Three days into the current legislative session and the arrows are flying from Dr. Henry Mabry and the Alabama Education Association. While I am sure Dr. Mabry feels the need to show a strong posture as he embarks on his new career with the AEA, he does so at the risk of the one thing that is most sought after right now in Alabama, JOBS! The AEA's active stance against the economic development incentives bills currently being debated puts in peril another factor in Alabama that we have lost in recent years as well as jobs, competitiveness.

You see, when I began my career in economic development in the mid-90s, Alabama was at the top of the list of sought after locations in the South. Fresh off the announcement of Mercedes and followed soon by Honda, people were beginning to take notice of Alabama. Unfortunately for us, not only were companies like Hyundai, Toyota, ThyssenKrupp, and locally, TSTECH taking notice of us, but so were other states.

States like Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and the Carolinas determined not to be dealt off the table again by the aggressiveness of the Yellowhammer State. In the same way that Les Miles is vowing never again to underestimate the Crimson Tide, our Southeastern neighbors began adjusting their game. In economic development, this is done by passing legislation making your state more attractive. Tax rebates, training programs and cash infusion are the X's and O's that win the game. Instead of a crystal trophy and bragging rights, an economic development victory puts people to work. The Mitchem/McDaniel era of the legislature helped create the environment that saw many of our past great announcements. Our current legislature only seeks to regain this competitive edge.

A wise economic developer once told me that when he toured a plant he had helped recruit, he thought about braces and bass boats. When a community or state is competitive and makes itself an attractive place to locate, people go to work and can afford braces for their kids' teeth and bass boats for their trucks!

Dr. Mabry believes that these incentives take money out of Alabama's coffers. He has argued specifically that HB159 and 160 are "not jobs bills and will cripple public school financing." His intrepid predecessor argued similarly against incentives to companies in the past, incentives that brought the Mercedes and Honda announcements. The point that our state's largest lobbying organization misses incessantly is that if the companies do not come to Alabama, we lose ALL the tax revenue they would generate. If the state or community offers incentives, we forego a portion of the taxes initially, but create jobs and thereby empower the people to do what they want to do: work and spend money. I'm sure Dr. Mabry has never sat down and calculated the sales taxes that pay his members that are generated by the sales of braces and bass boats. These sales are only possible when Alabama is competitive and attractive to companies.

The reality is that the public only sees the groundbreaking photos. To most folks, economic development is about the governor and mayor of their town announcing a new industry. Incentives, like HB 159 and 160 are what get companies to consider Alabama. Once in Alabama and Marshall County, we sell ourselves on our workforce, our location and our quality of life. Dr. Mabry's membership in Marshall County would do well to remember that the next time a plant is announced; and when their students come to school with braces on their teeth or their daddy's truck is pulling a bass boat in carline.

Matt Arnold is the president of the Marshall County Economic Development Council. He lives in Guntersville, Alabama.