Mark Crosswhite and Jay Town appear to be at the center of Southern Company plan to intimidate Newsome and Forbes families, plus the CDLU charity

Jay Town and Mark Crosswhite chug cocktails

 

Why did Atlanta-based Southern Company, the nation's second largest utility, launch an intimidation campaign against Alabama lawyer Burt Newsome and his family. Ban Balch Publisher K.B. Forbes and his family, and the CDLU public charity and advocacy group (of which Forbes is CEO)? The evidence, so far, points to Southern Company subsidiary and its former CEO Mark Crosswhite and former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama Jay Town as the likely instigators.

The alleged actions of Crosswhite, Town, and their associates reportedly could lead to a $13-billion lawsuit, with Newsome as the likely lead plaintiff. Under the headline "The Big Reveal: Why Did Southern Company Viciously Go After Newsome, Forbes, and the CDLU?" Forbes writes:

While documents, expenditures, and insiders close to Southern Company’s executive leadership have verified and confirmed that the criminal enterprise engaged in surveillance, targeted, harassed, and spearheaded a campaign of fear and intimidation against the Newsome family, the Forbes family, and the CDLU, the key question brought up by federal investigators, regulators, and others is:

Why?

We have learned that Mark A. Crosswhite, the disgraced ex-CEO and Chairman of Alabama Power, was allegedly furious in January of 2020 when we published jaw-dropping photos of him slamming back cocktails with then-U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town.

Town, being investigated by the Office of Professional Responsibility of the U.S. Department of Justice because of the photos, allegedly told Crosswhite of the investigation in April of 2020, and  announced that he would probably resign to prevent a career-ending probe.

Unhinged with the news, Crosswhite reportedly spoke to his most-trusted advisors, white-collar criminal attorney Mark White and the Oompa Loompa of Alabama politics, “Sloppy Joe” Perkins, about the tremendous setback.

Perkins, seeing a way to justify his multi-million-dollar secret contracts with Alabama Power, allegedly began to investigate the CDLU.

Perkins' investigation hit a few snags along the way, Forbes reports:

The year before, in 2019, a payroll company failed to pay the State of Alabama payroll taxes due from the CDLU because of an internal error.

Although a final assessment was placed against the CDLU, the payroll company eventually paid the payroll taxes and assessments on November 1, 2019.

Perkins used this information to reportedly tell Crosswhite, falsely, that the CDLU had been given enormous amounts of money compared to previous years to attack Jay E. Town, Balch & Bingham, Alabama Power, and Southern Company.

Crosswhite apparently speculated that George Soros was funding the CDLU.

Perkins allegedly held up CDLU’s tax assessment and waved it in Crosswhite’s face, stirring up the Godfather and the imaginary Don Corleone of Alabama.

Crosswhite swallowed the bait, hook, line, and sinker.

The Godfather foolishly gave Perkins the green light, and Zeke Smith of Alabama Power authorized expenditures of more than $300,000 against the CDLU, Forbes, and Newsome on the eve of Jay E. Town’s resignation.

Disgraced, Town fled in the middle of the night on July 15, 2020.

According to internal spreadsheets,  Southern Company paid accounting firm Carr, Riggs, and Ingram.

That same July, the accountants allegedly estimated how much CDLU staff were compensated, in order to pay Alabama state payroll taxes of $9,487.50.

The discredited envelope journalists at Alabama Political Reporter (APR) allegedly used the estimate, stating individuals were paid at least $186,000 and maybe as much as $580,000.

The reality is that individuals at the CDLU were paid in 2019 for up to four years of back pay, but the idiots at APR never asked.

Evidence suggests that Crosswhite, once known as the "most powerful man in Alabama," veered well off track in his pursuit of Newsome, Forbes, and the CDLU. Writes Forbes:

APR, like the whores of Bangkok, were hired by Southern Company to perform tricks and smear us for $120,000 according to internal spreadsheets and documents.

Three smear pieces appeared in APR that July of 2020, followed by the creation of a vicious website in August of 2020, falsely calling Newsome a rapist.

So why did Southern Company terrorize Newsome’s and Forbes’ young children? Why did Southern Company target, harass, and put these families under surveillance? Why did they smear them?

Because Crosswhite drank the Kool-aid, thinking George Soros or an environmental group was funding us, the CDLU, to attack Town, Balch & Bingham, Alabama Power, and Southern Company.

All of it a lie. All of it bullshit.

And Southern Company still has Sloppy Joe on contract.

Incredible!

PNC Bank makes a splash on Birmingham banking scene, and CDLU charitable group calls for it to sever ties with Balch and Bingham and its ugly past

 

A Birmingham-based public charity and advocacy group is calling on PNC Bank, after yesterday's acquisition of BBVA USA, to sever the bank's ties to the Balch and Bingham law firm. The charitable organization Consejo De Latinos Unidos (CDLU) cites Balch's apparently racist actions in recent years -- including a lead role in the North Birmingham Superfund bribery scandal -- and historic ties to former segregationist Gov. George Wallace and a 1960s highway-funds scandal that involved the imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

To spearhead its campaign regarding BBVA's unsavory ties to Birmingham's legal community, CDLU has launched two Web sites -- one in English and one in Spanish -- to document the ugly past of a financial institution that once was Compass Bank and Central Bank before Spain-based BBVA took over in 2007.

PNC has a major presence in its home-base of Pittsburgh, and is the naming sponsor of PNC Park, the beautiful home of major league baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates. Will PNC maintain ties to Balch and Bingham? It's too early to know, but the CDLU says the answer should be a resounding no. From a CDLU press release issued yesterday:

Consejo De Latinos Unidos (CDLU), a public charity and advocacy group called on William S. Demchak, the CEO of PNC Bank which is acquiring BBVA USA, to terminate the alleged racist law firm Balch and Bingham, which has represented BBVA USA for more than half a century.

“The undisputed fact is that BBVA USA was founded in 1964 by a staunch segregationist who was part of racist Alabama Governor George Wallace’s inner circle. BBVA USA’s founder was also a long-time partner at Balch and Bingham, a law firm which continues to engage in deplorable and unsavory conduct. In 2018, a Balch and Bingham partner was convicted and sentenced to five years in federal prison for a bribery scheme that included suppressing African-Americans from testing their toxic and contaminated property in North Birmingham. BBVA USA’s outside counsel has also been involved in other alleged misconduct including targeting poor African-American children and allegedly disenfranchising African-American voters,” said Ernesto Pichardo, a long-time civil rights activist and chairman of the board of the CDLU.

