The long-running internal fight among Alabama Democrats seems destined to head back to court – this time over allegations of fraud related to fundraising.
Last week, ADP chairman Randy Kelley, in a letter to members, warned that certain individuals, “particularly (former U.S. Sen.) Doug Jones,” were “soliciting money on behalf of the state party nationwide and statewide.” That money, Kelley claimed, was going to support those individuals’ “own political agendas,” and would not help the state party.
On Monday, Jones’s attorney, Barry Ragsdale, sent a letter to Kelley both denying the allegations levied against Jones and demanding that Kelley issue a retraction or face a libel lawsuit.
“The statements in your March 11, letter are false and you knew they were false when you wrote and published them,” the letter to Kelley reads. “Senator Jones is not soliciting money on behalf of the Alabama Democratic Party, nor would he consider asking potential donors to do so given the current leadership.”
The letter gives Kelley five days to retract the statements or face legal action.
Kelley told APR on Monday afternoon that he has “no intention of retracting anything,” because he doesn’t believe that he was wrong.
To support his claims, Kelley said the entire ordeal was prompted by a conversation he had with a Huntsville-area minister in which the minister said he had received a letter from Jones soliciting donations. That minister, Kelley claims, believed he was donating to the Alabama Democratic Party, not to a political action committee associated with Jones.
Such PACs are common in today’s political world, where top names in politics assist other like-minded politicians and groups through fundraising they control. Jones’ PAC has done that for several candidates, including the recent campaign of U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures.
However, Jones told APR that the mailers and emails sent to solicit funds are always careful to identify where the funds go and that they are not going to the Alabama Democratic Party. Jones also said the last fundraising email from him went out before the end of 2024.
Kelley also sent two more recent emails that he said contained solicitations from Jones, which Kelley said could be confusing to donors. Those emails, however, were not solicitations, but were instead Substack blog posts in which Jones criticizes actions of the Trump administration. At the end of the blog posts is a donation link to support the Substack.
In an interview prior to Ragsdale’s letter being sent, Jones said the entire ordeal could have been avoided had Kelley or an attorney representing ADP reached out to him about the email solicitations.
“One phone call would have cleared this up – I could have shown them the emails and explained it and it would be clear to anyone who looked at them what it said,” Jones said. “Instead, he chose to do this publicly and make very, very serious allegations for absolutely no reason.”
Asked if he felt this was another in a long line of distracting internal fights that would simply distract from more pressing party business, Kelley said, “It’s not distracting to me. I think it’s important. I’m happy with it.”
