Bridges takes formal complaint on disputed vote to House floor

By Joe McAdory

Published: April 22, 2008

Joe McAdory
Staff writer
“Keep your little grimy hands off of my machine.”

That’s the message legislator DuWayne Bridges, R-Valley, gave fellow House of Representatives members from the Statehouse floor Tuesday. Bridges’ voting machine was used by another lawmaker last week to support a proposed constitutional amendment that would repeal grocery taxes. Bridges, who said he was on an industry-hunting trip to Asia last week, said he never would have voted for the
legislation.

The legislation, which would remove the state’s 4 percent sales tax on groceries, needed and received 63 votes to pass on to the Senate.

Machines of Richard Laird, D-Roanoke; Thad McClammy, D-Montgomery; and Jeff McLaughlin, D-Guntersville, were also used in their absence.

Bridges, the District 38 representative, said he felt “violated” and took a formal complaint to the House floor.

“I addressed the issue from the floor about how someone could vote on your machine at random, even a person who doesn’t share your vision or philosophy. I said, ‘No one better not ever touch my machine again. It’s not your machine, so keep your little grimy hands off of it.’ I think I made a strong enough point, and other members applauded me.”

Bridges charged that Randy Hinshaw, D-Meridianville, voted on the machine.

“It was a renegade individual who thought he could vote on my machine without my permission,” Bridges said. “He (Hinshaw) said he voted what was right for his constituents. Well, it’s my machine and my constituents elected me to vote on my machine. He was never invited to use it. That’s like taking someone else’s voting ballot during an election.”
Attempts to reach Hinshaw at his Montgomery office failed.

Monday, Bridges insinuated that Speaker of the House Seth Hammett, D-Andalusia, was “not sympathetic” to the incident and may have had a hand in the machine voting. Tuesday, he felt otherwise.

“The speaker of the House assured me that he did not orchestrate this,” Bridges said. “He said an individual took it upon himself. The speaker recognized that this was wrong. I was glad to see that.”

Though Hammett considered the actions as “wrong,” it did not change the end result, which saw a bill narrowly pass with controversy. Tuesday, the bill was unanimously passed in the Senate Finance and Taxation Committee. The bill, sponsored by John Knight, D-Montgomery, now goes before the Senate.