Category Archives: Secret Star Chamber

What are They Hiding?

Newsome Conspiracy Case, Secret Star Chamber, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham

Balch & Bingham stooge Judge Carole Smitherman has done a great disservice to the legal profession and Alabama Judicial System by refusing to unseal the record of the Newsome Conspiracy Case.

The case does not involved a victim who was raped.

The case does not involve a juvenile or youth offender.

As one of Alabama’s top criminal attorneys who worked for the defense in the North Birmingham Bribery Case told us, Smitherman’s action in sealing the entire record is “extreme.”

Since no jury will hear the case, no jury will be tainted.

So we ask, what are they hiding?

We have been working diligently this past week, speaking to our contacts, investigators, and top legal minds.

Although we have written about allegations that appear to show criminal obstruction of justice, alteration of evidence, and the abuse under the color of authority, the strong speculation is that there are acts, once exposed, that would escalate the entire Newsome case from a conspiracy that carries civil liability into a criminal conspiracy that would obligate institutional changes in the legal system of Alabama.

And Balch is still in a state of denial.

Schuyler Allen Baker, Jr., what have you done?

How long will the good, honorable, and professional partners at Balch (and respected clients) support an institution that appears to ignore best practices while fighting to the death over a case that should have been settled long ago?

Bombshell: Smitherman Approves Redacted Attorney Fees Against Newsome; Keeps Case Sealed

Newsome Conspiracy Case, RICO, Secret Star Chamber, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham
The details of the invoices were mostly redacted to a degree that the description of the fees and work done were indeterminable. Some fees billed on the invoices and submitted were not even related to this case.

Although the Queen of the Star Chamber Judge Carole Smitherman has ruled  against Burt Newsome by approving Balch & Bingham’s summary judgment, she refuses to unseal the court records, even though the case is over in the lower court, according to an appeal filed with the Alabama Supreme Court.

When Smitherman originally ruled to create the Star Chamber, the argument was that we, the CDLU and our website, would taint the jury pool.

There will be no jury now. 

The case is over at the local level.

Smitherman’s actions proves she’s nothing more than a stooge for Balch & Bingham and confirms what civil RICO experts have said: the manipulation of the pay-to-play judiciary branch in Alabama is real and tangible.

We ask again, what in the hell could Smitherman be hiding? Perjury? Possible criminal conduct? Corruption? Obstruction of justice?

But now an even bigger disgrace has been exposed.

Smitherman approved over $192,000 in redacted attorney fees against Burt Newsome. In other words, Newsome and his legal team were given bills that were blacked-out, they couldn’t read, and then told to pay up.

In his appeal notice to the Alabama Supreme Court, Newsome wrote:

In August of 2018, the Defendants/Appellees submitted invoices with their Motions for Attorney Fees. The details of the invoices were mostly redacted to a degree that the description of the fees and work done were indeterminable. Some fees billed on the invoices and submitted were not even related to this case. On November of 2018 the Trial Judge entered an order granting all Defendants/Apellees’ motions.

Redacted and indeterminable!

This is more than a miscarriage of justice against Newsome.

This is a horn, a loud horn exposing to the world to what unconscionable and unsavory depths to which Balch & Bingham and its stooges will allegedly go to destroy the rule of law and to carry on an arrogant march of defiance with impunity.

Anyone reading this post is shaking their heads in disbelief, including those close to Balch & Bingham.

And so are our friends in Washington, D.C. who believe in inherent goodness, justice, and the rule of law.

In Memoriam and Balch’s Mop Up

Newsome Conspiracy Case, Secret Star Chamber

Andrew “Andy2K” Campbell, who saw his boutique law firm Campbell Guin disintegrate and collapse last August, appears to have ended his relationship with former co-owners and settled the matter according to a court dismissal notice filed December 6, 2018.

Andy2K, who represents Balch & Bingham in the Newsome Conspiracy Case, donated $2,000 to presiding Judge Carole Smitherman, the queen of the secretive Star Chamber, shortly before appearing as Balch’s new lead counsel.

