WHEREAS, Governor Bob Riley, the 52nd Governor of Alabama, now serving his second term having been elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2006.

WHEREAS, Governor Bob Riley has served in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Alabama's 3rd congressional district from1997 to 2003.
WHEREAS, Governor Bob Riley has gained national recognition for his leadership and was named the "Public Official of the Year" by Governing Magazine in 2003, and was hailed in Time magazine for being one of the nation's "most courageous politicians."

WHEREAS, Governor Bob Riley has spurred economic development in Alabama by successfully recruiting automobile manufacturing plants as well as jobs in aeronautics.

WHEREAS, Governor Bob Riley successfully brought to Alabama ThyssenKrupp which will build a $4.2 billion state-of-the-art steel mill north of Mobile. This was the largest economic announcement in Alabama's history, and largest corporate project in U. S. history. The mill, to be operational in 2010, will employ 29,000 during construction and 2,700 once it is opened.

WHEREAS, under the leadership of Governor Bob Riley Alabama was recognized as "State of the Year" by Southern Business and Development magazine four years in a row and has received other awards for competitiveness, job creation and economic development including: the Worldwide Interactive Network named the Alabama Office of Workforce Development the No. 1 U.S. employee development agency, Expansion Management magazine has ranked Alabama Industrial Development Training No. 1 among workforce training programs. Alabama Bureau of Tourism & Travel received the National Council of State Tourism Directors' annual Mercury Award recognizing its "Year of Alabama Food" as the nation's top tourism campaign.

WHEREAS, Governor Bob Riley's administration has led Alabama to more success in education than any time in our recent history with nationally renowned programs like the Alabama Reading Initiative, the Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative and ACCESS Distance Learning are revolutionizing the way our children learn. The First Class Voluntary Pre-K initiative is rated as the best pre-K program in the nation for quality.

WHEREAS, Governor Riley has recently announced the Alabama Medicaid Agency has received a $ 39.1 million federal performance bonus for the effectiveness of its innovative methods in enrolling more low-income children in Medicaid during the 2009 Fiscal Year.

WHEREAS, there is an individual, who under the guise of being a Republican candidate for governor (to conceal the true nature of his purpose) is attacking our Governor. Bill Johnson, former Director of Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, has but one purpose in spreading these scandalous claims and that is to damage Governor Riley's reputation and cause detriment to the Republican Party and its candidates in the 2010 elections. The scurrilous charges are patently untrue and this individual has offered no evidence to support his allegations. Bill Johnson's actions have brought ridicule, dishonor, disgrace and shame on himself and he wants this to spread to the Republican Party and its candidates.

WHEREAS, in support of Governor Bob Riley, and to show our appreciation for the many achievements and sacrifices he and his family have made for the State of Alabama; now therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE AUTAUGA COUNTY REPUBLICAN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE that Bill Johnson whose views are not for the purpose of legitimate political discourse but by their nature and tenor are for the purpose of spreading scandalous claims, shall not be allowed access to any forum of any Autauga County Republican Executive Committee meetings nor any events sponsored or endorsed by the Committee.