Will Joel Montgomery show at City Hall? Will Giuliani cross-dress for success in Montgomery? Will the Alabama House legalize gambling? Ban PAC-to-PACs? All the difference today makes.

We surely hope someone is watching the Jefferson County Commission this morning. Commissioner Larry Langford could sell the county courthouse for magic beans. President Bettye Fine Collins could turn the BJCC into Thunderdome. Who knows? Who cares? Everyone else is watching Birmingham City Hall, where they are asking: Will he or won’t he?

Show up, that is. The political spectators wait to see if Councilor Joel Montgomery shows his ugly mug at the meeting this morning after he busted his face and got arrested in a Five Points South parking lot.

In the wee hours of Saturday morning, Birmingham Police arrested Montgomery near Cobb Lane in Five Points South for public intoxication. According to the police press release, the officer determined that Montgomery was a threat to himself and others, as evidenced by the blood all over him. From his mug shot, Montgomery looked as if he had fallen flat on his face or just earned his membership in Fight Club.

Montgomery’s attorney told The Birmingham News that this is all just a misunderstanding and that when he was arrested after 2 a.m. he’d had just a drink and had tripped on a curb.

Well, if it was just a misunderstanding, then Montgomery will have a chance today to lend the rest of us a little clarity — again, if he shows.

Dressed for success?

In Montgomery, former New York mayor and presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani will speak to a joint session of the Alabama Legislature. The appearance will be Giuliani’s first as a presidential candidate.

So far, social conservatives have been leery of Giuliani and his primary opponent, Sen. John McCain, whose left-of-orthodox Republican positions have made them suspect. Hopefully, Giuliani will be able to explain his penchant for cross-dressing and his previous stance that government should pay for poor women to have abortions. But we doubt it.

This morning Alabama Democratic Party Chairman Joe Turnham said this in a press release about Giuliani’s visit:

“While I respect Guiliani’s record as mayor of New York City, I am surprised that his liberal record on abortion, gun rights, and illegal immigration would find such a warm reception among Alabama Republicans. In fact, I believe all the leading Democratic candidates are more in line with Alabama values than Rudy Giuliani.”

It’s great that the Alabama Democratic Party is writing in complete paragraphs and all, but just what the hell is the one above supposed to mean? Is Turnham saying that Giuliani is too far to the left of Alabama Democrats? That’ll make a good ad. We can hear it now. “Republicans: Too Liberal for Alabama.”

Legislative Gamble

But even if Giuliani shows up in Montgomery in a dress, that will only be a warm-up for two bills before the Alabama Legislature today.

House Bill 527 would legalize video bingo machines, which are virtually indistinguishable from slot machines, at four dog tracks in Alabama, but only if voters approved the constitutional amendment in a statewide referendum. Such machines are already legal at two of those facilities.

Last week, Alabama Christian Coalition president Randy Brinson spoke in favor of the bill in a Tourism and Travel Committee meeting. Brinson said that, while he does not support gambling, the bill would contain gambling in Alabama and make the vice more manageable.

The Alabama Christian Coalition was reconstituted last year, after another organization that originally claimed that name severed ties with the national Christian Coalition and changed its name to Christian Action Alabama.

Don’t bet on it

Also, in the Alabama Senate, the Government Affairs Committee is scheduled to again consider the PAC-to-PAC contribution ban passed out of the House last week. Last Thursday, the bill came before the committee, but debate was rescheduled after Senators deluged the bill with proposed amendments, many of which might dilute the potency of the PAC-to-PAC ban.

There are Dems over there?

Closer to home, U.S. Rep. Artur Davis, D-Birmingham, will speak with constituents tonight at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Over the Mountain Democrats are hosting Davis there at 6:30 p.m. in the Linn-Henley Lecture Hall.

— Kyle Whitmire