The updated Campbell Guin website shows that former 25% owners Bert M. Guy and Justin G. Williams (pictured above) are no longer at the firm although their back-end URL pages are still active. The third owner, Jay F. Guin had died and even his “In Memoriam” page has been taken down (but still active on the back-end.)

(We are sure Campbell Guin IT reps will take down those pages as soon as they read our post.)

And now Balch & Bingham appears to have come in to mop up the mess by hiring a former Campbell Guin associate, Asher L. Kitchings, according to the Birmingham Business Journal.

We wish Asher, Bert, and Justin all the best in 2019!

Newsome Appeals Balch’s Summary Judgment

Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, Secret Star Chamber

Over $30,000 in campaign cash to Judge Carole Smitherman and her husband State Senator Rodger Smitherman since July of 2017 has paid off handsomely.

Apparently kowtowing to Balch & Bingham, Judge Smitherman, as expected, affirmed a summary judgment against Burt Newsome in the Newsome Conspiracy Case currently taking place in a secretive and unconstitutional Star Chamber, according to an appeal filed by Burt Newsome.

Last month, the appeal was filed against Judge Smitherman’s bias and retaliatory decision with the Alabama Supreme Court.

Reviewing the 44 retaliatory and sloppy orders signed by Smitherman attached to the Writ of Mandamus last June, we are sure the co-conspirators are foolishly rejoicing this gross injustice as a “glorious victory” and slapping each other on the back.

But as we mentioned before, every misdeed, every action only helps solidify the civil RICO suit that Newsome is planning against Balch & Bingham for allegedly manipulating the judicial system in Alabama.

With the Alabama Supreme Court offering literally one-word decisions (affirmed or denied) in all of the related Writs and appeals in regards to the Newsome Conspiracy Case, will incoming Chief Justice Tom Parker rise above the perversion of Alabama’s pay-to-play judicial system and finally affirm the rule of law?

Either way the Supreme Justices decide, a federal civil RICO suit may be the only way to end Balch & Bingham’s alleged domination, manipulation, and perversion of the state legal system in Alabama.

U.S. Congressional Investigations of “Massive Fraud”

Secret Star Chamber, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham

U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told CNN’s State of the Union yesterday there have been “several massive frauds against the American people. And it’s now our job, the job of the Justice Department…the special counsel, and the Congress to get to the bottom of this.”

One massive fraud has been the abuse of the all three branches of government in the State of Alabama by using the “legal” system of pay-through contributions from the usual suspects to obtain access and signatures on cookie-cutter letters and official acts, while hiding behind non-disclosure agreements, attorney-client privilege, or a secretive Star Chamber.

The use (or abuse) of the state government many times is to simply impede federal action or investigations.

Nadler’s staff and others on Capitol Hill have been briefed on the unsavory conduct of Balch & Bingham, the sister-wife relationship of Southern Company, and the national implications of the alleged trampling of the civil liberties of Burt Newsome under the color of authority and the alleged trampling of the civil rights of African-Americans in North Birmingham.

State Attorney General Abdicates

Newsome Conspiracy Case, Secret Star Chamber, Southern Company

During Thanksgiving week, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall parted ways with Matt Hart (pictured right), the most feared state prosecutor who took on public corruption and successfully convicted high-profile politicos and others.

Only Jefferson County has had the intestinal fortitude to investigate further and indict Balch stooges Trey Glenn (who resigned from the EPA the day before Hart was sent home packing) and Scott Phillips.

The state, we believe, will no longer even contemplate a probe of Balch & Bingham or Southern Company. And State Senator Rodger Smitherman, Judge Carole Smitherman, and the secretive and unconstitutional Star Chamber, we also believe, will remain untouched by state law enforcement.

And why do we believe this?

Because the same groups linked to the Newsome Conspiracy Case who funneled questionable campaign contributions to the Smithermans poured an avalanche of money on Marshall.

