Former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said Alabama coach Nick Saban agreed to leave out a footnote clarifying Saban’s stance on changing U.S. Senate filibuster rules from the public version of a letter sent to West Virginia senator Joe Manchin, and from a press release publicizing the letter earlier this week.
“Coach Saban and I agreed that since the letter focused on the merits of the Freedom to Vote Act and the filibuster had not been discussed with everyone signing the letter, it was unnecessary to include the filibuster footnote in the letter to be publicly distributed,” Tagliabue wrote in a statement provided late Wednesday afternoon to AL.com after a comment was requested Tuesday. “As a result, our press statement along with the letter released publicly did not address the filibuster issue.”
The Jan. 13 letter — which was co-signed by Saban and other West Virginia sports figures in Jerry West, Oliver Luck and Darryl Talley — urged the passage of the voting rights bill that is currently being considered by the Senate. The bill would standardize election laws across the country and restore provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Democrats have enough votes to pass the bill but would need 60 votes to block a Republican filibuster attempt and end debate over the bill. Manchin, a longtime friend of Saban, and Arizona senator Kyrsten Sinema have resisted efforts by Democratic leadership to change the Senate’s filibuster rules in order to pass the bill. Their resistance will almost certainly prevent the bill from passing, even though Manchin has supported the content of the legislation itself.
The letter sent to Manchin supported, “measures to provide voters with a range of opportunities to obtain and cast a lawful ballot, including robust in-person, early, and absentee voting options,” and also took issue with individual states’ election laws that, “seek to secure partisan advantage by eliminating reliable practices with proven safeguards and substituting practices ripe for manipulation.”
However, a footnote included in the letter that was reported Tuesday by CNN reads, “Coach Saban is not in favor of getting rid of the filibuster in the Senate. He believes this will destroy the checks and balances we must have in this Democracy. The others signing this letter take no position on this aspect of Senate policies.”
In his statement to AL.com, Tagliabue confirmed the footnote appeared in the version of the letter sent last week to Manchin as well as senators Chuck Schumer, Amy Klobuchar and Tim Kaine. But Tagliabue said he and Saban spoke Friday to consider making the letter public, and Saban agreed to keep the footnote out of the publicly-distributed letter as well as a Monday press release about it.
Tagliabue, 81, served as NFL commissioner from 1989 until his retirement before the 2006 season, which was Saban’s second and final as the Miami Dolphins’ head coach. Tagliabue now works as a senior counsel for a Washington, D.C. law firm.
Saban declined to comment Wednesday evening about Tagliabue’s statement, but Manchin said Tuesday at the Capitol that Tagliabue was responsible for the removal of the footnote in the public version of the letter.
“Nick Saban at the bottom of his letter — which they didn’t put, Paul Tagliabue didn’t put what Nick Saban wrote at the bottom, his footnote, he supports the filibuster,” Manchin told reporters. “Do not get rid of the filibuster. Now why did he automatically leave that out?”
But Manchin reiterated that Saban supports the voting rights bill, which is considered a key legislative priority for Joe Biden.
“Nick Saban’s letter was straight on. They all [the co-signers] want the right to vote, right? We all want the right to vote,” Manchin said Tuesday. “I think everyone — we should all support the right to vote. But not breaking the rules.”
Saban’s stance supporting the voting rights bill still drew backlash Tuesday from South Carolina representative Ralph Norman, a Republican, who tweeted, “Nick Saban should focus on winning National Championships instead of destroying our elections.” The tweet was later deleted.
Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.