Is Karl Rove's Quickie Marriage Designed to Counteract Reports About His Bisexuality?

Karl Rove and Karen Johnson

How should a prominent political figure react when he is being hounded by reports of a bisexual affair with a junior party operative? What if that political figure has built his career, to a considerable extent, on anti-gay rhetoric.

If you are Republican Party guru Karl Rove, you get married for the third time--and you do it in a hurry.

Rove got married recently in Austin, Texas, according to a report last week in Politico. The date of the blessed event is not clear, but it coincides with reports that Rove and National Bloggers Club president Ali A. Akbar share more than a love of conservative political theory.

A source tells Legal Schnauzer that the wedding probably took place shortly before the bisexuality story hit the press. But the source also says Rove knew the Akbar story was coming several days before it broke. According to a report today in The Washington Post's Lifestyle section, Rove refused to disclose any details about the wedding.

Who is Rove's new bride? She is a GOP lobbyist named Karen Johnson, and she played a prominent role in a New Yorker profile of Rove in March 2011.

Ms. Johnson, however, does not seem to be the apple of Rove's eye at the moment. That role, according to press reports, is reserved for casino mogul Steve Wynn. Reports Politico:

Wynn, the flamboyant Las Vegas billionaire who claims to have voted for President Barack Obama in 2008, was the perfect get for Rove. Wynn was loaded, had soured on Obama and was just the kind of wealthy businessman who could help underwrite a plan hatched by Rove and other influential conservatives to spend close to $1 billion total to win the White House, Senate and House in 2012. Wynn, a registered Democrat until recently, was reluctant to attach his name to any high-dollar gambles on the GOP, worried that Obama’s allies would make him a bogeyman. So Rove — who helped develop Crossroads GPS in 2010, one of a growing roster of non-profit groups that can now accept unlimited contributions for hard-hitting political ads — was a perfect get for Wynn, too. Rove knows all the players — and the groups he works with are skilled at minimizing media attention to their financial whales. 

The courting, which took place in direct conversations and through friends and allies of both men, produced big results. Wynn has kicked in millions to Crossroads GPS, according to multiple sources.

The Rove-Wynn relationship even had a side benefit for the new Mrs. Karl Rove:

And Rove, who attended Wynn’s gala wedding last year in Vegas, recently got something of a personal bonus out of the relationship. After Wynn attended the veteran operative’s wedding last month in Austin — an intimate and until-now unreported affair also attended by former President George W. Bush — Rove and his new wife Karen Johnson flew to Naples, Italy, aboard Wynn’s Boeing 737 — a nearly 11-hour, 6,000-mile trip that could cost tens of thousands of dollars from a charter jet carrier. Wynn joined Rove in Italy.

Wynn joined Rove in Italy? On Rove's honeymoon? That Karl, what a romantic fool.

As for Ali Akbar, he appears to be on the outside looking in at the moment. But our sources say the story of Akbar's liaison with Karl Rove is not likely to go away.

Penn State Employees Feared Termination If They Reported Sandusky's Abuse

Louis Freeh

Former FBI director Louis Freeh yesterday released his report on the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State, and coverage has focused mainly on the role of iconic football coach Joe Paterno in an apparent cover up.

Freeh's 267-page report concluded that the late Paterno and three high-ranking Penn State administrators tried to bury reports of child sexual abuse because they feared bad publicity for the university and its storied football program.

The most telling part of the report, however, focuses on janitors who worked in and around Penn State locker-room and shower facilities. One of the janitors witnessed Sandusky's abuse of a child, but he and his coworkers feared they would be fired if they reported it.

I know, from first-hand experience, that the janitors were justified in their fears. After all, I was fired from my job in the University of Alabama System for reporting on this blog about corruption in our state's "justice system." I didn't blow the whistle on misconduct within the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), where I had worked for 19 years in various editorial positions. Rather, I reported on corruption among various lawyers, judges, and prosecutors in both our state and federal courts. These clearly were matters of public concern, and as a government employee, I had a First-Amendment right to comment on them without facing reprisal.

But I still got fired, and powerful University of Alabama forces apparently are ensuring that my ongoing federal lawsuit will be dismissed in a manner that is grossly contrary to law. I've been without a job for more than four years, and I've presented overwhelming evidence that a U.S. District Judge named William M. Acker Jr. has handled my case in a stunningly unlawful fashion, almost certainly at the instigation of pro-UA forces in our state's legal and political circles.

Does Pennsylvania have similar forces that would have caused the janitors to be fired if they had reported child sexual abuse on the Penn State campus? Would those same forces have exerted their power over federal authorities to make sure the janitors got cheated in any lawsuits for wrongful termination and retaliation?

The answers, in my mind, are an overwhelming yes. I have little doubt that pro-Penn State forces are every bit as powerful in Pennsylvania as are similar forces here in Alabama.

Bruce Feldman, of CBS Sports, addresses the janitors' story in an article titled "Institutional Control? Report Shows Tragic Result of Coach as King Culture." Writes Feldman:

Speaking to the culture of the place and how the football program controlled the school, Freeh brought up a janitor who observed one of Sandusky's attacks. Freeh said the man told him it was the worst thing he ever saw: "This is a Korean War veteran who said, 'I've never seen anything like that. It makes me sick.' He spoke to the other janitors. They were alarmed and shocked by it. But what did they do? They said, 'We can't report this because we'll get fired.' They knew who Sandusky was.

"They were afraid to take on the football program. They said the university would circle around it. It was like going against the President of the United States. If that's the culture on the bottom, God help the culture at the top."

Dennis Dodd, one of Feldman's colleagues at CBS Sports, called for a reappraisal of big-time college football in a piece titled "Let Freeh's Damning Report Ring--King Football Needs to Answer for Sins." Writes Dodd:

King Football must die. It must die a painful and immediate death. 

It must be hanged in the public square to show that now and forever King Football can't rule a sport, a school, a society. It is time. It is overdue. If you don't know that the culture has changed after the release of the Freeh Report on Thursday then you are blind to the toxic byproducts of the second-most popular spectator sport in our country.

