Strong with Stone
Follow the money

Jabo Waggoner's campaign spent $60,000 on a book about himself.

It went to the chairman of a charity created to publish that book — a charity the IRS has since revoked for not filing its returns. Every claim on this page links to a public record. If you can't verify it, we shouldn't have printed it. — Spencer

What the records show

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Video: The Book
Every figure on screen is on this page, sourced.
The payment

The Alabama Fair Campaign Practices Act (FCPA) database records every campaign expenditure over $50, filed under oath by the committee. Waggoner's committee reported a $60,000 payment to Gene Hallman on August 5, 2024, and the filing's purpose field states, in full: “FOR THE PUBLICATION OF THE BOOK ‘JABO WAGGONER: AN ALABAMA POLITICAL LEGEND.’”[1] The receipt for that line is hosted below.

The charity, and who runs it

The J.T. Waggoner Book Foundation (EIN 93-2739387) is a real 501(c)(3), formed in 2023. Its state charitable-registration form lists its purpose plainly: “Contributions will be solicited and used to write a book on J.T. Waggoner.” The signer of that registration is Gene Hallman, Chairman. The listed address — 600 Luckie Drive, Suite 100, Birmingham — and contact email ([email protected]) are those of Hallman's company, Eventive Sports.[2]

In other words: a senator's campaign paid the chairman of a charity, run from that chairman's own company office, whose single purpose is a flattering biography of the senator.

The board — and the lobbyist

The foundation's bylaws are signed by four directors: Gene Hallman, Curt Lee, Nick Sellers, and Christy Swaid.[4] A registered Alabama lobbyist by the same name and mailing address — D. Curt Lee, P.O. Box 1605, Jasper — appears on the state's lobbyist rolls, and it was he who filed the state disclosure for the foundation's book-signing.[3]

The signing

On November 9, 2024, lobbyist Curt Lee filed Alabama Ethics Commission precertification #2265 on the foundation's behalf, approved November 12. It describes the event in the foundation's own words:

“On February 12, 2025, the J.T. Waggoner Book Foundation would like to host the Alabama Legislature to a ‘book signing’ at the RSA Plaza. Senator Waggoner will attend and sign books that are purchased from the foundation by legislators, lobbyists and others. Additionally, the J.T. Waggoner Book Foundation will be funding this event through outside contributions from businesses and or individuals and or associations.”[3]

That is the state's public record, verbatim: legislators and lobbyists buying a sitting senator's book, at an event funded by businesses and associations.

The pledge — and the silence

The foundation's Certificate of Formation and Bylaws both bar private benefit: “No part of the net earnings … shall inure to the benefit of, or be distributable to, its directors … officers or other private person” — while permitting “reasonable compensation for services rendered.”[4] Nowhere in the records does the foundation name a charity, scholarship, or cause that receives the book's proceeds.

Then the paper trail runs out. We asked the State of Alabama for the foundation's financial accounting under the Open Records Act. The Attorney General produced the formation paperwork — and no annual financial report, no Form 990, and no renewal of the registration.[6] The registration itself is expired (Nov. 29, 2024).[6] And the IRS has placed the foundation on its Auto-Revocation List: its 501(c)(3) status was automatically revoked in 2026 for “not filing a Form 990-series return or notice for three consecutive years,” and it has not been reinstated.[5]

A charity created to publish a book about the senator, run out of his event-marketer's office, with a lobbyist on its board — that took $60,000 of campaign money and then filed nothing the public can inspect, until the IRS revoked it for not filing at all. Is this what campaign donations are for? When does he answer?
Where Spencer stands

This isn't about whether a legislator can be honored. It's about accountability. Campaign donations are given to win elections and serve constituents — not to route $60,000 into a private foundation, controlled by a political fundraiser, to publish a flattering biography of the man himself. And when the public asks a charity to account for that money, there should be an answer on file. Here, there isn't one.

Every document behind every sentence above is posted below. Read them yourself.

The records — hosted here, so you can read them

Alabama's public filing sites can be flaky and their URLs rotate. So we've saved copies of the actual records here. Every file below is a public document.

Sources — verify every claim
  1. Alabama FCPA — Expenditure Search, Committee of James T. Waggoner Jr., 2024 Annual report, $60,000 to Gene Hallman dated 2024-08-05. fcpa.alabamavotes.gov
  2. J.T. Waggoner Book Foundation — Alabama charitable registration (purpose, Chairman Gene Hallman, 600 Luckie Drive / Eventive Sports address). Hosted: foundation-charitable-registration.pdf. Gene Hallman / Eventive Sports: eventivesports.com. Nonprofit record (EIN 93-2739387): ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer.
  3. Alabama Ethics Commission — lobbyist precertification #2265 (filed by D. Curt Lee for the J.T. Waggoner Book Foundation; RSA Plaza signing, Feb. 12, 2025). precertethics.alabama.gov. D. Curt Lee on the Alabama registered-lobbyist list: ethics.alabama.gov.
  4. J.T. Waggoner Book Foundation — Certificate of Formation and Bylaws (private-inurement clause; directors' signatures). Hosted: certificate of formation · bylaws.
  5. IRS — Tax-Exempt Organization Search, EIN 93-2739387, Auto-Revocation List (revoked for not filing a Form 990-series return for three consecutive years; not reinstated). apps.irs.gov/app/eos. Hosted snapshot: irs-auto-revocation.pdf.
  6. Alabama Attorney General — Charities registry (registration AL24-111, Status: Expired) and open-records production, Sept. 1, 2026 (no annual financial report, no Form 990, no renewal produced). Hosted: registry (expired) · AG cover letter.
  7. Authorship and publisher of the book — “Jabo Waggoner: An Alabama Political Legend” by Steve Flowers, published by New South, Inc. Yellowhammer News · Steve Flowers's own column announcing it: Alabama Reporter.