Category Archives: Vincent Land Grab

True Heroes: Community that United Against Balch & Bingham’s Alleged “Whites-Only” Land Grab in Vincent, Alabama

Spotlight on Balch & Bingham, Vincent Land Grab

This spring, we, the CDLU, drove to Vincent, Alabama and met with the courageous leaders that united the African American and white communities to stunningly defeat well-financed Balch & Bingham political stooges in 2019.

In a shocking, lopsided vote, residents cleaned house and tossed out the politicians by margins as high as 69 percent to 31 percent.

The election results were a crushing blow to Balch and a planned rock quarry.

Over a decade ago, Balch & Bingham lawyers (and their public relations stooges) spearheaded the strategic purchase of farmland and the fast-as-lightening re-zoning of said land, and oversaw the lucrative transactions for a client called White Rock Quarries.

Five years ago, we, the CDLU, had met with residents who alleged that only white landowners were approached for land purchases while African Americans were not; worse many of these African Americans were older, senior citizens, descendants of slaves.

Our reporting of the allegations exposed this abhorrent, immoral scheme and shook the town.

In a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice from May of 2012, Wanda Threatt, an African American resident of Vincent, wrote:

The River Loop

“’The River Loop’ is predominately Black-owned property. Many of the inhabitants are slave descendants. Prior to the rezoning of the property by the Vincent Council, White Rock Quarries had surreptitiously bought the property under various names for highly inflated prices for the reported purpose of growing corn for conversion to gasoline. No offer at any price was made to a Black. The quarry bought what has become known as the purposed quarry site right up to the boundaries of Black-owned property…. White Rock bought land bordered by Blacks, but never from Blacks.“

The alleged “whites-only” land grab was central to a scheme to operate a rock quarry in the heart of Vincent’s historic African American area, “The River Loop.” The quarry borders the African American Church the Evangel Temple.

While embattled and alleged racist law firm Balch & Bingham stupidly collects make-believe awards for diversity and inclusion, the reality is the law firm was involved in what appears to be a blatantly racist “land-grab” scheme.

Even historic slave graves are located on the property acquired by Balch’s client.

The good news is that the rock quarry is now shut down. Rusted locks, chains, and a closed gate greet you at the entrance.

The rock quarry itself is overgrown with high grass and shrubs.

White Rock Quarries still owns huge tracks of land in Vincent, and the community leaders are still concerned that the company will possibly attempt to come back in the future and operate a rock quarry.

But for now residents can rest assured that the city itself will fight the quarry tooth and nail.

Closed entrance to the quarry.
Rock Quarry borders African American Church Evangel Temple

Balch’s Alleged Racism Hung Dead and Dissolved in Vincent, Alabama

Spotlight on Balch & Bingham, Vincent Land Grab

Two years ago today, Balch political stooges who supported the alleged whites-only land grab in Vincent, Alabama were humiliated and defeated in a landslide election that cleaned out the bastards from office when white and African-American voters united.

Now, this month, Vincent united again and reaffirmed a solid stand against the alleged racism that Balch appeared to have openly embraced a decade ago.

NPR reports:

An Alabama police department was disbanded last week after a racist text message sent by one of its three officers surfaced on social media.

The police chief and the assistant police chief were suspended, city of Vincent Mayor James Latimer confirmed to NPR. Then, the city council voted to dissolve the entire department — a move the mayor is calling “a reversible decision.” The remaining officer subsequently resigned, Latimer said.

The city will be relying on the greater Shelby County Sheriff’s Office to respond to emergency calls during the span of a year, according to the mayor.

Vincent is about a 45-minute drive from Birmingham. Less than 2,000 residents live there, 85% of whom are white and 12% of whom are Black.

The disgusting and racist text was about slavery.

What irony!

As we wrote in 2018:

The CDLU met with residents of Vincent, Alabama who allege adamantly that Balch & Bingham lawyers (and their public relations stooges) spearheaded the strategic purchase of farm land and the fast-as-lightening re-zoning of said land,  and oversaw the lucrative transactions for a client called White Rock Quarries, starting almost a decade ago.

