“Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids.” – children in Trix cereal television commercials

In my past life as a newspaper reporter, one of my coworkers was tasked with covering a beat that involved an elected official who, when the word “politics” would come up in a conversation, often would substitute the nonstandard word “politricks” in its place.

He felt politricks carried a more apt connotation.

I thought about politricks recently when news broke involving a candidate to become Alabama’s next secretary of state.

In the Republican primary, the only two candidates running so far are current State Auditor Andrew Sorrell, of Muscle Shoals, and Caroleene Dobson, of Montgomery, who came up short in her bid to represent Alabama’s 2^nd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives last year.

Two weeks ago, Sorrell issued a press release calling on Dobson to join him in signing a “Clean Campaign Pledge” in which Sorrell invoked President Ronald Reagan’s 11^th commandment of, “Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican.”

1819 News ran the press release which quoted Sorrell saying, “We’ve seen enough discord, division and deceit among Democrats on the national level, and those kinds of attacks and tactics have no place in the Alabama Republican Party, where we pride ourselves on being Christian conservatives.”

Depending on how politically jaded you are, you might have interpreted that either as a breath of fresh air in our current toxic political climate or a calculated political strategy. If you leaned toward political strategy, which is by far the safer bet in politics, you can pat yourself on the back.

Four days before the pledge challenge was issued, a lawsuit was filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a federal district court in Georgia accusing Georgia businessman Edwin Brant Frost IV of running a pyramid scheme.

Three days after Sorrell issued his pledge challenge, the Alabama Reflector reported that Sorrell and a political action committee he chairs called Alabama Christian Citizens were caught up in Frost’s alleged scheme.

Sorrell’s Alabama Christian Citizens PAC made a loan of $29,000 to Frost’s company in April 2024, according to Alabama campaign finance records. The Reflector also reported Sorrell and his PAC have collectively received at least $71,000 in contributions from Frost or his companies over time.

To be clear, Sorrell is not accused of any wrongdoing at this time and has stated he will return the funds received from Frost.

However, it is not a great look for a candidate who is running to be in charge of overseeing the state’s campaign financial reporting system. Dobson’s campaign wisely did not take the bait of signing the pledge, so we will see if the issue is brought up as her campaign takes shape.

This incident brought up an issue beyond the immediate impact on the secretary of state race, though, and that is how can a PAC make a loan to a private company?

PACs are created for the purpose of donating to political campaigns. They have to register through the state to report the contributions they receive and the donations they make.

AL.com’s Kyle Whitmire was able to unearth a request made by Sorrell to the Alabama Ethics Commission asking if state campaign finance law prohibits a PAC from loaning money to a private company or buying a certificate of deposit.

In a unanimous decision, the Commission ruled Alabama law does not prohibit these actions as long as people involved in the PAC do not collect money that can be converted into personal use. Sorrell’s PAC reported making the $29,000 loan to Frost’s company 16 days after the Commission’s April 2024 ruling.

This ruling seemingly opens up a multitude of financial instruments in which PACs could participate or possibly create for themselves.

On principle, becoming banks or investment houses are not the purpose of PACs. Beyond that, trading funds back and forth between businesses and PACs creates all kinds of murky ethical questions.

Just a few I could think of include: could a PAC purchase a controlling interest of a company; can PACs dodge some of the taxes required to be paid by traditional businesses; are there expectations to support a political candidate or cause based on a PAC providing a loan or investment?

In my experience, if there is ever a loophole to be found, someone is out there looking under every single pebble in the quarry to exploit it. This is one obvious loophole the Alabama Legislature should tie up as soon as possible.

Call it a quick fix for this politrick.