Weaver Mayor Wayne Willis, a candidate for state Senate District 12, said he’ll not respond to a report in The Anniston Star about a divorce filing that named him as having a relationship with a married woman.
Asked if he wanted to tell his side, Willis did not elaborate.
“I don’t comment on hit pieces,” Willis texted Tuesday.
Gregory Brock Morrow filed for divorce from his wife, Cynthia Denise Morrow, on April 21 in Calhoun County Circuit Court. Morrow accused his wife of engaging “in an adulterous affair with a third-party, to-wit, Wayne Willis.”
The story was reported in print Wednesday and Willis was asked Thursday for an interview. He declined, texting, “Why, so you can attack me more? A divorce is not front-page news. The Star is helping Jane Cunningham to attempt to destroy me. No thanks.”
Cunningham, a Weaver property owner and frequent critic of the mayor, said she is not surprised by his attempts to deflect and redirect public scrutiny concerning his behavior.
“Other philanderers, like (former Alabama governor) Robert Bentley, attempted to blame others when they were caught under similar circumstances,” Cunningham said in a phone interview Thursday. “But as a constituent in the Senate district Mr. Willis seeks, and as an owner of real property located in the City of Weaver, I am deeply concerned by his abjectly amoral behavior both before and after he was caught.
“I am deeply convinced that Mr. Willis is singularly ill-suited to hold any public office and believe the public deserves to know why,” she added.
Cunningham said that before Thursday, she had never spoken with current or former reporters at The Star regarding Willis.
“Said affair has been ongoing for years prior to the filing of this complaint,” Morrow’s divorce complaint states.
Danny McCullars, a Democrat running unopposed for his party’s nomination to the District 12 seat, said Wednesday that his heart goes out to the families affected by this situation.
“It’s unfortunate Wayne could not deny the allegations in the divorce complaint,” McCullars said. “Many Republican candidates are consistent, using the phrases family, faith, freedom and conservative to ‘defend’ Alabama values. It’s a reminder the words that many GOP candidates embrace are often shallow.”
McCullars said his candidacy offers practical conservatism to best ensure Alabama’s future.
“I’m looking to Nov. 8,” McCullars said, referring to the date of the general election. McCullars is running unopposed and will be the party’s nomination for the general election. The Republican primary is May 24 and will include contenders Willis, businessman Keith Kelley and lawyer Wendy Ghee Draper. Both Draper and Kelley have declined to comment.
Steve Flowers, political columnist and former state representative, said Thursday that personal scandals used to have devastating effects on candidates.
“However, today, not as much — media ads are so vicious and disingenuous that voters are skeptical about what is true and what is not,” Flowers said.
Jeannie Negron Burniston, communications director of the Alabama Republican Party, said Thursday that the state Republican Party has “no comment at this time” about Willis’s candidacy.