In 1993, Pichardo won a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision for religious freedom and Civil Rights after his Afro-Caribbean faith came under attack due to blatant intolerance and discrimination by racists and religious bigots.

Today, the CDLU launched two websites documenting the racist history of BBVA USA, one in English, the other in Spanish.

CDLU's chairman says PNC Bank should take a stand for social justice -- in Birmingham and around the country, where it will have a presence in 29 of the 30 top U.S. markets. With BBVA deal, PNC will become the country’s fifth-largest bank by assets, with $550 billion, just behind JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup, according to Financial Times.

The deal should be about more than dollars and cents, says CDLU's chairman. From the press release:

“PNC Bank has a voice, a voice to bring systemic racism to an end. Balch and Bingham has refused to apologize to the African-American community for their egregious and unacceptable conduct, and 18 of 18 major D.C. lobbying clients have courageously terminated the embattled firm. PNC Bank must take a stand and not allow the firm to earn a single penny from this transaction,” Pichardo declared.

Pichardo has been a member of the board of directors of the CDLU since 2003, a public charity and advocacy group that launched an accountability and education project in 2017 about Balch and Bingham’s transgressions.

 

PNC Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates

 

APR journalist Josh Moon, perhaps at Alabama Power's bidding, had a knack for appearing in places where you might expect to find CDLU's K.B. Forbes

Josh Moon (Alabama Political Reporter)

A journalist for the Alabama Political Reporter (APR) conducted what might be called a surveillance campaign against a Birmingham-based public charity, apparently because of its unflinching blog reporting on Alabama Power and associated entities.

That's from a report yesterday at banbalch.com, which operates under the banner of the CDLU charity/advocacy group. An investigation shows that Moon, for a time in 2020, had a tendency to appear in places where one might expect to find K.B. Forbes, CEO of the CDLU and publisher of Ban Balch. Writes Forbes:

Josh Moon, who we, in 2020, originally thought had amputated his brain for Balch & Bingham, appears to have foolishly made the ultimate sacrifice for Alabama Power, possibly through their paid stooges at the obscure political consulting firm Matrix.

Moon, who was dumped as a regular columnist at the Montgomery Advertiser in 2016, has worked at the discredited Alabama Political Reporter (APR) ever since.

The anonymous financial documents we received show that APR allegedly received $120,000 plus other pay-throughs from Alabama Power in 2020 to allegedly publish smear pieces on us, the CDLU.

But Moon went one step deeper in the rancid manure: he allegedly stalked and harassed the CDLU.

Would Moon's actions constitute any legal definition of stalking and harassment? That would be for someone else to determine. But Forbes indicates it was unnerving to be on the receiving end. He writes:

Now photographic and video evidence from August 2020, shows Moon showing up to our then-corporate headquarters, demanding from the receptionist at the office copies of CDLU’s 990 tax filings.

Problem was it was the receptionist for the business next door. CDLU had shut down our offices in March of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Possibly ashamed of taking extreme measures on behalf of Alabama Power, Moon waited about 15 minutes in the parking lot before building enough courage to enter the building.

Moon left a fake name (Bill) and a phone number that was one digit off from his real cellular phone number when the receptionist offered to get his request to us.

Moon has not always taken the side of Big Power on controversies of the day. Writes Forbes:

In 2014, while at the Montgomery Advertiser, Moon wrote about the controversies surrounding reducing coal-burning emissions, stating at the time:

I am almost convinced that our state leaders could hear a business proposal for dumping toxic waste directly on the Gulf beaches and their first question would be: “Uh, yeah, what’s the earning potential on that?”

Moon also ironically discusses the paid, partisan websites bought by power companies similar to how APR was allegedly “bought” with a generous six-figure “advertising” budget:

That’s why every time this issue is discussed on the partisan websites, which also are bought by power companies, there’s always an image of the black-faced coal miners pausing momentarily from the day’s work. 

But by the fall of 2020, Moon appeared to have bent down on his knees for Alabama Power. Discussing the enormous controversies concerning toxic coal ash ponds, Moon states:

However, when you look at the actual, real-life options for this stuff — and I can’t believe I’m going to say this — but the plan from Alabama Power seems to be a fairly good one. 

The change in tone cannot be missed, Forbes notes:

Dumping toxic waste 750 yards from the Mobile River is part of Alabama Power’s plan, and Moon can’t even believe his own words of support.

So what caused the 180° change? Money? Financial stress? Economic needs?

Journalism in general has seen massive layoffs, liquidations, consolidations, and buyouts. Many former journalists have gone to the private sector and left journalism behind.

In 2019,  Moon attempted to become a real estate agent. 

When he began following us, the CDLU, we found that he had no listings at Next Move Realtors and by September of 2020 Moon had let his real estate license lapse, according to state records.

On at least one occasion, Moon's tailing activities appear to have gotten rather personal. Forbes states that security cameras appear to have caught Moon driving in front of the Forbes family home:

Although blurred by movement, the vehicle, a black crew-cab pickup, looks like Moon’s pickup truck. Because of threats, Forbes and his family were at a secure location in Mexico at the time.

Ironically, Forbes writes, a tailing campaign likely was not necessary to gather information about CDLU:

All of CDLU’s 990 tax returns are available at guidestar.org or the Nonprofit Explorer at Propublica.org. And the public can request a copy, and the CDLU is required by law to provide a copy within 30 days.

Moon must have known this.

Even just a few days ago, we got our third request in three years from a woman, originally from Alabama, who now lives in California, requesting a copy of our 990. She has been the only one to do so in the past decade. No one else has.

Moon appears to be too arrogant to ask for the 990 himself.

So why in heaven’s name did Moon appear at our offices in 2020?

To provoke fear? To intimidate? To harass? To stroke his ego?

Or was he acting on instructions from Alabama Power?

Records show Alabama Power paid Frank Matthews, who has touted Louis Farrakhan's antisemitic remarks, to assist with intimidation of the company's critics

Frank Matthews (Birmingham Times)

 

Financial documents related to alleged corruption involving Alabama Power and Southern Company show the firms paid an activist and antisemite to assist in a campaign to harass and intimidate critics and perceived enemies of the big utilities, according to a report Tuesday at banbalch.com, which operates under the banner of the CDLU public charity and advocacy group.

The attacks were directed at K.B. Forbes, publisher of Ban Balch and CEO of the CDLU, and Birmingham attorney Burt Newsome, who has engaged in legal battles with the power company and related entities. Writes Forbes:

The anonymously supplied financial records and documents that we, the CDLU, received show that Southern Company/Alabama Power paid Frank Matthews thousands of dollars in the summer of 2020 in a campaign of terror and intimidation against the CDLU, the Forbes family, and Burt Newsome.