According to state digital records, Alabama Power dispersed $85,000 to Marshall; BIZPAC (funded in part by Balch partners) threw in $78,500; BIPAC kicked in $32,500; CANPAC showered Marshall with $30,000; NEWPAC donated $17,500 while VPAC even threw in $2,000 to help the AG.

The State Attorney General appears to have abdicated his duties seeking truth and justice for about a quarter of a million dollars.

Let’s be honest: Marshall tossed aside impartiality long ago.

After Balch & Bingham, Drummond, and their goons had targeted the tiny public charity GASP, Marshall’s office joined the choir in 2017.

Eleven days before Balch-made millionaire Joel I. Gilbert was indicted, Marshall’s office dispatched an insidious letter denying a GASP public records request because their lawyer was based in Florida.

Tainted money is truly the mother’s milk of injustice.

Balch & Bingham’s Prophylactic Hypocrisy

Newsome Conspiracy Case, RICO, Secret Star Chamber

[This post originally appeared on October 25, 2017. Over a year later, these actions have become a pillar in the civil RICO lawsuit to be filed next year and appear to demonstrate the manipulation of the Alabama judicial system. The legal doctrine of estoppel looks like it has been violated for Balch & Bingham’s benefit.]

In February of 2015, when the Newsome Conspiracy Case was at its infancy, Balch and alleged other co-conspirators vehemently fought the sealing of the case.

Balch attorneys wrote at the time:

“While Plaintiffs couch their motion as a prophylactic measure to ‘protect’ the reputations of the attorneys involved in this lawsuit, neither Cooper or B&B request such protection and desire that this action remain unsealed as is clearly favored by Alabama law.”

What has changed?

Cooper was fired on March 3rd, two Balch Partners were indicted on September 28th, and Balch is now under scrutiny in two ongoing federal investigations.

Because of their own hubris and arrogance, Balch’s reputation appears to have been flushed down a toilet.

In August, while in the public spotlight, Balch fought for the complete sealing of the Newsome Conspiracy Case, and Judge Carole Smitherman, who received over $15,000 from a PAC backed in part by Balch partners, sealed the case without a hearing. All proceedings are now done in secret without public access in a closed court, a Star Chamber.

Balch & Bingham’s secretive Star Chamber is an example of sheer hypocrisy.

The sealing of the case is a belated action that may be too late to save Balch’s reputation, but symbolic of the enormous influence and unchecked power they have in Alabama.

Now, fortunately, law enforcement is looking at prophylactic measures to curb the alleged corruption, bribery, and unscrupulous behavior associated with  B&B and others.

What will Southern Company do in December?

Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, RICO, Secret Star Chamber

A year ago today, Tom Fanning, CEO of Southern Company, personally called us and spoke about their commitment to “listening to the community” and  wanting to hear our concerns about Balch & Bingham, the Newsome Conspiracy Case, and the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal.

A year later, the entanglement of Southern Company in the Newsome Conspiracy Case has been solidly linked, and the civil RICO action and possible U.S. Congressional hearings to come in 2019 could only spell for further headaches and embarrassments for Fanning and friends.

Tom Fanning, who we believe is an inherently good man, could pick up the phone, now, today, this very moment and bring these matters to a close before the end of the year.

There appears to be a few (very few) at Balch who insist of fighting the inevitable: settlement of the Newsome Conspiracy Case.

At 462 days of existence, the secretive and unconstitutional Star Chamber in the Newsome matter, created by Judge Carole Smitherman under the insistence of Balch & Bingham, has manifested three hard facts:

  1. The manipulation of the judicial branch indeed occurred.
  2. The costs of the Newsome Conspiracy Case on all sides has expended into seven or eight figures. (This includes losses of partners and clients.)
  3. The abuse under the the color of authority make all 44 retaliatory orders signed by Judge Smitherman moot.

Enough about listening to the community, we say a year later.

With the conviction of two known acquaintances and having been briefed about the solid link between Southern Company and the Newsome case,  Tom Fanning needs to listen to his conscience and do the right thing.

