FAIRHOPE - “2007 has been a great year; it’s been an exciting year, plane crashes and political campaigns,” said Trip Pittman, who has surprised many by unexpectedly winning the Republican primary and following it up with an impressive runoff victory against Randy McKinney, a member of the state board of education.   

During the primary and runoff, McKinney’s television commercials hit the airwaves with a prominent public figure shaking his hand during the 30 second prime-time spots, two-time elected Governor Bob Riley, who pulled somewhat of a political rarity by supporting a fellow Republican within a GOP primary.   

But, Pittman would eventually prevail over the governor’s choice, earning a spot in the runoff with nearly 30 percent of the primary vote against a cast of veteran Baldwin County politicians and the Republican Party chair, all vying for Bradley Byrne’s vacated state Senate District 32 seat: County Commissioner David Ed Bishop, former state Senator Albert Lipscomb, party chair Don McGriff and McKinney. 

Overall, Pittman placed second with 4,570 primary votes, but he was eclipsed by McKinney’s 5,556 votes - 36 percent of the primary total.

With the runoff coming up in September, it looked as though the so-called Riley-McKinney duo would take Byrne’s seat. 

On September 11, McKinney and Pittman faced off for the GOP nomination since neither candidate received a majority of the primary vote which had to be at least 50 percent.  

That evening, however, when the polls closed and the county precincts were tallied, the dark-horse candidate - who decided in May that he should run for elected office after surviving a plane crash early this year – Lee “Trip” Pittman won the runoff with 9,072 votes to McKinney’s 7,111, 56 percent to 44. 

The twist of fate from a successful Eastern Shore businessman as owner of Pittman Tractor in Daphne, a company he started nearly 20 years ago, to facing Democrat A.J. Cooper in the general election began in February 2007 when he found himself freefalling from 4,500 feet to the earth below inside a small single-engine airplane. 

Pittman reviewed his life and politics in a recent interview with the Onlooker. 

Traveling from Tallahassee on a business trip, Pittman was aboard a private plane, a 3-passenger 1970 Bellanca Super Viking, heading back home to the Eastern Shore, gliding smoothly above the Florida panhandle, when smoke started seeping into the cockpit. 

“I thought it was all over with,” Pittman said.  “We had smoke in the cockpit when the manifold burnt up the electrical wiring.”

The pilot, Roger James, handled the Viking as the engine sputtered and the smoke plumed throughout the cockpit as the unseen fire spread through the plane’s innards. 

James lost power and then began the near-death descent to the Floridian pines below.

Pittman recalled: “I thought it was all over with.  This is it.  You think about your family.  You’re not scared, but you’re sad, you know, this is it.”

There was a brief moment of hope as the Viking’s altitude plummeted: “We’re coming down and there was one field that we were trying to make, and we were trying to have an emergency landing there,” he said.

But, the plane shot over the softer landing and impacted trees standing at the field’s edge. 

Pittman said he blacked out momentarily after the plane smacked the cedars, but he soon regained his bearing, only to be caught in a plane consumed by fire, hot twisted metal surrounding them. 

“I opened my eyes.  You go from this resignation from thinking it’s all over with to this survival instinct, trying to get away from this fire,” he said. 

He tried to open the plane’s only door, but it was jammed.  The pilot launched his body weight into Pittman, the door flung open from both men’s weight, and they tumbled to the ground. 

“You’re burning.  You’re thinking this is bad and then all of a sudden you get hit from behind and you get this sensation of the door popping open, and you’re falling out,” Pittman recollected, not knowing at the time how far he would fall to the ground after the impact.

Pittman said that a man, who witnessed the plane going down near his property just outside the small community of Fountain Fla., north of Panama City, called out to them, checked their condition, which was surprisingly good, and took them back to his home.

An ambulance arrived; Pittman and the pilot were taken by helicopter to the University of South Alabama Medical Center where Pittman was treated for third degree burns on his left hand and arm.  He rolled up his sleeve, showing his scars during the interview. 

All that remained of the plane was a skeleton of contorted metal. 

After the accident, the ensuing recovery from the shock of living beyond a plane crash, and now back up to speed at Pittman Tractor, he reflected upon his second chance at life.

“You go through something like that (and) you’re glad to be alive…your family’s glad you’re alive,” Pittman said.  “People say well there is something you’re supposed to do, God has a plan.”

He felt a new direction; he would run for public office. 

Pittman spoke with a close friend over the phone, deliberating the idea of running, but unsure as to which seat he would take his chances on.  Three days after this conversation, the news hit the stand that state Senator Bradley Byrne resigned since he was appointed by Gov. Riley to a higher post, chancellor of the state's two-year college system. 

His friend called back: “Hey did you hear about Bradley taking this job? Are you going to run?”

With a second chance on life and a conversation with his family, Pittman, 47, decided to throw his hat into the political ring.

Background

“I’ve always had an interest in history and government.  Growing up, I had an uncle that served in the state legislature.”

Pittman’s uncle, former U.S. Senator James Browning Allen, who served stints in the Alabama House and Senate and two-terms as lieutenant governor, had an admirable impact on the young would-be Baldwin County politician.

Allen’s political career culminated in the U.S. Senate, but in his second term, he passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack in 1978.

“I had a lot of respect for him,” Pittman said.  “He and my aunt used to send me copies of the declaration of independence and the constitution.”

The Pittman family moved from Birmingham to Fairhope when Trip was 11.  He graduated from Bayside Academy, Daphne, in 1978, and eventually earned a business degree from the University of Alabama’s School of Commerce and Business Administration, and also served five years with the National Guard. 

