Vote Tomorrow and be aware of the AEA Assault in the Primary Election

In the last 10 days, the Alabama Education Association has continued its assault on the Republican primary, pumping an additional $700,000 into ads attacking incumbent Republicans. This brings AEA total spending in the Republican primary to roughly $4.5 million (around half of this amount has been for candidate contributions while the other half was spent on attack ads against Republican incumbents). AEA’s strategy is Trojan Horse politics at its worst. Below is an updated listing of the AEA-supported candidates and the resources it has received through direct contributions, shell foundations/PACs and political operatives.

In some cases, AEA (or their allies) have not contributed to candidates and have simply resorted to attacking the incumbent such as in the HD 42 race between incumbent Kurt Wallace and challenger Jimmy Martin. While Martin has not received direct AEA support, he has benefited greatly from the vicious AEA attacks against Kurt Wallace.

It is important that you and your network are aware of the candidates that have received support from AEA or AEA affiliated groups and consultants. The amount of money is staggering covering more than 30 hotly contested races. There have been thousands if not millions of additional dollars spent through “shell” foundations that are not reporting their expenditures such as the Alabama Foundation for Limited Government which has become affiliated with Stop Common Core PAC. Stop Common Core PAC has spent nearly $700,000 in these races and has received 100% of its funding from the Foundation for Limited Government which has not disclosed its contributors. Both groups are headed by the same person.

The primary election is tomorrow. Be sure to vote and remind your family, friends and colleagues! For more information on candidates, visit BCA’s Interactive Voter Guide.

-Mark Colson