Alabama Council for Excellent Government
The Alabama Council for Excellent Government (ACEGOV) is a 501(c)(4) non-profit social welfare organization founded in 2014 by Cooper Shattuck at the request of Governor Robert Bentley to help promote his policy proposals, specifically his call for new revenues to meet the needs of the state's general fund budget.
The group's incorporation papers lay out its purposes:
(a)To advance the beliefs and policies espoused by Governor Robert Bentley;
(b) to promote the common good and general welfare of the people of the State of Alabama through programs and activities designed to resolve the educational, civic, social, financial, and economic issues facing Alabama;
(c) to promote public policies that foster an environment to create more jobs in Alabama, that make living in Alabama more affordable for families, that improve Alabama's business climate and employment opportunities, and that make Alabama government more effective, efficient, and excellent;
(d) to engage in and sponsor research, conduct surveys, and publicize the resulting findings and recommendations so as to educate and enhance the understanding of the citizens of Alabama concerning public policy issues facing Alabama; and
(e) to promote legislation necessary to implement such public policies.
501(c)(4) organizations can receive unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations and groups, which provide no tax benefits to the donors. They are not, however, required to report on the sources of those contributions. Though the political activities of such groups are constrained by Internal Revenue Service policies, those constraints have not prevented them from engaging heavily in "issues-based" advertising coinciding with electoral campaigns. For those reasons, they are sometimes referred to as "dark money" political organizations.
Shattuck, a former legal advisor to Bentley, is chair of ACEGOV's board of directors, which also includes former state finance director Marquita Davis, and R. B. Walker, a government relations analyst for the Alabama Power Company.
Bentley made a personal loan of $500,000 to his gubernatorial campaign shortly before the 2014 election. The loan indebted his campaign account, allowing him to continue soliciting political contributions to retire the debt after the election. Two large contributions, reported in February 2015, were $25,000 from the Alabama Education Association's A-Vote PAC and $20,000 from the Alabama Hospital Association PAC. In April, another $10,000 was reported as a political contribution from the Alabama Farmers Federation's FARM PAC.
ACEGOV seems to have been formed as the fulfillment of Bentley's pledge to "use leftover campaign funds to set up a charitable organization." As of September 2015 the group's only recorded action was to make a $2,500 donation to the Alabama Republican Party.
During 2015, as Bentley was embroiled in personal scandal, the non-profit reported $90,600 in donations, and $63,574 in expenditures, with $28,000 going to polling services (including $15,000 to Bentley's adviser and mistress Rebekah Caldwell Mason) and $22,500 for website development and consulting. ACEGOV's website and social medial accounts, however, went dormant in early 2016.
References
- Dean, Charles J. (March 26, 2015) "Gov. Robert Bentley has learned good intentions without the "mother's milk of politics" is not enough." The Birmingham News
- Sell, Mary (March 31, 2015) "Nonprofit group set up to advocate Bentley's agenda ." Times-Daily
- Gore, Leada (September 9, 2015) "Gov. Bentley's 'dark money' group: Alabama Council for Excellent Government donates $2,500 to GOP." The Birmingham News
- Chandler, Kim (September 20, 2016) "Bentley's nonprofit ACEGOV raised, spent less than $100,000 last year." Associated Press/The Birmingham News