Did I expect Jeff Sessions, the new attorney general, to draw opposition for his politics and priorities at the Justice Department?
Certainly. Such is the nature of politics, especially in these topsy-turvy days.
Did I expect Sessions to eventually say something that would get him in hot water?
Sure. He just seems to have a knack for that.
Did I expect that he would lie, apparently, in his confirmation hearing and get caught not even a month later?
I can’t say I did. I can, however, say I’m not particularly surprised.
As a reporter for the Commercial Dispatch in Columbus in the early 2000s, part of my coverage portfolio was west Alabama and Alabama state issues.
In that capacity I had occasion to cover both U.S. Representatives Bob Aderholt and Earl Hilliard on occasion, though I never covered Hilliard in person.
Aderholt I saw in person on several occasions, including, if I remember correctly, the aftermath of a tornado that ripped through the small town of Kennedy, Ala. He was appropriately sympathetic and professional.
I happened upon a public meeting with then-Sen. Richard Shelby at a restaurant in Vernon, Ala., one day after I had gone over to cover a Lamar County school board meeting, and was able to ask a few questions.
Shelby was friendly and gracious, much like descriptions of John C. Stennis are often given.
Then there was the time I covered Jeff Sessions.
He was still in his first term as a U.S. senator, and he had a meeting at a restaurant in Reform, Ala. It might have been an open forum, but I think it was for the Pickens County Republican Party.
Sessions definitely threw out some red meat for the GOP faithful while talking about such issues as economic development and education.
He wasn’t the most dynamic speaker, but the crowd there to see him reacted favorably.
I buttonholed him after the meeting and asked him a couple of questions, mainly about education.
He thought a second, rattled off an answer — then tilted his head and looked at me with an expression that asked, “Did you fall for that?” Seriously, that’s what his expression said to me.
To the best of my recollection, there was nothing odd or unorthodox about his answer, especially for an elected Southern Republican at the time. I wouldn’t have thought anything was off about his answer if he hadn’t made that “Did you buy that?” expression.
As it was fairly late at night and being 30 to 45 minutes from Columbus, I ignored Sessions’ expression, thanked him for his time and left.
But I pondered that facial expression on the ride back to Columbus and through much of the next morning as I typed an article about his visit to Reform.
It’s been hard for me to trust anything he said since — and we may be seeing the reason for that playing out on the national stage.
