Special to the Journal

ProgressPAC, the political action committee of the Business Council of Alabama, has endorsed Sen. &uot;Walking&uot; Wendell Mitchell, D-Luverne, for re-election to his District 30 seat in the Alabama Senate.

District 30 includes Autauga, Butler, Crenshaw, Pike and parts of Lowndes and Elmore counties.

&uot;Sen. Mitchell has been a champion of maintaining Alabama’s status as a ‘right to work’ state as a member of the State Senate for more than 20 years, and he is the author of the first Architects and Engineers Limited Liability Act passed in the Alabama Legislature,&uot; said Quentin Riggins, BCA Senior Vice President for Governmental Affairs and ProgressPAC Director.

Sen. Mitchell also co-sponsored and helped pass several business bills in the recently concluded legislative session, including the Employment Security Enhancement Extension Act and legislation streamlining the process for business licensing.

ProgressPAC endorsement recommendations are made at the grassroots level by members of the BCA’s nine Regional Advisory Committees located across Alabama.

These local committees are comprised of business people who live and work in the districts and know the candidates seeking public office in their communities.

&uot;In considering each endorsement, the ProgressPAC board of directors depends heavily on the local insight provided by our RAC members,&uot; said ProgressPAC Chairman Carol Gordy.

Elizabeth Kennedy Lawlor, BCA Director of Legislative Affairs and Manager of Political Affairs said,

&uot;Sen. Mitchell has a proven commitment to building a stronger, more productive business climate in Alabama.

&#8220Sen. Mitchell, and his father before him, owned and operated a small business in Luverne for more than 50 years.

He knows the needs and concerns of the business community.&uot;

ProgressPAC, the official political action committee of the Business Council of Alabama, is a separate and segregated fund.

BCA is a non-profit, non-partisan statewide trade association representing the interests and concerns of some 5,000 Alabama businesses and industries that together employ approximately 750,000 Alabamians.