Most groups running ads in Alabama campaigns register with the secretary of state and report their donors before the election. Those groups are running ads advocating a vote for or against a candidate at a specific election.
Instead of doing that, the Conservative Coalition for Alabama registered with the IRS on June 22 as a "527 organization." Those are tax-exemption political organizations that run informational ads criticizing or praising a candidate's record. But their ads stop short of recommending how someone should vote, and they don't mention the date of an upcoming election.
"It's public information kind of advertising," Hubbert said.
Yep, and thanks to that public information, Republican voters told Bradley Byrne to take a hike.
Byrne's hypocrisy, however does not end there. Consider that his mentor, Gov. Riley, was the beneficiary of $13 million in Mississippi Choctaw gaming money during the 2002 election. That comes straight from a U.S. Senate report, from a committee chaired by Republican John McCain. Has Riley ever come clean about the source of those funds, which reportedly were laundered through confessed felon Jack Abramoff? No.
Has Bradley Byrne ever voiced concern about how those shadowy funds "undermine democracy"? No.
And what about Associated Press, and it's blatant hypocrisy? It is digging into perfectly lawful actions by AEA, but has it done any serious investigation of Riley's dirty money from Mississippi. We've seen no sign of it. Has it investigated the millions Byrne received from pro-business groups? We've seen no sign of that either.
So our hat is off to Paul Hubbert. Bradley Byrne, the quintessential arrogant, pampered, white-bread, pro-business Republican, threatened him and his organization. And Hubbert proceeded to administer a colossal beatdown--one from which old Bradley still is squealing like the Ned Beatty character in Deliverance.
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