The expenditures, paid by Matrix LLC, were approved by Zeke Smith, executive vice president of external affairs at Alabama Power.

Matthews has been described as an activist and founder of the Outcast Voters League in a September 2022 profile by the Birmingham Times. But he also has been tied to antisemitic statements that originated with Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader, who espouses an anti-white theology and blames Jews for the slave trade, Jim Crow, and general black oppression, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Writes Forbes:

Matthews, who self-proclaimed himself as “God’s Gangster,” defended and praised Louis Farrakhan, the antisemite and anti-white racist who came to Birmingham in June of 2013.

In the summer of 2020, on the seven-year anniversary of the visit, Matthews declared that it was a “Privilege and honor to meet the most regarded! honorable Louis Farrakhan” in a Facebook Post.

Matthews then spouts his own hate, writing, “We don’t care what Jewish Foundation or Federation or no house negroes that didn’t want the minister here.”

What ties Matthews to the intimidation campaign against Forbes and Newsome? Facebook posts tell the story, Forbes reports: 

Who did Matthews tag in that Facebook post dated June 14, 2020?

Carlos M. Chaverst Jr., the illustrious but easily distracted rebel-rouser.

A little over two weeks later, Chaverst attacked K.B. Forbes, the chief executive officer of the CDLU, as a “racist ass white man” on a Facebook post attached to a Facebook Live video where at the end of the video Chaverst rambles about the “white man” K.B. Forbes and talks about Forbes’ home, while labeling him WYPIPO.

[Note: Chaverst had three Facebook profiles in 2020. The Montez Chaverst profile has since been deleted]

Two days later, on July 4th, the Apostle Brenda Paige Ward, having rented a large van from Budget Rentals at the Birmingham Airport, showed up in Forbes’ neighborhood and held a two-minute “shoot and scoot” fake protest adjacent to Forbes’ home, terrorizing neighbors and Forbes’ then-8-year-old daughter, who cried thinking they were killing an innocent African American like George Floyd.

The next day, the Apostle posted that she enjoyed going to Jazz at the Park on Independence Day.

And who did the Apostle tag? Carlos M. Chaverst, Jr.

Frank Matthews appears to have utilized Chaverst and the Apostle in the campaign of intimidation and terror, and Southern Company paid him well.

Forbes and the CDLU were working with the U.S. Department of Justice as informants about the misconduct in Alabama, and Alabama Power boosters  did not like the fact.

Forbes had dispatched numerous letters and provided hundreds of pages of documents, including the jaw-dropping photos of disgraced ex-U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and ex-Alabama Power CEO Mark A. Crosswhite chugging cocktails together.

How does all of this tie together? Forbes explains, noting that the attacks spread to Burt Newsome:

By these acts, Southern Company was trying to silence, intimidate, and threaten Forbes and his family.

The antisemite booster was then paid in late August of 2020 to put up signs for a website that falsely claimed that Burt Newsome was a rapist and that Forbes was defending a rapist.

Southern Company appears to have wanted to discourage and intimidate Newsome from defending or continuing to pursue ex-Drummond executive David Roberson’s $75-million civil lawsuit against Balch & Bingham and Drummond, while discouraging Forbes and the CDLU from reporting about the Roberson case or defending Newsome in the Newsome Conspiracy Case.

Jeff Peoples, who approved the expenditure and contract that was used to terrorize the Newsome Family, has since been promoted as CEO and Chairman of Alabama Power.

Jeff Peoples and Zeke Smith should be immediately fired for hiring an antisemite apologist, being engaged in nefarious and criminal misconduct, and for contributing to a criminal enterprise that will be held accountable in a much-anticipated civil RICO lawsuit.

Forbes adds the following:

Matthews even called the CDLU and left a vulgar message for us. (Note: Audio of the message can be heard near the end of a post at the following link.)

Forbes concludes with this:

An apostle, a rebel-rouser, and an antisemite booster meet in a bar…

You can’t make this stuff up.

Muck-raking reporting that exposes elite B'ham law firm draws critical response from editor who seems to want hands-off status for Balch Bingham scandals

Jay E. Town stunned the Birmingham legal community on Friday by resigning as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. The move from the Trump appointee came three days after the Web site banbalch.com (BB), under the banner of the nonprofit Consejo de Latinos Unidos (CDLU), reported on discovery fraud -- the use of an imposter to testify for a video deposition in a lawsuit over an alleged conspiracy, orchestrated by Birmingham's Balch Bingham law firm and targeting solo practitioner Burt Newsome and his lucrative bank-servicing practice. Noting that Town once worked for a New Jersey law firm that represented defendant Verizon Wireless, BB Publisher K.B. Forbes noted the likelihood that Town helped orchestrate the deposition to protect Verizon and codefendant Balch Bingham.

Town's resignation comes almost exactly one month after BB reported he was under scrutiny at the U.S. Department of Justice, mostly for dubious actions involving Balch Bingham and its sister utility firm, Alabama Power. Town resigned less than two weeks after Jefferson County Probate Judge Alan King retired following a series of reports from BB and Alabama Today about peculiar rulings -- apparently tied to Conservator Greg Hawley and Balch lawyer Amy Adams -- in a number of estate cases, including one involving well-known philanthropist Joann Bashinsky.

The Bashinsky case, which the Alabama Supreme Court described with words like "unfathomable" and "egregious," appears to amount to elder abuse -- and BB's coverage might just be warming up. The Bashinsky case, and others like it, have been assigned to a federal investigator, a source tells Legal Schnauzer.

All of these stories, taken together, indicate BB and Forbes have engaged in the kind of hard-nosed, public-affairs reporting that generally draws praise in journalism circles. And yet, they are the subjects of a most uncomplimentary analysis by Editor Bill Britt at Alabama Political Reporter (APR). Britt and APR have engaged in aggressive journalism of their own, especially on the Mike Hubbard story, so one might expect they would appreciate Forbes' work. But one would be wrong.

In an op-ed titled "Under cloak of secrecy, dark money nonprofit targets Birmingham law firm," Britt has almost nothing positive to say about Forbes' scoops; mostly, he seems concerned that Balch Bingham's reputation might be sullied -- even though the firm has been enmeshed in scandal, largely of its own making, for almost three years, and that is a matter of public record.

