Alabama political veteran Steve Flowers, perhaps needing a refresher course in media law, calls for Donald Watkins to be jailed for engaging in journalism

Steve Flowers

 

Steve Flowers has held a prominent voice in Alabama politics for roughly 30 years -- as a state lawmaker, commentator, author, and historian. His weekly syndicated newspaper column, "Inside the Statehouse," is published in 66 newspapers across Alabama. Flowers should know better than to traffic in ideas that are unlawful, nutty, even dangerous. After all, Flowers' Wikipedia page indicates his column has a readership/circulation of more than 450,000. It seems safe to assume that a fair number of those readers take Flowers' words seriously. But no one should take his current column -- "Donald Watkins blogs from prison" -- seriously. 

Flowers more or less calls for Watkins, a longtime Alabama attorney and businessman, to be arrested and thrown in jail. Why? It seems Watkins' online journalism, which can be found at donaldwatkins.com, has offended Flowers and some of his friends. Here is the last paragraph of Flowers' current column, which I found at the Web site for Alabama Political Reporter (APR), in the opinion section at the bottom of the home page: 

Freedom of speech is one of the hallmarks of America’s creed. But that freedom in the hands of a proven liar and brazen, arrogant, non-repentant federal prisoner is not what our forefathers envisioned when they enshrined the First Amendment. This blogger is a threat to society and deserves further jail time.

For roughly the past 10 years, Watkins has focused his reporting on the burgeoning Southern Company/Alabama Power/Matrix LLC fraud-bribery scandal, which has become so severe that former Alabama Power CEO Mark Crosswhite reportedly is seeking an immunity deal in exchange for cooperating with federal investigators.

That is an extraordinary development, one that has been driven by non-traditional media -- including Web sites published by Watkins, K.B. Forbes and the CDLU, and yours truly here at Legal Schnauzer-- mainly because the mainstream media (MSM) has largely ignored a story of profound importance in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, and beyond.

Steve Flowers apparently does not approve of Watkins' journalism, causing him to hold the retired attorney in low regard. Here's more from Flowers' current column:

I do not pay much attention to the so-called “internet bloggers,” but the outlandish lies of one such blogger has gotten my attention. A convicted criminal named Donald Watkins has been blogging scurrilous, vicious, outlandish lies about some of our state’s and nation’s most outstanding leaders and companies. Watkins is posting these lies to the internet while serving a federal prison sentence under the jurisdiction of the federal penal system. 

Those are harsh words, but Flowers likely has a legal right to put most of them in the public square. U.S. defamation law generally protects such expressions of opinion. (Note: Falsely saying Watkins is serving a federal prison sentence, while under the jurisdiction of the federal penal system, might be a different matter.)

That, plus other parts of Flowers' column could put him -- and the newspapers who carry his column -- at legal peril. (We'll have more on that in a moment.)

First, this appears to be a case of Flowers' emotions overtaking his brain, and his column provides clues about how that happened. In essence, Watkins has written, critically and powerfully, about the Southern Company scandal -- and that apparently involves some of Flowers' friends. Consider this from the current column:

In 2017, Alabama businessman Joe Perkins sued Watkins for defamation. A circuit court ruled in Perkins’s favor and awarded a judgment against Watkins of $1.5 million. Watkins appealed all the way up to the United States Supreme Court, and on February 27, the highest court in the land unceremoniously refused to hear Watkins’s ridiculous appeal.

So, why don’t more of Watkins’s victims sue him for his lies? As the old saying goes, you can’t get blood from a turnip. He owes his victims more than $15 million today. He is in such a deep hole that he cannot be stopped by more lawsuits.

That apparently led Flowers to conclude that the only way to stop Watkins is by throwing him in jail. No kidding. An American adult, with decades of experience in politics and journalism, actually wrote that. Why is this such a loony notion? We'll explain with a brief Legal Schnauzer primer on media law: The same First Amendment that protects Steve Flowers' right to express a low opinion of Donald Watkins also protects Watkins' right to report vigorously on chicanery at Southern Company and its affiliates -- even if it exposes some of Flowers' friends. In the United State, we do not lawfully throw a journalist in jail because his reporting hurts someone's feelings. (Although I'm aware this actually has happened at least once in Alabama history. We'll have more on that in a future post.)

Although Flowers calls Watkins a liar, he does not point to any specific falsehoods in Watkins' reporting. So, this does not appear to be a matter about defamation. (Even if it were, under U.S. law, we do not throw journalists in jail for alleged defamation; the remedy for such claims is money damages.)

Flowers' main gripe appears to go something like this: "Watkins was convicted on investment-fraud charges in 2019 and spent roughly three years in federal prison. Therefore, he should lose his First Amendment rights and be returned to jail as a "threat to society."

Where does Flowers put himself, and the newspapers that carry his column, at legal risk? Let's start with the headline, "Donald Watkins blogs from prison," published on March 15, 2023. That indicates Watkins is in prison, right now. But Watkins was released on August 25, 2022. The headline suggests he is in prison currently, which would be due to criminal conduct. Even slight suggestions of criminal conduct can constitute defamation per se. Here is one definition of such claims: Defamatory statements falling into certain categories deemed particularly damaging to one's reputation are considered defamatory “per se” and may be compensable even without proof of reputational harm. False accusations of morally reprehensible criminal activity are a common example of this “per se” form of defamation.