Those are powerful words, but I contend that Dodd's view is too narrow. Cleaning up football abuses, even killing "King Football," is not going to heal what ails higher education.

UAB has one of the worst football programs in the country--the Blazers are plagued by losing records and sparse crowds--but I witnessed rampant corruption on the campus. And it has nothing to do with football.

The problem stems from placing weak, unethical, dishonest individuals in positions of authority. The real issue at Penn State was that President Graham Spanier and Vice President Gary Schultz were not willing to make sure the athletics department and the football program followed the law.

A similar culture exists at UAB under President Carol Garrison. After all, this is a university that committed an estimated $600 million in research and Medicare fraud, according to a federal whistleblower lawsuit. And with treble damages under the U.S. False Claims Act, UAB should have been on the hook for more than $1.5 billion in penalties. Instead, a friendly Bush-era prosecutor let UAB off in 2003 with a $3.4 million payment--way less than 1 percent of the estimated actual fraud.

As for me, it's not just my imagination that I was cheated out of my job because of the content on this blog. A UAB human-resources official named Anita Bonasera admitted in a tape-recorded conversation that I was targeted because of my reporting on the Bush-era prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman--and there is little doubt that President Garrison knows all about the real reason I was fired. You can listen to a key portion of the Bonasera conversation in a video at the end of this post.

Ironically, I compared my experiences at UAB to the coverup at Penn State in a post written more than eight months ago. And that post includes a word-for-word transcript of Bonasera's statements.

In our state, the University of Alabama Board of Trustees contributes mightily to corruption that permeates higher education. The board is led by a corporate executive who has documented ties to insurance fraud. Paul Bryant Jr. is president of the UA board and serves as CEO of Greene Group Inc., which used to include a company called Alabama Reassurance. That firm that netted a 15-year federal prison sentence for a Philadelphia entrepreneur/lawyer named Allen W. Stewart.

Public documents clearly show that Bryant's company was involved in the scam, but he never has been held accountable. And Alabama Re was quietly liquidated in an apparent effort to help cover up financial crimes. Now, this man with ties to insurance fraud helps manage millions of taxpayer dollars that are funneled to the UA System. Comforting, isn't it?

Bryant's father, of course, is the late Crimson Tide football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant--a man who was Alabama's answer to Pennsylvania's Joe Paterno.

On second thought, maybe the arrogant mindset that comes with football success is the problem. Maybe King Football really does need to be killed.

Was Major Bashinsky the Target of Attempted Extortion Before He Died?

Sloan Y. Bashinsky Jr.

Alabama lawyer Major Bashinsky killed himself because someone was about to "out" him as bisexual, according to a recent blog post by his older brother, Sloan Y. Bashinsky Jr.

This information, by itself, is not news. Sloan Bashsinky Jr. has written it several times on various blogs from his base in Key West, Florida. The most recent post, titled "Major Bashinsky Suicide Redoubt," was published on July 1 at GoodMorningBirmingham.com. That came 11 days after my post titled "Was Major Bashinsky's Death Connected to a Lawsuit Involving Oil and Millions of Dollars?"

Bashinsky Jr. seems to make a hobby of trying to rebut my work, and this was just the latest example. I show that there are ample reasons to doubt the official finding of suicide in Major Bashinsky's death, while the deceased's older brother says, "Nope, move along, nothing to see here. He was bisexual, couldn't bear the thought of his Mountain Brook image being sullied, and shot himself in the head while trying to make it look like a murder."

The Web, of course, is a fine place for spirited debate on matters both big and small. But Bashinsky Jr.'s recent post, the most explicit so far on what he believes caused his brother's death, raises a big question: Was Major Bashinsky the victim of a crime?

I'm not talking about murder--although my review of the public record convinces me that the odds are at least 50-50 that he was murdered. No, I'm talking about extortion, what is sometimes called blackmail.

Here is one legal definition of blackmail:

Blackmail is the crime of threatening to reveal embarrassing, disgraceful or damaging information about a person to the public, family, spouse or associates unless money is paid to purchase silence. It is a form of extortion. Because the information is usually substantially true, it is not revealing the information that is criminal, but demanding money to withhold it.

Alabama is one of several states that does not recognize a separate crime for blackmail, rather encompassing it under a statute for extortion (Code of Alabama 13A-8-13). Bashinsky Jr. seems to be describing a clear act of blackmail, but it apparently took place in Alabama, so we will use the term extortion.

In the most recent post about his brother, Bashinsky Jr. writes of a woman who claims to have knowledge of Major's secret gay life:

Recently, I received an email from out of the blue from someone who once had lived in Birmingham and who once had a gay friend who had invited her to a gay gathering in Birmingham. She was not gay, but went to the gathering for reasons she explained, which made sense to me but are not relevant to this telling. She said she learned after arriving at the gathering that it consisted of gay Birmingham men, some pretty well fixed in business and/or prominent Birmingham families, etc. One of the men she was told was so deep in the closet, that … She was told he was one of the Golden Flake owner’s sons … He had a nick name she thought might be a former US President’s … She wrote reams to me about her experiences with these men, fostered by her knowing one of them. She did not report getting to know Major, but her friend in the group told her a good bit about Major’s general and very involved relationship with that circle. It was all news to me, but it was not news to me that Major had a secret gay life. I had known that since around 1970. My first four wives also knew it. He did not tell us directly, but indirectly he told us without even realizing it.

Bashinsky Jr. uses this information to support the theory that his brother killed himself because he feared being outed:

My correspondent made me promise ahead of time not to write about what she was going to tell me, which I suspected was about Major being bi-sexual. That put me in a serious bind because her news was the first solid human evidence Major had a secret gay life in Birmingham. I had gone way out on a limb in numerous posts after Major went missing and his body was later found in the pond at the bottom of hole #1 on Highland Golf Course, writing Major killed himself and tried to make it look like someone else did it because he was bi-sexual and someone was going to out him and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

The post provides no clues about who wanted to out Major Bashinsky and why. It also provides no direct clues about how this person came to possess such information. But it does say that the younger Bashinsky was traumatized because "there was nothing he could do to stop it."

