of 35%.

Property tax appraisals became a major campaign issue with Riley's opponents claiming that Riley, acting through his revenue commissioner, ordered that property tax appraisals be made annually, rather than the quadrennial reappraisals that were established practice. Because property values tend to increase over time, making appraisals more frequent has the indirect effect of increasing the taxes paid by property owners. Riley's opponents claimed that by doing so, he raised taxes without a vote of either the Legislature or the people. Riley claims he is merely following the language of the law, and the advice of his attorneys.

2002

On November 5, 2002, Bob Riley won election to the office of Governor of Alabama. He defeated Don Siegelman (D) and John Sophocleus (L) in the general election.

Governor of Alabama, 2002
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Bob Riley	49.2%	672,225
	Democratic	Don Siegelman Incumbent	48.9%	669,105
	Libertarian	John Sophocleus	1.7%	23,272
	Write-in	N/A	0.2%	2,451
Total Votes				1,367,053
Election results via Alabama Secretary of State.

• 2002 Race for Governor — Primary Election
  • Bob Riley (R) — 262,851 — 73.53%
  • Steve Windom (R) — 63,775 — 17.45%
  • Tim James (R) — 30,871 — 8.64%

Race background

Riley did not run for re-election to the U.S. House in November 2002 (as a supporter of term limits, he imposed a three-term limit on himself), instead running for Governor of Alabama and defeating the Democratic incumbent, Don Siegelman by the narrowest margin in Alabama history. A voting machine malfunction showed Siegelman winning the election, but the changed totals of the votes cast in Baldwin County gave Riley the victory.

Personal

Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Riley is married to Patsy Adams Riley, also from Ashland. The couple has four children (one of whom is deceased) and seven grandchildren.

Recent news

This section links to a Google news search for the term "Bob + Riley + Alabama + Governor"

Bob Riley News Feed

See also

• Governor of Alabama
• Governor
• Alabama's 3rd Congressional District
• United States House of Representatives
• United States congressional delegations from Alabama

External links

• Governor of Alabama Official state site
• National Governors Association — Governor of Alabama Bob Riley (dead link) Biography
• Follow the Money — Bob Riley 2006 campaign contributions
• On the Issues — Bob Riley Issue positions and quotes
• Project Vote Smart — Governor Robert R. 'Bob' Riley (AL) Profile
• Bob Riley for Governor Official campaign site

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Don Siegelman	Governor of Alabama 2003 - 2011	Succeeded by Robert Bentley (R)