Another month and another pile of money has been delivered to Alabama’s incumbent political figures. Whether they need it or not, there are a number of organizations that gleefully throw money at Alabama’s politicians out of the goodness of their hearts, or more likely, it is because they are looking to secure favorable future decisions from those same politicians.
During September, my Republican opponent, Author Orr, was “gifted” another $17,250 to bring the total amassed in his campaign war chest to almost one million dollars ($982,732). Of that latest monthly total, $5,000 came from Cook’s Pest Control, a company my opponent is employed by as the Executive Vice President. Customers should be comforted that their monthly pest control fees have provided a surplus to the company sufficient to allow for such a generous donation.
What makes the situation even more absurd is that there were actually zero expense dollars paid out of this account during the month of October. The candidate is obviously confident that his Libertarian opponent has absolutely no chance of unseating him. So, the need to continually amass large sums of money each month would not appear to be necessary, unless there are bigger political plans down the road. The previous month’s haul of $22,000, plus the other months in the 2022 election year, have netted my opponent a total of $235,392 thus far.
This money madness is, of course, not just limited to my opponent. For example, Kay Ivey raked in a staggering $316,011 just during the month of September, and Will Ainsworth has a ridiculous $1,268,371 in his campaign war chest.
This reflects the unfortunate situation of Alabama politics. A culture where lobbyists, special interest groups, and PACs continue to exert massive influence over our political leaders to the detriment of our economy, our educational system, and our basic freedoms as Americans. The process should focus more on the candidate’s positions and plans for leading the state. The current system discourages fairness, and it is shown repeatedly when incumbent candidates refuse to engage in debates and explain their visions to the voters because they will simply outspend their opponents in advertising and at various political functions.
Alabama is one of the few “special” states that allow unlimited contributions from individuals, their state parties, PACs, corporations, and unions. It doesn’t have to be this way, however. Most other states enforce donation limits by source, and thereby introduce a certain level of fairness in the election process. For instance, Alaska limits an individual’s contributions to a maximum of $500 per candidate per year. They also limit the aggregate total of contributions from non-resident donors. Arkansas limits the amounts a candidate’s state party can donate to $2,700 per election. Georgia limits PAC contributions for state-wide candidates to $7,600 for primary/general elections and $4,500 for runoffs, and for legislative candidates there is a PAC limit of $3,000 for primary/general elections and $1,600 for runoffs. Mississippi imposes corporate campaign limits of $1,000 per candidate per year. Kentucky prohibits any contributions from unions. Again, Alabama imposes no limits that politicians can receive from any of these sources.
While not all politicians are blatantly corrupt, there is most definitely an expected behavior for those officeholders who have willingly accepted large sums of money as part of the campaign process. If just a few political newcomers, like the current crop of Libertarian candidates who receive little to no campaign donations, succeed in getting elected in Alabama in November, it could ignite a new fervor of political interest by the entire voting population. New faces without any financial ties to legacy power brokers would provide a badly needed jolt and drastically shake up the current big-money monopoly. This fresh start could make for a new political landscape, and would significantly improve on the sad 25% voter participation rate we have seen in the last round of elections.
God bless America, and God bless Alabama.
Rick Chandler is the Libertarian candidate for Alabama State Senate District 3. Alabama State Senate District 3 includes Morgan County, Southwestern Madison County, and Southeastern Limestone County.