Corrupt State of Affairs in Alabama

Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, Secret Star Chamber, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham

We returned late Friday from a very insightful and productive trip to New York City and Washington, D.C.

Our high-level sources tell us that with the local Jefferson County indictment of Balch & Bingham stooges Scott Phillips and Trey Glenn, pressure on the U.S. Department of Justice to take a deeper look at the corrupt state of affairs in Alabama has escalated—especially now that Jeff Sessions was ousted.

The reporting to prison of bought-and-paid-for politician and former Alabama State Representative Oliver Robinson is scheduled for next week and shows how a Balch & Bingham partner corrupted the legislative branch in Alabama.

Glenn and Phillips show how consultants for Balch & Bingham appear to have corrupted and compromised the executive branch and its oversight agencies in Alabama. (And let us not forget the Balch ghost-written letters blindly signed by the Governor, State Attorney General, and others in power at the time.)

Finally, with the creation of a secretive Star Chamber and over $30,000 in campaign contributions funneled to Judge Carole Smitherman and her husband State Senator Rodger Smitherman, Balch & Bingham appears to have allegedly manipulated the judicial branch in Alabama.

Could the Smithermans be indicted next or are they cooperating with investigators as witnesses?

All three branches of government appear to have been manipulated by Balch & Bingham and no one we met with on the East Coast has overlooked the fact that Balch and Southern Company are sister-wives, joined at the hip.

We wish our readers a Happy Thanksgiving! We will return next week.

Living Well: Smitherman’s Bags of Cash

Newsome Conspiracy Case, Secret Star Chamber

With the headline “Lawmakers raise millions while running unopposed,” Kyle Whitmire of AL.com reports:

Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, raised $240,161, with about $110,000 coming after no one qualified to run against him.

Under Alabama law, officials can use leftover campaign funds for any expenses reasonably related to the office.

So what’s reasonable? That’s largely subject to interpretation and lawmakers often have imaginations as big as their campaign accounts.

Plane tickets, car leases, new tires for a truck, dinners in Montgomery, dinners out of state, cell phones, laptops — the list is long.

The point of all this is, special interest groups and big-dollar donors who are giving to these candidates aren’t giving them money to run on. They’re giving them money to live on — and live well.

State Senator Rodger Smitherman and his wife Carole, the presiding judge in the Newsome Conspiracy Case, received over $30,000 in campaign cash at critical junctures of the Newsome Case from parties affiliated with Balch & Bingham or the alleged co-conspirators.

Showing up for the Newsome Conspiracy Case deliberations, Senator Smitherman sat in at numerous closed and secretive hearings of the Star Chamber.

Was he there as political enforcement?

In her bias outburst that allegedly implicated her family in the contributions scandal, Judge Smitherman attempted to justify and rationalize the huge sums of cash (many coming in from first-time donors) by declaring she and her husband were running for re-election.

Newsome’s legal pleadings to the Alabama Supreme Court declared that Judge Smitherman’s argument was absurd since Judge Smitherman and Senator Smitherman are both running unopposed.

Now Whitmire has confirmed the absurdity.

Questionable donations include a generous $2,000 contribution to Judge Smitherman from Andrew “Andy2K” Campbell around the time he was appointed the new lead counsel for Balch this past winter.

Collapse! Andy2K’s Law Firm Disintegrates

Newsome Conspiracy Case, RICO, Secret Star Chamber

Andrew “Andy2K” Campbell, who was named lead counsel on behalf of Balch & Bingham in the Newsome Conspiracy Case earlier this year, is now in the middle of an ugly fight, seeing his own boutique law firm, Campbell Guin, LLC, collapse and disintegrate.

His former partners and owners at the firm allege that Andy2K “failed to comply with operating agreements….has failed to distribute funds due and has further failed to provide an accounting thereof,” according to a lawsuit filed against Andy2K in August.

Andy2K was the manager of two LLCs affiliated with the law firm, but according to the suit, “is in the process of being removed.”

In February, Andy2K donated $2,000 to the Queen of the Star Chamber, Judge Carole Smitherman, around the time he took the reins of the Newsome case.

