Tuberville

[TexasTiger 14,526]

Florida’s 3rd senator 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/08/10/tommy-tuberville-floridas-third-senator/

[SaltyTiger 8,672]

Santa Rosa Beach. Who cares? Most Alabamians feel Mexico Beach and west to Perdido Key is ours anyway. It should be.

[TexasTiger 14,526]

3 hours ago, SaltyTiger said:

Santa Rosa Beach. Who cares? Most Alabamians feel Mexico Beach and west to Perdido Key is ours anyway. It should be.

Well let’s secede from Florida, then!

[SaltyTiger 8,672]

9 hours ago, TexasTiger said:

Well let’s secede from Florida, then!

Secede? Just set the eastern border as the Apalachicola River and take it. 

[CoffeeTiger 5,969]

Alabamians don't care. They don't care where Tuberville lives, they don't care what Tuberville knows, they don't care what Tuberville does or doesn't do for the State of Alabama

 

As long as Tuberville says 'Biden bad' in interviews and votes against all Democrat bills Tubs is doing all that Alabama Republican's want and expect of him. 

[auburnatl1 6,301]

Forgetting his success or failure at au, probably one of least likable coaches au ever had.  Jetgate made him look like a sympathetic figure for a bit but he always felt like a pure mercenary who’d sell you one his relatives if it’d help him. When I heard Al had elected him I was shocked.

[Gowebb11 10,038]

Personal opinion but I believe Tubs is jockeying for the VP role if Trump wins. 

[homersapien 12,322]

[aubiefifty 18,448]

5 hours ago, Gowebb11 said:

Personal opinion but I believe Tubs is jockeying for the VP role if Trump wins. 

i think so to but trump will turn on him like he does everyone else.............

[Son of A Tiger 649]

10 hours ago, CoffeeTiger said:

Alabamians don't care. They don't care where Tuberville lives, they don't care what Tuberville knows, they don't care what Tuberville does or doesn't do for the State of Alabama

 

As long as Tuberville says 'Biden bad' in interviews and votes against all Democrat bills Tubs is doing all that Alabama Republican's want and expect of him. 

When the choice is Tubs vs. Doug Jones it is a no brainer.

[Son of A Tiger 649]

9 hours ago, auburnatl1 said:

Forgetting his success or failure at au, probably one of least likable coaches au ever had.  Jetgate made him look like a sympathetic figure for a bit but he always felt like a pure mercenary who’d sell you one his relatives if it’d help him. When I heard Al had elected him I was shocked.

That's BS. You obviously never knew him. 

[CoffeeTiger 5,969]

26 minutes ago, Son of A Tiger said:

When the choice is Tubs vs. Doug Jones it is a no brainer.

Of course. You'd vote against Jesus Christ himself if he was on the ballot with a (D) by his name.

The person and the name doesn't matter. Only party affiliation.

Edited August 12, 2023 by CoffeeTiger

[Mikey 16,781]

2 hours ago, CoffeeTiger said:

Of course. You'd vote against Jesus Christ himself if he was on the ballot with a (D) by his name.

The person and the name doesn't matter. Only party affiliation.

What makes you think that? I can't speak for anybody else, but in my lifetime I've voted for Jimmy Carter (once, bad mistake), Bill Clinton (twice, he wasn't too bad and his Republican opposition was weak) and Obama (once, most humiliating mistake of my political doings). Most voters give big consideration to the man and his policies, as well as the party.

Now about this time, there is not a Democrat on the scene that I would vote for over any of the announced field of Republicans. But that's not because of their party, it's because they are liberal loonies.

[auburnatl1 6,301]

3 hours ago, Son of A Tiger said:

That's BS. You obviously never knew him. 

That’s fair. I didn’t. He just always felt disingenuous about loyalty and constantly selling his accomplishments.   His politics are another story but that was the impression he gave me while he was coaching. He wasn’t someone I was dying to have a beer with.

[SaltyTiger 8,672]

20 hours ago, auburnatl1 said:

Forgetting his success or failure at au, probably one of least likable coaches au ever had.  Jetgate made him look like a sympathetic figure for a bit but he always felt like a pure mercenary who’d sell you one his relatives if it’d help him. When I heard Al had elected him I was shocked.

Worked with him on a couple of projects for athletics and thought he was a great guy. Very approachable and seemed genuine. Rank and file maintenance personnel in Facilities liked him a lot. According to them he actually treated them like valued people.
 

