By Josh Moon
Alabama Political Reporter
Gov. Robert Bentley and now US Sen. Luther Strange have new watchdog group on their heels.
Redeem the Vote.
The Christian Coalition-affiliated group, which boasts more than 300,000 members and a million-person contact list, released a statement Sunday saying it would now actively target corruption and corrupt politicians in the State.
“Many of these same voters who rejected the corruption of Hillary Clinton and propelled President Donald Trump into office are unaware of the rank corruption polluting Alabama’s highest offices,” Christian Coalition president Randy Brinson said. “We intend to make them aware.”
In the press release issued Sunday, the group specifically named Bentley and Strange, along with the “remnants of Speaker (Mike) Hubbard’s machine.”
“We are going to target our anti-corruption message against the Governor, Senator Luther Strange, the remnants of Speaker Hubbard’s Machine and any other politician who thinks they are above the law,” Brinson said. “We have a message, it is this: we are not going to take it anymore.”
Bentley, of course, has been mired in scandal since a March 2015 admission of an inappropriate relationship with his former advisor, Rebekah Mason.
Strange, the State’s former attorney general, drew voters’ anger when he appeared to compromise an investigation of Bentley by interviewing for and later accepting an appointment to the Senate from Bentley. Strange also was less than forthcoming during the process, claiming that he never said his office was investigating the governor. Yet, a week after taking over as AG, Steve Marshall recused himself from an ongoing investigation of Bentley.
Hubbard, once the state’s most powerful politician, was convicted last summer of 12 felonies for misusing his office for personal gain.
Brinson said his group’s messages will target “people of faith who feel like they’ve been disenfranchised because of the dishonest, double dealing and backroom decisions being made by our public officials.”
