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Tuesday, February 28, 2006
By Vicki Terrinoni - Wetumpka Herald Staff Writer
Republican Barry Mask, who fought back allegations of accepting gambling money in the waning days of a heated campaign, defeated Tallassee Mayor Bobby Payne Tuesday night in the special called general election in unofficial results.
Mask was expected to be sworn in by the governor as soon as legally possible. The election will have to be certified. He will then fill the Alabama House seat left vacant by state Rep. Jack Venable, who died on Nov. 18.
Mask polled almost 70 percent of the vote in Elmore and Coosa counties, where a majority of boxes make up the district. He had a total of 4,269 votes to 2,981 for Payne.
Mask won in Elmore County by 64 percent, 3,847 to 2,107, where turnout was 22 percent out of a total of 27,000 registered voters.
Payne, a Democrat, won in Coosa County, 874-422, where a majority of voters are Democrat. Some 17 percent of the registered voters participated, compared with only two percent voting in the primary.
Mask carried Coosa County in the primary election and won the nomination over Elmore County Commissioner Don Whorton. Payne ran unopposed in the primary.
Payne also carried his hometown boxes in Tallassee, where he has served as mayor for 17 years. Venable, who served in the Legislature for 31 years, was from Tallassee also. He died after a battle with leukemia and was serving as the chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee.
"We ran a positive issue-oriented campaign with a plan to make this district better," Mask said at the Elmore County Courthouse where he watched returns come in. "The other team did not do that. They attacked and you rejected it."
He said he thought the campaign would be "tough," but said "it wasn't that bad. Those tactics did not work because the people of this district are smarter than they thought we were."
Payne went on the attack immediately after the primary ended, claiming Mask had said he would support a tax referendum for schools if one was on the ballot. Although Payne's campaign aired a tape recording of the message, Mask said his remarks were taken out of context.
Payne also fired again as late as Friday, claiming that Mask had accepted money from gaming interests through a firm who employed the head of the State Republican Party. Both vehemently denied the allegations.
Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh, the state GOP chairwoman, had her attorneys file a lawsuit in Elmore County Circuit Court Monday and remains pending. Payne's campaign said Tuesday they had not received a copy of the lawsuit and had no comment.
Payne congratulated Mask Tuesday night.
"We ran a tough campaign. We did the best we could do. I felt like we did everything we could do," Payne said.
"I look forward to getting out in the morning and going to work as mayor of Tallassee.
Mask said Tuesday night he will qualify on Friday for the June primary to seek re-election for the seat he just won. 2006 is an election year and all members of the Alabama Legislature are on the ballot. The special election held Tuesday was to fill Venable's unexpired term.
Mask will serve in the current legislative session, which has 14 days remaining. He could face opposition from his own party on June 6, the date of the state's primaries, and from a Democratic challenger in the November general election, or he could run unopposed.
Mask, a marketing executive with an engineering firm, served as an officer in the Elmore County Economic Development Authority, which he helped start.
He had previously worked as a lobbyist, which Payne also pointed out about Mask in his campaign advertisements.
Mask said if elected he would form a commission to get U.S. Highway 231 and Highway 14 four-laned all the way through Elmore and Coosa counties.
Mask received a campaign endorsement from Gov. Bob Riley, who also aired commercials on Mask's behalf. Mask has said he will support Riley's legislative agenda, including Riley's plan to cut taxes for all Alabamians and reduce the tax threshold on the poor by raising it from $4,600 a year to $15,000 a year.
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