The outrage they allege is that only white land owners were approach for land purchases while African-Americans were not; worse many of these African-Americans were older, senior citizens, descendants of slaves.

The quarry company allegedly considered moving historic slave graves according to local news reports.

With their rear appendages handed to them two years ago, the rock quarry project was shut down.

Like the voters of Vincent, corporate America has united against Balch’s alleged racism and tokenism no matter what window dressing or make-believe awards Balch regurgitates.

Hang ’em dead, they say. Hang ’em dead.

Now defunct Vincent rock quarry next to African-American church, Evangel Temple.

At Auburn City Council Meeting, Public Mauls Balch & Bingham to Shreds

Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham, Vincent Land Grab

Balch’s reputation appears to be so battered that just choosing the firm appears to have become an extreme liability on its own.

Is Balch’s reputation and public image truly this awful?

Not a single person at the City Council Meeting last night in Auburn, Alabama defended Balch & Bingham. Not a single person.

Testimony after testimony mauled Balch to shreds. Balch’s public image appears to be in shambles.

The timing comes just hours after a federal three-judge panel rejected a state redistricting plan for Congress that “dilutes the voting power of Black residents.”

Balch was involved in those redistricting plans.

Walker in the late 1990s

In 2011, the state was forced to redraw redistricting maps because of the inappropriate use of race, and now in 2022, the legislature will have to redraw because of the diluting of Black voting power. Balch has participated in both rejected plans, and Balch’s stigma of being an alleged racist law firm stings.

The wrath of the public was also against Darmon Walker, the Balch partner who was involved with both state redistricting plans, and also hired as a consultant in Auburn’s redistricting plans.

A week ago, Balch consultants stupidly attacked the NAACP’s proposed Auburn maps as “invalid.” The insidious attack against the civil rights organization’s work amplified the allegations of racism.

Last night, an independent consultant hired by the local NAACP called the maps legal and valid.

The City Council eventually voted down the NAACP maps and went forward with their own maps. The city’s position was that their staff drew up the maps and that no lawyers were involved in the process. Balch allegedly only reviewed the maps for legality.

The public’s anger at the city’s political leadership for allowing Balch to only have their soiled fingertips on the redistricting matter is interesting. Will residents in Auburn quietly unite (like in Vincent, Alabama) and toss the Balch stooges out of office?

Balch’s reputation appears to be so battered that just choosing the firm appears to have become an extreme liability on its own.

Crosswhite in happier days…

Will Balch’s sister-wife, siamese twin, and long-time client Alabama Power continue to subsidize the alleged racist and unsavory firm with generous fees? Alabama Power CEO and former Balch partner Mark A. Crosswhite has enough problems right now.

Regardless of what million-dollar donations Alabama Power and its foundation make to minority-groups and entities, the embattled firm and the Matrix Meltown appear to have become major liabilities for Crosswhite and the utility, overshadowing the good deeds the company does.

Auburn is just a small example of what is to come.

Balch’s alleged misconduct may cause Crosswhite, a University of Alabama alumni, to be tackled onto his back and forced to scream, “War Eagle!”

Auburn Stalls on Balch; History of “Diluting and Dividing” African-American Voters Unnerves Embattled Firm

Spotlight on Balch & Bingham, Vincent Land Grab

Southern tradition is not always the best thing and being an alleged racist law firm tied to the segregationist legacy of Alabama Governor George Wallace doesn’t help.

Now, today, the chickens are coming home to roost and Balch & Bingham is starting the year seeing the public has had enough of this alleged racist and unsavory law firm.

Redistricting is putting Balch under a heated spotlight.

The Opelika-Auburn News reported on January 5th:

Multiple Auburn residents voiced their worries at Tuesday’s City Council about … the redistricting consultant on retainer by the city attorney…. The comments came as council members voted unanimously to postpone both the public hearing and the vote on redistricting to their Jan. 18 meeting.