If it was all veneer he did a great job of wearing it when there was no need.

[homersapien 12,322]

12 hours ago, Son of A Tiger said:

When the choice is Tubs vs. Doug Jones it is a no brainer.

You just proved Coffee's point.

[aubiefifty 18,448]

12 hours ago, Son of A Tiger said:

When the choice is Tubs vs. Doug Jones it is a no brainer.

not looking for a scuffle but why you hate jones so much? i do not understand.

[homersapien 12,322]

6 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

not looking for a scuffle but why you hate jones so much? i do not understand.

It's the "D" behind his name, obviously.

[Son of A Tiger 649]

21 hours ago, auburnatl1 said:

That’s fair. I didn’t. He just always felt disingenuous about loyalty and constantly selling his accomplishments.   His politics are another story but that was the impression he gave me while he was coaching. He wasn’t someone I was dying to have a beer with.

Shame you didn't get to know him. He has his faults like we all do. I was lucky to be a guest at his Lake Martin Home and could go to practice anytime I wanted too. I actively supported his campaign for Senate.

[aubiefifty 18,448]

On 8/12/2023 at 6:32 AM, SaltyTiger said:

Worked with him on a couple of projects for athletics and thought he was a great guy. Very approachable and seemed genuine. Rank and file maintenance personnel in Facilities liked him a lot. According to them he actually treated them like valued people.
 

If it was all veneer he did a great job of wearing it when there was no need.

i loved tubs and would have drank a beer with him. i am just pissed he is playing politics with our military. this should be a nono for all parties. this is not what patriots do. but yes i loved tubs. hell i had every finger shirt they made.....

[aubiefifty 18,448]

11 hours ago, Son of A Tiger said:

Shame you didn't get to know him. He has his faults like we all do. I was lucky to be a guest at his Lake Martin Home and could go to practice anytime I wanted too. I actively supported his campaign for Senate.

are you the cat that got drunk, peed in the pool, and hit on everyones old lady? grins............

[aubiefifty 18,448]

On 8/12/2023 at 6:32 AM, SaltyTiger said:

Worked with him on a couple of projects for athletics and thought he was a great guy. Very approachable and seemed genuine. Rank and file maintenance personnel in Facilities liked him a lot. According to them he actually treated them like valued people.
 

If it was all veneer he did a great job of wearing it when there was no need.

Projects for atheltics? what do you do salty without giving up your name? did you put up a nail shop for the players or what?

[homersapien 12,322]

In Tuberville’s state, one base feels the effect of his military holds

At Alabama’s Redstone Arsenal, the freeze on promotions has had a rippling effect up and down the chain of command

By Alexandra Heal

August 13, 2023

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — At the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, a major hub of the U.S. military’s space and missile programs, a key officer is supposed to be leaving his post for a critical new job leading the agency responsible for America’s missile defense.

But now Maj. Gen. Heath Collins’s promotion is on hold — creating disruptions up and down the chain of command.

His absence means that a rear admiral normally stationed at Redstone overseeing missile testing is instead temporarily filling in as acting director of the Missile Defense Agency. Meanwhile, the brigadier general tapped to replace Collins is also stuck, forced to extend his assignment at Space Systems Command in Los Angeles rather than starting work in Huntsville.

Collins’s elevation is one of 301 military promotions for jobs around the world currently blocked by the state’s U.S. senator, Tommy Tuberville (R), who since February has been using his power to single-handedly place “holds” on all Pentagon appointments that require Senate confirmation. Tuberville’s goal, he says, is to force the military to end its policy of paying for service personnel and family stationed in states with abortion bans to travel to states where the procedure is legal if they need care.

The ripple effect up and down the chain of command from the delayed promotion of one senior leader at one installation offers a vivid illustration of what critics say is the deepening fallout from Tuberville’s gambit to use his Senate “hold” power to wage a culture-war campaign over abortion policy.

It has undermined the military’s long-term planning, several officials and retired generals or other veterans living near the arsenal contend, derailed the training of future leaders in highly specialized fields and disrupted the lives of military families — all of which stands to worsen the Pentagon’s personnel retention struggles, his opponents claim.

If Tuberville does not budge, the number of positions blocked from Senate confirmation is set to rise to 650 by the end of the year, according to the Defense Department — a majority of the military’s 852 flag and general officer positions.

