Pardon me, my Alabama Republican friends, but is there no end to the hypocrisy?
Do not consider that a hostile question, but a genuine one. Because I do seriously wonder if any one of you plan to draw a line in the sand anytime soon, if there’s a man, or woman, among you with the fortitude and the operational conscience required to say enough is enough.
I’ve seen no signs of such. Even as political life around here has reached levels of absolute absurdity that I honestly never imagined.
And, please, as we go through this, spare me the whatabouttheDems responses or the childish false equivalencies. These are your problems, and they are problems that we all know are happening right before our eyes. For the most part, they are problems perpetrated by Republicans that are only harming other Republicans.
Like, for example, just this week, the chairman of your party has, during an appearance on a radio show, talked about just how serious he and the Alabama Republican Party take party rules. He did this on Tuesday. Told radio host Jeff Poor that they take ballot access “very serious,” and that party regulations make it “clear” what should happen.
He said this, of course, in an effort to deter Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl from running for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Tommy Tuberville. Apparently, Pearl, who has been fairly open with his conservative beliefs, is too woke for Wahl and some other ALGOPers because he once had the gall to acknowledge that Black people exist and have rights, and because he donated $1,000 to a couple of Democrats.
That is somehow more offensive in the ever-changing interpretation of party bylaws than a candidate for the same U.S. Senate seat (Steve Marshall) once running as a Democrat.
But never mind that bit of hypocrisy, because it gets much, much worse.
A day after Wahl made his speech about taking bylaws seriously, APR reported that a Republican State Executive Committee member, Joan Reynolds, had started gathering signatures in an effort to change party bylaws and allow Wahl to remain as party chairman while simultaneously running for statewide office.
The day before, in a letter to the SEC members, Wahl admitted that party bylaws didn’t allow for such.
Rules schmules.
But then, this is hardly new for Alabama Republicans of late, particularly where Wahl is involved.
Let’s start with the issues of his actual identity – and the weird, weird, weird manner in which he has hidden his real name.
There is no evidence that the person we know as “John Wahl” legally exists. Wahl’s actual name, according to a Tennessee driver’s license he presented when pulled over in Alabama in 2023, is Nehemiah Ezekiel Wahl.
Where “John Wahl” came from is wholly unclear. And, you know, that would be fine, because people end up with nicknames that stick for no obvious reason all the time. Except … those people don’t use those nicknames when filing official state documents that are required by law, and that specifically require the use of your legal name.
“John Wahl” did.
APR has reported that Wahl signed multiple statements of economic interest as “John Wahl.” He never mentioned that he was using a nickname, nor did he include his legal name on the form, which he was required to do.
There’s also another matter – residency.
Running for lieutenant governor requires that the candidate be a resident of the state for the seven years prior to the election. Wahl was using the Tennessee ID in 2023. He told Poor, in a separate interview, that he acquired the ID when he planned to move to Tennessee just prior to 2020. Obtaining a Tennessee driver’s license requires proof of residency in the state.
Maybe that’s just one more law or rule that doesn’t apply to Wahl.
But then, residency laws don’t seem to matter much to anyone anymore. Just ask the presumptive Republican nominee for governor, Tommy Tuberville. We’re not even pretending anymore that Tuberville could maybe meet the seven-year residency requirement. Instead, all of ALGOP is apparently ready to turn a blind eye to that law as well.
Oh, but it continues on.
Wahl was caught red handed a few years ago attempting to use an improper ID to vote. That ID, we know from al.com, had only “John Wahl” on it, which we also know isn’t his legal name. He did this twice – and at times when he admits that he had a valid Tennessee driver’s license with his legal name on it. A name under which he was registered to vote in Tennessee.
Two separate Alabama secretaries of state were troubled enough by all of this to forward it on to the AG.
Nary a word from ALGOP, though.
No investigation. No punitive action. No reprimand.
This is the same party that’s going to tell Bruce Pearl that he can’t run for office as a Republican because of a strict adherence to the rules?
Stop it.
What this is is a party with a centralized power structure, where a handful of people hold all of the power, make all of the decisions and ignore and/or enforce rules based on what’s most beneficial to that group. It rewards loyalty to certain people and groups instead of broad ideals. It cares nothing about what’s best for the masses and it crushes ideas of shared power or decision making.
If you’re looking for an example of what such a party looks like a few years down the road, you’re in luck. I just happen to know of one.
The Alabama Democratic Party.
