Alabama Republican State Senator attacks Democrat

[MadBadger]

State Senate smackdown

DAVID WHITENews staff writer

MONTGOMERY - One senator hit another senator in the head on the Senate floor Thursday, a violent punctuation mark on the last day of a legislative session in which hundreds of bills died as senators feuded over operating rules.

/snip/

But it was the blow Sen. Charles Bishop, R-Arley, delivered to Sen. Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe, that dominated talk at the State House.

The two men were involved in a heated talk during a break in debate when Bishop suddenly hit Barron in the head, near Barron's left ear. The blow knocked Barron back onto a desk.

Patrick Harris, assistant secretary of the Senate, said he quickly grabbed Bishop and pulled him back.

Veteran senators said they never before had seen a senator hit another senator on the floor. "I have been down here 23 years. There have been many heated moments. But I don't know of a moment where a senator has hit another senator upside the head," said Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma.

Several said they were embarrassed by Bishop's action. "This is certainly a sad, sad day for this state and for this legislative body," Sen. Linda Coleman, D-Birmingham, said. "We are the highest elected officials, as far as a group, in this entire state. We are lawmakers. We say that we are not lawbreakers. As lawmakers, we are not above the law."

Bishop, 69, said he hit Barron, 65, because Barron called him a "son of a ..."

"If he calls me that again, it'll happen again," Bishop said later.

Barron denied calling Bishop that name. "I didn't call him anything."

The two men had verbally sparred minutes earlier, with Bishop protesting how Barron used Senate rules to stop debate on a bill.

Barron said Bishop walked over to him and said, "You'd better watch your back. I'm going to be here for the next three years, and I'm going to ... you every day."

Barron said he told Bishop that he didn't give a "damn" what Bishop was going to do, and then turned away. "And about that time, I saw a punch coming," Barron said. "Unbelievable."

http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/118129083959350.xml&coll=2

[Ian David]

1. SENATOR CHARLES BISHOP

He doesn't have a Wikipedia entry yet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Bishop&action=edit


SENATOR CHARLES BISHOP
(R)

5th District
(Jefferson, Tuscaloosa, Walker, Winston)



State House:



Phone: Room 733-D
State House
11 South Union Street
Montgomery, AL 36130
[phone] Business:



Phone:
Fax: B&D Industrial Mining and Services, Inc.
P.O. Box 1585
Jasper, AL 35502

[phone]
[phone]
Home: 444 Bridgeview Road
Arley, AL 35541-3907

http://www.legislature.state.al.us/senate/senators/senatebios/sd005.html

[MadBadger]

2. Does look like a mean Son of a bitch

[formerrepuke]

3. Well, maybe Bishop's mother IS a bitch.....................

Senator Bishop