So, what is Britt's problem with Forbes and BB? That's hard to say. He doesn't claim their reporting is inaccurate or poorly presented; he doesn't deny that high-ranking Balch lawyers have engaged in wrongdoing. He almost hints the firm, perhaps because of its ties to Alabama Power, is a sacred cow that should be above scrutiny. If that's the rule, why didn't it apply to Mike Hubbard?

Since we are struggling to discern Britt's issues with Forbes and BB, let's turn to his own words:

A California-based, dark money organization has set up shop in Alabama. It appears the move has substantially improved the group’s financial outlook and altered its core mission.

Because of the group’s federally protected status, it is impossible for the public to know who is pouring cash into Consejo de Latinos Unidos — translated as United Latinos Council — but a state tax lien and its CEO’s website may offer a peek at what might be hiding behind the nonprofit’s dark-money veil of secrecy.

Founded in 2001, and originally headquartered in Los Angeles, CDLU’s stated mission, according to reports, was to “foster, encourage and develop educational opportunities and programs in Latino communities.”

Leaving its Latino-centric advocacy roots, the current website says the group’s “primary mission is helping to provide urgent and life-saving medical care for those in need with nowhere else to turn.”

Although it relocated to Birmingham sometime between 2013 and 2014, CDLU has never registered with the Alabama Secretary of State’s Office — and its board of directors is still located in California and elsewhere.

 Britt's primary concern seems to be with the CDLU, its finances, and its mission statement. He continues along that path:

In 2017, it appears CDLU once again found an added purpose for its activities far from its previously stated missions.

CDLU’s CEO, Kevin Brendan Forbes, who goes by his initials “K.B.” launched a website in 2017, on which he targets Birmingham-based law firm Balch Bingham.

Mother Jones characterizes Forbes as a “self-styled ‘child of the Reagan revolution,’ [who] grew up in a mixed household in a Los Angeles suburb.” Forbes also worked for far right-wing commentator and one time Republican presidential hopeful Pat Buchanan, as well as media-mogul and former Republican presidential contender Steve Forbes. (The men are not related.)

Why a leader of a nonprofit would devote daily energy to attacking a law firm is not entirely clear, but it seems to have begun with what Forbes refers to as the “Newsome Conspiracy Case,” which involves an extended court battle between Burt Newsome, a Birmingham attorney, and Balch Bingham.

Does Britt provide any details about the Newsome Conspiracy Case, and Balch's role in it? Nope. Did he attempt to contact Forbes or Newsome? We see no sign of it; the column includes no quotes from them. Britt then turns his attention to the alleged friendly relations between the Forbes and Newsome families:

Not only did CDLU’s focus change when Forbes became close to Newsome, the organization’s fortunes began to improve, as well.

Forbes is considered the driving force behind the group’s ventures in Alabama. He is also personal friends with Newsome. Facebook posts show both Newsome and Forbes’ wives enjoying social events on multiple occasions.

There is a direct friendship between the wives of Forbes and Newsome. They have been friends since at least 2016 and posts show a number of public interactions since then.

This is a problem? I have 3,970 Facebook friends, and I interact with quite a few of them. Does that somehow color my journalism?

Forbes reserved the website “BanBalch.com” shortly after the Newsome and Forbes families formed a friendship, and the website’s first articles were aimed squarely at Newsome’s lawsuit with Balch Bingham.

From the beginning, the website set out to tarnish the law firm by claiming to expose “unsettling controversies surrounding Balch Bingham,” much of which stem from allegations, inference and speculation.

There is nothing speculative about Balch's involvement in the North Birmingham Superfund scandal. Here is the DOJ press release from Sept 2017 about the indictments of Balch partners Joel Gilbert and Steven McKinney, which is in line with the launch of Forbes' Web site. Newsome's lawsuit is well into discovery, a sign that a court sees the factual allegations as substantive.

Britt focuses on the following from a Forbes post:

So, we ask, would it not have been cheaper to simply resolve the Newsome Conspiracy Case for $3 million? If Balch Bingham had simply reached out to us, the CDLU, and tried to resolve the Newsome Conspiracy Case in early 2017, this blog would not exist and our advocacy efforts at the CDLU would not be focused on educating the public, law enforcement, legislators, corporate leadership, and institutional investors on Wall Street about Balch Bingham's alleged unsavory, if not criminal, conduct.

Britt goes so far as to hint this amounts to extortion:

A veteran of hundreds of legal skirmishes who, like others, asked not to be quoted because of Forbes’ propensity to write unfounded accusations, said Forbes’ actions in his opinion rose to extortion and tortious interference with business relationships.

Is there anything in fact or law to support such an allegation? We don't see it. Extortion is defined at Code of Alabama 13A-8-13

A person commits the crime of extortion if he knowingly obtains by threat control over the property of another, with intent to deprive him of the property.

Where is the threat in the Forbes statement Britt cites above? How has Forbes taken control of property of another? We don't see either one. Forbes' words appear to form a statement of fact, that if the Newsome matter had been resolved, the case would be over, with nothing else to write about it.

Is it wise for Britt to make such an allegation in print? No. Under Alabama law, an imputatation of criminal activity generally is considered defamation per se, meaning damages are assumed and do not have to be proven.

K.B. Forbes published his response to Britt's analysis at the following link. What does Burt Newsome make of all this? We asked and received this reply:

In the article, it says I have a long-running legal dispute with Balch. It does not bother to mention the reason I went crazy after them was that Balch framed me for a crime I did not commit and had me falsely arrested so that it could email my mugshot around to our common clients and falsely claim that I had lost my law license.

It says Forbes is exposing various supposed scandals associated with Balch. No, the FBI did that when it arrested a Balch partner for bribing a State representative.

It also says that Forbes/CDLU is giving me money. This is absurd. Why would a public charity be giving me money? No one has given me anything since I left home to go to Troy State back in 1984.

Do black lives matter to executives at Southern Company? Not when they can put on blinders and ignore environmental racism in their midst

Tom Fanning

 
The chief legal officer for Atlanta-based Southern Company, parent firm of Alabama Power, says he found nothing "inappropriate" after reviewing documents related to a Balch Bingham bribery scheme to discourage residents of mostly black North Birmingham from having their soil tested for industrial toxins.

In an interview with Ban Balch Publisher K.B. Forbes, General Counsel Jim Kerr generally pleaded ignorance to the whole affair, even though the Balch-Southern Company relationship goes back almost 100 years. The ties are so tight, in fact, that CEO Tom Fanning  has ignored calls to sever ties with Balch and its history of paying $360,000 in bribes to former State Rep. Oliver Robinson to help ensure North Birmingham residents would never know their property was infested with industrial poisons.

