PELHAM, AL — Friday at an Alabama U.S. Senate candidates’ forum sponsored by the Shelby County, AL Republican Party, former Chief Justice Roy Moore reacted publicly to an attack ad from the Senate Leadership Fund, a group controlled by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and that is supporting his opponent, Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL).
The ad raises questions about the Foundation for Moral Law, the IRS-deemed charity Moore joined after being ousted from the Alabama Supreme Court in 2003.
“Roy Moore, there’s so much more,” the spot states. “Despite being one of the highest paid judges in the nation, raking in more than $170,000 a year, Roy Moore wanted more. So Roy Moore and his wife took over $1 million from a charity they ran, paying themselves $1 million and spending even more on travel, including a private jet.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8q2NEZmSAA&feature=youtu.be
In his closing remarks at the campaign event held at the Pelham Civic Complex, located in the Republican stronghold in the suburbs south of Birmingham, Moore denounced the Senate Leadership Fund advertisement.
“You shouldn’t be in a race where you just condemn your opponents all the time,” Moore charged.
He also addressed the attack on his wife in that advertisement.
“I’ll tell you this – I love that woman out there, and it hurts me very badly to see her attacked and see the foundation that we worked so hard for.”
In an interview following the event, Moore explained to Breitbart News the difficulties of taking on the claims in those ads and the millions of dollars spent getting them on the airwaves.
“It’s difficult in federal races to raise money,” Moore said. “And PAC money is being given to one particular candidate as others recognize up there. We don’t get that PAC money. And it’s difficult to contend with false advertising when you don’t get the money that they’ve got. There’s millions of dollars behind this advertising and they’re doing it for a purpose – because they’re losing the race. They know it. That’s why they’re doing it. They wouldn’t be doing it if they can’t run on their own credentials, they shouldn’t be running in the race.”
Moore reiterated his vow not to issue attack ads aimed at one of his rivals and called those attack ads put out on Strange’s behalf “false advertising.”
“I will not stoop and demean myself to that level,” he continued. “I will not criticize a candidate. I haven’t done so far in my advertisements. Tonight, I just simply stated that there was a lot of false advertising going on. And it’s very unique in a race where there is three at the top, and one of them is blistering both candidates with false advertising. Somebody should look at that.”
Moore, Strange and Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) are the three frontrunners in a field of nine candidates competing for the Republican Party’s nod for this special election.
If none of the candidates can surpass the 50 percent threshold in the GOP primary on August 15, the two top finishers will face off in a primary runoff on September 26. That winner will face the eventual Democratic Party nominee in the special election on December 12.
Strange currently occupies the seat because of an appointment in February by then-Gov. Robert Bentley after Sessions was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be attorney general.
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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