Doug Jones, Roy Moore talk law enforcement in Montgomery stops

Both U.S. Senate candidates came to Montgomery Wednesday with law enforcement messages, and the other ones they’re trying to stress.

Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, the Republican nominee for the seat currently held by U.S. Sen. Luther Strange, appeared at a press conference Wednesday to receive the endorsement of 13 sheriffs, all but one of them Republican.

Former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones, the Democratic nominee, met with Alabama State University students to discuss criminal justice issues like policing and incarceration.

The election for the seat is Dec. 12.

Jones and Moore also took the opportunity to hit their base issues and criticize their opponent. Jones stressed his efforts to work toward bipartisan solutions on “kitchen table issues,” and said Moore “wants to talk about nothing but the issues that may divide us instead of the ones that may unify us.”

“We have crisscrossed this state and will continue talking about health care, talking about jobs and talking about education,” he said. “It’s just now we’re seeing Roy Moore starting to surface. But he doesn’t want to talk about those issues.”

Moore, an outspoken social conservative critical of LGBT rights, accused Jones of taking up “transgender issues and transgender rights in the military.”

“The transgenders don’t have rights,” Moore said at press conference. “They’ve never been denominated as having rights by the US Supreme Court. He believes in transgender bathrooms and transgenders in the military. I disagree with him 100 percent.”

Jones has criticized the cancellation of rules allowing school children to use the bathroom of the gender with which they identify, citing the toll a similar law took on North Carolina's economy. He has also criticized the Trump administration’s decision to prevent transgender individuals from serving in the military. U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said after Trump announced the policy that “any American who wants to serve out country” and can meet military standards “should have the opportunity to do so.”

On the law enforcement front, Sheriff Ray Norris of Clarke County said he and the 12 other sheriffs endorsed Moore because he said he would help secure federal dollars to deal with crime and the opioid crisis.

“He will funnel money our way to help our sheriffs protect our citizens,” he said. “He has proven that in the past.”

Moore said he favored money for counseling and law enforcement, though he did not go into detail.

“I think there’s a lot of drugs coming into our country,” he said. “Opioids are not the only drug problem we have.”

Jones has criticized Moore for not taking a definite stand on renewal of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which covers about 150,000 Alabama children and expired at the end of September. Efforts to renew the program are moving through Congress slowly. Moore did not commit to voting for renewal Wednesday but said he would review any bill on that front should it come for a vote.

“If there is a bill up before the Senate, I will take it up before my colleagues and discuss it,” he said. “I’m not familiar with a bill being up like that. And before I vote on anything judicial branch, we will hear all the facts and make a decision in the case.”

Jones declined to comment Thursday on specific measures in a House CHIP renewal bill, such as higher premiums for wealthy Medicare recipients, saying “the devil’s in the details.” He said the important thing was “people are reaching across the aisle.”

“That’s a pretty bipartisan issue that we favor and apparently Roy Moore does not,” he said. “I’m going to work with the other side of the aisle to do that. I don’t see Roy Moore doing that.”

Jones said his discussion with ASU students focused on methods to end mass incarceration and support community policing. Jones supports sentencing reform and modification of three strikes laws.

“These are bipartisan issues Democrats and Republicans agree on,” he said. “Try to reduce the crime, keep our communities safer and at the same time cut down the costs of the criminal justice system.”

The Jones campaign has accused Moore of shunning the campaign trail; Moore said at his press conference that he was “making all the appearances I can make” and that the Jones campaign “didn’t know half” of the appearances he made. He also reiterated that he would not debate Jones, saying they had opposing beliefs and there was "no need to debate."

Jones made several stops in Montgomery – crucial to his election strategy – on Wednesday. Besides his Montgomery stop, Moore made an appearance in Tuscaloosa Wednesday morning.

Alabama Political Reporter reported Wednesday afternoon that Gov. Kay Ivey declined to endorse Moore in the election. Daniel Sparkman, a spokesman for Ivey, said Wednesday that it was “not her practice to not endorse any candidates” but that she planned to vote for Moore, as she suggested in a statement on his victory in the GOP runoff Sept. 26.