In Jim Kerr's world, this is not discrimination or environmental racism -- at a time when Black Lives Matter is becoming a potent force for social and political change. Is Fanning taking the same "Nothing to see here" approach as Kerr? That seems to be the case for now. Writes Forbes at banbalch.com:

Refusing to fire alleged racist law firm Balch Bingham, Southern Company CEO and Chairman Tom Fanning’s leadership is now under attack.

New audio files appear to expose systemic racism at the utility.

Three audio clips from the Kerr-Forbes interview can be heard at the following link. It sounds as if Forbes struggles to suppress guffaws after hearing some of Kerr's answers:

In 2018, one of Southern Company ‘s top executives refused to acknowledge or condemn racism attributed to a bribery scheme while on a phone call with the CDLU.

Jim Kerr, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and the Chief Compliance Officer at Southern Company, allegedly reviewed two matters involving Balch after meeting with the CDLU.

One of the matters was the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal whose main objective of suppressing African-Americans from having their toxic property tested by the EPA was born at the offices of the embattled law firm Balch Bingham.

For 98 years, Balch Bingham has received millions in fees from Southern Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries.

North Birmingham is 92.5 percent African-American.

Kerr had the audacity to dismiss the racist scheme, telling K.B. Forbes, the Chief Executive Officer of the CDLU, “I don’t accept your proposition or your hypothesis.”

Forbes responded, “Should [Balch Bingham] have the right to suppress African-Americans? You think that’s okay? I’m asking you point blank, do you think it’s okay? Do you find it morally repugnant or not Jim? Come on take a stand!”

Kerr seemed to stay mostly in a trance until Forbes raised a well-known incident of racism from the1960s:

Kerr would not react until the CDLU brought up an analogy of Southern Company’s refusal to hold Balch accountable would be like refusing to hold Woolworth's accountable when they “wanted to keep Blacks out of the soda fountain.”

Kerr called CDLU’s analogy “preposterous” but the CDLU rebutted Kerr, saying, that it was accurate because the bribery scheme “discriminated against poor African-Americans in North Birmingham CERLA.”

Kerr then again refused to acknowledge or accept that the North Birmingham scheme discriminated against poor African-Americans, declaring, “I have no evidence that that is the case that any entity involving my organization or any entity based on the information that I’ve been given that that is the case. Your analogy is unfounded.”

Did Kerr, and Fanning, have reason to know Balch was engaging in flagrant environmental racism in North Birmingham? Consider these insights from Forbes;

Jeffrey H. Wood was a lobbyist for Balch Bingham and was lobbying on Capitol Hill in 2016 about the North Birmingham EPA matter at the same time as the bribery scheme in North Birmingham against the EPA was happening.

Former State Representative Oliver Robinson, a Balch partner, and a Drummond Company executive were sentenced to federal prison in the bribery and money laundering scheme.

But Wood was not lobbying on behalf of Drummond.

Wood was lobbying for Alabama Power, whose top three executives (CEO, General Counsel, and VP of Government Affairs) are all former Balch Bingham partners. Alabama Power is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Southern Company.

At first, on the phone call, Kerr said he wasn’t sure what we were asking, but after repeating the question with reminders, he took 5 seconds to respond with a canned legal answer: “It’s, um… I told you that I looked into the information provided me. We reviewed the information and I have no concerns about anything inappropriate.”

Even national news publication geared towards African-American millennials The Root noted Kerr’s 5 seconds of silence:

Kerr responded, “We do not see a place to step into [the Robinson scandal].” That rings hollow considering that Wood, Balch’s point lobbyist for Southern, was lobbying on Superfund policy at the time on behalf of Southern. In fact, Wood has specifically recused himself from any matters at the ENRD pertaining to the 35th Avenue site, suggesting that he was specifically lobbying about the site. After [the CDLU] pointed this out, Kerr took a long pause before going full Sarah Huckabee Sanders: “We reviewed the information. I have no “We reviewed the information. I have no concerns about anything inappropriate.”

Advocacy group says appointment of Balch & Bingham partner to Jacksonille, FL, investment board should be tabled due to the firm's ugly history on matters of race

Jacksonville, Florida

 

The appointment of a partner at Birmingham's Balch & Bingham law firm to an investment board of the Jacksonville, Florida, City Council should be put on hold, according to a post today from banbalch.com. K.B. Forbes, publisher of Ban Balch and CEO of the blog's parent organization -- the CDLU public charity and advocacy group -- says Patrick Krechowski's appointment should be tabled due to Balch's history of troubling actions on matters of race (see here and here). Jacksonville's population is 30 percent Black.

Under the headline "Jax Axe? Balch Partner Krechowski “Old Enough to Know Better,” Forbes writes:

Civil rights champion Ernesto Pichardo, who won a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision for civil rights and religious freedom in 1993 against the City of Hialeah, Florida, demanded today that the Jacksonville, FL, City Council table the appointment of Patrick Krechowski to the Downtown Investment Authority Board of Directors.

“Patrick Krechowski is a partner at the alleged racist and embattled law firm of Balch & Bingham. Two former Balch attorneys are sitting in federal prison, now, today, this very moment: one for bribery and money laundering; the other for possession of kiddie porn. As a partner, Mr. Krechowski cannot say he doesn’t know about the deplorable misconduct at the firm,” declared Pichardo who serves as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Consejo de Latinos Unidos (CDLU), a public charity and national advocacy organization.

Pichardo added, “Just recently, the Town of Orange Park rejected the hiring of Mr. Krechowski and Balch & Bingham, a humiliating defeat for a seasoned attorney. Mr. Krechowski is old enough to know better and should have the wisdom to leave Balch & Bingham and their baggage behind. There are many other, more honorable law firms in Jacksonville.”

 What about the former Balch attorneys now residing in prison? Forbes has details:

In October of 2021, ex-Balch partner, Joel I. Gilbert reported to federal prison to serve a five-year sentence for bribery and money laundering in the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal, which targeted low-income African American children and their families from having the EPA test their toxic and contaminated property. The bribery scheme was born at the offices of Balch & Bingham. North Birmingham is 92.5 percent African American, and Balch has yet to apologize or make amends with the community.

In March, Chase T. Espy, a long-time Balch attorney was sentenced to 97 months in federal prison for possession of child pornography. In 2021, Espy was arrested for allegedly soliciting a child online. The CDLU immediately reached out to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which investigates child trafficking and exploitation. CDLU’s advocacy led to the federal indictment of Espy in June of 2022.

