#Artur "Davis says that if the Democrats can forgive Parker Griffith, they should be able to forgive him."

Parker Griffith submits his paperwork to run for governor at Alabama Democratic Party headquarters in Montgomery on Friday afternoon. (Mike Cason | mcason@al.com)

And he's right (pun intended), there's this little thingy called precedent. What EYE want to know is when/where and what "democrats" forgave Parker Griffith  exactly?

Bentley announced his re-election campaign in 2013. Griffith waited until 15 minutes before signup deadline for candidates on Feb. 7.
Griffith said he had been considering it for a few months. He even had a poll done in December by Public Policy Polling in Raleigh, N.C., that indicated Bentley's favorability rating was low enough that he might be vulnerable.
But Griffith said he waited because he thought former Gov. Jim Folsom Jr. or state Sen. Billy Beasley might enter the race. When it became clear they weren't, he and his wife, Virginia, dashed to the state Democratic Party headquarters in Montgomery. He walked in, filled out the qualifying papers, but then walked outside to the sidewalk with his wife to give it one more thought.
"She said, 'How will you feel if you get in the car and drive back to Huntsville not having thrown your hat in the ring? I think you ought to do it.'"
At that, he walked inside, filled his paperwork and began another campaign.

Let's recap for those who don't know.  There is an old saying "don't burn the bridge that will take you over the water", well  Artur Davis is attempting to walk on water and rejoin the democratic party after he not only set fire to the bridge, but blew the bridge up.

As mentioned earlier, Davis defected to the GOP and in 2012, he supported Mitt Romney for president, giving a speech from the floor of the Republican National Convention. Before that, while still in Congress, he voted against Obamacare -- the only member of the Democratic Black Caucus to do so.
Now he wants back in the Democratic party, if not their good graces, and he has written the party's executive committee a letter asking them to open the door.
The only thing is that the party has something called the "Radney Rule," which prohibits anyone from qualifying as a Democrat if that person has supported Republicans in the last election cycle.

About that Radney Rule.....based on the al.com article Parker Griffin didn't write a letter to the party's executive committee asking them to open the door   

Griffith, 71, was elected to North Alabama's 5th District congressional seat as a Democrat in November 2008 but switched parties less than a year later. At the time, he said there appeared to be no place in the national Democratic Party for a "pro-business, pro-life, pro-Second Amendment" congressman.

But GOP voters never embraced Griffith as one of their own: He lost his bid for re-election in 2010, finishing more than 12,000 votes behind then-Madison County Commissioner Mo Brooks in the Republican primary.
He tried to reclaim the 5th District seat from Brooks in 2012 but fared even worse, despite pumping more than $568,000 of his own money into the campaign.
Last fall, Griffith briefly explored the idea of challenging Brooks as an independent candidate. He recently rejoined the state Democratic Party and said earlier this week that most people have been "gracious" about his return.

Really? 

It's incumbent on the Party leadership at every level, both in the Party proper, and among the caucus leadership in legislative bodies, to help remind the entire office-holding Party of the likely futility of switching. This is not something you want to do with a high degree of visibility, and even a private, but overt “conversation” might be over the top. But the occasional joke at a banquet about “One-Term Griffith” will not only bring a laugh, it will serve as a reminder. Post-switch retaliation, such as letters to the editor (and the occasional lawsuit!) demanding refunds of contributions are less effective, though a few switchers have been shamed into refunding Democratic contributions.

Did Parker Griffin go before the State Democratic Executive Committee or not?

The Radney Rule allows a party member to challenge a potential candidate’s ballot qualification if the potential candidate supported a candidate for another party within the last four years. According to the challenge from Miles, Grimsley gave $500 to Secretary of State candidate Beth Chapman in August 2006 when Nancy Worley was the Democratic nominee. Over at Left in Alabama (who was first out with the story), Grimsley’s potential candidacy is finding few friends.
Speaking of the Radney Rule… Democratic political consultant Steve Raby has been mentioned as a potential candidate for Congressional District AL-05. Would he be vulnerable to a Radney Rule challenge himself through contributions he directed to Republicans through his PAC [.pdf]? Or would it be not so much of an issue because the contributions are technically from his PAC (albeit presumably at his direction) and not directly from himself?
Update: Readers have pointed out that the Democratic Party by-laws state that no candidate is permitted to qualify as a Democrat “who did not support the nominees of the Democratic Party in all Special or General Elections during the past four years.” While Raby has given to plenty of Republicans, he seems to do it during primaries, not during the general election cycle where you could say he was not supporting the Democratic nominee, at least as far as I have seen. Furthermore, the by-laws allow such a potential candidate to renounce his previous allegiance, explain the error of her ways, and “If, after such a hearing, the Executive Board is convinced by a preponderance of the evidence that such a person would be an asset to the Democratic Party, the Executive Board may, by a vote of two-thirds of those present and voting, allow that person to seek office as a Democrat.”

Again, exactly WHO forgave Parker Griffin?   Madison County Commissioner Bob Harrison said it best:  It's like he thinks nobody remembers what he said when he ran for office and nobody has a video camera or even some old newspapers laying around."

Inquiring minds want to know who/what/when democrats forgave Parker Griffin for biting the hands that fed him?

Whats the matter with Democrats in Alabama you ask? Take a look in the mirror. The Alabama Democratic party has been infiltrated. That's what's wrong with the democratic party in Alabama. You know the drill. Find an effective liberal group/blog. Pick a fight. Have the groups pick sides. And who wins in the end? Not democrats that's for sure.

Waiting on someone to blame Joe Reed and his bunch in 5-4-3-2-1....