1. Robert Renfroe Riley was born on October 3,1944 and is an American retired politician and businessman who served as the 52nd governor of Alabama from 2003 to 2011.
23 Facts About Bob Riley
1. 2.
Bob Riley was born in Ashland, Alabama, a small town in Clay County where his family ranched and farmed for six generations.
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Bob Riley attended the University of Alabama, where he was a brother of Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity and graduated with a degree in business administration.
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Bob Riley owned a car dealership and trucking company, and had been a cattleman and commercial and residential realtor.
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Bob Riley won by just over 6,000 votes to become only the second Republican to represent Alabama's 3rd district since Reconstruction.
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Bob Riley did not run for re-election to the House in November 2002, instead running for governor of Alabama and defeating the Democratic incumbent Don Siegelman by approximately 3,000 votes - the narrowest margin in the state's history for a gubernatorial race.
7.
Bob Riley reportedly supported Moore, but ultimately did not play a large role in the dispute.
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Bob Riley stated there was nothing he could do to prevent Moore from being removed from office by a judicial ethics panel.
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Property tax appraisals became a major campaign issue with Bob Riley's opponents claiming that Bob Riley, acting through his revenue commissioner, ordered that property tax appraisals be made annually, rather than the quadrennial reappraisals that were established practice.
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Bob Riley's opponents claimed that by doing so, he raised taxes without a vote of either the Legislature or the people.
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Bob Riley presented this plan using Christian terms, building upon language already present in the state to argue that the Alabama tax system placed the heaviest burden upon the poorest citizens of the state.
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Bob Riley has claimed credit for helping to spur economic development in Alabama.
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Specifically, when Kia announced in March 2006 it would build a maunfucturing plant in Georgia, Bob Riley was criticized by Siegelman, for Alabama's failure to mount a serious bid for the plant.
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In 2005, Governor Bob Riley was criticized by some Mobile County residents after issuing that area of the state a "mandatory" evacuation order in advance of Hurricane Dennis' landfall.
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On November 9,2005, Bob Riley called for a citizens' boycott of Aruba, alleging that the local government was engaged in a cover-up of the disappearance of Alabama native Natalee Holloway.
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In November 2005, Bob Riley was linked to the Jack Abramoff scandal when his former Congressional press secretary, Michael Scanlon, pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the matter.
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Bob Riley defeated Democratic Lieutenant Governor Lucy Baxley easily as his approval ratings made a comeback.
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Nevertheless, the state under Bob Riley's administration was recognized as "State of the Year" by Southern Business and Development magazine four years in a row and received other awards for competitiveness, job creation and economic development.
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In May 2007, Bob Riley announced that ThyssenKrupp would build a $4.2 billion state-of-the-art steel mill north of Mobile, Alabama, the largest economic announcement in Alabama's history, and largest corporate project in US history.
20.
In 2007, Bob Riley signed a resolution passed by the legislature apologizing for slavery in the state.
21.
On February 2,2011, both the Birmingham News and the Decatur Daily ran stories speculating that Bob Riley was considering running for president.
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Bob Riley is married to the former Patsy Adams, from Clay County.
23.
On June 26,2011, Bob Riley was on a cross-country trip on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle when he crashed on the Dalton Highway in Alaska and sustained serious injuries.