On Tuesday's episode of Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5's "The Jeff Poor Show," State Auditor Andrew Sorrell criticized the pay political consultants receive for their services in Alabama elections.
According to Sorrell, consultants currently take a 15% cut of all media buys in elections, with payments coming from donors regardless of a campaign's success.
"I'm disappointed in the class of consultants we have in Alabama," said Sorrell. "I think they did a very, very poor job. The amount of money that they made, you know, consultants are making 15% on all the media buys. You run a mailer, you run TV ads, you run radio ads, you do digital, they're all making a 15% cut, and this is donors' money that is being spent here."
He continued, "If you're talking about $2.6 million in a race, and 15% of that's coming off the top for consulting, not to include the $5,000 or $7,500 a month they're charging the candidates on top of that, just for general consulting services. Some of these consultants, whether they win or not, they're making a quarter million dollars or more off of a race."
In the Republican primary for state auditor, which he recently won, Sorrell estimated that one political consultant had earned up to $200,000.
"You know, my opponent again, he spent $1.1 million," he outlined. "Somebody made $200,000 consulting that race in an effort that only got 32% [of votes]."
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