Over the past month, GOP voters in five Alabama legislative districts have been bombarded with mailers, texts, and digital ads attacking their incumbent state lawmakers. 

The targets are State Sens. Greg Albritton (R-Range) and Andrew Jones (R-Centre), and State Reps. Frances Holk-Jones (R-Foley), Matt Simpson (R-Daphne), and Phillip Pettus (R-Killen).

The disclaimers all point to a single source, Alabama Values PAC, registered with the Alabama Secretary of State on March 12, 2026 to a rented mailbox at a UPS Store on Eastchase Parkway in Montgomery. 

Its Statement of Organization lists exactly one person in any official capacity, as both chairperson and treasurer. Thomas Datwyler, of Hudson, Wisconsin.

Datwyler doesn’t live in Alabama. He doesn’t vote in Alabama. He has no Alabama client besides the PAC currently spending money to defeat five Alabama Republicans.

His firm’s website claims he has directed more than 400 political committees and filed “over 4,000 FEC reports” since launching 9Seven Consulting in 2013.

Datwyler’s professional record is a matter of public record. Across the past three years, his work as treasurer has triggered formal action in five states – civil penalties, criminal investigations, federal regulatory inquiries, and a U.S. Department of Justice complaint.

Some matters closed without findings. Others resulted in fines paid by the campaigns he was running.

His record, in five states, is as follows:

Indiana

In March 2024, U.S. Senator Mike Braun’s (R-Indiana) Senate campaign paid a $159,000 Federal Election Commission civil penalty to settle campaign-finance allegations. Datwyler was the campaign’s treasurer at settlement. According to the FEC’s official record of the matter, three of six FEC commissioners voted against dismissing allegations against him in his official capacity – a 3-3 deadlock that resolved in his favor only because the Commission requires a majority to proceed.

Mississippi

In August 2023, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch publicly opened an investigation into Datwyler personally for potential criminal violations of state election law. The complaint alleged he had used a PAC structure to route approximately $885,000 in out-of-state money around Mississippi’s contribution limits — while simultaneously serving as treasurer for the campaign of the candidate that PAC was supporting. The case closed without charges.

Tennessee

In 2024, Tennessee election authorities referred a complaint involving a Datwyler-tied PAC to the state attorney general’s office. The case closed without conclusive findings — after, according to the Tennessee Lookout, Datwyler refused to be interviewed.

Nevada

In July 2024, a Republican PAC tied to U.S. Senate candidate Jim Marchant filed a U.S. Department of Justice complaint accusing Datwyler of wire fraud. According to The Hill, the complaint alleged Datwyler had written an unauthorized $500 check from PAC funds to his own firm after stepping down as treasurer. The complaint described “a long history of running roughshod over federal campaign finance law.” No charges have been filed.

New York

In January 2023, former U.S. Rep. George Santos’s campaign listed Datwyler as its new treasurer. Datwyler’s lawyer immediately told the FEC the appointment was unauthorized and asked the agency to refer the matter to law enforcement. Ten months later, after The Daily Beast reported Datwyler had in fact functioned as Santos’s “shadow treasurer” — the same lawyer filed letters retracting that account, writing he had lost confidence in his own client’s truthfulness.

Santos, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft and was sentenced in April 2025 to 87 months in federal prison — a sentence commuted by President Trump in late April — has himself called for a federal investigation into Datwyler.

Alabama

This is not the first time Thomas Datwyler’s name has shown up on Alabama paperwork at the moment somebody needed an Alabama PAC and didn’t want to be seen running it.

In 2024, Datwyler was the registered treasurer of Defend Alabama, a Club for Growth-tied super PAC that spent in the bitter Alabama 1st District GOP primary between Reps. Barry Moore and Jerry Carl.

In late 2025, when former Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron, who had registered to vote in the state three days earlier, launched a brief bid for lieutenant governor, Datwyler was listed as the campaign’s treasurer. Two months later, McCarron dropped out.

Under Alabama law, a PAC spending to influence a legislative race must report its activity monthly, then weekly in the four weeks before the election, then daily in the final eight days.

Alabama Values PAC’s last required filing before the May 19 primary lands at 12:01 p.m. the day before. The question of who is paying Thomas Datwyler to smear five Alabama Republican incumbents will be answered only when it no longer matters.