Troy King’s attempts to keep opponent Attorney General Steve Marshall from spending money that he got from a federal political action committee ran aground on Thursday when Montgomery Circuit Court Judge James Anderson denied King’s request for a temporary restraining order.
King argued that contributions given to Marshall by the Republican Attorneys General Association violate Alabama’s ban on PAC-to-PAC transfers.
Judge Anderson dismissed the lawsuit altogether, saying the case was outside of his jurisdiction because it involved a federal PAC, according to the Montgomery Advertiser’s Brian Lyman.
Anderson said he did not feel he had jurisdiction in the case, involving a federal PAC contributing to Marshall’s campaign. King argued the PAC violated the state PAC to PAC ban. #alpolitics
— Brian Lyman (@lyman_brian) July 12, 2018
King regretted the decision in a press conference following the hearing.
“It is complete,” King said. “The work that the Alabama legislature did as the first order of business when they took over the legislature after 136 years of Democrat rule to ban the laundering of campaign contributions and the buying and selling of politicians in secret has been undone today.
“I was under the misapprehension that the courts of Alabama would read and apply the law as the legislature of Alabama wrote it,” King continued. “That’s clearly not the case.”
“We will continue this battle on the ballot on Tuesday, and I’m confident that the people of Alabama are not going to stand for what has just happened in this courtroom,” King said.
In a statement to Yellowhammer News, Marshall’s campaign celebrated Judge Anderson’s decision.
“Troy King has abused the judicial and ethics process this week to stage a political stunt,” the statement said. “He did so routinely as AG and Republicans fired him in 2010 because of it. We are glad the court has confirmed this and look forward to getting back to the issues Alabama voters actually care about in the final days of this campaign.”
The primary runoff is next Tuesday, July 17.
@jeremywbeaman is a contributing writer for Yellowhammer News
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