The notion that Donald Watkins is in prison now, and he's there because of criminal activity, could raise legal issues.

Let's revisit the last paragraph in the Flowers column:

Freedom of speech is one of the hallmarks of America’s creed. But that freedom in the hands of a proven liar and brazen, arrogant, non-repentant federal prisoner is not what our forefathers envisioned when they enshrined the First Amendment. This Blogger is a threat to society and deserves further jail time.

Flowers calls Watkins a "non-repentant federal prisoner." That's not opinion; it's a falsehood, suggesting recent criminal activity. It might be actionable as defamation per se. Flowers might have compounded his problem by deeming Watkins a "threat to society." Again, that suggests recent criminal activity or the potential to commit crimes -- and it might be actionable as defamation per se. (Flowers' words also are nonsensical; if someone already is in federal prison, why would you want to have him thrown in jail?)

At its heart, Flowers' column is a rant about the Watkins federal-fraud case. He trashes Watkins over allegations that have been adjudicated, and for which, Watkins has served his sentence. Watkins does not lose his First Amendment rights because he once was in prison -- and he certainly is not in prison any longer. Why does Flowers rail about the fraud case? Only Flowers knows for sure, but it might be because he seems to have no complaint about Watkins' reporting being false.

Watkins himself provides insight on what might have motivated Flowers' column. From Watkins' post, dated March 15, 2023, under the headline "Joe Perkins Crony Wants Donald Watkins Jailed":

Steve Flowers has been a paid political hustler in Alabama for decades. He is also a former state legislator and longtime Joe Perkins crony. Flowers' personal and political baggage is heavy, nasty, and smelly.

With mounting negative media headlines about Joe Perkins and the hot legal mess he has created for the Southern Company, Alabama Power Company, Florida Power & Light, NextEra Energy, and other public utility companies that are/were his clients, Perkins has unleashed Steve Flowers to attack me on his website.

Matrix/Perkins prepared the "attack article" for Flowers to post on his own website and distribute to friendly media organizations that receive laundered payments from the Southern Company and/or its affiliates. Sources inside Matrix's dwindling sphere of influence leaked a draft of Flowers' article to us, along with its background and intended purpose.

Steve Flowers is also a sycophant of former U.S. Senate Richard Shelby (R-Alabama). In fact, Flowers is the person who inadvertently outed Perkins’ “hunting buddy” relationship with Shelby and Scott Coogler, who is Chief U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of Alabama. 

My published articles on Richard Shelby have been hard hitting, truthful, and unflattering. Shelby and former president Bill Clinton are the only career government officials I know who went to Washington with a meager net worth, but left public office as multi-millionaires. How did this happen? Neither man will say.

Claiming that lawsuits will not deter me from spreading “lies” about Perkins and his nefarious “dirty tricks” operations on behalf of public utility companies, Steve Flowers has advocated that I be jailed for my news reporting.

Flowers' call for my imprisonment comes straight out of Russian President Vladimir Putin's playbook for handling political and media dissidents.

Watkins takes note of Flowers' failure to cite anything false in  his reporting:

Steve Flowers does not dispute any of the following material facts, documents, or events cited in my published articles:

1. The Federal Election Commission maintains a public file that contains a written confession by Joe Perkins to breaking federal election laws.

2. In 2017, Joe Perkins prepared written notes in which he outlined his plan to destroy me, including his use of the federal criminal justice process in Alabama to do so.

3. On April 6, 2017, Joe Perkins prepared handwritten notes that outlined and annotated the accounting fraud scheme at the Southern Company.

4. A March 17-18, 2015 email chain between Alabama Power Company’s general counsel and Balch & Bingham attorneys set in motion a scheme to bribe former state Rep. Oliver Robinson with $360,000.

5. Perkins employs felons to work on his contracts with the Southern Company and its affiliates. Felons also work as subcontractors for Joe Perkins in his "dirty tricks"operations.

6. Former Alabama Power Company CEO Mark Crosswhite is cooperating with federal investigators and is seeking full immunity to spill the beans on Perkins, Matrix, and other co-conspirators.

Watkins notes that he and his son, Donald Watkins Jr., have filed a RICO complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice, citing their status as victims of racketeering activities. Such a filing gives them certain protections, Watkins states:

It is a felony offense to threaten known crime victims who have reported racketeering crimes to federal law-enforcement authorities.

Watkins also addresses the criminal charges that were brought against him and his son:

In 2018, my son and I were framed by modern-day COINTELPRO federal prosecutors in Birmingham, Alabama, on trumped-up fraud charges arising from a handful of financial transactions with my business partners. These prosecutors used Perkins' handwritten notes as a playbook to railroad us. The transactions in question had been previously reviewed by unbiased federal prosecutors in the New Jersey U.S. Attorney's Office two years earlier and were found to be compliant with all federal laws.

Efforts by Perkins and other Alabama power-players to imprison me on any trumped up charges continued through 2022. Flowers has brought these efforts forward into 2023.

My personal background and work towards progressive government in Alabama are posted in the “Biography” section on my website. I proudly declare my innocence and list my “political prisoner” status (2019 to 2022) on my Web site, Facebook page, and LinkedIn page. Flowers says this declaration makes me a "non-repentant federal prisoner."

Steve Flowers and his kind in Alabama are accustomed to "breaking" black men/women under their sphere of control. Obviously, this "breaking" did NOT occur in my case.