Overt racism, and Bob Riley's use of state contracts in an effort to frame a political opponent for murder, lurk beneath surface of Trey Glenn indictment in Alabama

Trey Glenn mugshot

Whenever you come across a story of right-wing corruption, it's a safe bet that racism is part of the narrative. If the corruption is based in Alabama, the Riley crime family likely is involved.

Last week's indictment in Jefferson County, Alabama, of Trey Glenn, Trump Southeast director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), provides prime examples. An Alabama political insider says Glenn views black males as little more than disposable waste and used blatantly racist language in discussions about environmental matters. As for former Gov. Bob Riley, the insider says he used government contracts as a pawn in an effort to frame a former Alabama lawmaker for murder -- all because the then-state senator, a Democrat, refused to go along with Riley's political agenda.

Jill Simpson -- whistle blower, opposition researcher, and retired attorney -- saw Glenn's racist and corrupt tendencies while both were seeking an environmental contract about 12 years ago. Who was involved in Glenn's underhanded tactics? Why, our old "friend" Luther Strange, of course. From a Simpson Facebook post after the Glenn indictment was announced last week:

In 2006, I did a $16-million bid, for myself and four partners, to clean up a tire dump and caught Trey Glenn who then was head of ADEM [Alabama Department of Environmental Management] doing a bunch of corrupt things. It started with him trying to do a no-bid contract on a multi-million dollar deal. Next, I caught him offering one bidder the opportunity to use prisoners as basically free labor, without caring if they had proper clothing, training, and safety gear to take tires out of a lake, which gave the other bidder an unfair financial advantage. 

Trey said, "Jill, it is black guys at St Clair prison mostly," and he did not give a shit what happened to them. Then I found out he had been working with Luther [Strange], a private attorney to give people on a state tire clean-up committee an unfair advantage in the bidding process.

As for Bob Riley (and his son, the oily Rob "Uday" Riley), he tried to have former State Sen. Lowell Barron (D-Fyffe) framed for murder. Writes Simpson:

Bob Riley, after I did not get the tire deal, said I could have the next three or four tire deals if I would agree to set Lowell Barron up on opposition research on the death of Judge Paul Thomas, by getting recorded statements from clerks at the courthouse saying Lowell -- Senate pro tem at the time -- called Paul and asked him to meet him at his house the day of Paul's death, which came after he fell off a mountain. 

I told Bob I would not help him, as I knew Lowell's brother, who had been a client, and I was not getting involved in his and Rob's bullshit about Lowell. Bob said that my partners and I would not get any tire contracts if I did not start helping him get Lowell Barron, who was causing him trouble with his agenda. He then asked if I would at least help find a plaintiff for a lawsuit, in front of a judge named Bush, that they were going to bring against Lowell, supposedly for not filing some election papers right, and I said no which really pissed him off, and he said some ugly things.

Simpson says she reported the actions of Trey Glenn and the Rileys to law enforcement and civil-rights groups:

I went back to my partners, and we agreed I should report it to an FBI agent I had helped some time back solve a murder case involving a member of a Mexican Gang called La Familia .I called Danny Garnet, an FBI agent in Gadsden, and he came to my office in September of 2006, and I told him what had happened with Bob and Rob at the time Mueller was the head of the FBI -- and the FBI started investigating Trey and Bob. 

Bob Riley

I also notified the SPLC and Rev. Lowery with the Southern Christian Leadership organization to notify folks of what Bob Riley and Trey Glenn said when I advised them that they should not put young black men in a lake filled with mosquitoes without proper safety gear or training, as it could cause life-time health problems and put them at serious risk of dangerous infections.

Someone leaked to Bob that I had spoken to the FBI, and he sent thugs to my office to take me to a meeting with him, and I pulled away from one of those thugs and locked myself in a bathroom. I also notified Doc Barron that Bob Riley was trying to get me to help with putting Lowell in jail . . . and that I had said no, as Bob's actions were criminal. I further said, "I am afraid I am going to get hurt."

Until last week, Trey Glenn had proven slippery for law enforcement. But now that Glenn is facing criminal charges, will he help take down others -- especially those linked to the North Birmingham Superfund scandal? Writes Simpson:

Due to my meeting with the FBI, from my understanding, that is what kicked off an investigation in 2007 of the very corrupt Trey Glenn, who escaped being indicted then --  and I heard at the time Jeff Sessions intervened for him, to protect Bob Riley and Luther Strange and their corrupt Alabama Gang. 

Many years later, we at the Alabama Resistance heard that Trey was involved in new corrupt deal in Birmingham -- the Superfund scandal -- and once again, Luther's name came up using his public AG office to try to stop a cleanup site in a black district, and we heard Trey was writing the letters and that Sessions was involved as well. These are some deeply corrupt folks, so I am glad to see Trey Glenn is now indicted. I know back then the FBI folks hoped to get Trey and encourage him to tell on Sessions, Strange, and Bob and Rob Riley, and it appears once again this little bunch is in the mix on a clean-up site on which they were trying to stop EPA from doing anything.