{{short description|American politician}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2011}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = | name = Steve Windom | order = 27th | office = Lieutenant Governor of Alabama | term_start = January 18, 1999 | term_end = January 20, 2003 | governor = Don Siegelman | predecessor = Don Siegelman | successor = Lucy Baxley | birth_name = Stephen Ralph Windom | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1949|11|06}} | birth_place = Florence, South Carolina, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | party = {{ubl|Republican (1997–present)|Democratic (until 1997)}} | state_senate2 = Alabama | district2 = 35th | term_start2 = March 1989 | term_end2 = November 4, 1998 | predecessor2 = Bill Menton | successor2 = George Callahan | spouse = {{ubl|Cathy Conditt|Mary Becker}} | children = 2 | footnotes = | education = University of Alabama (BS, JD) }}
'''Stephen Ralph Windom''' (born November 6, 1949) is an American attorney and politician who served as member of the Alabama State Senate from 1989 to 1998 and as the 27th lieutenant governor of Alabama from 1999 to 2003.
Windom's political career began in the Alabama State Senate, where he served for two terms and an initial partial term decided by a special election. In 1997, he switched his party affiliation from Democratic to Republican.
In 1998, Windom was elected Lieutenant Governor, becoming the first Republican Lieutenant Governor of Alabama since Reconstruction. He served under Democratic Governor Don Siegelman as Alabama's Governor and Lieutenant Governor are elected separately.<ref>[http://www.archives.state.al.us/conoff/lieulist.html Alabama Department of Archives and History: Lieutenant Governors]</ref> He did not run for re-election in 2002, instead running for Governor. He lost in the Republican primary to Congressman Bob Riley and subsequently returned to the private sector.
==Early life and education== Windom was born in Florence, South Carolina.<ref name="archives">[http://www.archives.state.al.us/conoff/lg_windom.html Alabama Department of Archives and History: Steve Windom]</ref> He graduated from Sidney Lanier High School.<ref name="Troy">[http://www.troy.edu/news/archives/2001/april/steve.htm Lt. Gov. Steve Windom to speak at TSU spring commencement] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528084909/http://www.troy.edu/news/archives/2001/april/steve.htm |date=May 28, 2010 }}</ref> He then received his B.S. and J.D. degrees from the University of Alabama.<ref name="archives"/> In 1974, he moved near Mobile, Alabama and began to practice law.<ref name="Troy"/>
== Career ==
===State Senate=== He was first elected as a Democrat to the Alabama State Senate in 1989.<ref name="Troy"/> During his time in the Senate, he was selected to be the Banking and Insurance Committee chairman for 8 years.<ref name="Troy"/> Although his first two terms were as a Democrat, he switched to the Republican Party in 1997 for his last term as a legislator.<ref>"Mobile's Sen. Windom Ready to Leave Democrats, Join GOP," ''The Birmingham News'', June 25, 1997, p. 1B</ref>
He was a delegate for Bill Clinton at the 1992 Democratic National Convention.<ref>"Windom Campaigning as Little-d Democrat," ''The Birmingham News'', October 4, 1998, p. 27A</ref> He was a delegate for George Bush at the 2000 Republican National Convention, and served as co-chair of the Alabama Bush-Cheney campaign.<ref name="Steve Windom Homepage">[http://www.stevewindom.com Steve Windom LLC: Home<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
While in office, Windom was selected Conservation Legislator of the Year by the Alabama Wildlife Federation in 1995, Legislator of the Year by the National Federation of Independent Business in 1996, and Legislator of the Year in 1997 by the Independent Insurance Agents.<ref name="Steve Windom Homepage"/> After his career in the Senate, he joined the Sirote Permutt lawfirm.<ref>[http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/jarchibald.ssf?/specialreport/mobileregister/index.ssf?contract/tobacco1.html Siegelman tight-lipped over money] The Birmingham News</ref> He also ran for the position of Lieutenant Governor.
===Lieutenant governor=== Windom's 1998 campaign for Lieutenant Governor was marked by scandal when false allegations involving a prostitute were made against him by supporters of his opponent. Garve Ivey, an Alabama plaintiffs' attorney, was eventually convicted of witness tampering and criminal defamation for conspiring with private investigator Wes Chappell to defame Windom. A former call girl, who had been paid to make false allegations, testified at the trial.<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0DE2DC1630F930A15755C0A9669C8B63 "Lawyer Convicted in Plot to Defame Candidate," ''The New York Times'', June 23, 2000]</ref> Despite the efforts to publicly malign him, Windom was elected.<ref>[http://www.sos.state.al.us/downloads/dl3.aspx?trgturl=election/1998/98g-prec.exe&trgtfile=98g-prec.exe Alabama Secretary of State: 1998 General Election Results – County Level]</ref> He thus became the first Republican Lieutenant Governor of Alabama since Reconstruction. The last Republican to hold the office was Alexander McKinstry, who served from 1872 to 1874.