Tuberville, who declined to comment, has said the Defense Department’s policy violates a federal ban on funding for abortions and that he does not believe the holds are affecting military readiness.

“I hate to have to do this. But they’re going to listen,” Tuberville, a former college football coach, told the Catholic News Agency last month. “I’m not changing my mind.”

About the impacts at Redstone, Tuberville spokesman Steven Stafford said in an email: “No one has been a stronger advocate for Huntsville than Coach.”

Collins is one of four senior leaders either currently stationed at Redstone Arsenal or scheduled to transfer to the Alabama base whose Senate confirmations have been held up by Tuberville’s hold. The Washington Post has identified at least six more service members who have had to temporarily change or extend roles, or whose career progression has been frozen, because of those four Redstone holds.

Tuberville’s hold is “unprecedented,” Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth said in an interview, adding that it is playing out in “unexpected and unhelpful ways.”

Other senators have previously blocked military promotions but an official said none before had lasted this long.

Sabrina Singh, deputy Pentagon press secretary, said that the military needs “tested leaders who are fully empowered to make tough decisions” and that the hold “undermines our military readiness.”

The Senate must approve the appointments of the most senior military leaders. Generally, votes are held on large numbers of promotions in batches, which under Senate rules requires that each group receive the unanimous consent of the chamber, allowing any one senator to hold up the process. The Senate majority leader could get around Tuberville’s hold by bringing the nominations to the floor one-by-one but doing so could require devoting two to three days for each vote and prevent the Senate from conducting other business. Such a process would take months, Democrats say.

Despite the local impacts, Tuberville faces little political pressure to withdraw the holds at home in Alabama, where Republicans are widely supportive of his antiabortion stance. Earlier this month, the state Republican Party’s Executive Committee voted 99 to 1 to adopt a resolution supporting his position.

“Tuberville is not just standing for a pro-life principle. He’s also defending taxpayers who are having their money misused,” said John Wahl, chairman of the Alabama Republican Party.

Redstone Arsenal, named after northern Alabama’s red soil, was established in 1941 as a war chemicals plant with an ordnance facility next door. After World War II, the Army found itself in need of land for developing for a new kind of military system, rockets, and brought to Huntsville a team of German scientists led by Wernher von Braun. In Huntsville, he went on to develop the rocket that launched Apollo 11 to the moon.

Today, the 60-square-mile base is home to the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command, much of the workforce of the Missile Defense Agency, as well as NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and several other air- and space-focused military organizations and contractors.

The base is dotted with historic rockets, including von Braun’s V2 and a Saturn 1B, one of the family of Apollo launch vehicles. It is still an active test site for rockets engines, javelins and explosives.

According to the Arsenal’s public affairs office, 45,000 civilians including contractors work on the base every day, as well as 800 military personnel, including a number of higher ranking officers responsible for directing operations.

One of those leaders is Collins, who from Redstone currently oversees the Missile Defense Agency’s ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California, positioned to counter potential threats from North Korea and Iran. He was nominated to assume command of the whole agency in May.

With an annual budget of around $11 billion, the agency is responsible for developing, testing and procuring the country’s defenses against ballistic missiles. The agency has not gone without a Senate-confirmed director since its creation in 2002, said Singh, the Pentagon deputy press secretary.

Without a full three-star general at the top — as Collins will be after his promotion — the agency’s credibility in military planning and ability to set long-term strategy will suffer, Wormuth said. The rear admiral acting as director was only recently promoted to one-star.

“Rank matters,” she said.

A spokesperson for the agency said Collins was not available to comment.

Another Redstone leader awaiting senate confirmation is Col. David Philips, who is scheduled to become a top Army aviation officer, responsible for developing new airborne vehicles, such as helicopters, and supporting existing ones. His job too is being filled on an acting basis.

Vincent Boles, a retired major general who now coaches contractors at Redstone Arsenal, suggested that having an acting leader would hamper the office from plotting a new long-term vision. He said he had performed military roles on an acting basis during his career and would always question for “how long.”

“Am I going to make massive strategic decisions that make a significant impact over the next 20 to 30 years?” he said. “Or do I just want to keep the trains running on time?”

Another Redstone organization impacted by the holds is the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command, responsible for the soldiers who defend the United States against potential intercontinental ballistic missile attacks.

Army Maj. Gen. Sean Gainey was nominated in January to take over the command but with his promotion on hold, Lt. Gen. Daniel Karbler has postponed a planned retirement to remain in charge.

