Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Randy Bates, sales chief at Golden Flake, likes to munch on more than corn chips; he tries to sample "snacks" at Ashley Madison extramarital-affairs site


(From logos.wikia.com)
The executive vice president for one of the South's foremost snack-food companies appears as a paying customer at the Ashley Madison extramarital-affair Web site.

Paul Randall "Randy" Bates, in addition to his VP duties, serves on the board of directors at Golden Enterprises. One of the company's wholly owned subsidiaries is Golden Flake Snack Foods, which produces potato chips, corn chips, tortilla chips, cheese curls, fried pork skins, and other goodies, which are a part of everyday life throughout the southern United States.

Bates has been with Golden Flake since 1979 and joined the board of directors in 2010. (Note: Just two days ago, Golden Flake was sold to Utz Quality Foods, which is based in Hanover, Pennsylvania. Perhaps the fine folks at Utz will be interested to learn that they now have a VP in Birmingham who dabbles in more than corn chips. Utz CEO Dylan Lissette promises that Golden Flake will maintain its regional identity and remain closely linked to the athletics programs at the University of Alabama and Auburn University.)

This is from Bates' biography at Reuters:

Mr. Paul R. Bates is Executive Vice President -- Sales and Marketing of Golden Flake Snack Foods, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Golden Enterprises Inc., and Director of the company. He joined Golden Flake in 1979 as a route salesperson in Birmingham. He has also been a Divisional Manager in New Orleans, Region Manager in Nashville, Sales Manager, and Vice President of Sales for Golden Flake.

Bates serves on a board with some of the best-known names in Alabama business circles, including Wally Nall, Joann Bashinsky (widow of late CEO Sloan Bashinsky Sr.), John Samford, and John Stein. Bates, however, keeps a fairly low profile. If there is a photo of him on the Web, we haven't found it. We feel certain his wife has a name, but we can't find it. (We think it is Peggy S. Bates, but we aren't certain about that.) As for his children and grandchildren, they seem to be underground.

 Most of what we could find about him came from one paragraph in an article at businesswire.com from six years ago:

Randy Bates joined Golden Flake in 1979 as a route salesperson in Birmingham. He was a Divisional Manager in New Orleans, Region Manager in Nashville, Sales Manager, and Vice President of Sales, before being promoted to Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing in 1998. Mr. Bates is married, has two children, and five grandchildren.

With a wife, two children, and five grandchildren (as of 2010) Bates has a pretty high family profile, which leads to this question: Why on earth is this guy fooling around on Ashley Madison?

We sought comment from Bates for this article, but he has not responded to our queries.


Previously:

(1) Edgar C. Gentle III -- attorney at Gentle Turner Sexton and Harbison, Birmingham, AL (3/8/16)

(2) Stewart Springer -- attorney, solo practice in Birmingham, AL. (3/9/16)

(3) Richard W. "Dick" Bell -- attorney, solo practice in Birmingham, AL (3/14/16)

(4) Robert M.N. Palmer -- attorney and bar association president in Springfield, MO (3/15/16)

(5) Thomas Plouff -- attorney, who is licensed in Alabama and has a practice in Chicago (3/17/16)


23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome headline!

Anonymous said...

I wonder if Mr. Bell likes salsa with his Ashley Madison snacks.

Anonymous said...

Interesting timing: Golden Flake gets sold, a VP gets outed. Nice.

Anonymous said...

Headline made me spew milk out of my nose.

Anonymous said...

The Rob Campbell headline is still the best.

Roger - where any users of the site NOT rich white guys?

Anonymous said...

Come on LS...throw a native Missourian a bone. How about somebody from my (and now your) state??

Anonymous said...

Venturing off the ranch for different chips and dip....

legalschnauzer said...

Oh, don't worry, @3:32, we've got plenty of Missourians in the file folder. Will be running them soon.

legalschnauzer said...

There are plenty of guys, I feel certain, who are not rich, white guys, @1:35. In fact, there are a fair number of women, although I'm not sure why they show on the paying list. My understanding is that women don't have to pay on AM.