That hints this went beyond mere gossip. It suggests there was powerful evidence that could be distributed and cause Major Bashinsky significant embarrassment.

Why would someone do this? The post does not say, but Major Bashinsky was a wealthy man--and he came from a family with one of Alabama's most substantial business fortunes--so it appears the motive was money. And that would be a crime.

Taking Sloan Bashinsky Jr.'s theory as true, here are key questions that come to mind: What kind of evidence could prove that Major Bashinsky was bisexual, how did he become aware of the evidence, and how did someone threaten to distribute it?

Let's do a little common-sense psychological/legal analysis here: If I get word that someone is spreading potentially embarrassing information about me, the first question to myself would be, "Is this true or not?" If it's not true, I probably would shrug and not worry about it. I could, however, take legal action to stop it--and as a lawyer, Major Bashinsky certainly would have known how to do this. If it is true, I probably would see no reason to worry about it unless my antagonist had absolute proof. And I would ask myself, "How could they have proof?"

If my problem was a matter of public record, there would not be much I could do about it. I probably would just say, "Well, I screwed up back when, it's out there now, we'll see what happens." But if it was not something that could be found in public documents, how would the person have proof?

That's my primary question about Sloan Bashinsky Jr.'s version of events. Why would Major Bashinsky be shaken up about this information, assuming it was true, unless someone with ill intent had absolute proof--in the form of a photograph, an audiotape, a videotape?

How would someone get such proof? My guess is that it would take professional experience and resources to get it done--someone, either an individual or an organization, with high-level knowledge of surveillance.

That kind of thing costs money. And that tells me someone had serious motivation--a need to get leverage over a member of the Bashinsky family, for some reason. And that reason probably involved big bucks.

Sloan Bashinsky Jr. has a law degree, and he's a bright guy--I've read two of his books on legal issues--so he has to know that he is strongly hinting at criminal activity. And he knows this activity had ugly consequences--by his own account, it led to his brother's death.

So why, upon reading the post from GoodMorningBirmingham.com, do you get the uneasy feeling that Sloan Bashinsky Jr. is not particularly concerned about it? Why do you get the feeling that he hasn't reported anything to authorities? Why do you get the feeling that it hasn't even crossed his mind?

Did Former U.S. Prosecutor Who Worked for Choctaws Really Kill Himself in Mississippi?

Jack Lacy

(Note: Includes update at 7:30 p.m. on 7/11/12. See the end of this post.)

A former assistant U.S. attorney who helped prosecute a high-profile murder case from the civil-rights era was found dead in his Brandon, Mississippi, home last Friday.

Jack Lacy Jr., 69, died from a single gunshot wound to the head, and authorities say it is a probable suicide. Comments at the Jackson Clarion-Ledger Web site have several family members and friends contradicting public statements that Lacy suffered from anxiety and depression. The comments hint that some people close to Lacy do not believe he killed himself.

An item buried in most press accounts might be of keen interest to those of us in Alabama. In his most recent position, Lacy served as state prosecutor for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. Ironically, Lacy's death comes almost exactly one year since the FBI raided two Choctaw casinos in Philadelphia, Mississippi.

According to news reports, the resulting investigation centered on two Atlanta-based companies that focus on gaming. But very little has been reported on the case since last summer. The last substantive story I've seen on the raid came last August 17 when the tribe's outside auditing firm quit.

Those who have followed Alabama news over the past 12 to 15 years know that the Choctaws have caused enormous problems for our state, mainly from dubious efforts to ensure that gaming operations did not pop up next door. Much has been written about the underhanded efforts of the Choctaws to undercut Alabama gaming initiatives that might have chopped into their market share.

Most famously, Republican Party felon Jack Abramoff has admitted to funneling roughly $20 million into Alabama to help defeat former Democratic Governor Don Siegelman. Was much at stake? Abramoff wrote in his recent book that about $400 million in annual revenue was on the line.

Abramoff's efforts succeeded, with Republican Bob Riley managing to beat Siegelman in 2002 when votes for the incumbent Democrat mysteriously vanished overnight in the GOP stronghold of Baldwin County. Through much of his eight-year reign, Riley went to extraordinary means to fight gambling in Alabama, leading to two federal corruption trials that resulted in zero convictions against pro-gaming forces.

The raid last July in Mississippi came amid reports that the gaming facilities there were hemorrhaging money. And the casinos' financial woes coincided with Bob Riley's efforts to close down gambling operations in Alabama.

Where does Jack Lacy fit into this equation? That is not clear. For now, he remains best known for his role in the 2003 conviction of former Ku Klux Klansman Ernest Avants for plotting the murder of a black sharecropper named Ben Chester White. The case was part of a failed plot to assassinate the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

But in his role with the Choctaws via the state attorney general's office, Lacy almost certainly was involved, in some fashion, with the FBI raid and Justice Department investigation.

Was Lacy's role to seek the truth about possible misconduct related to tribe facilities? Was his role to thwart the truth by trying to cover up wrongdoing? Did he kill himself because of stress related to the federal probe? Did he uncover information that put his life in danger?

We don't have the answers to those questions, but we do know that news has been awfully scarce for months about the investigation of Choctaw gaming. And we know that Jack Lacy has died under curious circumstances.

My guess is that Alabamians should pay close attention to this story.

Update at 7:30 p.m., 7/11/12--Those following the Jack Lacy story might be interested in the string of mysterious "suicides" we've covered here in Alabama. I've reported on at least four of them. Here are two of the most recent posts on the subject:


An Independent Investigation Is Needed on Mysterious "Suicides" in Alabama (May 18, 2011)


Another Mysterious Death Darkens the Political Landscape in Karl Rove's Alabama (December 21, 2010)

Alabama Lawyer Bill Swatek Has a Habit of Abusing His Own Clients, Especially Women In Divorce Cases

William E. Swatek

Most of my reporting on Alabama attorney William E. Swatek has focused on the bogus lawsuit he filed on behalf of our criminally inclined neighbor, launching 10-plus years of legal torment for my wife and me. But Swatek's abusive actions go way beyond our case; after all, public records show he has been disciplined multiple times for ethical violations, including a suspension of his license, over roughly 30 years.

