Add U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl (R-Mobile) to the list of Republicans that take issue with U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks’ (R-Huntsville) categorization of Alabama Farmers Federation (ALFA) as pro-open borders and ALFA-supported candidates as “Republican RINOs.”
During an appearance on Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5’s “Midday Mobile,” Carl insisted he was not a pro-amnesty politician and took on his Republican colleague Brooks, a GOP candidate for Alabama’s U.S. Senate seat up in 2022, directly for his attacks suggesting as much.
“Heavens no,” Carl said. “Nobody has worked harder than the entire Alabama delegation, and Jerry Carl is on top of the list for trying to stop what’s coming across the border. To apply that to ALFA is just so far off-base. I don’t know where Mo Brooks gets this stuff from. I realize it’s all politics. I get that. I have to deal with it on a daily basis. But to throw his colleagues under the bus the way he has thrown us under the bus — and the American families here in Alabama — I mean, you don’t get any more rooted, pardon the pun, than the farm community. I mean, those are the people I love to go and sit down with, and they tell me what’s wrong in their view with America because they understand it. They get it.”
“ALFA is a combination of all these people coming together,” he continued. “They’re not this huge evil spirit that Mo is trying to make them look like. They are a combination of all of these families because when you meet with them, when they interview you — I mean, it is an extensive program. They ask you questions about not just farming issues but family issues, immigration issues. They quiz you on all of that stuff. I don’t know where Mo Brooks is getting this from.”
Carl insisted he had avoided getting involved in Alabama’s U.S. Senate race but said Brooks was making that difficult. He also questioned the past support from ALFA that Brooks had accepted.
“I told him, and I’ve also told Katie Britt I was going to stay out of that race because I think it is fair for myself as being the congressman in District 1 — I do not need to support one over the other,” he said. “I believe people should have the right to make that decision themselves. But Mo is not giving us any room here. I mean, he continues throwing all the congressmen under the bus — even the ones that are supporting him. I mean, Barry Moore — Barry Moore sits on the Ag Committee. Barry Moore was endorsed by Farm Bureau, ALFA. So why is it all of a sudden such an evil thing to be supported by ALFA? I mean, look back on [Mo Brooks’] existence. The last four cycles, ALFA has given him $10,000 per cycle. The last four cycles, he has gotten $10,000 per cycle — the maximum amount they could give him $40,000.”
“Does that mean Mo Brooks is for open borders — those eight years and now all of a sudden he’s got a change of heart? No,” Carl added. “You can’t take things like ALFA because you don’t get their endorsement and try to make something evil out of them. That’s what this is about. Katie Britt has got their endorsement. Mo Brooks should have had their endorsement. I haven’t talked to the ALFA folks. They obviously see something there — more in Katie and less in Mo. They actually change horses there. They think Katie Britt is a better candidate. And for Mo to do this — he’s thrown all of us in this mix. We really want to stay out of it because we want people in our district, but I promise you I only speak for myself. The conversations I’ve had with the other congressmen in this state — they are fed up with it. The other elected officials in this state — he’s called all the state legislators ‘Republican RINOs.’ I mean, he is making every elected official in this state furious. He’s isolating us and trying to label us as something evil for his political gain. That’s just not right. I’m going to speak up for it, and that’s why I’m here. I’m tired of it.”
Carl told host Sean Sullivan his duties lie with the constituents in Alabama’s first congressional district, and it was not his preference to be “shoved around” by Brooks.
“We’re judged on what we say, and I have said things wrong in my life — trust me,” Carl said. “I at least go back and apologize to the people that I’ve offended. I’m not looking for an apology here. But I am tired of being shoved around by someone who has spent a lifetime in politics, is simply going to use me and my district as a stepping stone to the next place he wants to go. It will not work. I will speak up for the folks in District 1. If folks want to support him, that’s fine. I am all for that. But I will tell you I’m not the person he is trying to make me out to be.”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.