“I’m going to continue to serve, continue to give it my all and set a good example for everybody to follow,” said Karbler, who did not otherwise comment on his predicament.

In the Redstone world of space and missile defense, leaders have received highly technical training and only two or three are groomed for top roles — meaning there are fewer with proper qualifications to fill vacancies, said a Senate Committee on Armed Services staffer.

To get such an officer ready for top roles, Wormuth said their career path is plotted “years in advance.”

“It has ripple effects all the way down the line, especially on mid-grade officers such as colonels,” said a senior leader of the Space and Missile Defense Command who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not have permission to be quoted.

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), a retired Army officer and chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said younger officers may now fear missing out the chance to gain key experience. He added that some may question why they should stay if they are now “just a political pawn,” given many will have “no problems walking out of the military getting very significant jobs.”

In Huntsville, where military and space industries are key to the local economy, Tuberville’s stand has drawn much criticism — but also plenty of support.

Concern over the military hold issue has been compounded in recent days by a decision by President Biden to keep the headquarters of the U.S. Space Command in Colorado, rather than move it to Huntsville as President Donald Trump had announced shortly before leaving office. Some in town suspect the decision was intended to punish Tuberville, which administration officials have denied.

Jimmy Sam, an Army veteran who lives in Huntsville, said he thought Tuberville’s blocking of military-career progression would be unpalatable to personnel stationed in the state. “If you’re from Alabama, your own senator didn’t vote for you to get promoted,” he said.

But at the Alabama Republican Party’s summer dinner in Montgomery earlier this month, where Trump was the star speaker, many said they back Tuberville.

The senator should hold out for “as long as it takes,” said Edward Bridges, 69, a Huntsville resident in the audience, who said the military should not be doing “social stuff.”

Arthur Orr, an Alabama state senator whose district is near Redstone Arsenal, said Republican senators who do not hold the majority have “very few levers of power to use.”

“That’s what Senator Tuberville is using,” he said.

This week, Karbler addressed the annual the Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, where fatigue-clad troops rubbed shoulders with defense contactors offering solutions such as “directed energy” technology that brings down weapons with lasers or microwaves.

But, as he opened his address, the officer putting off his retirement as head of the Space and Missile Defense Command because of politics wryly alluded to his circumstance.

“I’m truly excited to be with all of you here this morning,” he told the crowd, adding: “Still.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/08/13/tuberville-military-holds-alabama/

[homersapien 12,322]

Tommy Tuberville pledged to ‘donate every dime’ to veterans. He hasn’t.

Analysis by Glenn Kessler

 

“I stand with our veterans and I’m going to donate every dime I make when I’m in Washington, D.C., to the veterans of the state of Alabama. Folks, they deserve it. They deserve it a lot more than most of us.”

As senator, Tuberville has made veterans one of his key issues. The former football coach serves on both the Veterans’ Affairs Committee and the Armed Services Committee. He is now in a high-profile battle with the Biden administration over abortion policy affecting veterans. He has stalled the confirmation of more than 250 senior military officers over his objection to a Defense Department policy allowing military personnel and their families to recoup travel expenses incurred while seeking an abortion if they are stationed in a state that bans or restricts the procedure.

Yet there is no evidence that Tuberville has kept a key pledge he made when he ran for Senate three years ago — that he would “donate every dime” he made in Washington to Alabama veterans.

The Facts

A U.S. senator earns $174,000 a year. We’re assuming that Tuberville was proposing to donate only his salary, not the substantial earnings he makes from his investments. (He has an estimated net worth of $20 million.) With Tuberville now having served 2½ years as senator, that would amount to a total of $437,000 in potential donations.

In the past decade, Tuberville has made contributions to veterans via a charitable organization, the Tommy Tuberville Foundation, that he established in 2014 after he was hired as football coach at the University of Cincinnati. His employment contract, which paid him a minimum of $1.6 million a year, stipulated that he donate at least $5,000 a month as a gift to the athletics department. For instance, in 2016 he paid for 150 season tickets for veterans in a section of the stadium dubbed Tubby’s Troops. The transaction was billed to the Tommy Tuberville Foundation, whose primary mission is “assisting our military and veterans.”

The Internal Revenue Service certified the Tommy Tuberville Foundation as a public charity in 2015, making donations to the organization tax-deductible. But a review of IRS filings made by the foundation show that very little has been spent on charitable causes — especially since he became a senator. Tuberville moved the charity to Alabama in 2018 after he left the coaching position in Cincinnati in 2016.

