Former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Jay Mitchell and chief counsel to the attorney general Katherine Robertson engaged in a contentious back-and-forth over "dark money" during Monday night's runoff debate as the pair vie for the soon-to-be vacant AG position.
Leading Republican candidates for some of the offices up for grabs in the June 16 runoff met in Montgomery for a debate Monday evening at the Montgomery Performing Arts Center.
Approximately 200 people came to hear candidates for the upcoming races for attorney general, lieutenant governor and U.S. Senate.
Mitchell and Robertson took the stage first to answer moderated questions about their intentions in seeking office, their goals should they win, and what sets them apart from one another.
The two spent their time expounding on their individual records and priorities on issues such as election integrity and immigration.
There wasn't much daylight between the two candidates on policy. However, from his opening statement, Mitchell criticized donations coming to Robertson's campaign, accusing her of accepting "dark money."
"I am built by Alabama for Alabama," Mitchell said in his opening remarks. "You know, as we go around the state and we raise support, we have to raise money to get all these ads up on the air. And I'll tell you, 97% of the dollars I've raised are from right here in Alabama, and I'm proud of that. It's individuals. It's families. It's businesses. And the reason I've done it that way is because that's the kind of attorney general I want to be. I'm not going to be answering to people in DC or out of state. I'm going to be answering to you, the people of Alabama, and I'm proud of that."
Robertson later responded, pointing out that her out-of-state support comes from other Republican attorneys general.
"I am the only candidate in the country being supported by the other Republican attorneys general," Robertson said. "And let me tell you who we're going to be in those fights with: we're going to be in those fights with the other red state AGs. We've been in the foxhole with them. That's who I want to be in the foxhole with in the future."
"Let me just say, it's hard for me and it's ironic to me to hear her talking about state sovereignty, states' rights [and] other things, when over half of the money she's received in her campaign is dark money from Washington, D.C. and out of state," Mitchell responded. "I was riding into Montgomery tonight, and they were reporting almost $200,000 of new dark money. I don't see how you can trust somebody who's going to say that."
Robertson responded by holding up printed news headlines about one of her largest benefactors, Leonard Leo, which she believed played in her favor. Leo is a conservative legal activist and co-chairman of the Federalist Society's board of directors.
"He knows where my money came from," Robertson retorted. "It came from the Republican attorneys general, and it came from a guy named Leonard Leo, that Jay knows. These are articles about Leonard Leo. So, I don't want y'all to be in the dark. You can Google him. This one says, 'The man who helped roll back abortion rights now wants to crush liberal dominance.' This one says, 'One man's outsized role in shaping the Court and overturning Roe.'
"That is who is supporting me in this race. Leonard wants to crush liberal dominance nationwide, and he actually thinks there's a big role for Alabama to play here because he knows we are the deepest red, most conservative state in the nation, and he wants to put an attorney general there that is going to crush liberal dominance."
Mitchell responded briefly, continuing to criticize how Robertson's campaign received its funds.
"If you're so proud of it, you should take it directly, and you should disclose it with the Alabama Secretary of State's office," Mitchell said. "The problem here is that over half of her money is coming through these dark money, shell companies. That's not the way it's supposed to be done. The people of Alabama deserve better. They deserve to know not just what the name on the store says, but who's putting the money in the store."
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