Copying the same dance moves as disgraced ex-Alabama Power CEO Mark A. Crosswhite, Eric Silagy, the CEO of Florida Power and Light (FPL) resigned abruptly yesterday.
Silagy, like Crosswhite, was embroiled in scandal and alleged criminal probes related to the obscure political consulting firm Matrix, founded by “Sloppy Joe ” Perkins, the OompaLoompa of Alabama politics.
The bombshell financial records we, the CDLU, received anonymously, show that Alabama Power/Southern Company allegedly paid Alabama Political Reporter (APR) $120,000 and allegedly spent thousands of dollars boosting Facebook posts by the discredited publication.
The payments, made in 2020, all appear to have been approved by Zeke Smith, Alabama Power Executive Vice President of External Affairs, and allegedly paid through the obscure political consulting firm Matrix.
Rob Holbert of Lagniappe Mobile was the first to report about the alleged unethical relationship between Alabama Power and media outlets, writing in August:
Similar involvement by utilities in some Alabama-based news websites has also been questioned over the past few years, particularly as it relates to the publication of news articles created by Alabama Power that subsequently wind up being run on APR’s site and that of Yellowhammer News. Both new sites have run stories that first appeared on Alabama Power’s Alabama News Center website, sometimes listing them as staff reports or otherwise obscuring Alabama Power’s involvement in the creation of the story.
In July of 2020, APR wrote three smear attacks against us, the CDLU, this blog, BanBalch.com, and our Chief Executive Officer, K.B. Forbes.
The orchestrated attacks were a dramatic shift allegedly caused by the $120,000 infusion of funds. Alabama Power allegedly funneled the resources through Matrix possibly as “monthly advertising.”
In 2017, APR Editor-in-Chief Bill Britt wrote a straight piece on BanBalch.com writing at the time, “Material meticulously crafted into a damning narrative chronicles some of the firms most questioned activities, including the Oliver Robinson bribery scandal and alleged subcontract problems in Mississippi.”
Britt even contacted K.B. Forbes at the time to confirm the CDLU was involved in the blog.
According to the anonymous financial documents, Alabama Power allegedly spent $1,000 on July 9, 2020 to have APR’s post on Britt’s smear piece boosted on Facebook.
Backfired on Alabama Power
The move completely and utterly backfired.
As we wrote at the time:
We never, ever thought it was this bad for Balch.
The orchestrated public relations strategy of defending embattled law firm Balch & Bingham has backfired miserably and the public is ripping the idiotic defense of Balch. But reaction by the public on social media has been unanimously against Balch.
When Moon sent us five questions before his column appeared, we replied with details. Moon, like an arrogant, two-faced hypocrite, sent us a final email, and he wrote:
Here’s the problem I have: I don’t believe you. Now, I don’t much care about Balch, because I think they’re more crooked than even you have alleged….
What a brainless whore!
Again, according to the anonymous financial records, Alabama Power allegedly spent another $1,000 on July 16, 2020 to boost APR’s Facebook post on Moon’s column.
Britt, who feebly wrote about a public tax filing from nearly 20 years ago, and tried to smear our association with Civil Rights champion J. Patrick Rooney, who has been dead for 14 years.
Outdated and out of gas.
What pathetic losers!
According to the anonymous financial documents, Alabama Power allegedly approved three payments totaling $16,400 on or near the three publication dates to True Targeted Digital Solutions. In 2020, the entity did not have a live website, according to the Internet archive.
We, the CDLU, do not know if this was to boost posts, provide digital advertising, create a geo-fencing digital campaign, or funnel a pay-through to the hacks.
Being paid lavishly in “advertising” budgets is diplomatic corruption of the media.
As Rob Holbert reported in August:
Lagniappe has received dozens of pages of documents purported to be leaked from inside Matrix. One of those listed as being created by Matrix employee Kim Hines is titled “Special Work Budget Dated April 2013 Properties,” that includes APR on a list of organizations receiving money from Matrix, C4 and JK.
