Coach Tuberville Is Right: Open the Books and Make Every Dollar Count

Guest Opinion by Perry Hooper Jr.

Every dollar government wastes comes from somebody who worked for it. It comes from the small business owner meeting payroll, the electrician putting in another long day, the farmer trying to make a crop, and the family deciding which expense can wait until next month. In Montgomery, we talk about appropriations, allocations, and revenue projections. Around the kitchen table, people talk about what they can afford. Alabama deserves a governor who understands that those conversations involve the same money. That is one of the reasons I support Tommy Tuberville for governor.

Coach’s promise to examine government spending has beenfront and center in his campaign. In his September campaign message, he pledged, “I’ll audit every state dollar, ensuring your tax dollars deliver real results.” That is a standard taxpayers should expect their government to meet. A state agency should be able to explain where its money went and what the people of Alabama received for it. Coach is putting that responsibility squarely where it belongs: on the government agency spending the money.

Conservatives cannot campaign on fiscal responsibility and then measure success by how much government spends. A larger appropriation does not automatically produce a better school, a safer neighborhood, or a stronger workforce. The question is whether the money accomplishes its purpose. When a program succeeds, we ought to understand why. When it fails, we must fix it. When agencies duplicate each other’s work, taxpayers should not have to keep paying twice because changing the arrangement might upset somebody in Montgomery.

Coach has already taken a concrete step toward that review. In July, he announced his Golden Age Action Team to examine state government operations and recommend changes. His chief of staff described finding waste and duplication as part of its assignment. Coach explained his urgency plainly: “We’re not going to spend our first year holding meetings and making excuses.” Preparation matters because the responsibility to govern begins immediately upon taking office.

Anyone familiar with coaching understands the principle. Before you can improve a team, you have to evaluate its performance honestly. You study the film, identify weaknesses, and determine whether the people and resources you have are being used effectively. You cannot improve the scoreboard by congratulating yourself on the size of the athletic budget. Government needs that same discipline, with agency leaders responsible for results they can explain and taxpayers can see.

The distinction between waste and fraud matters. An inefficient program needs correction. A dishonest scheme needs investigation and, where the evidence warrants it, prosecution. A serious administration must be capable of doing both. It should protect conscientious public employees who report problems and demand answers from anyone who treats public money as a private opportunity. Taxpayer accountability should follow the evidence wherever it leads, regardless of political connections.

Coach made another essential point at the Alabama Forestry Association seminar earlier this year: Alabama must oversee both state tax revenue and federal money flowing into the state. He did not claim fraud was rampant here. He argued that government has an obligation to guard the money entrusted to it. As he put it, “It affects all of us. It’s our money.” Federal funding carries that same obligation because Washington’s checkbook is supported by taxpayers, too.

For too long, the words “federal money” have been treated in Montgomery as though they meant “free money.” Budget debates have revolved around how much Alabama must contribute, while the much larger sums flowing through federally supported programs receive far less public attention. That mindset understates both the size of government and its responsibility to taxpayers. Alabama families pay federal taxes, too, and their children inherit the debt when Washington spends more than it collects. A dollar does not become free simply because it travels through Washington before reaching Montgomery.

Alabama’s own audited financial statements show why looking beyond the state appropriation matters. In fiscal year 2025, the state reported approximately $34.2 billion in governmental expenses. Education resources accounted for approximately $12.6 billion. Health accounted for $11 billion, and social services another $3.7 billion. Together, health and social services exceeded education resources by more than $2.1 billion within those governmental accounts. Those figures include spending supported by federal dollars and other funding sources that receive too little attention when the conversation stops at the General Fund appropriation.

Under Coach’s watch, that old excuse “it’s federal money” will have no place in state government. He has been in Washington. He has seen how the federal government spends money, and he knows that calling something “federally funded” does not relieve anyone of responsibility to taxpayers. He is bringing that experience home to Alabama with a pledge to audit every state dollar. Medicaid, Human Resources, and every other agency should be judged by the full amount of money entrusted to them and the results they deliver. An agency cannot claim credit for administering billions while limiting its accountability to the smaller amount appropriated from the General Fund.

The taxpayers  of Alabama do not work for Montgomery. Montgomery works for them. Their money deserves protection, their questions deserve answers, and their confidence must be earned through performance. Coach Tuberville has put his name behind that obligation, and I am putting my support behind him. Open the books, follow the money, correct the failures, and make every dollar count. Alabama taxpayers have earned that kind of leadership, and Tommy Tuberville is ready to provide it.

Perry O. Hooper Jr. is a longtime Alabama Republican figure, former Alabama Legislator and Montgomery businessman. He served as Co-Chair of “Alabama Trump Victory” in 2016, and served as an at-large delegate to the Republican National Convention. He is a noted civic leader in Montgomery with deep family roots in Alabama’s legal and political history.

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