The victims of Swatek's misconduct are not always opposing parties, such as myself. Quite often, it appears, the victims are his own clients.

In fact, Swatek seems to have a special knack for behaving badly toward women he has represented in divorce cases. I've heard from several of them, and their complaints range from poor courtroom performance, to deceitful billing practices, to failure to answer questions or communicate with clients.

In at least one case, a former client says Swatek engaged in highly unethical behavior that ranges well outside the courtroom.

For now, let's look at issues regarding Swatek's performance as a lawyer. And for that, we turn to a woman who hired Swatek to represent her in a divorce case about five years ago. This woman has a  good job in a technical field, makes an excellent salary, and probably will wind up OK on the financial side. But she still faced a legal bill that was way more than she had been led to expect and received a poor result in terms of child custody--and she blames much of that on Swatek.

We are talking about a woman who obviously is bright; you don't get a degree in her field without having some serious brainpower. But even she fell victim to Swatek's scam. Perhaps that will be of some solace for those of us who must deal with legal con artists while using relatively modest brainpower.

Several of Swatek's former clients have told me that he has a habit of dumping unexpectedly large bills on them at the end of cases. If a lawyer follows the Alabama Rules of Professional Conduct (see rules 1.4 and 1.5), that shouldn't happen. But Swatek has been breaking ethics rules for 30-plus years, so there is no reason to think he will start following them now.

Most reputable lawyers that I'm aware of charge an up-front amount to take the case, then keep track of hours billed and notify the client when more fees might be needed. That system is supposed to avoid unpleasant surprises for the client, and if the client suddenly cannot pay, the lawyer is likely to withdraw from the case or try to work out a payment plan. Swatek, it seems, does not work that way--and that probably explains why public records show he has filed about 20 lawsuits against former clients.

Swatek apparently has a tendency to have clients pay a relatively small retainer up front and tell them that everything will be fine regarding his fees--but then he dumps a big bill on some of them at the end. My source asked not be identified, but when I mentioned what public records seem to show about Swatek's billing practices, here are her words from one of several e-mails we exchanged:

Swatek did the same with me regarding his billing. I paid him $500 when I first filed. I repeatedly asked his office for a billing statement and they assured me that everything was fine and it would come at the end. Once he even told me that most likely my ex would wind up paying for my attorney fees. When the bill came, it was over $10,000. I knew I wanted to appeal the case and felt I couldn't fight two battles at once. In order to give me my records his office insisted I pay the bill in full (which I found out later they are required to give you your records regardless if the bill is paid). I had no real choice as a deadline for the appeal was approaching so I put it on my credit card which I am still paying off.

What kind of performance did she get for her money? When I noted my impression that Swatek was lazy and disinterested in his cases, here was her response:

As for Swatek acting lazy and unprofessional in court--I had the same opinion and I was his client! I remember him sitting slouched in his chair leaning way back. He didn't really seem to be listening either. He asked the same questions over and over again, never really making a clear point. Sometimes I thought he was trying to prove arguments for them!

I've already written extensively about what it's like to be on the receiving end of a bogus lawsuit from Bill Swatek--and it's not very pleasant. Now, we are learning that it's not very pleasant to be one of his clients either.

We will have more on that subject in upcoming posts.

Here Are Sure Signs That Alabama Remains In the Toxic Grip of Conservative Sleazebags

Rob Riley

Why is Alabama's largest newspaper hemorrhaging readers so badly that it is about to start printing just three days a week? A couple of hints can be found in Section B (Local News) of the July 9, 2012, edition.

Two articles provide powerful evidence that The Birmingham News is a biased, lazy, right-wing rag that appeals to white elites and ignores huge segments of its potential audience.

In other words, the paper gives the impression that the family of former GOP Governor Bob Riley more or less serves as its editorial board. No wonder the state's supposedly premier news-gathering operation seems to be in a death spiral.

The first evidence comes on page B2 of yesterday's print edition--and by the way, you had better read it now because the paper soon will not be publishing on Mondays. The article is titled "Bradley Arant Honored for Death Row Service" and takes up roughly 20 column inches.

That kind of space usually is devoted to important subjects. But this story, by reporter Eric Velasco,  reads like a press release directly from Bradley Arant's public-relations firm. We learn all we need to know in the first couple of paragraphs:

Lawyers with the Birmingham firm Bradley Arant Boult Cummings will be honored at next month's American Bar Association meeting for the firm's volunteer work representing Death Row inmates in Alabama and other states. 

The firm will receive the Exceptional Service Award from the ABA's Death Penalty Representation Project on Aug. 3, during the bar association's annual meeting in Chicago.

My guess is that 99 percent of readers have learned all they care to know at that point. This is the kind of item that would be a business brief in most reputable newspapers. But this is The Birmingham News, the paper that served as official cheerleader for eight long years of the Riley administration. And Bradley Arant is the firm that employs Rob Campbell, Bob Riley's son-in-law, and sucked up more than $10 million of state funds in just the last two years of the Riley gravy train.

That helps explain why Velasco goes on for about 19 more column inches, regaling us with stories about how much Bradley Arant lawyers help Death Row prisoners. Never mind that the firm shows signs of having connections to organized crime.

We have written numerous critical articles about Bradley Arant, especially on its ties to corrupt Campus Crest Communities CEO Ted Rollins and the monstrous cheat job of a divorce case that left his ex wife and two daughters on food stamps in Birmingham. At the risk of giving myself more power than I actually have, the Velasco article reads like a piece that was planted, and given prominent treatment, to help counteract reporting here at Legal Schnauzer.

Our second piece of evidence can be found on page B3 of yesterday's print edition. It carries the headline, "Senior Riley to Head Key Club." Here is all you really need to know:

Rebecca Riley, a senior at Homewood High School, has been elected president of Key Club International.

Riley, 17, was elected president of the group for 2012-13 on Saturday during the Key Club International convention in Orlando, Fla., club officials announced.

