Obscure names, big dollars: How Alabama chain PACs power campaigns & veil donors

The groups have monosyllabic or bureaucratic names and identify their purposes in anodyne language. 

But if their reasons for existence seem hazy, their impact isn’t. 

Six PACs run by Tuscaloosa political consultant Michael Echols raised $3 million in the first seven months of the year, more than the $2.6 million incumbent Gov. Kay Ivey, the leading fundraiser among Alabama candidates, brought in during that time. Most of the largest donors were trial lawyers, but the two biggest contributors were entities with uncertain real world presences. At least one appears to be a shell company. 

Ten PACs run by Fine, Geddie and Associates, a leading Montgomery lobbying firm, distributed $1.4 million — raised largely from powerful business entities — to 140 state and local candidates in the first seven months of the year. 

A Montgomery Advertiser analysis of campaign finance records from the first seven months of the year shows Echols’ PACs provided the majority of money for at least four statewide campaigns mounted by Republicans. Those included former Attorney General Troy King (59 percent of his total) and Alabama Supreme Court candidate Sarah Stewart (74 percent of hers). Echols’ PACs also accounted for about a quarter of Democratic gubernatorial nominee Walt Maddox’s contributions from Jan. 1 to July 31.

The Fine Geddie PACs provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to Alabama Supreme Court Justice Brad Mendheim and Alabama Chief Justice Lyn Stuart’s Republican primary campaigns, though those were a smaller percentage of those campaigns' total contributions.

The donors to the chain PACs includes a large number of powerful Alabama entities, including Alfa Insurance, Drummond Company, a number of law firms, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, the state’s dominant health insurance company.  Alfa's contributions to the Fine Geddie PACs made up about 87 percent of the $260,000 the company's donations to political campaigns during the first seven months of the year.

In response to questions, Alfa said that Fine Geddie “understands our business and the issues important to our policyholders.”

“Political action committees can have greater impact by pooling contributions from individuals and businesses with similar interests,” the organization said.

Donations to the Echols and Fine Geddie PACs accounted for 66 percent of Blue Cross and Blue Shield's total state giving from Jan. 1 to July 31. The company gave $90,000 to the Fine Geddie PACs and $60,000 to Echols’ PACs through July 31, according to campaign finance records.

“Blue Cross feels that the interests of our customers and our company are served by joining with the business community to participate in the election and public policymaking process,” wrote Koko Mackin, a spokeswoman for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, in an email.

But by aggregating financial contributions from, in Echols’ instance, as many as 190 donors, the PACs can obscure the source of support for individual politicians in a way direct contributions cannot, or allow a candidate to accept money from interests that a primary electorate might oppose. 

The Echols PACs' largest individual donor from Jan. 1 to July 31 was an entity named Extreme Development, which gave the six committees a total of $467,500. Legally in existence since 2008, it is based in either Trimble, where its incorporation papers say it’s located, or a post office box in Warrior, where its donations stem from. It has no website or description of its services or sources of revenue. A search of court records and news accounts over the last decade did not yield information about the company. Two phone numbers at addresses for the company were both disconnected. 

Larry Mayes, listed as the incorporator of Extreme Development, founded a firm named Extreme Consulting at the same time. But that company dissolved in 2010. Attempts over the last week to reach Mayes and David Lawrence, listed as president of the company, through phone numbers obtained through public records searches were unsuccessful. 

Born in 2015, Angus Capital Corp., which gave Echols’ PACs $330,000, lists its business as “any and all business.” Like Extreme Development, it does not appear to have any real activity since its creation, and its sources of revenue are not clear.

Angus Capital shares the same Birmingham address with lobbyist Michael Sullivan, listed as a principal for Angus. His clients include the National Rifle Association; Checks Into Cash, a payday loan company and the Title Pawn Council of Alabama. Sullivan did not return several messages seeking comment.

In response to requests for comment, Echols sent a statement Thursday evening noting that many of the PAC recipients also receive consulting services from his firm, and that "all contributions to and expenditures from each PAC are public record and disclosures are timely filed in compliance with the Alabama Fair Campaign Practices Act."

 "We are proud of the work we do and to our knowledge we have been providing these services longer than anyone else in the state of Alabama," the statement said.

Reached by phone on Tuesday, Joe Fine, one of the co-founders of Fine Geddie, declined comment. 

All the transactions are legal under state law. The Alabama Legislature in 2010 banned transfers of funds between political action committees -- none of the chain PACs are involved in that --  but in recent years some groups have turned to outside entities to conceal their spending. The Alabama Education Association in 2014 routed millions of dollars to out-of-state entities that later spent money during Alabama political campaigns. 

Fine Geddie PACS

Names: FGA PAC; TELPAC; SAVEPAC; NEWPAC; MAXPAC; LEGPAC; IMPAC; FAXPAC; EDPAC; CANPAC, BIPAC. Fine Geddie last November established a PAC called Tiger Paw PAC, which raised $229,000 between Jan. 1 and July 31 (mostly from lumber, construction, and business interests) but did not appear to spend any money during that time.

Background: Fine Geddie established EDPAC in April 1990; the other PACs (save Tiger Paw) emerged in October and December of 1989. The PACs were all involved in PAC-to-PAC transfers before the Alabama Legislature banned the practice in 2010. Even under their own names, the PACs could obscure the sources of money given to candidates. In 2006, VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor directly contributed $430,000 to FGAPAC. That money mixed with funds from other PACs and entities (including the Alabama Education Association), then went to both Democrats and Republicans. The latter often faced electorates opposed to the expansion of gambling. 

