Why did Alabama-based conservative think tank align itself with hardened criminal Bryan Dawson on a news site whose reporting led to Bubba Copeland suicide?

Kenneth Bryan Dawson mugshot

The Alabama Policy Institute (API), a conservative think tank co-founded by U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer (R-AL) recently announced via a press release that it no longer has any legal, editorial, or financial ties to 1819 News, the website that published a series of articles leading to the suicide of small-town Alabama mayor Fred "Bubba" Copeland. 

According to press reports, API once owned 1819 News and launched it in October 2021. In the wake of Copeland's death, API seems to be in a hurry to distance itself from 1819 News. But attorney Donald Watkins, who has become a leading voice in online investigative journalism, says his research indicates the connections between 1819 News and API have not been severed as cleanly as API might want the public to believe.

Under the headline "Why Did the Alabama Policy Institute Give Inmate Kenneth Bryan Dawson $1,077,500?" Watkins writes:

In 2021, the conservative Alabama Policy Institute gave convicted cocaine trafficker, serial thief, and attempted murderer Kenneth Bryan Dawson $1,077,500 to launch 1819 News as API’s digital media arm.

Today, Dawson, 39, serves as 1819 News' president, CEO, and publisher.

On its website, API says 1819 News and API formally separated on December 31, 2022, and that there is "no legal, editorial, or financial affiliation between the two entities.”

Nobody claims that Kenneth Bryan Dawson returned the $1,077,500 he received to API as part of this "legal, editorial, or financial" disassociation. In fact, the evidence suggests that Dawson kept the money and continues to work hand-in-hand with API to promote its conservative agenda in the state.

Why did API want to associate with Dawson and his disturbing criminal record in the first place? Watkins writes:

Dawson’s extensive criminal court and prison records paint the profile of a man who was a very violent and dangerous career criminal. He literally traded stolen vehicles to Mexican drug cartels in exchange for cocaine that he trafficked throughout Colorado and elsewhere. Additionally, Dawson nearly beat a police informant to death for "snitching" on him.

We have found no public record in which Kenneth Bryan Dawson expressed contrition for his crimes or remorse to the victims whose lives were ruined by his cocaine trafficking deals, thievery, and attempt at committing murder.

In prison, Dawson found God. He claims to have experienced a proverbial "Saul to Paul conversion on the road to Damacus." Acts 9:1-22.

Watkins addresses perhaps the two most puzzling questions about the API-Bryan Dawson relationship:

Dawson’s prison records explain, in part, how he got out of prison early and why he wound up in Alabama. 

However, nobody has ever explained why a powerful Alabama-based conservative think tank like API would pump $1,077,500 into empowering a man with Kenneth Bryan Dawson's background and continues to associate with him today on driving political policy in Alabama. 

In 2022, another $1 millions or more reportedly flowed to Dawson’s 1819 News, via “dark money” contributions from less conspicuous mega-donors in Alabama. We know who they are.

On November 1, 2023, Dawson’s 1819 News executed a media "hit job" that “outed” Smiths Station, Alabama, mayor Fred “Bubba” Copeland’s cross-dressing (in his home) and his James Patterson-style works of erotic fiction.  An embarrassed and emotionally distraught Copeland responded to this 1819 News article by killing himself two days later.

Will the real story behind Bryan Dawson's prominent place in the API constellation be fully revealed? Watkins says the answer is yes, and it is coming soon:

To date, Kenneth Bryan Dawson has expressed no remorse or apology for his role in Bubba Copeland's death. This suicide is now the subject of a homicide investigation by the Lee County, Alabama Sheriff's and District Attorney's offices.

After weeks of investigation, our news team has finally discovered the real ties that bind the power-players at API to Kenneth Bryan Dawson. API literally passed over thousands of convicted cocaine traffickers, serial thieves, attempted murderers, and so-called "Saul to Paul" converts, inside and outside of Alabama, to adopt Kenneth Bryan Dawson as its financially-sponsored media "hit man."

Why?

We will deliver the surprising answer to this $1,077,500 question in an exclusive investigative report on Thanksgiving Day. It's a stunner!

Stay tuned!