MONTGOMERY, Ala. – State Auditor Jim Zeigler today announced that he is dissolving his exploratory campaign committee and will not be a candidate for governor in this year’s elections.
“It is just not my time,” Zeigler said, noting that he now has until Feb. 9 to decide whether to seek a second term as auditor. According to Zeigler, he was legally required to form the exploratory gubernatorial campaign committee in mid-2017 because he had received unsolicited campaign donations in excess of a $1,000 threshold.
The retired elder law attorney commented on four of the current candidates:
- “Gov. Kay Ivey had a great act to follow. She has steadied the ship of state after the disastrous second Bentley administration,” said Zeigler, who filed the initial ethics complaint against Bentley in March 2016.
- “Mayor Tommy Battle has done an excellent job with recruitment of industry and jobs in Huntsville.”
- “Rev. Scott Dawson has lined up the ‘Rick and Bubba’ radio audience and is doing well with the important Christian conservative voters.”
- “Sen. Bill Hightower has done a good job of organizing his home area of Mobile and Baldwin counties.”
Zeigler’s service as auditor followed a 36-year absence from state office. Now 69, he was elected to the Alabama Public Service Commission at age 24 in 1974 but did not seek reelection in 1978.
As State Auditor, Zeigler has been determined to make the office more visible and hold state officials and departments more financially accountable, declaring after his election that “there is a new sheriff in Montgomery.”
The Alabama gubernatorial election will take place on Nov. 6, and the winner will be sworn into office on Jan. 21, 2019.
