Bob Riley

Robert Renfroe Riley, known as Bob Riley, is an American retired politician and businessman born on October 3, 1944, in Ashland, Alabama. He served as the 52nd governor of Alabama from 2003 to 2011 and, before that, represented Alabama’s 3rd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1997 to 2003. A Republican, Riley rose in state politics after years in private business, bringing with him the perspective of someone whose life had been rooted in small-town Alabama.

Riley grew up in Clay County, where his family had ranched and farmed for six generations. He attended the University of Alabama, became a brother of Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity, and graduated with a degree in business administration. Before he ever ran for office, he led several businesses. He owned a car dealership and a trucking company, worked as a cattleman, and was active in commercial and residential real estate. Those experiences formed the public image he carried into politics: practical, business-minded, and closely tied to Alabama’s rural and local economies.

His first run for elected office came in 1996, when he won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Riley defeated Democratic State Senator T.D. “Ted” Little and Libertarian John Sophocleus by just over 6,000 votes, becoming only the second Republican to represent Alabama’s 3rd district since Reconstruction. He was reelected in 1998 with 58 percent of the vote against Democrat Joe Turnham, and in 2000 he faced only a Libertarian opponent. A supporter of term limits, Riley imposed a three-term limit on himself and did not seek reelection to the House in 2002.

Instead, Riley ran for governor of Alabama. In the 2002 election, he defeated Democratic incumbent Don Siegelman by about 3,000 votes, the narrowest margin in Alabama history for a governor’s race. The result drew controversy because the initial election night count showed Siegelman ahead by more than 2,000 votes. As governor, Riley faced difficult issues early. In 2003, state politics drew national attention when Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore refused to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the court building. Riley reportedly supported Moore but said there was nothing he could do to prevent Moore’s removal by a judicial ethics panel.

Riley is also closely associated with “Amendment One,” the tax and government reform plan he proposed in his first year as governor. The plan called for income tax breaks for lower brackets, balanced by increases in other taxes, and was estimated to raise state revenue by $1.2 billion per year. It also included education funding, a scholarship program for Alabama students, changes to teacher tenure policies, school system accountability, and bans on pass-through pork. Riley presented the plan partly in Christian terms, arguing that Alabama’s tax system placed the heaviest burden on the poorest citizens. Voters rejected it on September 9, 2003, with 68 percent opposed, but the effort brought Riley national attention. Governing magazine named him “Public Official of the Year” in 2003, and Time magazine described him as one of the nation’s “most courageous politicians.”

Riley’s approval ratings rose sharply in 2005, a change analysis linked to public perception of his response to Hurricane Katrina. His political life was marked by narrow races, hard arguments over taxes, and moments when state concerns drew national notice. One quote often associated with him says, “Hard times don’t create heroes. It is during hard times that the hero within us is revealed.” For readers of public life, the line fits the record of a governor whose best-known moments came under pressure, when choices about money, faith, responsibility, and service were placed in full public view.