Alabama Senator Luther Strange’s campaign finance chair, Thompson Tractor CEO Mike Thompson, is listed on federal tax documents as an officer of the nonprofit Alliance for Jobs, which federal prosecutors say was used to bribe former Alabama state Representative Oliver Robinson, who pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges this month, AL.com’s Kyle Whitmire and John Archibald report.
From AL.com:
Neither prosecutors nor court documents have said Thompson was in any way involved in the bribery scheme, but tax records show he was one of only two officers for the Alliance for Jobs and the Economy. According to the nonprofit’s tax filings, Thompson served as secretary for the AJE from its incorporation in 2015 through at least the end of 2016, the time period when, prosecutors say, every dollar raised by the nonprofit was used to buy influence from then-state Rep. Oliver Robinson.
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“This new detail raises further questions about Luther Strange’s official acts to oppose the EPA Superfund site while receiving $50,000 from Drummond around the same time,” he continued.
The bribery scheme
Earlier this month, state Rep. Oliver Robinson pleaded guilty to accepting bribes in exchange for opposing the expansion of a north Birmingham Superfund site into Tarrant, which could potentially have cost area companies millions of dollars in cleanup.
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According to Robinson’s plea agreement, he accepted payments through the Birmingham law firm Balch & Bingham, Drummond and the AJE to oppose the Superfund expansion.
Thompson Tractor’s headquarters are in Tarrant, near where the EPA was considering expanding the Superfund site.
Read the rest of the article, here.