Purpose: Except for EDPAC, the PACs’ stated purpose is “to promote candidates who share a common philosophy for pro-industry pro-development business and education environment for Alabama.”

Total contributions: The Fine Geddie PACs took in approximately $710,000 between Jan. 1 and July 31.

Major PAC contributors this year: Alfa Insurance has given the most to the Fine Geddie PACs; the company gave $225,000 to the PACs between Jan. 1 and July 31. 

Other major contributors to the PAC were Birmingham-based coal company Drummond ($100,000); Birmingham insurance company Protective Life ($100,000); Abbeville-based lumber firm Great Southern Wood Co. ($100,000) and Blue Cross Blue Shield, the dominant health insurer in the state ($80,000). Drummond, Protective Life and Great Southern Wood did not return messages seeking comment.

Recipients breakdown: The PACs gave out $1.4 million between Jan. 1 and July 31. Thirty-four Democrats, mostly legislative candidates, received money from the Fine Geddie PACs, which contributed to 103 Republican campaigns. Republicans tended to receive more than Democrats; the median total contribution from the PACs to GOP candidates was $5,000, while Democrats’ median was $3,500. 

Who got the money: The largest recipients of the PACs money were judicial candidates. Alabama Supreme Court Justice Brad Mendheim got $180,000 from the Fine Geddie PACs between Jan. 1 and July 31, making up about 22 percent of the $803,000 he raised during that time. Mendheim lost the Republican nomination for the bench to Mobile Circuit Judge Sarah Stewart. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who won the Republican nomination for his office over Troy King, got $162,000 from the PACs, about 6.3 percent of the $2.6 million he raised in the first seven months of the year. Alabama Chief Justice Lyn Stuart got $155,000 from the Fine Geddie PACs in her unsuccessful race for the GOP nomination; the contributions were about 19 percent of her total funds raised.

Mendheim's campaign declined comment. A message left with Stuart was not returned.

Christy Olinger Edwards, a Republican nominee for the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals, got $85,000 from the PACs (about 27 percent of her total) and Chris McCool, a GOP nominee for the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, got $42,000, about 13 percent of his total.

Echols PACs

Names: T-Town PAC II; CMG PAC II; Pride PAC II; Leadership PAC; ET PAC; Cash PAC.

Background: Echols, a longtime player in state and Tuscaloosa politics, created the PACs between 2010 and 2017. The consultant and accountant worked with former Gov. Robert Bentley’s campaigns.

Purpose: All the PACs have a stated purpose of supporting “fiscally conservative candidates for various political offices.”

Total contributions: The six Echols PACs took in $3 million between Jan. 1 and July 31.

Major PAC contributors this year: Echols’ PACs have gotten support from a wide range of construction, health care, insurance and even gambling entities, but the two largest contributors — Extreme Development ($467,500) and Angus Capital Corp. ($330,000) — have little existence beyond paperwork. 

The other major contributors to the PACs are trial lawyers. Mobile-based Cunningham Bounds gave the PACs $255,000; Montgomery’s Beasley Allen gave $250,000; Hare, Wynn, Newell and Newton in Birmingham gave $200,000 to the Echols PACs, and Birmingham personal injury attorney David Marsh gave the PACs $190,000.

A representative of Beasley Allen said the firm had no comment. The other firms did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Party breakdown: The PACs gave out $3.2 million between Jan. 1 and July 31. Fourteen Democrats received money from the PACs, while 59 Republican candidates got Echols money. The median contribution from the PACs to GOP candidates was $1,900, while Democrats’ median was $1,000.

Who got the money: The top recipients of funds from the Echols PACs got far more money than those with Fine Geddie, and the Echols money was significantly more important to their campaigns. Former Attorney General Troy King, defeated in the GOP runoff for his old job on July 17, got $1.1 million from the Echols PACs; the contributions made up 58 percent of his total from Jan. 1 to July 31.

The PACs were even more critical for Sarah Stewart, a Republican candidate for the Alabama Supreme Court who defeated Mendheim in the primary. She received $863,000 from the groups, about 74 percent of the $1.1 million she raised in the first seven months of the year. 

The PACs also provided the bulk of funding for Republican Public Service Commissioners Jeremy Oden and Chip Beeker. Oden got $379,000 from the Echols PACs, about 67 percent of his total contributions of $568,000, while Beeker got $80,000, a little over 50 percent of the $158,000 he raised. 

Stewart, King, Oden and Beeker did not respond to messages seeking comment.

About 26 percent of Maddox’s fundraising from Jan. 1 to July 31 came from the Echols PACs, which gave him a little over $297,000. Echols’ PACs also gave $82,000 to incumbent Gov. Kay Ivey, though that was about 3 to 4 percent of her total fundraising in the first seven months of the year.

Maddox, Stewart and King all paid Echols for consulting work. In response to emailed questions, the Maddox campaign said they were “fortunate” to have Echols with their campaign, but said they had no knowledge of Extreme Development or Angus Capital. 

“Our concern is limited to the Walt Maddox campaign and our more than 1,000 individual contributors,” the campaign said.