John Wahl, Alabama GOP chairman and Alabama Public Library Service (APLS) board member, said he was saddened by the negativity, “falsehoods and lies” levied at him after Read Freely Alabama (RFA) sent a letter to the APLS requesting an investigation into a possible conflict of interest.

“I work very hard to try to be genuine, to try to be a peacemaker,” Wahl said. “I really do want to get to the bottom line of things and talk about the issues and have a respectful conversation.”

RFA, which opposes book censorship, accused Wahl of “intentionally abusing his authority as a member of the APLS Board of Directors to enhance his political reputation and consolidate his power over the Alabama GOP” for agreeing to speak at a Clean Up Alabama (CUA) meeting Nov. 2. CUA has led several book challenges statewide.

Wahl didn’t confirm whether he would attend but insisted he wasn’t invited as an APLS board member. The invitation lists his title as District 5 APLS board member. CUA didn’t respond to questions about whether the organization added his title at his request.

RFA, in a statement, said they “are happy to hear that Mr. Wahl has clarified that he did not plan to attend the Clean Up Prattville roundtable event with the intent to speak in his capacity as an APLS board member.”

Wahl has served on the board since 2022 and said it’s a “healthy process” to have politicians on boards. He wants to listen to all constituents and is concerned about some of the “sexually explicit” book passages that have been read aloud at library board and city council meetings.

“I am a strong believer in the First Amendment and the idea that we should have freedom of thought we should have freedom of dialogue,” Wahl said. “However, that doesn’t mean that we should have pornography or sexually explicit material in children’s sections where innocent children can stumble upon it accidentally.” Wahl couldn’t share an example of a book in a children’s section that contained such content.

Wahl said he isn’t for removing books from the library but would like to see some books moved to more appropriate sections. RFA said they’re pleased to hear he doesn’t want books removed, but “there is more than one way to censor books. When the government demands that libraries restrict or limit library material from the materials’ intended audience, that is censorship and a violation of the First Amendment.”

Many of the books CUA opposes are classified as “young adult.” RFA said creating new sections for older teens “take time, and many Alabama libraries lack sufficient funding and staffing to quickly implement these ideas.” Wahl said he’d support additional funding for libraries to help staff add classifications for books.

“In the last legislative session, I already advocated for more funding for local libraries,” Wahl said. “And in the upcoming legislation, I would absolutely support covering the cost of anything new that was required for local libraries to properly categorize some material in make sure that anything inappropriate was not placed in the children’s section.”