Because of CDLU’s advocacy, Balch has seen 18 of 18 major clients in Washington, D.C. terminate them.  Balch & Bingham appears to have lost between $40 and $100 million in the aggregate as the firm has seen the departure of clients and legacy and money-making partners since 2017.

In 1993, Pichardo won a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision for religious freedom and civil rights after his Afro-Caribbean faith came under attack due to blatant intolerance and discrimination by racists and religious bigots. Pichardo has been a member of the board of directors of the CDLU since 2003.

Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News flush their reputations down the toilet by dumping plans for investigative stories on embattled Southern Company

A newspaper in decline?

 

These are tough days for The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which is (was?) one of the most respected brands in journalism. The newspaper especially struggles when it comes to coverage of Atlanta-based Southern Company, the nation's second largest utility.

The latest example came yesterday when WSJ reported that Southern Company officials consider it a mystery that someone conducted surveillance on former CEO Tom Fanning and his one-time girlfriend, Kim Tanaka. K.B. Forbes, publisher of the Ban Balch blog and CEO of the CDLU public charity and advocacy group, calls BS on that. Under the headline "Mumbo Jumbo! No Mystery who Paid for Southern Company Surveillance Operations," Forbes writes:

A report published by The Wall Street Journal today outlining the “mystery” corporate surveillance operations at Southern Company has spurred more scrutiny in that Southern Company claims “it has no idea who ordered the operation or why.”

“Southern Company is using mumbo jumbo words. Southern Company paid for the surveillance, and they do not deny the expenditures at all,” said Ernesto Pichardo, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the CDLU.

“Last year, according to news reports, Southern Company paid a generous financial settlement to former Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning’s  ex-girlfriend, Kim Tanaka, and the spy who infiltrated her life. Southern Company has habitually lied and misused investor funds to target alleged enemies, including us, the CDLU. In November, we anonymously received financial and internal documents showing unequivocally that Southern Company spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in a two-month period in 2020 to conduct surveillance, threaten minority families, and terrorize innocent individuals, including young children, using a network of criminal goons and paid stooges. The documents have independently been verified,” Pichardo, a respected civil-rights champion, stated.

Here is an al.com report on the WSJ story. Yahoo! finance has a report on the CDLU's story, in which Forbes traces the "mystery" to Montgomery-based consulting firm Matrix LLC and its owner, Joe Perkins:

Southern Company appears to have relied heavily on the obscure consulting firm Matrix, LLC, founded by Joe Perkins. Secret contracts allegedly paying Perkins and his affiliated entities $2.2 million a year without the need to invoice led to the eventual ouster in November of Alabama Power CEO Mark A. Crosswhite. Alabama Power is a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Company.

Ernesto Pichardo helps tie things together:

“Contracts allegedly giving carte blanche power and resources to Joe Perkins appears to be a betrayal of the fiduciary obligations to investors. Surveillance operations allegedly misusing company funds for personal and illegal purposes need to be thoroughly investigated by regulators and law enforcement. In today’s Wall Street Journal article, Southern Company prematurely states, ‘We have moved on.’ We, the CDLU, have not and we will continue working with federal and state investigators to protect our civil rights, our children, and our well-being from out-of-control utility companies who spend millions on surveillance programs, yet have no idea who authorized them,” Pichardo added.

As Forbes points out, much of this has been reported in the online press:

Last August, news reports revealed that Fanning and his then-girlfriend Kim Tanaka were spied on in 2017 in a surveillance operation allegedly authorized by Alabama Power and conducted by operatives working for Matrix. The apparent objective was to obtain photographic evidence that Fanning was bisexual and possibly blackmail him.

In 1993, Pichardo won a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision for religious freedom and Civil Rights after his Afro-Caribbean faith came under attack due to blatant intolerance and discrimination by racists and religious bigots. Pichardo has been a member of the Board of Directors of the CDLU since 2003.

An earlier example of WSJ's willingness to trash its own reputation came when -- someone, somehow -- convinced it to scuttle investigative stories on the accounting fraud, racketeering, and shoddy construction work that have plagued Southern Company for years. (Note: Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has owned WSJ since 2007, so that might explain a lot. WSJ and Fox News now essentially are conjoined twins.) Bloomberg News (BN), which also used to enjoy a stellar reputation, was willing to take similar steps, canceling a planned investigative story on Southern Company.

Longtime Alabama attorney and civil-rights advocate Donald Watkins, has reported on these apparent examples of gross journalism malpractice. Writes Watkins:

The Southern Company’s Washington, D.C. office has successfully coordinated public-relations initiatives that completely co-opt and shut down negative investigative news stories that were developed for publication by Bloomberg News and the Wall Street Journal. These Southern Company “catch and kill” initiatives occurred in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

The Southern Company’s “catch and kill” of a Wall Street Journal investigative story was proudly celebrated by the board of directors during a dinner at the company’s annual shareholders meeting last month.

This effective approach to managing media content from New York-based news organizations is an extension of the Southern Company's “capture and control” program that began at its Alabama Power affiliate in 2017. National Public Radio (NPR) “outed” this creative program in a December 19, 2022, article titled, “In the Southeast, power company money flows to news sites that attack their critics.”

This raises all kinds of disturbing questions? Did WSJ and BN succumb to pressure from someone representing Southern Company's interests? Were they "incentivized" in some other ways -- perhaps with trips or junkets, gifts, favors (sexual or of other varieties), or maybe the old standby, cold, hard cash?

We appear to be talking about coverups, by news-gathering organizations that are supposed to be uncovering malfeasance. In short, WSJ and BN appear to have engaged in malfeasance of their own. Other media outlets should expose them for the journalistic frauds they apparently have become.

That is particularly disturbing because a nuclear disaster is looming in East Georgia because of corruption and incompetence at Southern Company. Writes Watkins:

As explained in my June 17, 2023, article, Units 3 and 4 will likely experience a Level 5 to 7 catastrophic nuclear disaster shortly after Unit 3 goes into commercial service. In light of the engineering flaws, shoddy workmanship, and lack of thorough, proper, and independent quality control inspections at Units 3 and 4, this nuclear disaster is inevitable.

Since 2017, politics has trumped public safety in the construction of the Units 3 and 4. Today, these units are nuclear deathtraps.

More than 500,000 residents within an 11-county area surrounding Waynesboro, Georgia will have to be permanently resettled after the likely nuclear disaster at Unit 3.

Thousands will become seriously ill from radiation poisoning. Many will die.

At this juncture, nobody inside of state and federal government appears to care about these residents or their likely plight.

