Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley Janine: We’ve been talking about how much joy and energy you got from working in different government offices and yet some of your concerns about public office. Tell us about that.

Lucy: Well, I am concerned because there seems to be so much cynicism and negativity about public officials. I think that it robs people of being able to be positive and optimistic. In one way, it robs them (the public) of the fulfillment of being able to believe in something real.

My experience has been that 95% of the people I know in this business (government) are “real.” The other 5% are the ones that fail, and are the ones that monopolize or are the subject of all the information that is negative. Then this creates this barrier, where the very ones who are supposed to inform the general population are so unbelievable.

Those elected officials should be the ones to come and tell the people, “These are the true facts and the true needs and the decisions of how your money is being spent.” The very people that are supposed to make the general populous understand are unbelievable (by the public) because of this cynicism that has been planted.

You might say, “People are only going to believe a leader when they have someone that they can trust and believe.” But because of this “system” (culture of negativity), it makes it very hard for a person that you trust and believe in to be perceived as believable.

Janine: What is your greatest priority in terms of your purpose and your faith?

Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley Lucy: As far as I am concerned, here is the one thing I can most hope for and that the young people might learn from me. It is that I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that the blessings that I have had were because God was hanging over me even in the fragile times. This “hanging over” was so that I would get back to my grassroots. It is my hope that these young people might know what I have had deal with and how it is possible to get on the other side of that.

If people, young people, could understand that I believe that you become a much stronger Christian because of adversity. Had I not had the things happen to me in my life…. But when I experienced what was personally devastating to me and then to reach a point in my life when I had to say, “God, I cannot handle this alone. You have to take it, I cannot handle it. You have to show me.” I became different.

I think it is a blessing in disguise when a person comes face-to-face with reality, that in your own power, you cannot elevate yourself. And to recognize that “No, I don’t have to find it in myself. I just don’t have to.” It is incredible then what happens.

I really wanted to run for State Treasurer. But I thought that I would lose so much income, etc. But compared to everything else that I had gone through would that be worse? I used that terrible experience as a measure. I was elected to State Treasurer! For the rest of my life I will take the lowest point and measure everything against that and if it is not worse than that, then I can do it.

And, if I am successful in the campaign, what a story that will be. That a girl from a poor little town in Alabama can grow up to be governor. Well, that is humbling.

Janine: How do you feel about that??

Lucy: Well, I will have to work hard! But to be a viable candidate, to run on my own record, on the story of my life, that is my goal. But I know I know this state. And I care about the people. And If I am successful, it will be an example of what God has done.

I grew up poor on a farm on Route 1 in Pansy, Alabama. One thing that helped me, (because I couldn’t have pretty dresses like the other girls could) was that I worked really hard to get good grades. That hardship helped me. That helped to develop me.

One of my memories (I have thought about this so much) is this… I went to this little country church and they had this big painting. I remember sitting in that church and looking at this painting that had Jesus in this picture where he was standing at the door and knocking. Do you remember that old picture?

I want to go back to that church, for there was this other picture of this angel with big, big wings. And from the time I was a child on into my adult life, when something would really hurt me and I was really sad, I would imagine those wings would spread around me and hold me up close.

Janine: Thank you so much for sharing that with me…

Lucy: Even recently I have thought about how I want to go back and see that picture. It is what “touches us” that comes back to us.

Janine: Whether that’s food that someone makes for us that we remember what that tastes like and know the person that made it cares for us.

Lucy: Well, yes, I do like to cook for people. So when I cook for someone, I am literally giving them a part of myself.

Janine: And they are eating it and thinking of you. What other things bring you joy?

Lucy: I get some opportunities here that are so wonderful. One of the most fulfilling things for me in this job is going to many of the senior centers. They don’t care about me or what my job or title is or anything else. You have these lovely older people that have all grown up with cynicism or hierarchies of status. But at this point in their lives, that is no longer important. You come up, they ask how you are feeling, how your aches and pains are, how your children are, how your grandchildren are… I realized that my mother was always happier when she went to the senior center.

Janine: You seem to be very in tune with what is very important, to what really matters and what has meaning.

Lucy: I have said a lot of times, if you have your health, love, and faith,
then you have everything you need. I have said to people, “If you are grieving or have lost somebody you love, or if you are in pain due to bad health, it does not matter who you are.” What really matters is this “internal side.”

I read something lately, that if you look back in life where people achieved or made some remarkable progress, the majority of them had some really bad times in their life. It usually is a story of overcoming. Everybody wishes that we could be born and live the fairy tale life. But in reality that’s not what happens.

I always tell people, a good life does not mean that nothing bad ever happens, a good life means that you have this internal side and can turn it around and be able to handle and overcome your circumstances.

Everybody’s life has stories. And if people say, “She had the faith to deal with extremes and live a good life,” then I have done well. I am always close to my faith and I have gone through difficult times in my life. I want people to know that everything that I have ever attained in my life, that I give credit to my faith. It is the one thing that equipped me to do everything.

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