Again, this is the kind of item that might be a news brief in a normal newspaper. But The Birmingham News devotes roughly 16 column inches to it. I'm guessing that hundreds of Alabama youngsters have seen significant achievements ignored in the mainstream press. But Rebecca Riley is not just any old teen-ager. In the last two paragraphs, we learn about her background:

Riley is the daughter of Robert and Leslie Riley. She has three siblings--Elizabeth 14, Ren, 11, and Wilson, 6. She also is the granddaughter of former Alabama Gov. Bob Riley and his wife Patsy Riley and Fred and Jimmie McLeod, of Lineville. 

"Leslie and I are so proud of Rebecca for what she has accomplished," said her father Robert Riley. "She is passionate about key club and she has worked long hard hours traveling around the country working on key club projects the past year."

Gee, I wonder if it helped Rebecca Riley's cause that her grandpappy is Bob Riley, and as governor, he shipped about $1 million in state funds to her daddy's law practice. How did Rob Riley benefit from sucking at the public teat? An article by Rebecca Abrahams, of Huffington Post, explains:

The January 14, 2010 document states while Riley was the lead negotiator for Jefferson County sewer debts, the County Commission approved a $725,000 and $150,000 contract for his son, attorney Rob Riley to represent Jefferson County Sheriff Mike Hale. The funds for Rob Riley's services would have come from a .05% occupation tax collected by non-licensed wage earners. In 2009 a judge repealed the tax, ruling it ruled was unconstitutional. But the ruling impacted the sheriff's budget, including funding for Rob Riley's contracts. 

Hale, represented by Rob Riley, then sued the Jefferson County Commission to block its attempt to cut the budget by $5.1 million. A local judge ruled in favor of the cuts to the sheriff's budget. Hale then appealed to Governor Bob Riley for state financial assistance, making sure to provide a letter penned by Rob Riley outlining cuts faced by the sheriff's office which included Rob Riley's contract. Governor Riley then lobbied for support to reinstate the Jefferson County Occupational Tax, calling a special session of the Legislature. State lawmakers passed the new occupational tax legislation, which Riley signed into law in August 2009.

That sounds sweet, doesn't it? And it doesn't even go into a federal whistleblower complaint, alleging that Rob Riley and his physical-therapy company (Performance Group LLC) conspired with personnel at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) to commit Medicare fraud.

Rebecca Riley

That case has been nicely covered up, so far, by corrupt U.S. District Judge William M. Acker Jr., an 84-year-old Reagan appointee who appears to be the go-to guy for handling Riley-related scandals. One of those scandals almost certainly involves my own unlawful termination at UAB. A lawsuit on that matter--surprise, surprise--wound up with Judge Acker, and he has ruled in a flagrantly unlawful manner.

It appears Rob Riley has his own legal bodyguard at the Hugo Black Courthouse in downtown Birmingham. And curiously, that's where G. Doug Jones once resided as U.S. attorney during the Clinton years--getting all cozy with the judges and other personnel there. Sources tell me that Jones has been particularly cozy with Judge Acker and some of his clerks. Hmmm.

Jones touts himself as a Democrat and civil-rights hero, but in fact, he is a Riley loyalist. He and Rob Riley made millions in legal fees from a federal lawsuit against individuals and entities connected to HealthSouth. In fact, I was fired at UAB not long after writing about Rob Riley's possible conflicts in the HealthSouth lawsuit.

The post was titled "Did Rob Riley Cash In On Siegelman Prosecution?" and it ran on March 13, 2008. The harassment from my UAB supervisor, Pam Powell, kicked into high gear at about that time--and I was fired roughly two months later. Isn't that curious, especially when you consider that a UAB human-resources official admitted in a tape-recorded conversation that I was targeted because of the Siegelman content on this blog? (A video featuring that conversation can be viewed below.)

Isn't it curious that my reporting on the HealthSouth case would wind up striking a serious nerve with Doug Jones? Isn't it also curious that my reporting on that case would strike a nerve with C. Redding Pitt, one of Jones' compadres in Alabama Democratic circles and another former U.S. attorney.

Did Doug Jones, now an attorney at the Birmingham firm of Haskell Slaughter, work with the Rileys to ensure that I got canned at UAB? Is Jones now running interference for the Rileys on my employment case against UAB? Did he serve the same role in making sure that Rob Riley would not be exposed as a Medicare fraudster in Ingrid Awtrey Law's whistleblower complaint?

We will continue to look into those questions. And we have much more coming soon on Ingrid Awtrey Law's complaint--plus other imbroglios involving Rob Riley.

But for now, let's ponder these questions: Isn't it interesting that the Rileys and their elitist friends think they can interfere with the lives of regular folks--with their jobs, their livelihoods, their families--and yet the lives of elites are to remain gloriously untouched? Isn't it interesting that certain elites seem to think they are above it all, out of reach, protected by a bubble of corrupt lawyers, politicians, bankers, newspapermen, and such?

Perhaps these elites will learn someday that they and their families aren't untouchable. Perhaps they will learn that their bubble is not impenetrable.



 

Oil, Money, Politics, and the Death of a Prominent Alabama Lawyer

William Cobb "Chip" Hazelrig

According to the official finding, Alabama lawyer Major Bashinsky shot himself in the head and used duct tape and rope to create the appearance of murder.

The Bashinsky family, at the time of Major's disappearance and death, had been embroiled in contentious litigation involving questions about the whereabouts of tens of millions of dollars. Our review of that lawsuit, which involved proceeds from investments in Oklahoma oil and gas wells, indicates the story behind Major Bashinsky's death might not be as clean and simple as officials want us to believe.

Styled the Estate of Sloan Y. Bashinsky Sr., et al v. W&H Investments, et al, the lawsuit sought an accounting of at least $37 million Major Bashinsky's father had invested with a firm that has ties to gambling, Republican Party politics, and Alabama's toxic political environment.

Court records show that attorneys for the Bashinsky estate were playing legal hardball, aggressively seeking documents that might have shown blatant incompetence and malfeasance on the part of Fred Wedell and William Cobb "Chip" Hazelrig, the partners in W&H Investments. Records also indicate that lawyers for Wedell and Hazelrig were not anxious to turn over relevant information in the discovery process, forcing the estate to file at least six motions to compel, all of which were granted.