The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News don't seem to care, either.

Alabama might be entering an era where ingrained public corruption is unmasked and punished, thanks largely to a small public charity and its dogged CEO

K.B. Forbes

 

Alabama might be entering an era where the public corruption that has plagued the state for decades might finally be held to account. That we've reached such a point owes largely to a Birmingham-based public charity and its CEO, K.B.. Forbes, writing at the blog .banbalch.com, reports former attorney/banker/entrepreneur Donald Watkins.

How toxic has Alabama's corporate, political, and legal environment become? Watkins states that bad actors have "targeted for destruction" three online journalists who have reported widely on corruption -- Forbes, Watkins, and me (at this blog, Legal Schnauzer).  That doesn't count Shelby County attorney Burt Newsome, who was targeted for a head-on vehicle crash that appears to have been deliberately staged -- or Newsome client and former Drummond Company executive David Roberson, who had someone shoot into his vehicle while he was driving on U.S. 280.

Where might an apparent federal investigation be headed? It's probably too soon to say, but Watkins hints that more stunning events could lie ahead. That might include the resignation of a second federal judge in the Northern District of Alabama, accompanied by curious circumstances like those that  trailed the recent surprise resignation of U.S. Judge Abdul Kallon.

If accountability does come to pass, it apparently will be driven largely by non-traditional journalism, with Forbes blazing the trail. Writes Watkins:

As Alabamians, we all owe Kevin B. Forbes, co-founder and chief executive officer of Consejo de Latinos Unidos (CDLU), a great debt of gratitude. CDLU is a nationally recognized consumer healthcare advocacy group that exposed and helped to bring to an end hospital price gouging of uninsured patients. More recently, Mr. Forbes and CDLU have turned their attention to cleaning up ingrained corruption in the U.S. Attorney's office and U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, which is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama (USA).

Mr. Forbes has authored nine investigative reports, spurred three Congressional hearings, and worked coast to coast to improve healthcare for all. His written complaints to the U.S. Department of Justice have succeeded in shining a much-needed spotlight on out-of-control public corruption in the Northern District's "rigged" criminal justice system. This time, criminal investigators in Washington, Georgia, and Florida are moving to curb it.

Born and raised in California, Forbes once taught English as a second language to working Latino students at a post-Secondary vocational school near Watts, South Los Angeles, California. As the son of a Latino immigrant, Mr. Forbes is fluent in Spanish. He has lived in Chile and Mexico.

Corruption in Alabama largely has gone unchecked. But the CDLU and Forbes have ushered in a new culture, Watkins writes:

On December 4, 2019, Forbes and CDLU launched a three-year long fight in Washington against public corruption in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Alabama. His unrelenting anti-corruption campaign is now bearing fruit that will benefit Alabamians and the nation for decades to come.

As a direct result of Mr. Forbes' and CDLU's courageous anti-corruption campaign, we have seen the following stunning turn of events that threatens to jail Alabama's most powerful political, business, and political figures:

Watkins then cites eight major incidents that were largely tied to Forbes' reporting at banbalch.com:

(1) The abrupt midnight resignation of U.S. Attorney Jay Town in 2020 after photographs taken in 2017 showed an ethically compromised Town chugging down cocktails with Alabama Power Company CEO Mark Crosswhite during the height of his office's criminal investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption that was linked directly to Alabama Power, former state Rep. Oliver Robinson (D-Birmingham), the Drummond Company, and the law firm of Balch & Bingham. The goal of the bribery scheme was to defeat an initiative by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to add a predominantly black neighborhood in North Birmingham as a Superfund clean-up site. Alabama Power provided $30,000 of the money that was used to bribe Rep. Robinson. At least 21 Balch attorneys played some part in the bribery scheme, as well. Yet, neither Alabama Power, nor Crosswhite, nor none of Balch's 21 participating attorneys, nor Drummond Company CEO Mike Tracy was charged in the bribery scheme. Over the objection of honest federal law enforcement officials in Birmingham, Jay Town shut down the bribery and money laundering investigation after meeting with Crosswhite. Only one "fall-guy" from Drummond and one from Balch were indicted, tried, and convicted, along with Robinson, who pleaded guilty. Borrowing a page from a 1980 RICO conspiracy, bribery, and fraud case in Birmingham federal court that was "fixed" to benefit executives at Alabama Power and the Drummond Company, Jay Town steered the North Birmingham Bribery case away from Mark Crosswhite and Mike Tracy and was rewarded with a cushy, high paying general counsel's job that U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) arranged for him with Huntsville-based defense contractor Gray Analytics after his resignation.

(2) The demotion of Jay Town's handpicked First Assistant U.S. Attorney Lloyd Peeples in 2021, who has burrowed himself into the Office as the head of its Criminal Division. Peeples is a failed Homewood, Alabama, pizza restaurant owner with a dismal record on operating businesses and a documented history of hostility towards blacks and women. Despite his failure as a businessman, Jay Town had Peeples running the multi-million dollar U.S. Attorney's office on a day-to-day basis while Town drew a full-time salary for ceremonial work.

(3) The 2021 meltdown of perennial political "dirty tricks" artist Joseph Perkins, Jr., and his PR firm, Matrix, LLC. In September of 2021, former Matrix CEO Jeff Pitts filed a lawsuit against Perkins in Florida alleging, for the first time in public, that Perkins engaged in (a) extortion, (b) abuses of the legal process in Alabama, and (c) an ongoing racketeering enterprise. Perkins, who is a confessed federal lawbreaker, has handled Alabama Power's "dirty tricks" operations on an outsourced basis for nearly two decades. Perkins and his companies are under a multi-agency and multi-state multiple law enforcement investigation that began in Florida. Alabama Power has historically funded Perkins and his entities using secret contracts that paid Perkins tens of millions of dollars, "without invoicing." Perkins' work as a "dirty tricks" operator is notorious and has garnered him lucrative contracts with Auburn University, Georgia Power Company (Atlanta), and the Southern Company (Atlanta) that deliberately obscure the nature of his work.

(4) The abrupt resignation of U.S. District Court Judge Abdul K. Kallon on April 5, 2022. Kallon presided over the 2018 North Birmingham Bribery Trial involving Oliver Robinson, Drummond Company executive David Roberson and Balch partner Joel I. Gilbert, which portrayed Roberson and Gilbert as "lone wolves" in the bribery scheme. Kallon's resignation comes as federal investigators are probing obstruction of justice charges in the North Birmingham Bribery Trial.