He met his wife, Lynn Kittrell, at Alabama, and shortly thereafter they took up residence along the Eastern Shore.  Pittman Tractor opened shop in 1988. 

In the early 90’s, Pittman was appointed to the Baldwin County Planning and Zoning Commission, which oversees land development permits in the unincorporated areas of the county.  He finished a three-year term, representing the Eastern Shore community of Montrose. 

Pittman then became involved in campaign politics by coordinating an effort along the Eastern Shore for Fob James’ bid at the governorship in 1994.  James would go on to win, defeating then-Governor Jim Folsom, Jr.  

Afterwards, former Gov. James appointed Pittman to the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, which he served on for nearly 10 years. 

“We helped coordinate among the different universities…, approved programs (and) helped coordinate off-campus offerings for the 2-year system,” Pittman said. 

The commission, he noted, brought “more efficiency to the higher education system” by consolidating educational offerings and institutions. 

Policy Positions

Fast-forward, a couple years later, a plane crash in February, a second chance, and the decision in May to run as a Republican for state Senate District 32, Baldwin County:

“Most people thought that it was a long-shot, that we would win, because we had a lot of good competition,” Pittman said.  “We just kept going, we had a lot of friends volunteer, a lot of people…contributing (and) supporting the campaign with their time.”

Pittman decided early on he needed to set himself apart from the pack of GOP candidates with an alternative approach to campaign fundraising, a stretch from the norm in today’s political climate.

“Somebody asked me early on, they said…’why are you different?’ And it kind of clicked.  If you’re going to be different, you got to get elected in a different way.”

Pittman said in the interview that he has not accepted “PAC (political action committee) money, (or) special interest money.”

PAC’s are private groups, sometimes affiliated with special interest groups, which fundraise for certain candidates and dispense their monies to that candidate with the expectation, in some cases, the candidate will support their organization or cause.  Sometimes this includes passing favorable legislation.   

Pittman said he has made it a rule to accept only individual donations since he wants “no strings attached” while serving as state Senator.

“It offers the opportunity to be more independent and hopefully more effective.

“People that give you money, they expect you to at least give an ear to their issues,” he said, and noted: “Does that hurt your ability to represent the citizens first and foremost?”

He’s also committed to a two-term limit. 

“I think it is important that you get new people in office.  I think it’s a good thing.”

As for the county’s hot-button issues, Pittman identified residential and commercial insurance as the most evident priority since “people (are) getting cancelled everyday (and) you’ve got people that can’t get insurance.”

Pittman said he has been working with state Senator Ben Brooks, R-Mobile, on a comprehensive insurance reform bill that will “try to encourage (insurers) to come into the market…by providing some tax incentives for them to write insurance for the wind-pool.”

The wind-pool, also known as the beach-pool, was established by the state Department of Insurance, to provide wind and hail coverage for Baldwin and Mobile counties, generally the area south of Interstate 10.  Private insurers participate in this policy-pool for high-risk customers. 

Pittman noted, however, “that’s the area where people are having a very difficult time getting insurance.  It’s very expensive or they’re getting cancelled.”

Pittman also said that he would work toward removing a law, not included in the bill, which requires insurance companies to be in business at least 5 years before they can offer policies in the state. 

“It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in business to me as long as you have a strong enough balance sheet, bonding and financial strength,” Pittman said.  “If you’re financially strong, you should be able to come into the market if you want to in order to possibly increase competition.

“What we want to do is encourage the market, hopefully to get rates down, but not get the state involved in the insurance business,” Pittman said. 

The second most dominate issue to Pittman is property tax reform, in particular changing appraisals back to every four years rather than annual and introducing a cap to prevent large one-year ad valorem tax increases.   

“I prefer a four-year reappraisal because I think it allows the tax assessors office to be more accurate…and it doesn’t put the burden on the taxpayers particularly who may have to appeal their property every year.”

Pittman said ad valorem tax increases should be capped at roughly “5 or 10 percent” per year in order to alleviate the burden on taxpayers in vibrant real estate markets, a facet in parts of the county. 

On growth management, when asked if county-wide zoning should be enacted rather than individual districts voting for the regulations, Pittman answered: “Zoning is a restriction on private property rights.  It seems like county-wide zoning is the answer, but to me one of the strengths in Baldwin County is the diversity of each different community and while that may seem like a simpler short-term solution…personally I want to do all I can to protect the identities of the different communities” in the county.

Baldwin County is divided into over 30 planning districts by the Planning and Zoning Department and each one gets to decide whether they want zoning regulations or not, which if voted for, zoning requires homeowners and builders to acquire permits and follow land-use regulations that take into account neighborhoods, environmental considerations, among others. 

“While this system certainly is more difficult, I just think it offers a better balance and does protect the individual communities because certain communities may want to have different zoning regulations,” Pittman said.  “You still want to preserve the rights of people that live out in the rural areas of the county.”

Ultimately, Pittman said the county will face increased population growth and infrastructure strain over the coming decades but he says it’s important “to keep a balance” between managing growth and promoting it. 

“There are a lot of places that want growth.  Growth is a double-edged sword.  It’s got its good things and its bad things.  The main thing is you got to manage it, and you got to make sure that the people that are doing the growth are bearing the cost,” Pittman said.

“There are always challenges, there are always going to be problems and there are always going to be things that you have to deal with but…if you work hard and you work together then you know you can overcome it.”