The lawsuit came to a strange conclusion. With numerous unresolved issues on the table--and with questions about Mr. Bashinsky's investments seemingly unanswered--the parties reached an agreement that was approved by the court on March, 1, 2010. Two days later, Major Bashinsky was reported missing. And 12 days after that, his body was found in a water hazard at Highland Park Golf Course on Birmingham's Southside.

Was there a connection between the bitterly contested lawsuit and the death of a Bashinsky family member? We don't have an answer to that question. But given that a coroner's report provided zero scientific support for a suicide finding, the question at least should have been asked. We've seen no sign that officials looked into it at all.

That's troubling because Chip Hazelrig, one half of the W&H Investments team, has some dubious distinctions in his background. He is a shareholder in Paragon Gaming, with documented ties to the supposedly anti-gambling Alabama GOP--and to former governor Bob Riley and his son, Homewood lawyer Rob Riley.

On the surface, plaintiffs in the lawsuit were asking a simple question: "What happened to Mr. Bashinsky's money? We now are in charge of his business affairs, and for tax and other reasons, we need to know what happened to the $37 million or more that he invested with you."

Slightly beneath the surface, the estate was making some serious charges against Hazelrig and Wedell. Via its first amended complaint, the estate claims in one document, it was "seeking an accounting with respect to Defendants' interactions and dealings with Sloan Y. Bashinsky Sr. ('Bashinsky') during his lifetime, and further seeking recovery of damages contended to be [owed], including but not limited to damages claimed by virtue of breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty . . . "

Nothing we've found in the court file seriously rebuts those allegations. And the record makes clear that Hazelrig and Wedell, as managing partners in various oil and gas partnerships, had a serious duty to Bashinsky. The estate spells it out, citing Code of Alabama 10-8A-403(b). (See court document at the end of this post.)

That code section "requires that a partnership and its partners furnish to the legal representative of a deceased partner all information concerning the partnership's business and affairs."

Mr. Bashinsky and his representatives sought this information while he was still alive. They received a two and one-half page summary that closed with the following statement: "[W]e do not have any documents pertaining to these investments."

Chip Hazelrig and Fred Wedell took $37 million of Sloan Y. Bashinsky's Sr.'s money and invested it in Oklahoma oil and gas ventures, yet they had no documents pertaining to those investments? I've heard of corner lemonade stands that are run with more financial precision than that.

It's easy to understand why Mr. Bashinsky's representatives were not happy with the response to their inquiry while he was alive. And it's even easier to understand why the estate, after his death, felt the need to pursue the matter in an urgent fashion. Assuming Mr. Bashinsky received a healthy return on his investments, more than $100 million might have been at stake. And it appears that Hazelrig and Wedell did not have ready answers for what happened to that money.

Did the estate's aggressive pursuit of an accounting for investments in oil and gas contribute to the death of Sloan Y. Bashinsky Sr.'s youngest son? We will continue to examine that question in upcoming posts.


(To be continued)
Bashinsky Lawsuit--Motion to Compel1

Jerry Sandusky Case Unmasks Morally Bankrupt "Leaders" in Higher Education

Jerry Sandusky

The second chapter of the Jerry Sandusky scandal is about to be written, and it looks like it will be radically different from the first.

Chapter 1 focused on Sandusky and the boys he sexually abused, during and after his tenure as an assistant football coach at Penn State. Chapter 2, it appears, will focus on the university leaders who had information about Sandusky's crimes and chose not to report it to the proper authorities.

This kind of moral lapse among those who lead an institution of higher learning might be shocking to the public. But I worked in a university setting for almost 20 years, and it does not shock me in the least.

Ironically, my experience was at one of Penn State's regular football rivals--the University of Alabama. I witnessed moral decay in the UA System that, while not as dramatic as what we now are seeing at Penn State, certainly rivals it in severity and scope.

In fact, I would argue that the depravity of UA officials might actually be worse than what is being uncovered at Penn State. While Sandusky's crimes were monstrous, many of them occurred while he was not a Penn State employee. The wrongs of university leaders appear, so far, to be sins of omission, not sins of commission. And one could argue that PSU officials felt hamstrung because Sandusky did not report to any of them during most of the inquiry.

As for University of Alabama officials, I've seen signs that they do more than cover up wrongdoing; they actively engage in it--and it has cost taxpayers perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars. From a personal standpoint, it cost me my job.

Let's start with this humdinger of a fact: The president of the University of Alabama Board of Trustees has documented ties to insurance fraud that netted a 15-year federal prison sentence for a man in, of all places, Pennsylvania. Paul Bryant Jr., the son of UA's late football-coaching icon Paul "Bear" Bryant," heads the board that governs the three-campus UA System.

When Bryant Jr. isn't conducting university business, he serves as CEO of Greene Group Inc, a corporation with interests in catfish farming, dog tracks and gaming, cement, insurance, and more. One of the companies under the Greene Group banner was Alabama Reassurance, which was implicated in a $15-million fraud scheme that sent a Philadelphia lawyer/entrepreneur named Allen W. Stewart to federal prison in 1997.

Paul Bryant Jr.

All of this is a matter of public record, but the citizens of Alabama do not seem concerned that their flagship university is led by a proven fraudster.

At the Birmingham campus where I worked (UAB), President Carol Garrison was involved in a scandal that led to the resignation of University of Tennessee President John Shumaker. Garrison and Shumaker were a romantic item, from their days together at the University of Louisville, and made frequent use of a university plane for their personal pleasure. Garrison was in her first year on the job at UAB, and her role in the Shumaker affair would have gotten most presidents fired. But the UA System already was facing a likely discrimination lawsuit from Garrison's predecessor, so she survived and still serves as UAB president.

Garrison was one of at least two UAB presidents who helped oversee massive health-care fraud on the Birmingham campus. One of the whistleblowers in the fraud case, a forensic accountant, estimated the fraud at $300 to $600 million, but a friendly Bush-era prosecutor let UAB off with a fine of $3.4 million--less the 1 percent of the actual fraud.

