Jeff Coleman has no friends on the campaign trail.
After APR published a story on Wednesday that recapped the U.S. government’s fraud allegations against his moving company in 2015, Coleman’s challengers in the race for Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District seat piled on.
Heavy.
“Jeff Coleman taking advantage of military families in a time of war is despicable,” said Jessica Taylor.
“Jeff Coleman was faced with a decision — serve the military or steal from them. He chose profit over patriotism,” said Troy King.
The comments from the other candidates shouldn’t come as a surprise. They have been hammering Coleman, the presumed frontrunner in the race, according to internal polling viewed by APR, over the fraud allegations hoping that the four-year-old case caught on with voters in the Wiregrass.
APR’s story was the most comprehensive to date, detailing numerous specific instances of fraud alleged by federal prosecutors and supported by witness testimony and documents. Many of the witnesses who testified in depositions in the case were employees in Coleman’s company.
And the candidates are hopeful that those details are enough to make voters question their decision to vote for Coleman.
“Jeff Coleman only sees military families as a cash cow to be exploited to line his own pockets,” Taylor said. “As your next congresswoman, I will fight to ensure that we stand behind our men and women in uniform no matter what.
“Our nation’s debt is reaching critical levels and the theft of taxpayer dollars and defrauding military families only weakens our nation. As a conservative and a patriot, I’m appalled that Jeff Coleman thinks that qualifies him to represent us in congress.”
King noted that Coleman’s moving business, Coleman Worldwide, would also cause additional problems. In response to questions about the fraud case and his ability to be impartial concerning military contracts if elected, Coleman has promised to recuse himself and not vote on any military contracts.
“When faced with another decision between making money or serving the citizens of the Second District, he chose the money,” King said of Coleman. “In the process, he disqualified himself from voting on issues that matter most to the military bases in the district, and, once again, put profit ahead of patriotism.”
While King and Taylor, who are polling in second and fourth place, respectively, were harsh with their criticisms of Coleman, Barry Moore, who is running just behind King, took a more timid approach.
“Hopefully all of the facts will be brought to light soon and everyone involved can move forward,” Moore said. “I trust the voters of District 2 to do their due diligence and vote informed.”
