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 Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

. He served under Democratic

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Don Siegelman as Alabama's Governor and Lieutenant Governor are elected separately. He did not run for re-election in 2002, instead running for Governor. He lost in the Republican primary to Congressman

Bob Riley Robert Renfroe Riley (born October 3, 1944) is an American retired politician and businessman who served as the 52nd governor of Alabama from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he was the U.S. Hous ...

and subsequently returned to the private sector.

Early life and education

Windom was born in

Florence, South Carolina Florence is a city in and the county seat of Florence County, South Carolina, United States. It lies at the intersection of Interstates 20 and 95 and is the eastern terminus of the former. It is the primary city within the Florence metropol ...

.Alabama Department of Archives and History: Steve Windom
/ref> He graduated from Sidney Lanier High School.Lt. Gov. Steve Windom to speak at TSU spring commencement
He then received his B.S. and J.D. degrees from the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

. In 1974, he moved near

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...

and began to practice law.

Career

State Senate

He was first elected as a Democrat to the Alabama State Senate in 1989. During his time in the Senate, he was selected to be the Banking and Insurance Committee chairman for 8 years. Although his first two terms were as a Democrat, he switched to the Republican Party in 1997 for his last term as a legislator. He was a delegate for

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

at the 1992 Democratic National Convention. He was a delegate for George Bush at the 2000 Republican National Convention, and served as co-chair of the Alabama Bush-Cheney campaign.Steve Windom LLC: Home
/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 The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) is an association of small businesses in the United States. It is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, with offices in Washington, D.C., and all 50 state capitals. The stated goal of NFIB ...

in 1996, and Legislator of the Year in 1997 by the Independent Insurance Agents. After his career in the Senate, he joined the Sirote Permutt lawfirm. 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 A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI; also known as a private detective, an inquiry agent or informally a wikt:private eye, private eye) is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. ...

Wes Chappell to defame Windom. A former

call girl A call girl or female escort is a prostitute who (unlike a street prostitution, street walker) does not display her profession to the general public, nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by ...

, who had been paid to make false allegations, testified at the trial. Despite the efforts to publicly malign him, Windom was elected. He thus became the first Republican Lieutenant Governor of Alabama since

. 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 A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, purportedly to avoid being stripped of most of his powers as presiding officer by the Democratic majority while going to the bathroom. Windom did not run for reelection in 2002, instead running for Governor. He was defeated in the 2002 primary by then-Congressman

in a landslide. 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. 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 The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals is one of two appellate courts in the Alabama judicial system. The court was established in 1969 when what had been one unitary state Court of Appeals was broken into a criminal appeals court and a civil app ...

. 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 childrenAlabama Judicial System Online
/ref>

Electoral history

2002 Republican Primary: GovernorAlabama Secretary of State 2002 Election Results
July 3, 2008 1998 General Election: Lieutenant GovernorAlabama Secretary of State Election Results
July 3, 2008 1998 Republican Primary: Lieutenant Governor

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Windom, Steve Lieutenant governors of Alabama 1949 births Living people Republican Party Alabama state senators Politicians from Montgomery, Alabama People from Theodore, Alabama Lawyers from Montgomery, Alabama 20th-century members of the Alabama Legislature