In the wake of questions about his fundraising and office renovations, Alabama House Majority Leader Scott Stadthagen (R-Hartselle) defended his actions in a recent livestream interview with Yellowhammer News’ Dale Jackson.
“The number one objective for the STACKPAC was to raise money to elect our conservative House members from the caucus,” Stadthagen said. “And that is just my job that I’m elected to do.
“I’m going to continue to do that throughout the next four years. I’m going to give our members the best chance that they can to cross over the finish line when the next election cycle comes.”
The Majority Leader’s PAC was given $50,000 by the Washington, D.C.-based conservative group Club for Growth. The donation raised questions because of the organization’s attacks on other prominent Alabama politicians, including U.S. Sen.-elect Katie Britt.
Stadthagen said the money will only be used to help his fellow Republicans in Alabama get elected.
“We had over 70 donors throughout my campaign to run for House Majority Leader,” he said. “I think I put over 13,000 miles on my wife’s car travelling the state, meeting with different donors, and basically just telling them the message of what I was wanting to accomplish as House Majority Leader. And I conveyed to them that if you decide to donate to this cause, there’s no strings attached, I promise you I will always do the right thing and I’ll always be honest, and that’s it. Some people are going to make big deals about things, but that’s the gospel right there. That’s literally what we did.”
Stadthagen was also asked about recent renovations being made to his office, which he said will be paid with personal campaign funds, not taxpayer dollars.
“I’m too conservative to spend taxpayer dollars on something like that,” he said. “But it’s perfectly within statute to do upgrades to your office. I’ve done upgrades to my personal office with personal money, but in the caucus suites, we have used my personal campaign account, which is two walls, some sheetrock, and paint.”
The Hartselle lawmaker is adding walls to his Statehouse office to create space for other members to hold private meetings.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
