Saturday morning, the Alabama Republican Party (ALGOP) will elect the next chairman to lead the party.
1819 News posed three questions related to the Alabama Education Association (AEA) to those candidates. The AEA has been trying to rebrand itself as an entity friendlier to conservatives since the 2010 Republican takeover of Alabama state government.
However, it has been undermined by the organizations' political contributions in races around the state and its affiliation with its parent organization, the radical National Education Association (NEA).
Every member of the AEA is also a member of the NEA. Dues for the NEA are deducted from members' pay through the Alabama Comptroller's office.
The NEA has consistently undermined President Donald Trump and his policies, including beyond education to include hot-button issues such as immigration enforcement. The organization has also promoted many of the concepts banned in Alabama Law as divisive, including diversity, equity and inclusion.
Most recently, it gave $100,000 to State Rep. Barbara Drummond (D-Mobile) in the Mobile mayor's race.
The current ALGOP bylaws explicitly state the party's overall objection to the liberal agenda of the NEA and AEA through its affiliation:
National Education Association (NEA)/Alabama Educational Association (AEA) Contributions:
The Alabama Republican Party shall not accept money, in-kind contributions, or anything of value, directly or indirectly, from the National Education Association (NEA) or any of the NEA’s state affiliates, including the Alabama Education Association (AEA), or their related organizations. Officeholders and candidates are strongly admonished to follow the same rule and, because the NEA is a veritable adjunct of the Democratic Party, failure to heed this admonition shall be regarded negatively by the State Committee.
Candidates for State School Board, County School Board, and Superintendent of Education shall be prohibited from accepting direct or in-kind contributions from the NEA, AEA, and all affiliated organizations.
Any Republican office holder or candidate for the above-listed offices that solicits a direct contribution or an in-kind contribution from the NEA, AEA, or an affiliated organization shall be automatically removed from the ballot, denied ballot access for 6 years, and disassociated from the Republican Party if an elected official.
Any unsolicited cash contributions received by candidates for the above-listed offices may avoid the consequences of this standing rule by returning the contribution within 7 days. All contributions received by Republican candidates before the adoption of this requirement shall be exempt from consideration.
Candidate responses as follows:
John Merrill
1) Currently, the ALGOP bylaws say, "Officeholders and candidates are strongly admonished to follow the same rule and, because the NEA is a veritable adjunct of the Democratic Party, failure to heed this admonition shall be regarded negatively by the State Committee."
Would you support adding language to prohibit Republican lawmakers from taking AEA altogether?
"If I candidate elects to take special interest money from special interest groups, I think that should be appropriately identified in their Fair Campaign Practicees Report, and then the people that are voting for those individuals should have access to that information so they can make a determination about whether or not that is a group that they support or that they don't support, and if it's a group that they have opposition to, and they know that they're candidate, that's under consideration, accepted those resources from that group, and that may help them make a decision about who they need to vote for."
In a follow up conversation Merrill expanded:
"If this is a point of contention with a number of members of the Alabama Executive Committee, this obviously is a time to revisit that issue and determine what the will of the body is, and the will of the body is what I would support as the chairman of the of the body.
It needs to be revisited. It needs to be rediscussed and debated again to determine if the will of the body has changed and they'd like to see this extended, expanded or reduced."
2) Do you intend to continue the behind-the-scenes friendly coordination with the AEA?
“I think it’s important to have an open line of communication with all groups and all individuals in Montgomery. Because one of the things you may never know is where a conversation is going to go in regard to legislation that may be considered. And so if you choose to cut off the line of communication with a certain group or certain individual, because you feel as though they're not promoting the values or the philosophy that you advocate for, then at some point, they still may be able to help you resolve an issue that's important to you or the organization that you represent. And if you don't have an open line of communication with them, you're not going be able to do so.”
3) Would you support a full ban on payroll deductions based on the NEA dues and recent political activity?
"Actually helped craft the legislation that resulted in the payroll deduction ban for the Alabama Education Association, for the State Employees Association, and for other groups in Montgomery and around the state that were used in those resources for political purposes, and yet they were using state resources to conduct that. That was the reason that I voted for the payroll ban. I was a member of the legislature when that act was passed."
"One of the things that I mean we made clear was that this was done to prevent political activities from taking place. So, if ithat's not being enacted then that needs to be evaluated and assessed by the court system, and a judge needs to rule on whether or not that ban is actually in place or not."
Joan Reynolds
1) Currently, the ALGOP bylaws say, "Officeholders and candidates are strongly admonished to follow the same rule and, because the NEA is a veritable adjunct of the Democratic Party, failure to heed this admonition shall be regarded negatively by the State Committee."
Would you support adding language to prohibit Republican lawmakers from taking AEA altogether?
"If the body of the party decided that there was the same conflict of interest, then, as elected officials, then, you know, we we would go from there. It's pretty much whatever the body decides."
2) Do you intend to continue the behind-the-scenes friendly coordination with the AEA?
"Well, you know, I'm pretty much gonna go along with what the party has done over the years and that is that we've rejected everything because they have such a liberal agenda. And so they have come a long way, and if they come around to a more conservative, much more conservatives agenda than they are now, then that would certainly be something we would look at."
“Well, I think they'd have to change their ways to be honest with you because they have been so liberal, so long, they have a long way to go. And I remember a good many years ago, when they controlled everything. And so, I think there could be some [working together], but it's going to be a slow process. They're going to have to make some changes along the way before you know before we can ever get on board."
3) Would you support a full ban on payroll deductions based on the NEA dues and recent political activity?
"Listen, I can just tell you right now I support a full ban on payroll dedctions, especially if it's tied to the NEA dues."
Scott Stadthagen
1) Currently, the ALGOP bylaws say, "Officeholders and candidates are strongly admonished to follow the same rule and, because the NEA is a veritable adjunct of the Democratic Party, failure to heed this admonition shall be regarded negatively by the State Committee."
Would you support adding language to prohibit Republican lawmakers from taking AEA altogether?
"Okay, I'm gonna give you two parts of that. First, I'm gonna give you Scott's personal opinion. I've never accepted a dime from AEA. But that's Scott's personal opinion, as if I win tomorrow's Party Chair, I will let the body decide the direction they want to go on that particular issue."
2) Do you intend to continue the behind-the-scenes friendly coordination with the AEA?
"We need to be driving the bus on school choice number one. But also, you don't shut that door on anybody. Not even your enemies, not even the people across the aisle, right? So you still keep relationships as a business person. You have to have those relationships. But... Driving legislation, that is the Republican Party's. job and no one else."
3) Would you support a full ban on payroll deductions based on the NEA dues and recent political activity?
"100%. Yes, I would."
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