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It’s probably fair to say that Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s brief career in politics has been a difficult one. Shortly after the Alabama Republican was elected, he flubbed the basics of World War II. He soon after struggled with how recent presidential elections have been resolved.
As regular readers might recall, it wasn’t long before Tuberville made matters worse. He misstated the three branches of the U.S. government. He made the case that Russia invaded Ukraine in order to acquire “more farmland,” which really didn’t make any sense. He also made ugly comments about race, crime, and reparations.
But 2023 has been an especially banner year for the former college football coach turned far-right politician. Tuberville is obviously responsible for an unprecedented controversy surrounding his blockade on U.S. military promotions as part of a radical anti-abortion tantrum, but he’s also disputed the racism of white nationalists and presented an unsubtle argument that “inner city” school teachers are lazy and possibly illiterate.
It’s tempting to think the GOP senator’s reputation couldn’t get much worse. But this week, the Washington Post highlighted a campaign promise Tuberville made during his first and only campaign for statewide office: “I stand with our veterans and I’m going to donate every dime I make when I’m in Washington, D.C., to the veterans of the state of Alabama. Folks, they deserve it. They deserve it a lot more than most of us.”
The post found that the Alabaman has not kept that promise — at least not yet.
[T]here is no evidence that Tuberville has kept a key pledge he made when he ran for Senate three years ago — that he would “donate every dime” he made in Washington to Alabama veterans.
Given the annual salary of a U.S. senator, Tuberville has made roughly $437,000 since arriving on Capitol Hill. If he intended to “donate every dime” he made as part of his congressional work to Alabama veterans, we’d expect to see some evidence of $437,000 in donations.
You can probably guess where this story is going.
The Republican senator makes contributions through his charitable organization, the Tommy Tuberville Foundation, but the Post found that since he arrived in Congress, the foundation has spent “very little” on charitable causes, and none of the leading veterans charities in Alabama would confirm receiving donations from Tuberville since his legislative career began in early 2021.
When the Post asked whether Tuberville has failed to keep his campaign promise to veterans, and whether he still intends to follow through, a spokesperson told the newspaper, “Coach is in the process of reforming the Foundation. He has already completely replaced the Board of Directors; he is resuming activities with the Foundation, and he will keep his promise to the veterans of Alabama.”
In other words, Tuberville hasn’t honored the pledge he made in 2020, but he apparently intends to. Given the senator’s recent track record, veterans charities in Alabama should probably exercise some caution before counting on any money from the controversial politician.