As for me, I was fired in May 2008 from my job in the UAB Publications Office because I was writing this blog--on my own time, with my own resources--about corruption in Alabama legal and political circles. As a government employee, I was protected by the First Amendment, not to mention anti-discrimination laws (I was over age 40), but UA leaders apparently don't feel they have to be concerned with minor inconveniences like the U.S. Constitution and federal civil-rights law.

To be specific, I was fired for writing about the political prosecution of former Alabama Democratic Governor Don Siegelman. Someone in the state's right-wing power structure obviously didn't appreciate my reporting and decided it would be fun to cheat me out of my job.

This isn't a supposition on my part. In a tape-recorded phone conversation with a UAB human-resources official named Anita Bonasera, she admitted that I was targeted because of the Siegelman-related content on my blog. There is little doubt that someone on Paul Bryant Jr.'s board of trustees ordered a career hit on me, and President Garrison went along with it. It's also possible that any number of federal crimes have been involved, including wire fraud, mail fraud, and obstruction of justice. A lawsuit on my wrongful termination is pending in federal court.

How do officials in a corrupt university actually talk? You can check it out in the video below, as Anita Bonasera spills the beans on why I was fired. The key segment is from about 1:40 to 2:30. In fact, you can read a transcript from a portion of the conversation between me (RS) and Anita Bonasera (AB), clearly showing that Bonasera and my supervisor, Pam Powell (and Powell's supervisor, Dale Turnbough), knew exactly why I was targeted and unlawfully fired.

I start the conversation with Bonasera by referencing a meeting with Turnbough, where I complained about on-the-job harassment I'd been experiencing from Powell for about six months--and I proceeded to file an official university grievance against Powell that same day, with Turnbough's knowledge and apparent support.

Turnbough never said anything about alleged deficiencies in my performance, which were later raised when I was placed on administrative leave. In the meeting with Turnbough, I brought up the issue of my blog and asked if that somehow explained Powell's bizarre behavior. Turnbough acknowledged that she knew of my blog but assured me it was not a problem. She also indicated that she was going to take care of the issues with Powell, and I left the meeting thinking the problem was going to be resolved. Less than one month later, I was fired--even though university policy plainly states that an employee cannot suffer retaliation after filing a grievance.

From my conversation with Bonasera:

RS: I told Dale Turnbough about this two weeks ago, and she never said a word about any of this. In fact, she said she was going to take care of it, she assured me absolutely that this had nothing to do with my blog—and then two weeks later I find out it’s all about my blog. 

AB: It’s not all about your blog. Your blog was an insignificant piece. . . . The blog . . . was a very small part of the bigger picture. . . . again, related to other non-work related things. I didn’t see those non-work related things. Pam (Powell) sat down with the computer people—and I don’t know who else was there—and they reviewed what was work related and what was non-work related. 

RS: And she’s the determiner of that, even though she has told us . . . 

AB: She was able to determine what you were working on and whether it was related to your blog . . . 

RS: Well, you just said it, it’s all about my blog. You just said that. 

AB: That was a piece of it. Some of it was research related to your blog, from my understanding. I understand there were some things about Siegelman, screens up about Don Siegelman, things that they saw you doing that they consider to be research for your blog because then that was topics that you wrote about on your blog. 

RS: Those are also news articles that we are supposed to keep up with, about Alabama, stuff in the news.

Do I have any doubt that University of Alabama officials would cover up for an apparent child molester if they thought it would make their lives easier? In other words, do I have any doubt that the "leaders" of the University of Alabama are every bit as morally bankrupt as those currently being unmasked at Penn State?

I have no doubt at all.

Connecting the Dots Between Karl Rove and His Alleged Bisexual Lover

Ali Akbar and Tim Pawlenty

The GOP operative who is alleged to be Karl Rove's bisexual lover states in a video that he has, in fact, worked with Rove. We also have learned that Ali A. Akbar has ties to possible election fraud in Texas, where Rove built his political base.

Election fraud in Texas? Gosh, no wonder it appears these two get along famously.

These latest details come from top-notch research at The Liberal Grouch blog. The Grouch, whose real name is Bill Schmalfeldt, has been closely following the story since Alabama lawyer Dana Jill Simpson released a letter last week that she had written to Robert Bauer, chief counsel for the Barack Obama re-election campaign. The letter was a reaction to Rove's recent bizarre rant on Fox News, in which he made a number of clearly false allegations about Bauer and Simpson, who is best known for her role as a whistleblower in the political prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman.

In the letter, Simpson denied Rove's charges that Bauer had once represented her and confirmed Bauer's statement that the two had never met. Simpson went on to say that she thought Rove attacked out of fear that she was about to reveal information regarding his personal life, including the alleged relationship with Akbar.

Known mainly for his role as president of the National Bloggers Club, an umbrella group for conservative bloggers that grew from the Andrew Breitbart network, Akbar recently was outed for having a criminal record. But Simpson's letter took the level of scrutiny to a whole new level.

As Schmalfeldt asked in a recent post, how did Akbar go so quickly from being a small-time criminal thug to a prominent position within the GOP, one where he has his picture taken with such luminaries as Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty?

That's the kind of rise that seemingly could only happen with the help of a powerful booster. Is that booster Karl Rove? And is the boost driven by a sexual relationship between Akbar and Rove.

Schmalfeldt uncovered a YouTube video where Akbar acknowledges having worked for Rove. You can catch the video at the end of this post, and the key part comes at about the 2:17 mark.

As for Akbar's ties to possible voter fraud, Schmalfeldt found a December 2007 post from a Web site called Libertarian Republican. Akbar, at the time, was working on the John McCain presidential campaign, and he apparently was willing to openly discuss shady election tactics:

The John McCain Campaign is facing a possible scandal from a Texas Campaign Staffer John McCain Campaign Staffer Ali Akbar from the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, is alleged to have discussed using voter fraud techniques. This occured in an extended conference call within 1 month ago, with two other political operatives, one a volunteer for Ron Paul for President in Nevada. The staffer is in charge of a very key McCain for President campaign area. The staffer has been contacted by "higher-ups" in the McCain camp asking him to explain his statements. 

