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1/ Jeff Sessions, the GOP, billionaire donors and Samford University: A religious pipeline straight to Washington, D.C.
[Thread]
[Thread]
2/ Samford University - and its Cumberland School of Law - is a small private Christian univ. in Birmingham, AL.
bit.ly/2hRzaJt
bit.ly/2hRzaJt
4/ Jeff Sessions was on the Board of Overseers at Samford from 2006-2016. bit.ly/2yzxDBg
6/ Of its nearly 5,500 students, 2/3 come from families that make at least $110,000/year.
nyti.ms/2hPIai1
nyti.ms/2hPIai1
9/ Samford has become a farm team of sorts for the Republican party.
12/ Roby has a 93% NRA rating, is pro-life, doesn't support sanctuary cities or amnesty for "illegal immigrants," against same-sex marriage,
13/ ...wants to repeal the ACA and is against fed regulation of greenhouse gases. bit.ly/2yC11HG
15/ Roby's dad, Joel F. Dubina, is a sr. circuit judge on U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. He was nominated by George H.W. Bush.
16/ He graduated from Cumberland in 1973.
18/ Robert Aderholt (R-AL) graduated from Cumberland in 1990. 
19/ He too is a member of the House Comm on Appropriations. bit.ly/2xT1TbM
20/ He's also a member of the congressional Tea Party Caucus. politi.co/2xSxpSi
21/ Aderholt has a 93% NRA rating, is pro-life, doesn't support amnesty for "illegal immigrants," is against same-sex marriage, ...
22/ ...wants to repeal the ACA and is against regulating greenhouse gases. bit.ly/2guwLrz
23/ Aderholt has said he believes the allegations of Russian interference in the U.S. election are fake.
25/ His dad, Bobby Ray Aderholt, was an AL circuit judge for 30 years.
26/ Dennis A. Ross (R-FL) graduated from Cumberland in 1987. 
27/ He's a member of the House Comm on Financial Services and the House Comm on Oversight and Gov. Reform.
bit.ly/2hRWfM5
bit.ly/2hRWfM5
28/ Ross has a 93% NRA rating, is pro-life, doesn't support amnesty for "illegal immigrants," is against same-sex marriage, ...
29/ ...wants to repeal the ACA and is against regulating greenhouse gases. bit.ly/2yCmdx2
30/ bit.ly/2gxtFTL
31/ Samford has donated to the campaign of Gary Palmer (R-AL) for the upcoming 2018 AL 6th Congress. Dist. election.
bit.ly/2zmNe4R
bit.ly/2zmNe4R
32/ Palmer's the former president of the Alabama Policy Institute, a conservative think tank.
bit.ly/2zDApE4
bit.ly/2zDApE4
33/ He's a member of the Freedom Caucus in the U.S. House of Reps. bit.ly/2yFlw6b
34/ He sits on the House Budget Comm and the House Comm on Oversight and Gov Reform.
35/ William Pryor, Jr. is an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals judge. He was a recess appointment by George W. Bush in 2004.
36/ He's an adjunct professor at Cumberland.
37/ Pryor was most recently on Trump's SCOTUS nominee short list. politi.co/2xSmT2n
39/ Kevin Newsom graduated first in his class from Samford in 1994.
40/ Newsom nominated to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals by Trump.
42/ He replaced Dubina, Roby's dad, when Dubina became a senior judge on the court.
43/ Newsom served for 3.5 years as AL Solicitor General.
46/ Current AL Supreme Court Justices Michael F. Bolin and Greg Shaw graduated from Cumberland.
n.pr/2yutpvG
n.pr/2yutpvG
47/ bit.ly/2xR2mLD
48/
49/ 4 of 5 judges on the AL Court of Civil Appeals are Cumberland graduates: William Cooper Thompson, Craig Pittman, Terri Willingham…
51/ Lee Ann Pusey, considered "one of the top lobbyists in Washington, D.C." by The Hill publication, is a Samford graduate.
53/ There are many other politicians, lawyers, judges, lobbyists and business people with Samford connections.
54/ Samford also has a history of hosting political events.
