to turn state prisoners loose and disband football and band at many schools if the Governor's tax plan fails. Minda and her brother are lawyers.

Minda's father plans to rewrite the Alabama Constitution in the process. How far will Governor Riley go with the rewrite. Citizens must be vigilant and carefully read the amendment that seeks to raise taxes and rewrite the Constitution.

Remember AMENDMENT #1

In the plan, Riley has proposed raising income taxes among the state's wealthier residents and raising the income tax exemption for low-income families, raising property taxes and rewriting the constitution to enact those changes. Voters will approve or reject the package in a Sept. 9 referendum.

Gov. Bob Riley's daughter tried to sell his tax, accountability and reform plan here Monday night, saying its failure to pass will cause thousands of state prisoners to be released, cutbacks in the already depleted ranks of state troopers, and the end of football and band at many schools.

"I'm sure that a lot of people say, `Those are scare tactics... That's not really true,'" Minda Riley Campbell told a Republican audience at the Etowah County GOP's annual picnic at Noccalula Falls.

Campbell's comments reflected the reality that Riley's plan, which would raise $1.3 billion in additional tax revenue, is colliding with a core Republican principal of less government and lower taxes, and that many of her listeners are having a hard time supporting it.

"I'm not a natural cynic, I'm a natural optimist," said former state Sen. Roy Smith of Gadsden, who cooked the hamburgers for the GOP picnickers. "But this one won't fly."

"Whether you believe in this plan or not, I want you to believe this one thing," said the Birmingham lawyer. "My dad is keeping a promise that he made to you. When he ran, he said, `I'm going to do what I believe is best for the state of Alabama without regard to political, personal or financial consequences, and I'm not going to worry about re-election.'"