Auburn City Attorney Rick Davidson brought on Balch and Bingham attorney Dorman Walker (pictured left) to act as a consultant for Auburn’s redistricting, but Walker’s past correspondence with the late Thomas Hofeller was raised at the council meeting. Hofeller was a political strategist who gained notoriety in the 1970s and 1980s by gerrymandering to allegedly reduce Black voter power….

In 2019, the Montgomery Advertiser reported:

Thomas Hofeller, who drew maps for Republicans in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, corresponded with then-Rep. Jim McClendon, R-Springville, who helped oversee Alabama’s redistricting process, and Dorman Walker, a Balch and Bingham attorney who defended the state plan in court, as the redistricting process in Alabama began in 2011.

The legislature was later forced to redraw the maps after federal courts ruled that legislators improperly used race in drawing a dozen districts.

The documents published by The Intercept suggest Hofeller saw guidelines used by the redistricting committee and was researching or had received data on racial breakdowns in the state.

McClendon declined to answer follow-up questions about how the maps were drawn. Walker had no comment on Tuesday. Hofeller died in 2018.

Tonight, the Auburn City Council will revisit the matter.

However current redistricting plans at the state level show that Balch appears to be involved deeply in the Southern tradition of allegedly “diluting and dividing” the African-American vote.

Alabama Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton

Alabama Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, a leading African-American politico, has sued in federal court, one of two lawsuits before a three-member federal panel, after the state (with the alleged help of Balch & Bingham) created a single majority-minority congressional district of Black voters during the current redistricting plan.

The Montgomery Advertiser reported on January 4:

The lawsuits focus on the 7th congressional district, encompassing Birmingham and most of the western Black Belt, which has been majority-minority since 1992. The lawsuit argues makes it next to impossible for Black voters outside the 7th to meaningfully participate in elections, and splits counties without reason. 

The lawsuit, Singleton v. Merrill, aims to create two new congressional districts with substantial numbers of Black voters. The lawsuit would create a 7th congressional district that would be 47% white and 45% Black, and a 6th congressional district that would be 51% white and 41% Black. Supporters say having two Black members of Congress from Alabama would better reflect the state’s Black population, and that Black voters in those districts could ally with like-minded white voters to elect their preferred candidates. 

But Balch defended the single district on behalf of the state:

Dorman Walker, an attorney with Balch & Bingham representing the state, suggested the plan could mean no Black members of Alabama’s congressional delegation.

“We all know there are always political upsets,” Walker asked Singleton. “Are you confident under plan you are proposing, which has no majority Black districts, that Black congresspeople will be elected from Alabama to the Congress?” 

Singleton said he was “confident” Black nominees could win those districts, based on voting trends. 

Speaking of political upsets, the City of Vincent united in 2020 and tossed out all the elected officials tied to Balch & Bingham and the alleged abhorrent “whites-only” land grab to build a rock quarry. Vincent, 79 percent white and 20 percent African-American, united together and whooped Balch stooges out of office, a resounding defeat.

The Advertiser added:

The panel also heard testimony in Milligan v. Merrill, a separate lawsuit that seeks to create two majority-minority districts in the state. Evan Milligan, executive of Alabama Forward (pictured right) and the named plaintiff in the lawsuit, said during testimony Tuesday afternoon that Black communities in southwest Alabama shared common culture and concerns, and that a second majority-minority district would be empowering.

[Balch’s] Walker, cross-examining Milligan, questioned the definitions of communities, saying Black and white residents of Montgomery and Mobile both shared activities that someone living outside those areas might not. Milligan said the racial experiences of Black Alabamians was unique and shared by Black Alabamians throughout the state. 

Unbelievable!

A Balch legacy partner, a white man, questioning the definitions of communities, black communities before a three-judge panel. What foolishness!

Has Balch truly lost their mind?

One of the shared activities that Black and white residents have united on, in Montgomery and Mobile, Vincent, and across Alabama, is rejecting Balch & Bingham, an alleged racist, unscrupulous and unsavory law firm where 2 percent of their partners are people of color.

Auburn must terminate Balch and start from scratch.

