In case you are wondering, the Scott Morris who ran for the Florence city Board of Education in Tuesday's election is not me.

I intended to address this matter earlier in a column, but didn’t want to influence the election.

The publisher was the first person who asked about my alleged candidacy. He wondered how our reporters could provide unbiased coverage of the school board race if their boss was on the ballot.

Several other people asked, too. Some folks at church went as far as to wish me good luck.

Other than providing brilliant advice on the Opinion pages, I haven’t been involved in politics since college. It was there that I ran a successful campaign for Student Government Association president.

My political slogan was “Vote for Scott, the guy with the beard.”

Maybe the other Scott Morris in Florence should consider facial hair to distinguish himself from me. It couldn’t hurt.

If he gained any name recognition from our mistaken identities it probably did not help his campaign. He ran a good race and received almost 49 percent of the vote despite having the misfortune of sharing a name with a notorious newspaper editor.

Of course when it comes to reputations, it might be a toss-up. Which is worse, a newspaper editor or a politician? I guess we can both be thankful for lawyers.

Speaking of reputations — and filling up the remaining space in this column — a new poll from Capital Survey Research Center contains some interesting findings. The survey asks a cross section of people from Alabama how much confidence they place in various institutions. These institutions range from the office of president to radio talk shows to national newspapers.

Folks in Alabama ranked institutions related to guns and God high on the list of most-trusted groups.

About 94 percent of state residents placed confidence in the U.S. military, ranking it at the top.

Other trusted entities included Social Security, Medicare, Fox News, National Rifle Association and Christian Coalition.

The bottom dwellers of trust included Rush Limbaugh/Shawn Hannity, AFL-CIO, National Democratic Party, Democrats in Congress, Democrats in pants, Democrats in skirts, Democrats on planet Earth, Wall Street, U.S. Congress and the New York Times.

Based on the discoveries, an aspiring politician might find success by wearing a GOP button, waving a Bible, brandishing a gun and daring anyone to monkey with Social Security.

Executive Editor Scott Morris can be reached at 256-740-5721 or scott.morris@TimesDaily.com.