Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl said he “100%” agrees with the characterization that the Alabama Education Association (AEA) would metaphorically “slit the throat” of Republican officeholders if it helped Democrats politically.
Wahl made the remarks during an appearance on WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show.”
Jackson posed the provocative metaphor about party politics within the Alabama Legislature’s composition and Wahl embraced it: “Oh, 100% look, let’s be honest about where we’re at this,” Wahl said.
“This is not my defense of NEA or AEA because I’m the guy who literally went through the party and passed a rule for the state party saying AEA and NEA could not donate to state school board candidates or County School Board candidates because [it’s] a conflict of interest, and I wanted them out of influence with our school,” Wahl said.
“Has that been enforced? It has been enforced. And I was the guy who passed that rule… This is not a love affair with the AEA, okay?”
Wahl defended his recent dialogue with AEA after news media sounded the alarm on new regulations that might target homeschool families. He said the point was to lock in a no-regulation pledge without giving anything in return.
“This is about honest conversation. I didn’t go in you, know, and have a grand meeting with them. I went, I called them, [and] said, ‘Look, you say you believe in parental rights – prove it. Like, let’s talk about this issue.’ This is something that’s concerning homeschool families. Good leadership goes out and fights for things before they become issues and get in front of it. And I got a commitment they wouldn’t do it. That’s a great deal.”
Wahl said if AEA backtracks, he will make it a point to tell lawmakers the group “lied to me,” and reminded listeners that AEA is boxed in by Republican supermajorities in both chambers.
“I think this puts them in an extremely bad position if they don’t do it. I will go down to the halls of Montgomery and I will talk to legislators about how they lied to me. So I do. I think they keep this not necessarily because they want to – but because they have to put the parties in a position where we have a super majority in both the House and the Senate of Alabama,” Wahl said.
“They have to work within that political structure, whether they like it or not, because that’s the current reality in Alabama. And I think when you look at it through that context, it puts them in a very hard position to try to now come back and lie once they’ve made that commitment.”
Grayson Everett is the editor in chief of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @Grayson270.
