BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — According to an editorial posted on the Alabama sports website and liberal political blog al.com Wednesday morning, if candidates in Birmingham want to be in the running for the endorsement of one influential local PAC, they’ll have to fork over some cold, hard cash.
Hezekiah Jackson is president of Birmingham NAACP and co-chair of the ad committee for Team Seven, a Political Action Committee founded Jefferson County Commissioner Sandra Little Brown that carries a certain level of cachet in the city’s black community.
The organization is gearing up for its annual banquet February 4, so Mr. Jackson sent out an email to candidates, explaining what they must do to stay in the group’s good graces: pay up.
1. Deadline to submit payment is Friday, January 23, 2016 to me or (Ad committee co-chair) Pastor Webb
2. Candidates purchasing an ad ($500) will have two minutes to speak.
3. Candidates purchasing a table ($500) will have two minutes to speak.
4. Candidates purchasing a combo (ad — $250 and table for eight — $500 = $750) will have three minutes to speak.
5. Candidates who do not purchase an ad nor a table WILL NOT be considered for endorsement.
6. 5. Candidates are asked to bring only 1 guest, the tables are for the voting age public and you will be able to move from table to table during the evening.
“Which means you pay to play,” wrote al.com’s John Archibald. “And the endorsement you get, the check mark on the ballot and the claim that Team Seven considers you the best darn candidate in your particular race, is worth nothing.”
According to Larry Noble of the Campaign Legal Center and former chief counsel for the Federal Election Commission, buying votes is illegal, but buying an endorsement — or, in this case, buying consideration for an endorsement — is not.
“If a campaign wanted to secure an endorsement with money, they can do so,” Mr. Noble told the Washington Post in a different case last year. “I don’t believe there’s anything illegal about doing that.”
A request for comment from Mr. Jackson was not immediately returned.
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