Near that same time, Andy2K settled yet another legal dispute: the fees due to a referring law firm for a $2 million verdict on behalf of a wrongly terminated university official.

Could the fees from that $2 million verdict be at the center of Andy2K’s current dispute and removal?

Speaking of “accounting thereof,” where did Andy2K get the $2,000 to give to Judge Smitherman?

What would a civil RICO lawsuit uncover and what would “former partners” say about Andy2K?

Unequivocally, Balch & Bingham’s Chief Compliance Officer Steve Feaga appears to be asleep at the wheel, missing in action, and the greatest act of window dressing since he was hired by the embattled law firm last December.

We took Feaga to task for letting the firm hire Andy2K, writing in July that if Feaga truly had the oversight and control, he should have blocked the hiring of Andy2K and any prospective firms who may have been engaged in influence peddling or dispersing campaign donations in Jefferson County.

Now Balch & Bingham has another embarrassment to deal with all because egos stupidly want to fight to the death.

How long will the good, honorable, and professional partners at Balch (and respected clients) support an institution that appears to ignore best practices while continuing to make foolish decisions?

Are Smithermans Cooperating with Feds? Ronnlund Acts Under Review?

Secret Star Chamber

One of our sources claims that Judge Carole Smitherman and her husband State Senator Rodger Smitherman are allegedly quietly cooperating with federal investigators.

We have also recently learned that Robert M. Ronnlund’s alleged acts of criminal obstruction of justice, alleged alteration of evidence, and what appears to be acts of perjury by Balch & Bingham and the co-conspirators in the Newsome Conspiracy Case are under review.

Earlier this summer, we asked our high-level contacts at the U.S. Department of Justice to have someone specifically review the Newsome Conspiracy Case.

Now with a car break-in and threatening package sent to the Newsome family, the idiots behind the fear and intimidation tactics have only raised the profile of the Newsome Conspiracy Case.

While the dog may have eaten Ronnlund’s homework, the Smithermans have intelligently gotten in front of this runaway train that is headed right into a brick wall.

We applaud the Smithermans for doing the right thing.

Who wants to end up like former State Representative Oliver Robinson now facing 100 years in federal prison because he participated in a bribery and money laundering conspiracy headed by convicted felon and ex-Balch & Bingham partner Joel I. Gilbert?

Glaring Impunity: Balch’s Star Chamber Hits One-Year

Secret Star Chamber

Balch & Bingham has suffered serious damage because of Balch’s own, self-inflicted mistakes.

Tomorrow marks the one-year birthday of the secretive and unconstitutional Star Chamber in the Newsome Conspiracy Case foolishly pursued by Balch & Bingham at the height of two-federal probes last year.

We have heard from and read commentary from respected jurists to deans of the legal community in Alabama, from anonymous observers to victims of Balch’s shenanigans.

The bottom-line: the Star Chamber truly was the dumbest and most damaging  legal maneuver for Balch to have pursued in the past decade.

Unlike Balch & Bingham partner Joel I. Gilbert who engaged in criminal conduct on behalf of a client, the conduct against Burt Newsome was allegedly done on behalf of the firm: to steal Burt Newsome’s lucrative solo-attorney practice of servicing banks.

As one commentator wrote on the Legal Schnauzer blog:

Why would a lawyer at Balch and Bingham feel the need to steal a solo practitioner’s business. The Balch bastard can’t develop his own business? What kind of sorry-ass lawyers does Balch hire[?]

Balch appears to have targeted a competitor, and as an injured victim, Newsome has standing to pursue a civil RICO action, now that Gilbert was convicted on all six federal charges.

But regardless to what happens in the secretive Star Chamber or a long-drawn-out RICO action, Balch & Bingham has suffered serious damage because of Balch’s own, self-inflicted mistakes.

Targeting poor African-American children, suppressing an area that is 92.5 percent African-American, manipulating the Alabama judicial system, bribing elected officials, and laundering money to judges and politicians is nothing to celebrate on this one-year birthday.