On the spreadsheet next to “Al Political Reporter,” the row marked “Costs” lists $8,000. The next column under “Notes” says, “This is a per month cost. John will handle once he has approval from Zeke.” The “Funding Source” is listed as “Special Work Order/MTX” and “Total Costs” are listed as $96,000.
Sent the documents alleging payment from Matrix to APR, Britt stuck by his original statement. “I have no idea what those documents are or their origin,” he wrote. “As I said before, we only received advertising from Matrix.”
But Britt’s excuse appears to be as hollow as Moon’s skull.
Everyone knows that Matrix, like Balch & Bingham, is practically a wholly owned subsidiary of Alabama Power. Matrix was founded by “Sloppy Joe” Perkins, the Oompa Loompa of Alabama politics.
For almost a decade, APR appears to have received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Alabama Power via Matrix.
As we wrote in 2020, in Mexico, they have a saying that translates, “Where there is money, there are whores.”
How many more whores will sell themselves to Balch or Alabama Power or one of their related entities for a few thousand dollars, a campaign contribution, or a generous digital advertising campaign?
We have been pleased to see support from individuals tied to Balch & Bingham allies. We always knew there were honorable and decent people who could rise above the noise and do the right thing.
Almost three months after her liver transplant, Baby Natalia is healthier than ever. We want to take a moment to thank YOU, our dear readers, for your prayers, warm thoughts, and financial support.
We are working with Natalia’s boosters to now help raise the balance due to pay for her life saving treatment.
As readers may recall, Baby Natalia was scheduled to have her transplant once the family raised $80,000. Due to COVID-19, fundraising and donations came to a halt.
Time was of the essence. If she did not have her transplant, Baby Natalia would have died in weeks.
Working with the CEO of the Children’s Hospital, we, the CDLU, were able have the life-saving procedure done with the money already raised which was approximately only 29 percent of what was needed.
CDLU has successfully obtained access to healthcare for thousands of families since our inception, and Baby Natalia is no different.
Now that Baby Natalia is better, we are asking for your support to raise the balance due.
We want to thank those who have already donated.
Although we always keep our contributors information private, we have been pleased to see support from individuals tied to Balch & Bingham allies. We always knew there were honorable and decent people who could rise above the noise and do the right thing.
On behalf of the Zambrano family, God bless you and yours!
Donate by clicking here. All donations to the CDLU, a public charity, are 100-percent tax deductible.
With all the doom and gloom in recent weeks, we share some good, joyful news today. Baby Natalia’s liver transplant was a success and she and mom (the donor) are recovering well.
We ask you, our dear readers, to keep Baby Natalia and her mom in your prayers.
The unfortunate delay after mom and baby were infected with COVID-19 worried us all, but now we breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Above is a photo of Natalia after the transplant.
We, the CDLU, are starting a fundraising drive to help pay for Baby Natalia’s medical bills.
Feel free to donate here. All contributions are 100 percent tax-deductible.
Yesterday, we had unfortunate news that Baby Natalia’s transplant surgery has been postponed because she has tested positive for COVID-19. Her mother, Natalia’s liver donor, has tested positive for COVID-19, too.
We are asking for your prayers for this little girl and her entire family. She and her mother will be in quarantine between 10 to 20 days.
She has overcome many obstacles including the inability to crawl. Doctors had told her family that she would most likely never crawl until she had the transplant.
But she eventually did crawl.
We are hopeful that the surgery will happen soon and her life will be saved and extended.
See this wonderful and emotional video of Natalia crawling and drawing.
Thank you, our dear readers, for your much needed prayers and warm thoughts.
In June, Baby Natalia was in need of a liver transplant but her boosters had only raised less than $25,000 of an $80,000 goal when COVID-19 caused fundraising efforts to collapse.
We, the CDLU, vowed to help.
We spoke directly with the CEO of the hospital and told her that the child had less than two months to live if the transplant did not proceed.