(5) The unexpected "retirement" of Drummond CEO Mike Tracy. Drummond is Alabama Power's longtime coal supplier for its dirty coal-fired power plants like the one Alabama Power operates at the Miller Steam Plant in Jefferson County, Alabama. This plant is the Number One air polluter in America. Tracy personally approved payments to two ethically-conflicted consultants who lobbied the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) to officially oppose the EPA clean-up initiative in North Birmingham. To conceal these payments from EPA officials and the public, Balch & Bingham General Counsel Blake Andrews paid these consultants directly and was later reimbursed by Drummond with Mike Tracy's expressed blessing. To the consternation of honest law enforcement investigators, Jay Town made sure Mike Tracy and Blake Andrews were not indicted or prosecuted for their roles in the bribery scheme.

(6) The April 2022 suicide of Balch & Bingham lawyer, William Dice Lineberry. Mr. Lineberry was the lawyer who helped set up the money laundering entity "Alliance for Jobs and the Economy" (AJE), which was the entity that was used to: (a) receive corporate donations from willing participants in the bribery scheme and (b) funnel over $360,000 in bribery money to Oliver Robinson.

(7) The April 7, 2022, resignations of two Assistant U.S. Attorneys in Birmingham with reported connections to the Office's investigation of the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal.

(8) The reported designation of Alabama Power Company CEO and ex Balch partner Mark A Crosswhite as a "target" of a multi-state federal probe into charges of RICO conspiracy, bribery, and obstruction of justice. Federal investigators are also probing the relationship between Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning and Mark Crosswhite. At Fanning's request and without any prior notice to Alabama Power ratepayers or its state and federal regulators, Crosswhite funneled tens of millions in "bailout money" from Alabama Power's coffers to the Southern Company for a boondoggle nuclear power plant in Mississippi that: (a) the Southern Company is constructing, (b) has been grossly over budget for more than a decade, and (c) is not intended to provide any electricity for Alabama Power's customers. An earlier probe into this matter by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was reportedly "fixed" by Sen. Richard Shelby with senior SEC officials in Washington to extricate Alabama Power and the Southern Company from civil and criminal exposure for this secret and unlawful diversion of Alabama Power's ratepayer funds.

Watkins quickly adds that a number of "open questions" remain on the table:

There are open questions as to whether Joe Perkins is cooperating with federal authorities in the new multi-state probe. Perkins reportedly possesses "dirty secrets" files on compromised public officials and regulators who may have accepted laundered campaign contributions and other "things of value" in exchange for taking official action to help Alabama Power Company, Georgia Power Company, and the Southern Company sustained their respective business monopolies.

Because of the number of individual culprits and corporate entities involved and the scope of Perkins "dirty tricks" operations, it appears that federal investigators are considering a potential RICO charge against the principal participants.

Additionally, at least one more federal judge in Birmingham may be implicated in the criminal probe and may be forced to resign.

Forbes' role goes beyond journalism. As head of a public charity, he also engages in advocacy -- and that has helped bring a national focus to problems in Alabama. Writes Watkins:

Mr. Forbes and CDLU sent letters to the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) at the U.S. Department of Justice on December 4, 2019, January 9, 2020, and January 29, 2020 that detailed widespread and credible allegations of public corruption and obstruction of justice spearheaded by Jay E. Town while he served as U.S. Attorney and Lloyd Peeples served as his First Assistant U.S. Attorney. [Click here to view Forbes' 12/4/19, 1/9/20 and 1/29/20 letters to OPR.]

Both Jay Town and Lloyd Peeples have checkered backgrounds. Yet, they were warmly received in the Birmingham federal courthouse that served as the citadel for formal FBI COINTELPRO operations in Alabama, from 1956 to 1972, and informal COINTELPRO activities from 1972 to the present.

This is the same Birmingham federal courthouse where former Chief U.S. District Court Judge Frank McFadden reportedly "fixed" the 1980 "Coal Fraud Trial" case against Alabama Power Company chief financial officer and Drummond Company director Walter F. Johnsey, Drummond Company CEO Gary Neal Drummond, state senator Joe Fine, and four other defendants, all of whom were charged with operating an ongoing criminal racketeering enterprise. Lead prosecutor Broward Segrest would later explain how and why the case was "fixed." Segrest's account of how and why McFadden "fixed" the case for Alabama Power and Drummond was subsequently confirmed by former Blount, Inc., CEO and Republican gubernatorial candidate Winton Blount III, and another high level executive at Blount, Inc. After "fixing" the case for Alabama Power and Drummond, McFadden resigned and was promptly rewarded with a job as general counsel at Blount, Inc.

This appears to be the same playbook that was used in the North Birmingham Bribery Scheme. After the case was allegedly "fixed," Jay Town resigned and was rewarded with a cushy, high-paying job as general counsel at Huntsville-based Gray Analytics.

Does exposing Alabama corruption come with risks? Yes, it does -- as we know firsthand. Writes Watkins:

The only Alabama media organizations to investigate and publish news articles on the chokehold that Alabama Power Company, Drummond Company, Balch & Bingham, Joe Perkins, Matrix, and Senator Shelby have on federal law enforcement agencies and federal judges in Alabama have been Kevin Forbes and CDLU, Roger Shuler and his online publication, Legal Schnauzer, and www.donaldwatkins.com.

Despite his status as a confessed federal lawbreaker, Joe Perkins is the "hunting buddy" of Sen. Shelby and Chief U.S. District Court Judge Scott Coogler (Birmingham). It is unclear as to who picks up the tab for these hunting excursions.

Mr. Forbes, CDLU, Mr. Shuler, Legal Schnauzer, and I have been targeted for destruction by this band of culprits. Joe Perkins' handwritten notes outlined his plan to destroy me and was published on this news site in September of 2021. 

Note that Alabama mainstream publications have been largely absent on these stories. But Watkins hints that national news outlets might pick up the slack -- and he provides a much-deserved hat tip to K.B. Forbes and his public charity:

    A grateful public thanks to Kevin B. Forbes and CDLU for the courage and tenacity they have shown     in rooting out the ingrained corruption in the U.S. Attorney's Office and the U.S. District Courthouse     for the Northern District of Alabama. The job is not finished, but substantial progress has been made     in eradicating this corruption.

    The Washington Post, which reported on "Alabama's Watergate" on April 3, 1977, now has a chance     to report on the floodgate of public corruption at the highest level of federal law enforcement in           Alabama 45 years later. At www.donaldwatkins.com, we will do our part to support Mr. Forbes, CDLU, Roger Shuler, and Legal Schnauzer.