Death Spiral? Balch Legacy Partner Rob Fowler Leaves Embattled Firm

Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham, Vincent Land Grab

Sources close to Balch & Bingham report this afternoon that long-time environmental lawyer and Balch partner Rob Fowler has left the embattled firm after almost a quarter-century of service.

His webpage at Balch has been eliminated.

Regardless of his legal work on behalf of alleged unsavory clients, alleged racist quarry companies, and possible polluters, Fowler was a trusted, experienced, and knowledgeable lawyer of environmental law, and was one of maybe a dozen long-time legacy partners left at Balch.

The firm has been seen a mass exodus of experienced and money-making partners in the last several years.

The crew left behind appear to be a collection of “green behind the ears” attorneys who lack experience and quality of work product. As we reported this summer, Balch has seen a decline of 27% of their local attorneys and has allegedly been plagued by inexperience.

The death spiral caused by less revenue and more inexperience appears to help Balch & Bingham’s competitors.

Fowler allegedly spearheaded the now infamous Vincent land-grab which allegedly bought up whites-only land in an attempt to place a rock quarry next to a historically African-American area of Vincent. The Vincent community united and tossed the Balch stooges out of office during elections last year in a resounding defeat against Balch.

Now Fowler has boxed up his personal belongings and left the awful skeletons behind.

Will Southern Company now finally seek a separation surgery for the conjoined twins?

Alabama Power and Balch & Bingham have been joined at the hip since 1922, but Balch appears to be slowly dying.

Balch’s Laughable Publicity Stunt Boosts Discrimination

North Birmingham Bribery Case, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham, Vincent Land Grab

Balch & Bingham reserves the right to discriminate and exclude minority-owned businesses based on unknown requirements and determinations.

The public and legal community are roaring with laughter.

Embattled law firm Balch & Bingham has launched the biggest publicity stunt since their chicken leg pazoola, and again Balch’s objective of rehabilitating their image is failing miserably.

No one believes the firm.

Legal Schnauzer, the well-read legal blog, pointed out in a Tuesday post that Balch’s alleged racist conduct went counter to the vision of PNC Bank which is acquiring Balch’s alleged number two client, BBVA USA Bank. Legal Schnauzer pointed out how PNC and their current law firm jointly sponsor diversity fellowships for minorities.

On Wednesday, in what looks like a knee-jerk reaction, Balch dispatched a news release announcing the launch of a program called “Balch Business Boost” that offers free legal services to women and minority-owned businesses.

Not a single minority or female attorney from Balch was quoted or highlighted in the news release.

Was the publicity stunt a last-minute move of desperation by Balch’s all-white leadership?

Instead of helping the firm, the publicity stunt appears to have boosted discrimination and highlighted Balch’s alleged racist misconduct.

  • Of the over 200 attorneys at Balch & Bingham only six attorneys are African-American or people of color. Engaging in alleged “tokenism,” each one of them is located in a completely different Balch office. In 2019, Balch let go of their only African-American female attorney in Birmingham who headed diversity efforts at the firm.
  • Balch & Bingham has yet to apologize to the African-American community of North Birmingham for the scheme targeting poor African-American childrenand suppressing African-Americans from having their toxic property tested by the EPA.
  • Balch has yet to apologize for their role in the alleged abhorrent “whites-only” land grab in Vincent, Alabama that impacted the descendants of slaves.
  • Balch has yet to apologize for their alleged involvement in the “divide and dilute” effort against African-American voters in 2011.

And now let’s take a quick look at Balch’s program to allegedly help minority-owned businesses.

Beyond financial thresholds, Balch declares, after all the hype, “Inclusion is subject to additional requirements, and acceptance will be determined on a case-by-case basis.“

In other words, Balch & Bingham reserves the right to discriminate and exclude minority-owned businesses based on unknown requirements and determinations.

Instead of fighting systemic racism, Balch appears to be affirming systemic racism.

Instead of helping their image and brand, Balch appears to be hurting their reputation even further.

Instead of apologizing to the African-American community, Balch is intentionally ignoring their horrendous transgressions.