More details emerging . . .  

According to one sourve in the DFW area Akbar has had past problems with the law including credit card fraud. And that he might in fact be on parole. 

Just breaking . . .  

The McCain campaign at the highest levels has had an emergency conference call on the matter.

The articles goes on to say:

Statement from one of the two witnesses Joey Dauben of South Dallas: I sat in on a meeting in my downtown Dallas office and heard an ecampaign staffer with the John McCain campaign – Ali A. Akbar – openly discuss ways to manipulate, rig and otherwise “take” an election

Schmalfeldt traced Akbar to Ellis County, Texas, where he worked for a news Web site called the Ellis County Observer. Akbar's work apparently involved covering up the misdeeds of a former police chief named Michael Meissner, who was charged with posing as a woman and soliciting photos of underaged boys. That sounds Sanduskyesque.

Meissner worked with an Ali Akbar, who was on probation for credit card abuse and theft, to suppress online records of his misdeeds. Akbar was an executive editor and webmaster at the Observer, but was accused by proprietor (Joe) Dauben of endorsing voter fraud tactics.

For a young guy, Ali Akbar has built quite a tangled web around himself. Will it all wind up at Karl Rove's doorstep? Jill Simpson says the answer is yes. And The Liberal Grouch is building a stack of evidence pointing in that direction.

How Much Sleaze Will Be Unearthed In Investigation of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce?

Tom Donohue

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to uphold most of the Obama health-care law was by far the most-watched story of last week. But a story that might prove to be more important in the long run quietly unfolded in Albany, New York.

It could wind up shining light on organizations and individuals who have befouled the political environment here in Alabama.

Eric T. Schneiderman, the attorney general of New York, launched an investigation of tax-exempt groups that are heavily involved in political campaigns. A case involving the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and its high-profile director Tom Donohue, is a focal point of the probe. It might also examine groups led by the billionaire Koch brothers and  Republican strategist Karl Rove.

What could this mean for Alabama? Well, it's too early to say. But it's a matter of public record that Rove and Business Council of Alabama (BCA) President Bill Canary used financial support from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to essentially buy state-court seats in our state. That process started in the mid 1990s and turned an all-Democratic bench into a Republican stronghold, one that has been prone to overturn jury verdicts that favor consumers.

It's also a matter of public record that Canary's BCA was linked to the political prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. And one of Canary's lieutenants, Ralph Stacy, died from a mysterious shotgun blast at BCA headquarters. Stacy's death has been ruled a suicide, but the details of any investigation have gone largely unreported in the mainstream Montgomery press.

We already have asked this question: Did the U.S. Chamber of Commerce play a role in Ralph Stacy's death? Should the New York investigation wind up spreading to Alabama . . . well, there is no telling what ugliness might be found. For now, here is how The New York Times describes the focus of Schneiderman's probe:

Mr. Schneiderman issued a wide-ranging subpoena on Tuesday to executives at a foundation affiliated with the chamber, seeking e-mails, bank records and other documents to determine whether the foundation illegally funneled $18 million to the chamber for political and lobbying activities, according to people with knowledge of the investigation.

The investigation is also looking at connections between the chamber’s foundation, the National Chamber Foundation, and another philanthropy, the Starr Foundation, which made large grants to the chamber foundation in 2003 and 2004. During the same period, the National Chamber Foundation lent the chamber $18 million, most of it for what was described as a capital campaign.

What are the possible implicationns of the New York investigation? The Times spells it out:

Mr. Schneiderman’s investigation is the first significant one in years into the rapidly growing use of tax-exempt groups to move money into politics. The biggest such groups, including Americans for Prosperity, which is backed by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, and Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, which was founded by Karl Rove and other Republican strategists, are expected to spend hundreds of millions of dollars this year on issue advertisements against candidates to sway the outcome of the presidential and Congressional elections. 

But the sources of that money are largely obscured from public view by mazes of transactions between allied groups and laws that allow tax-exempt organizations — unlike candidates and “super PACs” — to shield their donors. 

Calls from Democrats and ethics watchdogs for tighter oversight of the groups’ political activities have resulted in little action by either the Federal Election Commission, which is deadlocked over the issue, or the Internal Revenue Service, which regulates charities at the federal level. But the subpoena from Mr. Schneiderman, a Democrat who made tougher campaign finance laws a centerpiece of his 2010 election campaign, suggests that he — like his predecessors Eliot Spitzer and Andrew M. Cuomo — is preparing to aggressively exploit the unusually broad regulatory powers of his office to vault onto the national stage.

Could this wind up being a case of "Eliot Spitzer's Revenge"? The former attorney general and governor of New York appeared to be on the verge of busting AIG in early 2008 when he was brought down by his own prostitution-related scandal. AIG went on to play a major role in the U.S. financial meltdown that preceeded the 2008 presidential election. Schneiderman's investigation has a strong AIG flavor. Reports The Times:

The Starr Foundation is one of the country’s largest philanthropies, with total assets of about $1.3 billion. Named after Cornelius Vander Starr, the founder of American International Group, the foundation is headed by Maurice R. Greenberg, who was AIG’s chairman until being forced out in 2005. As AIG chairman, Mr. Greenberg also served on the board of the Chamber of Commerce and was a vocal advocate of legislation limiting class action lawsuits. 

The National Chamber Foundation has not confirmed that the Starr Foundation grants paid for its loan to the chamber. But the chamber foundation’s tax returns suggest that the loan would not have been possible without the Starr grants, which totaled roughly $19 million.

The so-called "tort reform" movement has been shoved down the throats of middle-class Americans, largely with the help of AIG, the U.S. Chamber, and Karl Rove. Southern states, such as Alabama and Mississippi, have been key battlegrounds in the effort to elect corporate-friendly judges. As a result, our state courts have become grotesquely corrupt, with simple procedural and statutory law misapplied--and clear case law routinely ignored.

What kind of financial chicanery was driving that train? Perhaps Schneiderman will helps us find out.