Alabama Republican Party (ALGOP) chairman John Wahl responded to a recent opinion column questioning his residency by saying he was pursuing legal recourse.
The opinion column, written by the AL(dot)com columnist Kyle Whitmire, subtly accuses Wahl of having shady residency credentials for any potential run for office due to previously possessing an out-of-state driver's license.
The piece is tied up in Whitmire's ongoing crusade to cast doubt on the legitimacy of U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville's (R-Auburn) state residency for a potential gubernatorial run.
Early in the column, Whitmire states that Wahl is the final say on whether Tuberville meets the residency requirement. The column concludes with the poignant philosophical quandary: "But how can we trust a man with a Tennessee license to decide who lives in Alabama?"
The piece emphasizes Wahl's previous Tennessee driver's license under the name Nehemiah Wahl and his registration to vote there. The story mentions a ticket Wahl received in Alabama in 2023, where he still had his Tennessee license.
In an appearance on FM Talk 106.5's "The Jeff Poor Show," Wahl discounted the perceived concern over him going by his middle name and having previously had a Tennessee license as frivolous mud-slinging by a "leftist" journalist.
According to Wahl, he obtained a Tennessee license in anticipation of moving there in 2020. After deciding against the move, he delayed getting his license changed to an Alabama one.
"I did have a Tennessee license," Wahl said. "It's not something that's a secret. It's not something that I'm ashamed of. People have real-life stories, right? They make decisions in their lives, and they have different options come up."
Wahl stated that he encountered initial difficulties when he attempted to change his license during the COVID-19 pandemic, which led him to further procrastinate on making the switch. However, after COVID restrictions eased up, he claims he did get his Alabama license.
"It's amazing to me how these leftist reporters can take some innocent things in life, and if you're a conservative, you're somebody who's fighting against this woke agenda, they target you, and they twist you into being some horrible person," Wahl said.
He continued, "We're talking about the same people who think you should be able to pick your gender [and] allow children to identify as animals and call them furries. And yet, somehow, they're upset that I don't go by my first name, and I, at some point in my life, had a Tennessee license. So I think the whole thing is ridiculous."
Whitmire also touts that Wahl's name has been floated as a possible candidate next year for Alabama lieutenant governor. Wahl has been rumored as a potential candidate for the seat, alongside current Secretary of State Wes Allen, who has already announced his candidacy.
According to Wahl, the recent obsession with his ID and name stems from activist journalists and political opponents trying to muddy the waters.
"I think this is obvious: campaign season is coming up, Kyle Whitmire is an extremely liberal writer," Wahl said. "He's been trying to steer the direction of things. He doesn't want Tommy Tuberville to run for governor. There's been rumors that I would run for lieutenant governor. He would absolutely hate that because AL(dot)com in general hates the fact that I've been standing up for protecting children with our libraries as chairman of the APLS [Alabama Public Library Service]. I would be their worst nightmare, so this does not surprise me at all."
Wahl went on to question the source of the information in the piece, suggesting it was fed to Whitmire by political opponents, possibly in other areas of government.
"I think it does bring up an interesting question of, where did they get this information?" Wahl continued. "Because it's not something I've ever tried to hide, it's also very true that sensitive information, whether it's a driver's license, voting records, these are not things that are necessarily publicly available. I do wonder. You know, it's really one of those things that would almost have to be provided by either secretary of state information or law enforcement. And so, I am definitely going to be digging into where some of this may have come from, and if there's a hidden political agenda behind it."
Wahl went on to say that some information in Whitmire's article was "either misleading or outright false." He also stated that he was pursuing possible legal recourse regarding the piece's inaccuracies.
"I think it's time that we put our foot down and stop letting the liberal press define the issues and put us into a box," Wahl said. "And I think that's what they're trying to do here. They want to put me on the back foot. They want to push me around, and I'm not going to take it. I think it's time we pushed back against these woke, leftist journalists.
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