The ice cream has melted and the cake has spoiled not because of BanBalch.com or Burt Newsome, but because of Balch & Bingham’s own, arrogant hubris and glaring impunity.

Balch Crony: The Dog Ate My Homework

Secret Star Chamber

How much horse manure will Balch & Bingham and their cronies disperse in an attempt to conceal unsavory if not criminal conduct?

Reading the pleading from Robert M. Ronnlund, whose wife was a former partner at Balch & Bingham, explaining how the alleged criminal obstruction of justice happened in the Newsome Conspiracy Case is the worst excretion we have read to date and only raises more questions.

Ronnlund sent a letter in early 2016 to AT&T falsely claiming that “an objection has been filed regarding the deposition subpoena” and added, “absent a valid court order, please do not produce any documentation.”

Both claims were false.

Dismissing the matter as “fake news,” Ronnlund writes in his pleading from June 9, 2018 that “the error in question was made by the undersigned’s secretarial staff without the undersigned’s knowledge….”

In other words, his secretary made the error, the dog ate his homework, someone said Bloody Mary in front of a mirror, and miraculously the alleged criminal obstruction of justice happened by accident.

It was AT&T phone records that linked all the alleged Newsome co-conspirators together in June of 2017. Newsome’s legal team obtained the letter after requesting not only phone records, but all correspondence related to the phone records.

Even if Ronnlund’s secretary licked the envelope, how did the Scott, Sullivan, Streetman, & Fox law firm obtain all the phone numbers associated with another co-conspirator who was not even Ronnlund’s client and allegedly none of the co-conspirators knew each other?

Who is lying? Who is committing perjury?

The stench of manure is so strong it appears to reek of dishonesty.

We note that Ronnlund filed his pleading with the secretive Star Chamber the day after our post discussing that “we learned that investigators are looking for specific emails sent from Robert M. Ronnlund. We are trying to find out to whom and about what, but if the AT&T letter is any indicator, this doesn’t sound positive.”

Balch’s Plan

Secret Star Chamber

Exactly one year ago today, we wrote about Balch & Bingham gagging on their own lies and loss of control after they filed a motion that eventually lead to the creation of their own, private, secretive Star Chamber in Jefferson County, Alabama.

A year later, Balch’s conduct in the North Birmingham Bribery Case is the talk of the legal community. Balch’s reputation appears to have been flushed down the toilet on Friday night.

The corrupt web of influence, the buying of politicos, the hiring of consultants, the ghost-writing of letters, the use and abuse of our public institutions are all topics surrounding the discussion about Balch & Bingham’s conduct.

With the conviction of now-former Balch equity partner Joel I. Gilbert for bribery, the conduct by Balch on other cases is coming to light.

Was this Balch’s plan? Never.

Balch is so thin-skinned they actually had one of their outside lawyers, Andrew “Andy2K” Campbell, cut and paste one of our satirical cartoons in a pleading before the Alabama Supreme Court regarding the Newsome Conspiracy Case currently taking place in the Star Chamber.

A first-time contribution according to state digital records, Andy2K had donated $2,000 in February to the presiding judge of the secretive Star Chamber, Judge Carole Smitherman. Andy2K took over as lead attorney for Balch shortly thereafter. Schuyler Allen Baker, Jr., a Balch partner, was the lead attorney before Andy2K.

Smitherman and her husband State Senator Rodger Smitherman have received over $30,000 in campaign cash from entities tied to Balch, Balch clients, or the Newsome Conspiracy Case.

Burt Newsome was wrongly targeted, falsely arrested and defamed as Balch allegedly wanted to steal his lucrative business providing legal services to banks.

A father of four young children who has fought it out with Balch & Bingham for over 3 and a half years, Newsome, like the environmental group GASP, appears to have been railroaded by a number of Balch cronies and agents.

For now, we offer another satirical cartoon highlighting the new hip-hop sensation of Birmingham: Andy2K and the Notorious SAB. And their biggest, adoring fans? Her honor and her hubby.

Drake, eat your heart out.