Exposing the Corruption of the "Family Values" Party
Gary Wiggins ran an anti-gay “conversion” camp with his wife Meghan. They were both indicted for trafficking the children sent to their camp. The children were subject to physical abuse and forced labor. They had moved on to Illinois after the State of Texas shut down their Joshua Home. Texas followed the closing of their home in Missouri for child abuse allegations and in Alabama before that. They were extradited from Alabama to Texas.
John Martin was the head pastor of Lighthouse Baptist Church, a conservative anti-gay church. He confessed an “affair” to his wife, which is an odd way of describing child molestation. He then admitted it to the church and church leaders went to the police. “The Lighthouse Baptist Church in Florence is an extremely socially conservative…
Robert Bentley was the governor of Alabama when a scandal broke about him having an affair with a married woman. While hypocritical and not nice, it is not necessarily predatory, since they were consenting adults. Except she worked for him so the relationship becomes problematic and not one of equals. In addition, he bullied his other staff who were privy to the affair as they carried on in his office. He also threatened his now ex-wife’s staff when he sent text messages to his lover that linked to his wife’s iPad to ensure she did not find out. Adding to his problems he illegally used public funds to carry on the affair and used campaign funds for personal use.
Chuck Hunter was 61 and though he lost his race for Circuit Court 10 in 2010 but in 2012 he was running for Circuit Court 11. He placed an ad on Craigslist seeking someone under 30 for sex. An undercover police officer responded in the role of a 14-year-old boy. After several back-and-forth messages, Hunter arranged to meet this 14-year-old at a restaurant with the intention of having sex. He was arrested when he showed up. They got a search warrant and found him in possession of child sexual exploitation materials.
James Graves was the chairman of the Cullman County Commission in 2008, but lost his re-election bid and lost the subsequent primary. He was also a member of the Republican Party Executive Committee. In May 2017, he was arrested for sexually abusing a minor, a 17-year-old whom he had molested more than once but came forward after the most recent incident. He was 74. He pleaded guilty and got a 10-year suspended sentence and five years probation.
Judge Mark E. Fuller was a federal judge in Alabama who was appointed by George W. Bush. He was arrested for domestic violence after assaulting his wife. He was placed on leave and he resigned when it looked like he would be impeached.
Ralph Lee Aaron was a conservative Southern Baptist pastor at Grace Christian Fellowship Church in Covington County, Alabama. He previously served at two other churches. When he was arrested he was charged with more than 150 offenses, most involved possession of child exploitation materials. He was also charged with sodomy, sexual abuse, and sexual torture of four boys between eight and twelve years old. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four consecutive life terms.
Marshal Seymour was a youth pastor at a Baptist megachurch in Florida before pleading guilty to molesting three young boys. Ten years earlier he was arrested for the same thing in Mobile, AL, and pled to a lesser charge for which he was sentenced to one year’s probation. He moved to Florida with a clean…
John Hathaway was a primary candidate for the Republican nomination to run for the U.S. Senate in 1996. The seat was open after the retirement of Sen. William S. Cohen. Also running in that primary, were Susan Collins and Robert Monks. During the campaign, word got out that in Alabama he had been accused of…
Roy Moore was an Alabama judge who became famous for his theocratic defiance of the Constitutional separation of church and state, eventually resulting in his ouster from the Alabama Supreme Court twice. Of course, this notoriety resulted in him winning the Republican primary to replace Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions when he was appointed U.S. Attorney…