Instead of putting matters behind them, Balch is affirming their arrogant, out-of-touch, hubris.

And then Balch defenders wonder why the public and legal community are truly roaring with laughter.

Greater Diversity? Balch Adds Six All-White Attorneys in Birmingham

North Birmingham Bribery Case, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham, Vincent Land Grab

So how did Balch & Bingham do to “achieve greater diversity” on Friday? Hire six all-white attorneys in Birmingham.

What a joke.

Balch’s Managing Partner Stan Blanton appears to have fed the public 100% organic crap.

The public relations fluff regurgitated by Blanton after George Floyd’s death appears to have been disingenuous and dishonest.

A young Stan
Blanton before he
had to feed us crap.

Blanton, stated in June, “We condemn injustice, oppression and brutality because of the color of an individual’s skin. Recent tragedies have emphasized the unacceptable racial inequalities that remain in our society. There is much more to be done to achieve greater diversity within the Balch family and to support equality and eliminate racial injustice within the communities in which we live and serve.”

Blanton has yet to apologize for his firm’s involvement in the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal where poor African-American children were targeted and Black families were discouraged and suppressed from having their toxic property tested by the EPA. The scheme was spearheaded by convicted felon and ex-Balch partner Joel I. Gilbert, who was sentenced to five years in federal prison.

Blanton has yet to apologize for his firm’s involvement in the alleged “whites-only” land grab in Vincent, Alabama where the community united in August and ousted long-time Balch stooges that tried to put in a rock quarry in an area with historic slave graves.

Blanton has yet to apologize for his firm’s involvement in the alleged effort to “dilute and divide” the African-American vote a decade ago.

Blanton has yet to hire an African-American female attorney in Birmingham after letting the only one in Birmingham go last year. She at one time headed Balch’s diversity efforts.

The list of apologies goes on and on and probably equals the number of clients Balch has lost in the past three years for their alleged racist, unscrupulous, and criminal conduct

Institutional racism is real and Stan Blanton appears to have done nothing to change the alleged racist law firm’s hiring practices in Birmingham.

The six new all-white attorneys in Birmingham join the eight all-white attorneys hired last December.

Balch’s diversity: as strong as their integrity.

What a joke, Stanton.

What a joke!

Resounding Defeat of Balch Stooges in Vincent, Alabama

Spotlight on Balch & Bingham, Vincent Land Grab

It took over two years, but inherent goodness prevailed!

In another setback for Balch & Bingham, the election results from Tuesday night show that residents living in Vincent, Alabama united and tossed out the city’s leadership involved in the alleged “whites-only” land grab to build a rock quarry.

Over a decade ago, Balch & Bingham lawyers (and their public relations stooges) spearheaded the strategic purchase of farm land and the fast-as-lightening re-zoning of said land, and oversaw the lucrative transactions for a client called White Rock Quarries.

In 2018, we, the CDLU, met with residents who alleged that only white land owners were approached for land purchases while African-Americans were not; worse many of these African-Americans were older, senior citizens, descendants of slaves.

Our reporting of the allegations in February of 2018 exposed this abhorrent, immoral scheme and shook the town.

Now with an election, the City of Vincent united to get rid of the Balch stooges. More Balch carcasses have stacked up.

Bridgette Jordan-Smith, a veteran politico who has served for 12 years in the City Council and was involved in the White Rock quarry fiasco was resoundingly defeated in her bid to become Mayor, capturing a miserable 36 percent of the vote.

Current Vincent Mayor Ray McAllister and White Rock booster appears to have abandoned his re-election bid as he saw his political fortunes sink faster than the Titanic.

While two Vincent City Council members linked to the Balch/White Rock scheme also bowed out of running for re-election, Mary Lee Reynolds ran again but voters in her district tossed her out with 59% of the vote going to her opponent.

How embarrassing! How humiliating!

The only City Council member to run unopposed this election cycle was Ralph Kimble, who forced the City Council in 2009 to openly expose the truth about White Rock and the coming rock quarry to the public, a fight for transparency back in an era of dirty secrets and backroom deals.