We noted that everything was lined up including the donor and the transplant surgeon.
We promised to help the hospital with fundraising efforts once the pandemic subsided. (Public charities and not-for-profit hospitals have been hit hard by the COVID-19 economic downturn.)
Last week, because of our advocacy, we learned the transplant surgery will proceed and is scheduled for August 11th.
Blessings to Baby Natalia and her family!
Like Baby Natalia’s hospital, Balch had the opportunity to seek the path of inherent goodness, put matters behind them, and move forward as a community leader.
Instead, Balch swore to fight to the death in the Newsome Conspiracy Case, and has refused to apologize for their partner’s alleged racist misconduct in North Birmingham.
Many of our readers are lawyers and as The New York Times points out, lawyers are at the greatest risk, like cashiers, of contracting the Coronavirus.
We, ourselves, will be hunkering down in self-imposed quarantine with our families. And we hope that you, our dear reader, do, too.
As long time healthcare advocates, we, the CDLU, understand the critical need for families to stay quarantined and prevent the spread of the Coronavirus.
Today marks the 19th anniversary of the founding of our public charity, the CDLU. The late Hortensia Magaña and K.B. Forbes founded the organization in 2001 after numerous other public charities refused, out of fear, to tackle the powerful hospital sector for price-gouging uninsured minorities.
Without fear, the CDLU has vigorously fought for inherent goodness, fairness, and justice. Our organization has spurred three U.S. Congressional investigations, and countless federal, state, local, and Civil Rights probes.
Even after the most heated and fierce fights, as a gesture of goodwill, we have built solid relationships with our former opponents. We are a bridge between the community and the entities that can bring change.
In closing, we hope that Alabama Power can bring change to an era of arrogance, selfishness, and egotism, and bring closure to the miscarriage of justice known as the Newsome Conspiracy Case.
Our main mission as a public charity is to help the sick and the dying. We have helped over 10,000 families since 2001.
One extraordinary case was that of Blanca Blancas Luna, a wonderful mother from Mexico who desperately needed our help to obtain a ground-breaking stem-cell surgery in Chicago.
Our original contact with Blanca’s family was near the time Balch & Bingham and their stooge Judge Carole Smitherman created the unconstitutional and corrupt Star Chamber in August of 2017.
We traveled multiple times to Chicago and wrote about her original care on this blog titled, “Blanca versus the Brookies.”
Last summer, we visited with her as she was to have heart surgery before the stem-cell procedure. Days before the beginning of the criminal trial of disgraced ex-Balch partner Joel I. Gilbert was to proceed, we wrote the post, “Unplugging and Helping the Sick and Dying.”
Sadly, her heart was too weak to continue with the stem-cell procedure.
We worked closely with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to extend her humanitarian parole so that she could spend her last Christmas with her parents, siblings, and extended family here in the United States.
We also helped her husband obtain a humanitarian parole so he could help Blanca travel back to Mexico after the holidays.
We learned today that Blanca Blancas passed away peacefully. Although we are extremely saddened by her death, we know that we, the CDLU, tried our hardest to provide life-extending care.
Inherent goodness was constantly present, and even the U.S. Department of Homeland Security gave the family a beautiful blessing at Christmas.
Maybe and hopefully the partners at Balch & Bingham can see through their leadership’s blind madness that there are more important things in life than defending the indefensible.
Rest in peace Blanca Blancas Luna. Estamos contigo Familia Casillas Blancas.
This week our leadership is in Chicago helping the sick and dying. Blanca Blancas Luna (pictured) is to undergo a transplant procedure next month after heart surgery tomorrow.
Why is there a criminal trial, now, today, this very moment in Birmingham? Because of Balch & Bingham’s corporate culture. A corporate culture that appears to fight to the death and justifies Balch’s “ruining a rival” mentality.
Even if it means allegations of corruption, cutting corners, misquoting legal decisions, or greasing the wheels, Balch appears to do everything with impunity and hubris.