Windom gained notoriety in 1999 for discreetly urinating into a jug behind his desk while presiding over the Senate, purportedly to avoid being stripped of most of his powers as presiding officer by the Democratic majority while going to the bathroom.<ref name="image">{{cite web |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/09/america/NA-GEN-US-Lawmaker-Scuffle.php |title=Senate floor fight viewed as giving US state Alabama's image a black eye |accessdate=March 19, 2008 |author=Associated Press |author-link=Associated Press |date=June 9, 2007 }}</ref>
Windom did not run for reelection in 2002, instead running for Governor. He was defeated in the 2002 primary by then-Congressman Bob Riley in a landslide.<ref>[https://archive.today/20130131165540/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/122938341.html?dids=122938341:122938341&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jun+5,+2002&author=Robert+Tanner&pub=The+Washington+Post&edition=&startpage=A.16&desc=GOP's+Janklow+Wins+S.D.+House+Primary;+Ala.+Democrats+Renominate+Gov.+Siegelman "Alabama Democrats Renominate Gov. Siegelman," ''The Washington Post'', June 5, 2002, p. A16]</ref> Riley went on to defeat Governor Siegelman by a very narrow margin.
===Subsequent career=== After leaving public office, Windom opened a legal and lobbying practice, Steve Windom, LLC.<ref>[http://www.stevewindom.com/ Steve Windom LLC: Home<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In the Republican primary on June 3, 2008, Windom's wife, Mary Becker Windom, was elected to a seat on the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals.<ref>"Place 1 GOP Race Going to Runoff," ''The Birmingham News'', June 4, 2008, p. 1B</ref> She became the Court's Presiding Judge in 2012.
== Personal life == Windom and his first wife Cathy Conditt Windom have two sons Robert and Thomas. He and his second wife, Mary Becker, have no children<ref name =Court>[http://www.judicial.state.al.us/supreme.cfm?Member=126 Alabama Judicial System Online]</ref><ref name="archives" />
==Electoral history== '''2002 Republican Primary: Governor'''<ref>[http://www.sos.state.al.us/Elections/2002/ElectionInfo2002.aspx Alabama Secretary of State 2002 Election Results] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430180204/http://www.sos.state.al.us/Elections/2002/ElectionInfo2002.aspx |date=April 30, 2008 }} July 3, 2008</ref> {| class="wikitable" |- ! Candidate ! Votes Received ! Percentage |- | '''Bob Riley''' | 262,851 | 73.5% |- | Steve Windom | 63,775 | 17.8% |- | Tim James | 30,871 | 8.6% |}
'''1998 General Election: Lieutenant Governor'''<ref name="Alabama SoS pre 2002">[http://www.sos.state.al.us/downloads/dl2.aspx?div1=Elections+Division&types=Data Alabama Secretary of State Election Results] July 3, 2008</ref> {| class="wikitable" |- ! Candidate ! Votes Received ! Percentage |- | '''Steve Windom''' (R) | 652,465 | 50.3% |- | Dewayne Freeman (D) | 644,818 | 49.7% |}
'''1998 Republican Primary: Lieutenant Governor'''<ref name="Alabama SoS pre 2002"/> {| class="wikitable" |- ! Candidate ! Votes Received ! Percentage |- | '''Steve Windom''' | 178,065 | 52.8% |- | John Amari | 159,006 | 47.2% |}
== References == {{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}
{{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=Charles Graddick}} {{s-ttl|title=Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Alabama|years=1998}} {{s-aft|after=Bill Armistead}} {{s-off}} {{Succession box | before= Don Siegelman |title= Lieutenant Governor of Alabama |years=1999–2003 |after=Lucy Baxley}} {{s-end}}
{{AlabamaLtGovernors}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Windom, Steve}} Category:Lieutenant governors of Alabama Category:1949 births Category:Living people Category:Republican Party Alabama state senators Category:Politicians from Montgomery, Alabama Category:People from Theodore, Alabama Category:Lawyers from Montgomery, Alabama Category:20th-century members of the Alabama Legislature