Hanu Karlapalem is with Melanie Kolowski and
4 others.
Voters in Madison, Alabama are either disengaged, disinterested, or dissatisfied in the civic engagement process. It is a disaster in the waiting!
The low attendance of 125 - 150 people at the candidates forum, which was organized by Madison Chamber of Commerce and a new group called All Things Madison on Thursday night at the James Clemens High School auditorium is another proof of lack of civic engagement. But I like to thank everyone in attendance. You did your part. My special thanks to my friends in “Good Trouble” who showed up at the forum.
Those who have the memory of the WHNT19 News Live debate in 2016 mayoral race may remember that the same auditorium was full of people. I was one of the mayoral candidates up on that stage looking at the house full auditorium. That was the response when the city population was around 49,000. Today the population is approximately 64,000 and there were less than 150 people in the auditorium.
People of Madison are stuck with no good options in the upcoming municipal elections on Tuesday, August 26th. Candidates from Council Districts 1, 2, 3, and 5 are already elected unopposed without even asking for a single vote. It is going to depress the turnout.
Voters are prohibited from write-in candidates in the municipal elections according to Alabama state law. This is another hypocrisy, because voters can write-in candidates in non-municipal general elections in Alabama.
However, now the voters in council districts 4, 6, and 7 have some good choices on the ballot. Especially voters in District 7 have an excellent opportunity to elect Kenneth Jackson, an outstanding young and ethical candidate, and defeat the condescending, bullying, arrogant, and disrespectful incumbent who doesn’t care about people’s voices. I met and spoke with Kenneth many times.
Isn’t it a shame that Madison could not find more number of candidates to run for city offices from a population of about 64,000?
Wake up Madison people. Apathy or lethargy in civic duty and local elections is going to enable the incumbents and insiders to destroy the city from within.
You showed up in 2023 to stop the incumbents and special interest groups from taking away people’s voices by a city manager-council form of government. The incumbents and insiders have shown blatant disregard to democracy, transparency, and accountability.
The incumbents, insiders, and special interest groups lost by 50 percentage points with the special election results of NO 75% and YES 25% for city manager.
Two of the three mayoral candidates in the upcoming elections are incumbents and insiders who are deep in the pockets of special interest, selfish, and corrupt groups. The one and only new candidate Margi Daly who is an outsider is running for mayor.
The most ridiculous and hypocritical thing that happened at the auditorium was the “Civility Pledge”. The supporters of MAGA had no moral right to make people take that so called “Civility Pledge”.
NOTE: For the people in Madison city who either forgot or who are new comers to the city - I ran for mayor in 2016 and lost despite presenting an excellent vision and winning the WHNT 19 mayoral debate on live TV.
I made it clear many times that I had no intention of running for office in the city again, because Madison would never elect a person of color especially an ethnic minority even with a strong platform, good education, and ethical leadership.
However, I will continue to stay engaged and help candidates who are willing to respect people’s voices and fight hard against the incumbents, insiders, and special interest groups. Your voice matters.
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: shannon.isbell@wbrc.com <shannon.isbell@wbrc.com>; Susana Schuler <susana.schuler@hearst.com>; brendan.kirby@fox10tv.com <brendan.kirby@fox10tv.com>; jama.killingsworth@waff.com <jama.killingsworth@waff.com>; Mike Wright <mwright@waaytv.com>; rmartin@cbs42.com <rmartin@cbs42.com>; Baylor Long <blong@hearst.com>; dwingard@wsfa.com <dwingard@wsfa.com>; news@mynbc15.com <news@mynbc15.com>; randy.merrow@fox10tv.com <randy.merrow@fox10tv.com>; gmcdonald@waka.com <gmcdonald@waka.com>; comments@abc3340.com <comments@abc3340.com>; newstip@abc3340.com <newstip@abc3340.com>; wvtm13@wvtm.com <wvtm13@wvtm.com>; dlamb@cbs42.com <dlamb@cbs42.com>; sdiorio@wvua23.com <sdiorio@wvua23.com>
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2025 at 09:40:29 AM CDT
Subject: "Voters in Madison, Alabama are either disengaged, disinterested, or dissatisfied"
Dear Alabama TV stations:
Hanu Karlapalem recently posted on Facebook, "Voters in Madison, Alabama are either disengaged, disinterested, or dissatisfied in the civic engagement process. It is a disaster in the waiting!" In the post, Mr. Karlapalem has a lengthy discussion, which includes reference to a WHNT19 News Live debate in the 2016 mayoral race at which the auditorium was "full of people".
I have copied and pasted Mr. Karlapalem's Facebook discussion at Citizens Acting to End the Trump Presidency: Are we disabled in our self-governance?.
I think all of us have responsibilities in the civic engagement process and need to do soul searching about the same.
This includes Alabama TV stations and particularly their fulfilling their journalistic obligations to their viewers.
I have been harping on this for some time, and I will continue my harping, including by trying to get other Alabamians to communicate to their TV stations about this.
Thank you.
Rob Shattuck
Mountain Brook
Hanu Karlapalem is with Kimberly Fasking and Aneesah Lige.
Decatur, Alabama has much more civic engagement than Madison, Alabama. It was nice meeting with Billy Jackson for Decatur Mayor at the grand opening of his campaign HQ in Decatur, Alabama. The room was overflowing with his supporters. He has been serving on the city council for nearly 30 years. He is one of the four mayoral candidates in the August 26th municipal elections.
Billy has promised to unite the divided city, prioritize transparency, and improve the infrastructure. HONESTY, INTEGRITY, LEADERSHIP, EXPERIENCE.
Rob Shattuck
Hanu Karlapalem Kimberly Fasking I will add this post to https://trumptweet.blogspot.com/2025/07/are-we-disabled-in-our-self-governance.html. Maybe people will consider it worthwhile to email their local TV stations concerning this news.
No comments:
Post a Comment