55/ Prior to Roy Moore defeating Luther Strange in the AL Sen runoff, the two were scheduled to speak at Samford.
bit.ly/2hQM9v5
bit.ly/2hQM9v5
56/ Marco Rubio made a campaign stop there during the last presidential election. bit.ly/2yBNCPz
57/ There have also been multiple judicial hearings hosted at Samford. bit.ly/2yzfbag
58/ bit.ly/2gm7agB
59/ bit.ly/2x8qSDm
60/ Samford is well funded.
61/ Its 2016 budget was more than $166 million and its endowment was at least $270 million.
63/ In 2015, it wrapped up a 2-year endowment that raised $200 million. It garnered donations from 17,000 individuals.
65/ It's currently in the midst of a new $300 million fundraising effort called Forever Samford.
bit.ly/2gpqmtN
bit.ly/2gpqmtN
66/ These endowments have allowed the school to grow into a top-ranked U.S. private Christian institution.
bit.ly/2yAU8UL
bit.ly/2yAU8UL
67/ They also provide schools like Samford enormous tax breaks for itself and wealthy donors.
bit.ly/2gnVn1l
bit.ly/2gnVn1l
69/ While that's a pittance when compared to the Koch foundations' donations to other post-secondary schools, it may be an entry point into…
70/ …better understanding the Koch philosophy.
72/ Koch and his groups have long believed college campuses are at the core of their grassroots efforts to evolve their conservative…
74/ bit.ly/2yAmhNn
75/ Their donations can be considered a "veiled political weapon." bit.ly/2zlGcgK
76/ Since 2005, the Koch Foundation has given nearly $145 million to universities; a majority to Southern schools.
bit.ly/2yVGGhu
bit.ly/2yVGGhu
77/ The DeVos family is also spending hundreds of millions of dollars to push its views into public and private ed.
politi.co/2hrdxiC
politi.co/2hrdxiC
78/ Betsy DeVos views on education can be traced, in part, to her own experiences in school.
nyti.ms/2xSSBw8
nyti.ms/2xSSBw8
79/ She has a powerful position as the Sec of Ed. and is using it to bend the system to her way of thinking.
82/ Earlier this year, Samford was in its own campus spat over the divisive issue of inequality. The news made international headlines.
83/ The Samford faculty had recommended approval of "Samford Together," a student organization meant to provide a forum for students to…
84/ …discuss sexual orientation and gender identity in "an open-minded and accepting environment."
ind.pn/2uFDkMl
ind.pn/2uFDkMl
85/ This raised the ire of the Alabama Baptist State Convention and it said it wouldn't be making its annual $3M allocation to Samford.
87/ Samford President Eric Westmoreland has set up a group to "lead discussions of sexuality issues on campus."
bit.ly/2yFdjyM
bit.ly/2yFdjyM
88/ But "Samford Together" has yet to be formally recognized by Samford.
89/ --- Dem Doug Jones will face Repub. Roy Moore in a special election on Dec. 12 to fill Attorney General Jeff Sessions' former seat. ---
90/ If you liked this thread, please consider following me as I will be publishing more in the near future.
91/ Please consider reading some of my previous threads:
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94/
Enter Jeff Sessions and a political bribery scandal:
bit.ly/2z5L9hI
bit.ly/2z5L9hI
More Samford connections.
Beth Thorne Stukes is the Vice Chair & Chair of the Executive Comm. for the Samford Board of Trustees.
bit.ly/2yySYsP
bit.ly/2yySYsP
Stukes is also currently on the Board of Directors for the Drummond Comp.
bloom.bg/2z6N2dU
bloom.bg/2z6N2dU
Stukes' mother is Barbara Drummond Thorne. Drummond Thorne was an owner of the Drummond Comp. and on its Board of Directors.
Drummond Thorne was also on the Samford Board of Trustees from 2001 until her death in 2009.
bit.ly/2zDOVLq
bit.ly/2zDOVLq
Martha Roby's husband, Riley Roby, is a partner at Balch & Bingham. He graduated from Cumberland in 2000.
bit.ly/2gEL8pG
bit.ly/2gEL8pG
From 2009-2018, Martha Roby received more than $39,000 in campaign donations from Balch & Bingham.
bit.ly/2y4ze3A
bit.ly/2y4ze3A