Keep in mind that the number of names is so large that I can't possibly look up each one. But the point of my reporting is to show how many high-level professionals, people in positions of public trust, are trying to cheat on their spouses. And I can tell -- usually by addresses or zip codes or phone numbers -- who is likely to be from the "upper crust" and who is just a regular Joe.

My research indicates there are plenty of Regular Joe's on there, but the real story -- in my view -- is the number of "Upper Class Joes" who fell for the AM con.

I should note, too, that I've had a number of people on the list respond to my queries with explanations that I found to be legitimate, and I don't plan to write about them. In fact, I won't write about them unless additional research produces information that conflicts with their explanations. Some readers apparently think I'm taking a "slash and burn" approach to this, but that is not the case. Everyone I've written about so far has had an opportunity to comment, and I'd say I've marked about a half dozen off my list because they had explanations that I felt made sense, and I felt they were being honest with me.

Anonymous said...

Schnauzer, are you aware that Luther Strange's campaign manager in his re-election campaign (who like Jessica, was a much younger attractive female) separated from her husband during her time working for Luther and also divorced her spouse - just like Jessica?

It looks possible that Strange is a serial workplace adulterer.

legalschnauzer said...

No, I wasn't aware of that, @9:40. I thought Jessica managed both campaigns. I'm off target on that? Do you have a name on campaign manager No. 2? It certainly could raise questions about Luther as a serial workplace adulterer. Wonder if Jessica is aware of what might be going on.

S C said...


I think somebody should check Testosterone shipments to Montgomery - Everybody (young, old, and ugly) seems very BUSY there

Anonymous said...

Luther's most recent young female campaign manager's name WAS Brooklyn Roberts. Now again using her maiden name of Brooklyn Burgess and IDing as "single" on social media platforms such as Facebook etc. She worked for Eagle Forum before Luther; like Jessica, she had never run a campaign in her life before Luther suddenly decided she was perfect to run a statewide race. She's mid 30s now.

e.a.f. said...

If these guys were so unhappy with their wives, why didn't they just file for divorce and get on with their lives. In this day and age you really have to be careful. There are all sorts of things you can bring home, which can kill, including Hep. C. so you have to wonder about the moral compass of these people and their judgement. Sound judgement really seems to be lacking and in some of these jobs, these guys hold, sound/good judgement is important.

legalschnauzer said...

You nailed it, e.a.f. I've had umpteen readers ask me why I'm reporting on this story, and you explained it better than I could with this:

"Sound judgement really seems to be lacking and in some of these jobs, these guys hold, sound/good judgement is important."

Extremely well put. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Schnauzer, do you know where Luther's wife is in all of this? Had heard rumors that she and Luther lead separate lives and that their marriage may be in name only.

legalschnauzer said...

Thank you for the information, @6:15. That's a new name to me. I'm going to look into this.

legalschnauzer said...

@3:13, I'm not sure about Mrs. Strange's status. I heard that she is living in a condo in Bham, while Luther has a big-ass house in the Pike Road area of Montgomery. I think that's just the opposite of what state politicos usually do. I think the usual route is to maintain the family home in Bham, Daphne, Ft. Payne, wherever, and get an apartment or condo in Hontgomery. Wonder why Luther isn't doing it that way.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Luther needs a big house to accommodate his multiple mistresses.

legalschnauzer said...

@6:15, I would like to look into this issue. If you would feel comfortable talking with me, you are welcome to call (205) 381-5673 or email at rshuler3156@gmail.com. I would be glad to protect your identity. If the two of us could talk, I think that might be a good first step toward checking this out.

Jenny Taylia said...

As a female reader of your blog, I find this snack king of AL a despicable. Likely a pussy grabber too...

Anonymous said...

As a potato chip eater and reader of this blog I find this appalling. However I will continue to eat a ton of golden flake chips bc no one cares

Anonymous said...

Shame on You Randy Bates........ Cannot wait to share this with my husband. Your a Mess!!!!!!!