Few things give me more joy than following the twists and turns that make up the ever-unfolding political news of the day – whether on a local, state or national level, there is no game around more addictive than seeing the way the dice fall of the legislative mat.

To be sure, my profession has done nothing but grow my appetite for political intrigue and provide me with a unique vantage point from which to view the spectacle – in my career, I’ve covered city and county politics throughout Alabama, chased down legislators during the 2016 Legislative Session, followed the bills and bloviating of U.S. Senators and Representatives and everything between and beyond.

Despite that, lawmakers have always seemed akin to celebrities to me, people abnormally recognizable and even familiar, yet far enough away that one never really knows who they are on a personal level.

That all changed when I started following Alabama Rep. Prince Chestnut, D-Selma, who has proven time and again that he is a capable, honest and accessible lawmaker who acts with integrity in his pursuit to move this city and the state forward.

The first time I heard Chestnut speak was during this year’s Emancipation Proclamation event and I was immediately struck by his passion and intelligence. In the following weeks, I watched him take questions from local constituents during a town hall meeting and listened to him speak at couple of other events.

At that point, he still appeared like so many other politicians – inaccessible – but he has quickly become one of my most reliable and trusted sources for legislative information.

Chestnut stops by The Selma Times-Journal office regularly to talk politics and legislation, family matters and city gossip, and has always responded to my requests for comment and information, even when I reach out in the middle of the night.

Though likely not the result of his connection to the local paper, Chestnut’s bill to protect journalists from assault is a breath of fresh air for news gatherers in this state who suffer vitriol and abuse at the same levels as meter maids and DMV employees.

Beyond that, his bills aimed at increasing access to the ballot box through automatic voter registration and no-excuse absentee voting indicate a sensibility largely absent from a legislature more interested in passing partisan legislation than doing anything of substance for the people of this state.

While his other bills haven’t garnered as much attention as the aforementioned bits of legislation, they likewise show a common-sense approach to legislating that is largely lacking among other lawmakers – Chestnut has proposed bills that would allow rural areas to hire retired law enforcement agents to combat officer shortages, would allow for municipalities suspected of fraud or mismanagement to be audited by the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts and would allow for military service members to have a private right to guaranteed leave time free of impediment for demanding that time.

All of Chestnut’s bills are stuck in committee, which only further proves that Alabama’s legislators are more interested in scoring political points with their ideological base than they are in doing the work of the people, but they are all indicative of a legislator committed to addressing real issues and solving real problems.

Singlehandedly, Chestnut has pulled back the political veil and, for the first time in my life, made it obvious that at least one legislator in Alabama is not a dogmatic mutant and is in fact, beneath the suit and tie, a real person with big ideas and a strong moral compass.

Without a doubt, Rep. Prince Chestnut is Selma’s political treasure and he deserves to be applauded for the work he has done, the work he is doing and the work he will surely continue to do on behalf of this city and all others across the state.