Alabama's controversial special Senate election is rapidly approaching — and the race is receiving a great deal of attention. One of the candidates, Roy Moore, has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women and encouraged to drop out of the race. Moore has denied these allegations, calling them "ritual defamation," and will be on the ballot on Tuesday. As Moore's candidacy has encountered extensive scrutiny during the race, many people are clamoring to know more information about him and his family, including Moore's daughter, Heather Moore Mayo.
Mayo is the oldest daughter of Moore and his wife, Kayla. Mayo is Kayla's daughter from a previous marriage and she was adopted by Moore shortly after the couple wed in 1985. Mayo, who is in her mid-30s, is the couple's oldest child. They also have three younger sons — Ory, Caleb, and Micah.
Mayo attended Gadsden State Community College and Auburn University in Montgomery, Alabama. She married Brandon Kyle Mayo in 2006 in Gallant, Alabama. The couple has two daughters.
According to the publication Al.com, Mayo reportedly works as the lead for Cornerstone Speakers Agency, LLC, a company that arranges travel, publicity, and bookings for professional public speakers and musicians. However, as the publication pointed out, Cornerstone Speakers Agency seems to have no public presence — and lacks a publicly-available phone number or website. The agency has also not filed an annual tax report with the Alabama Department of Revenue since 2012. The primary public record of the company's existence consists of its registration with the Alabama Secretary of State's office.
In addition to reportedly serving as the head of Cornerstone Speakers Agency, Moore's daughter also serves as a board member for the Foundation for Moral Law, a nonprofit which was started by Moore. According to its website, the foundation " ... exists to restore the knowledge of God in law and government and to acknowledge and defend the truth that man is endowed with rights, not by our fellow man, but by God!" It advocates for litigation promoting religious liberties and also seeks to educate others about the "importance of acknowledging God in law and government."
Al.com reported that Moore's wife, Kayla, currently serves as president of the foundation. In a 2015 ethics form filed by Moore while he was chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Moore also indicated that Mayo began serving as a board member in 2015.
Moore's foundation — and his family's involvement with it — has drawn criticism and calls for closer examination of the foundation's financials. In an October article, the Washington Post reported that internal organization documents reveal that Moore had sought to receive a salary of $180,000 a year for part-time work at the foundation. They also showed that he reportedly received a total of $1 million from 2007-2012, while he was serving as the organization's president. According to the Post, these numbers greatly differ from what the foundation reported in its tax filings.
Al.com also noted that Moore was not the only family member to receive compensation for his work with the foundation. Kayla received a salary for her work as president (a salary which was allegedly not reported to the IRS) and two of his children also received money from the foundation.
Moore and his family have been subject to criticism after these revelations became public, since they could indicate a violation of IRS rules, which prohibit using a charity for personal financial gain. However, the foundation's former chairman, Alabama Circuit Court Judge John Bentley, told the Post that the foundation "did not serve to benefit Moore and that any wrongdoing or errors in the filings were likely unintentional."
For her part, Mayo has largely remained out of the public eye and has not commented on her work with the Foundation for Moral Law or the Cornerstone Speakers Agency. She has also not addressed the sexual misconduct allegations against her father or the questions surrounding the charity's financials.
