By Barnett Wright
The Birmingham Times
Jefferson County Commissioner David Carrington said Tuesday he will not run for a third term on the commission and that he is “seriously considering” running for governor of Alabama in 2018.
Carrington made the announcement on the Matt Murphy Radio Show.
“Montgomery is a mess, as was Jefferson County the day I was sworn into office six years ago,” said Carrington, a Republican. “Now, hardly a day goes by that someone doesn’t tell me that things are much better in Jefferson County than they were on my first day in office.”
The county faced numerous financial problems when he was first elected in 2010, Carrington said.
“In order to clean-up the messes left by others, I had to make a significant number of difficult decisions regardless of political consequences,” he said. “Let’s be honest, not many citizens gave me and my fellow commissioners a prayer of ever turning around Jefferson County and it was accomplished in less than four years. I truly believe the same can happen in Montgomery with the right leadership team.”
Carrington indicated that some suggested he needed to wait before making a gubernatorial run.
“I was told by a representative of the GOP establishment that I was ‘cutting into the front of the line’ and that I needed to ‘wait my turn,’” Carrington said. “My response was that the others are in the wrong line. The line I’m in includes being a businessman, the president of a city council and the president of a county commission. The next logical progression is Governor.”
Carrington, who won reelection to the commission in 2014 without serious opposition, added, “I honestly don’t believe that a Washington or Montgomery insider, who either created the messes in Montgomery or stood idly by while the messes were being created, can do what needs to be done in Montgomery to right the ship.”
