Where is Alabama Governor Kay Ivey? Her office refuses to say.

This column has been updated with a statement from the governor’s office, now appended at the bottom.

Something is wrong with Kay Ivey, but the Alabama governor’s office won’t say what is going on.

You deserve to know.

Here’s what I can tell you.

About three weeks ago, I began hearing that Ivey’s health had taken a turn. Such rumors are not uncommon, especially since her bout with lung cancer three years ago, but this time there was a peculiar specificity that made me think there was something more to it.

Quietly, I reached out to sources who would likely know what was happening, and last week, those sources began to come back, telling me something was up.

I had enough information that Thursday evening I wrote an email to Ivey’s spokeswoman, Gina Maiola. In the email, I asked four questions.

Is the governor ill again?

If so, what is the nature of her illness?

If so, is she receiving treatment?

If so, will it affect her performing her duties?

Friday morning, Maiola had not answered my questions, so I tried calling her on her cell.

No answer.

Her voicemail was full, so I texted her.

“I need an answer to the questions I emailed you last night,” I said.

No reply.

Next, I called the main line at the governor’s office.

It went to voicemail.

Throughout the day Friday, I called that main office number four more times.

Voicemail every time.

I called the governor’s chief of staff Liz Filmore on her cell phone. Her inbox was not full. I left a message saying I needed someone in the governor’s office to call me back.

Hours went by, so I sent Filmore a text.

“I need to know whether the governor is capable of performing her duties,” I wrote. “Please call me.”

Still waiting on an answer.

I called a lower-level staffer who seemed surprised when I told him what I’d heard. He promised to relay my message and have someone call me back. After a couple of hours went by with no reply, I reached back to him.

“I relayed your message and that’s all I can say,” he told me.

I texted the governor’s campaign manager to ask whether she would be able to carry on through the election.

Nothing.

That was last Friday. On Monday, my colleague Mike Cason, who had been on vacation, joined in. He went to the governor’s office where he actually got to talk to a real live person and not a bottomless pit of voicemail, but no one there would say on the record where the governor was or what was going on with her.

Cason also asked for the governor’s weekly schedule of upcoming events — something he asks for regularly and regularly receives.

But this week there was no such schedule.

We aren’t the only reporters making these inquiries, either. Reporters from other outlets around the state have been asking the same questions and hitting the same wall.

State officials I’ve spoken with have been left out of the loop, too, and aren’t happy about it.

This isn’t the first time we’ve been in this situation.

Three years ago, when I first heard of Ivey’s lung cancer, I asked the same questions to the same people who, that time, said the governor was doing fine — at least until they came clean weeks later and said she had cancer.

I guess this time they’ve decided that saying nothing is better than a lie. But whatever is happening, they can’t hide it forever.

In three months, Alabamians will go to the polls to vote. You deserve to know whether their candidates are well enough to perform their duties for the next four years.

Heck, you deserve to know whether they are well enough to perform those duties right now.

You deserve to know that, if there were horrific weather, someone could declare a state of emergency and call out the National Guard.

You deserve to know that, if an armed maniac walks into a school house, there’s someone in the governor’s office to dispatch ALEA.

You deserve to know whether there’s someone on hand to make the important calls.

But how can we know there’s someone on hand to make those calls when no one in the governor’s office can answer the phone?

UPDATE: After this column was published, Gov. Ivey’s spokeswoman Gina Mailoa broke a week of silence from the governor’s office to issue the following statement:

“When it’s a slow news day in the summer, rumors run rampant in the Capital City. While I did not want to give any credibility to these bogus rumors, I do want to be sure to clear the air and set the record straight. Governor Ivey is doing great, and she continues to thank the Good Lord for keeping her healthy and cancer-free. We look forward to her leading the state of Alabama for years to come.” – Gina Maiola, Governor Ivey’s Communications Director

Kyle Whitmire is the state political columnist for the Alabama Media Group, 2020 winner of the Walker Stone Award, winner of the 2021 SPJ award for opinion writing, and 2021 winner of the Molly Ivins prize for political commentary.

You can follow his work on his Facebook page, The War on Dumb. And on Twitter. And on Instagram.

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