In 2021, the foundation reported it had $74,101 in revenue and spent just 12 percent of that, or $9,000, while $32,000 went to administrative costs (including nearly $12,400 to pay off a truck the charity purchased in 2018 for $27,369). In 2022, the foundation apparently had gross receipts of less than $50,000 and was required to file only a 990-N, known as a postcard, providing even less detail. (The test for filing a postcard considers the average of the past three years.)

The charity also filed a postcard in 2020, and in its 2021 filing it suggested it received no money at all in 2020. The charity generally provides little detail on how money is raised, but its 2018 filing cited fundraising through a golf tournament and speaking engagements. Most of the donations it reported were relatively small — $8,763 in 2015 and $13,245 in 2016 for “veterans home renovations” and $4,536 in 2018 for Flags for Vets. (The foundation filed the wrong form in 2017, so few details are provided, while 2019 and 2020 were also postcard filings.)

Laurie Styron, executive director of Charity Watch, an American Institute of Philanthropy charity watchdog, reviewed the Tommy Tuberville Foundation filings for The Fact Checker. She said that because of the postcard filings there was an “accountability black hole” about the charity that made it difficult “to understand if promises were fulfilled, or monitor a charity's grants relative to its overhead spending.” The main reason the IRS permits small charities to file such limited data is so they can report they are still operating, she said.

“With respect to the $174k per year specifically, the 2021 990 Schedule A reflects that the charity didn’t report receiving contributions even close to this amount in any of the past 5 years,” Styron said in an email. “In fact, the charity reports receiving only $218k in contributions for the past 5 years combined. If he promised to donate his salary to vets, he certainly isn’t fulfilling this promise by donating to this particular charity.”

The 2021 filing lists Rodney Williams as the foundation chairman. Williams is an Alabama pharmacist who contributed to Tuberville’s campaign. He did not respond to a request for comment. Anna Harris, listed as the registered agent in the charity’s filing with the Alabama secretary of state’s office, said she had not worked for the charity for “a couple of years” and could not answer any questions.

The foundation’s Facebook page features articles on some veterans’ initiatives sponsored by the senator since he took office but does not feature any fundraising activity since a 2019 golf tournament.

The Fact Checker contacted nine veterans’ organizations represented on the Alabama State Board of Veterans Affairs. Three state affiliates — Vietnam Veterans of America, Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars — responded and said they have received no donations from either Tuberville or the Tommy Tuberville Foundation.

We also contacted other veterans’ organizations that the Tommy Tuberville Foundation Facebook page has indicated it has supported in the past. For instance, Still Serving Veterans is a Huntsville charity that helps veterans transition to civilian employment. “Still Serving Veterans received a small donation from the Tommy Tuberville Foundation in 2019 as the nonprofit beneficiary of a golf tournament he hosted, but we have not received any contributions since then,” said Debbie Joyner, chief development officer of the organization. Jamie Popwell, president of Flags for Vets, said the organization has received $500 in 2018, $1,000 in 2019 and $2,500 in 2020, but has not received any donation since then.

Tuberville’s staff indicated that thus far the senator had not lived up to his pledge.

“You are correct that Coach uses the Foundation as the primary vehicle for donating to veterans’ organizations, but it is by no means the only one,” Tuberville communications director Steven Stafford said in an email. “You may have learned by now that there were serious problems with the Foundation for a number of years, and that the Foundation came under audit. My understanding is that during the audit, the Foundation paused most of its activities.”

Noting that he was not speaking for the foundation, Stafford added: “The audit was recently completed successfully, and the Foundation is resolving its longstanding problems, resuming its activities, and Coach is resuming his work with the Foundation to help veterans in need.”

Asked whether Tuberville has failed to donate more than $400,000 to veterans, as promised, and whether he is still committed to do so, Stafford responded: “Coach is in the process of reforming the Foundation. He has already completely replaced the Board of Directors; he is resuming activities with the Foundation, and he will keep his promise to the veterans of Alabama.”

Six years of a senatorial salary would mean Tuberville would be on the hook for more than $1 million in donations.

[Son of A Tiger 649]

13 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

are you the cat that got drunk, peed in the pool, and hit on everyones old lady? grins............

Nope that was your buddy Joe Biden😀