Two bills that would have altered the state’s campaign finance laws on political parties and donations died in the Alabama Legislature this year.
House Bill 6, sponsored by Rep. Phillip Pettus, R-Killen, would have prohibited political parties from disqualifying candidates who accept campaign contributions from specific organizations.
“They should not have a say in where you take your money from,” Pettus said in a phone interview. “What it boils down to, they want to control the money. That is the political party. They want all the money to come from them, and they divvy it out.”
The Alabama Republican Party in 2023 adopted a rule prohibiting the party’s candidates for superintendent or school board from accepting campaign contributions from the Alabama Education Association, an organization representing educators in the state.
According to Pettus, the Republican Party had planned to extend the rule to disqualify people who accept campaign contributions from the teachers’ union to legislators but has since changed its position.