Alabama Republican Party Chairman Bill Armistead slammed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Parker Griffith on Wednesday for being “a one trick pony” who would “would only perform” for the Alabama Education Association (AEA) if elected.
“It was not surprising when Parker Griffith took the first $300,000 campaign contribution from the state teachers union (AEA) because they have bankrolled practically every Democrat candidate this year,” Armistead said. “But when it was recently revealed that Griffith has received another $300,000 from AEA it makes his campaign finance report look more like a bill of sale. If he were to be elected Governor he would be indebted to the AEA and would only perform for them. In my book that makes Parker Griffith a one trick pony.”
Armistead noted that Griffith’s financial support has come almost exclusively from the AEA and out of his own pocket.
“This financial backing from the AEA, plus the roughly $400,000 Griffith has personally loaned his campaign, makes up over 95 percent of all the money that has gone into Griffith’s campaign war chest,” Armistead said. “Voters in Alabama are not going to vote for a liberal like Parker Griffith anyway, so why is the AEA burning through hundreds of thousands of dollars on a wasted effort? I think it is a childish ploy by AEA Chief Henry Mabry to get even with Governor Bentley for not kowtowing to every whim of the AEA. I’ve known Henry for years and that is the way he operates.”
The ALGOP chairman also criticized the AEA’s current leadership for being poor stewards of teachers’ dues, something about which former AEA chief Paul Hubbert has also expressed concerns.
“I really don’t think this reckless spending by the paid AEA staff is fair to the teachers who are contributing their union dues to AEA each month,” said Armistead. “If the AEA members understood how their dues were being squandered, they would run Mabry out of town. And, that may actually happen before the end of the year.
“The people of Alabama have a fine, upstanding conservative incumbent in Governor Robert Bentley, who Alabamians trust. Governor Bentley enjoys broad support from across the political spectrum. So the choice could not be clearer for the voters of Alabama on November 4,” he continued. “They can elect a one trick pony who will be beholden to the union bosses at AEA, or they can reelect Governor Bentley, an honest man who will represent all of the people of this great state.”
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