We have had record breaking traffic to our website from across the country. Our traffic this past weekend was 10-fold the normal and customary.
The tens of thousands of visitors to our website in recent days shows readers are eager for the truth.
As we stated before, there is nothing more that we would like but to unplug this site and focus more on the sick and dying.
Since Balch refuses to settle the Newsome Conspiracy Case stuck in an idiotic and embarrassing Star Chamber, we continue to write, investigate, and work with law enforcement.
We understand Balch, while in a middle of a criminal trial, cannot apologize to the North Birmingham African-American community, but they could plan with us a Day of Reconciliation and Forgiveness in August, win, lose, or hung jury.
As Balch partners pop some more Tums and suffer sleepless nights, please pray for them and Blanca Blancas Luna.
We would like nothing more than to unplug this site if and only if Balch & Bingham would settle the Burt Newsome Conspiracy case and apologize to the North Birmingham African-American community.
Our educational advocacy project simply started with the Newsome conspiracy case and has mushroomed into numerous unsettling matters concerning the once prestigious, silk-stocking law firm.
Google analytics tells us we have over 17,000 unique users who visit our site regularly, some on a daily basis. We thank you for your readership.
As we approach our 1-year anniversary next month, we will be updating and re-organizing our website to make it easier to navigate through our menu items.
Now on the job for over two months, we hope Balch’s first-ever Chief Compliance Officer, Steve Feaga, will finally take the steps to clean up the firm, and dismantle and unplug the Star Chamber.
Good morning from the Windy City where the CDLU will be meeting with surgeons and others to help Blanca Blancas obtain a hopeful and ground-breaking treatment in an attempt to save her life.
That is what the CDLU is truly about: helping the sick and the dying.
What we thought would be an easy task of working with Balch & Bingham to rid themselves of bad apples, has turned into an investigation on multiple fronts while esteemed partners leave the firm.
As some of the elite in Mountain Brook defend Balch’s alleged abhorrent misconduct, we will not lose sight of our mission.
As one of our observers quipped, “You are helping the sick and the dying: Balch & Bingham!”
Can Feaga resuscitate the reputation of the firm or will other partners pull the plug? When will Balch apologize to the North Birmingham African-American community? And when will Balch bring the Star Chamber and Newsome Conspiracy Case to an end?
What will it take for Balch & Bingham to come to their senses? A management change? More indictments? More partners fleeing?
We, the CDLU, have engaged in fights for goodness and justice for almost 17 years. In addition, we have provided or secured over $10 million in medical services for the sick and the dying.
Our track record is solid and includes:
Fighting a corrupt adult day care center that protected a sexual predator for almost a year who sexually abused developmentally disabled adult children and transmitted an STD to these innocent children. The center was eventually shut down because of our efforts.
Forcing Citibank to end their foolish idea of imposing an “extortion fee” on the working poor.
Freeing a man who was falsely accused of a triple-homicide and held in jail for 10 months in solitary confinement without due process.
But our biggest fight (and victory) was against the hospital sector and the unscrupulous conduct of price-gouging and then railroading uninsured families with enormous “made-up” debt by putting liens on their homes.
Like Balch & Bingham, the hospitals initially ignored our requests, our communications, our pleas. The hubris is similar.
When we tangled with Tenet Healthcare, they accused us of being a front for labor unions, the Republican Party, and insurance companies. All false.
We fought for almost two years, costing Tenet $1.6 billion in acquisitions, and spurring Civil Rights investigations against Tenet across the country. Tenet’s reputation went into a free fall. Eventually everyone in the C-suite was gone or replaced, and Tenet signed, with our approval, the Compact with the Uninsured.
Like Tenet, Balch has professional people of integrity who can see beyond the unnecessary bullying, petty quibbling, and bruised feelings of a few partners; and seek a positive outcome for the best interests of the entire firm.
Another chapter in this saga will soon be written.
