Citizens Group Plans Rally in Marion County

A citizens group based in Montgomery is taking its message to a county represented by a state senator who carried around a $2 million state check for weeks.

Alabama Citizens for a Sound Economy will hold a “Sweep Montgomery Clean” rally at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Rawls Pavilion on Alabama 233 in Brilliant.

“I don’t know a better place to hold a rally such as this than Marion County, ” said Twinkle Andress, executive director of the group. “This is the county where a state senator carried a $2 million state check in his billfold for several weeks without delivering it where it was supposed to go.”

State Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, obtained the state check for use by the county commission to purchase land for an industrial park. Commissioners refused, saying the land, owned by a friend of Bedford’s, was greatly overpriced.

Andress is a former executive director of the Alabama Republican Party, but she said the citizens group crosses party lines.

“We’re a group of Alabama Republicans, Democrats and independents who are trying to clean up some of the things that are going on in this state,” she said.