By Sarah Kuper
Sen. Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills, has served the Over the Mountain area in an elected capacity for 50 years, but his political aspirations began before he ever ran for office.
“My father served on the city commission in the 1950s, so we would all sit around the dinner table and talk politics and government,” Waggoner said.
At the recent Jubilee for Jabo event sponsored by the Jefferson County Republican Party, more than 600 relatives, friends and colleagues gathered to celebrate Waggoner’s political career.
Waggoner first entered public service when he won a seat in the House of Representatives at 29 years old.
At that time, he ran as a Democrat.
“When I won at 29 and went to Montgomery, that was the first time I ever stepped foot in the Capitol building,” Waggoner said.
Waggoner stayed in the House of Representatives until 1983 and then decided to run for an open Senate seat, this time as a Republican.
He was defeated and instead went to work for then-Gov. Guy Hunt until 1990, when he ran for Senate again and won.
“Winning these elections makes me very proud that the people in the district think you are worthy,” he said.
Waggoner said he is proud of many things he has been able to accomplish for his district, even if he had to put up a fight.
“Sometimes you have a very controversial bill and it gets passed,” he said, “You overcome odds and then it turns out it really was the right thing all along. Sometimes it takes years.”
One recent example he cited was his work to pass legislation barring local governments from setting a minimum wage – a bill introduced by fellow legislator Rep. David Faulkner, R-Mountain Brook.
Looking back at his career so far, Waggoner notes the way the face of the Alabama Legislature has changed.
“When I was first elected to the House, everyone was white, democratic and male.”
But he said he noticed in the 70’s all of that began to change.
“The diversity that has evolved has helped us a lot because now the House and Senate are more representative of the state we represent.”
Waggoner also recalls that the growing diversity of the Alabama congress was not popular with everyone, especially during and after the Civil Rights Movement.
“But now, I think everyone is in agreement about the positive impact of diversity,” he said.
While Waggoner has sponsored and voted on many different kinds of bills throughout his career, he said he is especially eager to pass bills that encourage the economic growth of Alabama.
“Our future depends on attracting new industry. A lot of positive things began to happen when Mercedes came to us in 1992,” he said.
Waggoner credits other large corporations such as Remington and Airbus with continued economic growth.
But he said current events in Alabama government are bringing the state the wrong kind of publicity, which may hinder large businesses from coming to the state.
“The negative publicity we have been seeing lately affects us all and our ability to attract talent and jobs. We are being talked about across the country and not for the good things happening in our state,” Waggoner said.
Waggoner estimates he has sponsored hundreds of pieces of legislation and voted thousands of times plus served under eight Alabama governors going back to 1966.
But, he said he isn’t ready to retire anytime soon.
Waggoner plans to run for re-election in 2018.