Walt Maddox calls for debate on state’s pressing problems

Eight weeks before election day, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox again called out Gov. Kay Ivey for declining to debate, saying the governor owes the public a discussion between the candidates about the state’s problems in education, health care, mental health, prisons and aging roads and infrastructure.

“The governor doesn’t believe that the people of Alabama are worthy of such a debate,” Maddox said. “She doesn’t believe it’s appropriate for her to talk to the people that pay their salary.”

Maddox spoke today at a candidate forum organized by the Alabama Retired State Employees’ Association and the Alabama Public Employees’ Advocacy League at their annual convention in Montgomery.

Ivey was not at the event. She will speak to the same group on Wednesday. Ivey has said only Maddox and the news media are interested in a debate.

Continue reading on AL.com.