Nothing is yet written in stone however it is believed that District 1 Councillor Kathleen Bishop is going to step down from her post – or in reality – step aside from her post to allow her mother to run.
Ann Bishop, wife of Chief Procurement officer Robert Bishop, is believed to be planning a run for the District 1 seat.
The bonus ball to this story is that Robert Bishop, the former alderman and city clerk, is planning a run for an at-large seat.
This would make the Bishops among the busiest political families in the city.
In an at-large run, Bishop would likely carry Prattville and come out of there with 300 or 400 votes.
However a city run race requires a successful candidate to score about 1100 votes which would mean that Bishop has to show strength throughout the city in order to take home an at-large seat.
For his wife Ann, capturing a district seat is less problematic and she would likely seek to simply replicate her daughter’s successful runs for that seat.
To my knowledge, there has never been a husband and wife political team on the city council and long before that, there was never such a team on the former Aldermanic Board.
There is some question about whether or not Robert Bishop, if elected, would have to give up his chief procurement officers position at city hall.
Mind you, it is not illegal for a member of the city hall staff to run for office here. Rather, it could pose an ethical question.
Attempts to reach Bishop Wednesday were unsuccessful.