James R. Bennett Politician

James R. "Jim" Bennett (born January 3, 1940, in Red Oak, Iowa) is a Republican politician from Alabama. He served as secretary of state of Alabama, having been appointed to fill a vacancy in 1993 and subsequently elected to two terms in his own right in 1994, as a Democrat, and 1998, as a Republican. Prior to his appointment as Alabama's 49th Secretary of State, he had served for the previous decade spanning 1983 to 1993 as a member of the Alabama Senate. From 1978 to 1983, he served as a member of the Alabama House of Representatives. Following his tenure as secretary of state, he was appointed as commissioner of the Alabama Department of Labor in the Cabinet of Governor Bob Riley in July 2003 and reappointed by Gov. Robert Bentley in January 2011. He retired in 2012.Bennett is a graduate of Jacksonville State University, from which he received a Bachelor of Science degree, and the University of Alabama, from which he received a Master of Arts. Bennett is a brother of the Epsilon Nu Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia at Jacksonville State University. In 2006 he was named a Signature Sinfonian by the national fraternity for his public service career. He serves as chairman of the Board of Trustees at Jacksonville State, of which he has been a member since 1985, and was president of the National Association of Secretaries of State from 1999 to 2000. He is the author of several history books including Historic Birmingham and Jefferson County, published in 2008, and Tannehill and the Growth of the Alabama Iron Industry, published in 1999.Bennett was a reporter for the Birmingham Post-Herald from 1961 to 1971 before he entered politics. In 1969 he was selected for a national award by the American Political Science Association for his reporting on public affairs.After the resignation of Beth Chapman as Secretary of State in 2013, Governor Robert J. Bentley appointed Bennett to replace her marking the fourth time Bennett has served as Alabama's chief elections official.