According to U.S. Census figures, Vincent is 79 percent white and 20 percent African-American. But the community came to together to reject racism, reject a polluting rock quarry, reject Balch & Bingham, and fight for inherent goodness.

Now we have learned that White Rock could be possibly pulling out of Vincent. That could mean yet another additional carcass left behind after associating with Balch & Bingham.

Southern Company’s Tom Fanning Encourages Racism by Ignoring Racism

North Birmingham Bribery Case, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham, Vincent Land Grab

With his inaction, is Tom Fanning telling the world, “Black lives matter but loyalty to alleged racist law firm Balch & Bingham is more important?”

Southern Company Chairman and CEO Thomas A. Fanning released a public statement on June 6, 2020 declaring, “Racism, in any form, is abhorrent. It cannot and will not be accepted, ignored or dismissed. It must be confronted head-on across our society as it is within our company. The time has come to uncover and destroy systemic racism in all its forms.”

Fanning’s statement was public relations fluff, a spin and a half, or more vulgarly put: blatant bull$#!& hypocrisy.

Why?

Because, for two-and-a half years, Fanning has repeatedly ignored and even dismissed the calls to fire alleged racist law firm Balch & Bingham.

A week ago, we, the CDLU, wrote to Fanning telling him actions speak louder than words. His Executive Assistant replied in four minutes that Fanning had received our email. We then offered our cell numbers, to call us day or night.

Nothing.

Silence.

Racism ignored.

Racism dismissed.

Racism accepted.

With his inaction, is Fanning telling the world, “Black lives matter but loyalty to alleged racist law firm Balch & Bingham is more important?”

Look at the facts. Look at the record:

  • Balch & Bingham spearheaded the bribery scandal to discourage African-Americans in North Birmingham from having their toxic property tested by the EPA.
  • A Balch & Bingham partner was sentenced to five-years in federal prison in the bribery scandal, yet Balch & Bingham has refused to apologize to the African-American community for the partner’s immoral, repugnant, and criminal behavior.
  • Balch & Bingham was involved in a “divide and dilute” effort to disenfranchise African-American voters.
  • Balch & Bingham insiders allegedly conceived the deplorable campaign that targeted poor African-American children in a bogus “coat drive.”
  • Balch & Bingham  provided legal services to a limestone quarry company that allegedly engaged in a “whites-only” land grab in a historically African-American area of Vincent, Alabama. The quarry company allegedly considering moving historic slave graves according to local news reports.
  • Balch & Bingham let go of their only female African-American attorney in Birmingham last year who headed diversity efforts at the firm, and then later hired eight new associates, all of them white.
  • Balch & Bingham has only five African-American attorneys out of over 200 professionals, each of which is in a different Balch office,  demonstrating alleged tokenism.

Instead of confronting Balch’s alleged racism head-on, Fanning appears to have condoned their actions by doing nothing.

Fanning is encouraging racism by ignoring racism.

The course of action by Fanning is the exact opposite of Marathon Petroleum’s new CEO who immediately fired Balch, 24 hours after receiving our correspondence.

Southern Company, and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, support Balch & Bingham with generous legal fees every year. Southern Company must defund racism now and fire the embattled firm.

As Rev. Michael Malcom said while interviewed at the Civil Rights Institute, Balch & Bingham has left a “legacy of pure evil.”

Divide and Dilute: Alleged Racism Sucker Punches Balch & Bingham

Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham, Vincent Land Grab

While Balch and their foolish goons may have believed they had successfully and legally diluted and divided African-Americans, the reality appears to be that Balch has simply diluted and divided the once-prestigious firm.

[Originally published on September 26, 2019, this post highlights one of the most explosive issues encouraged by systemic racism: disenfranchising African-American voters. Any corporate client of Balch & Bingham should be sickened.]

Another day and another new Balch & Bingham bombshell.

The consultant who allegedly disenfranchised African-American voters in North Carolina by creating legislative maps that were later ruled “extreme partisan gerrymandering” had contact with key Alabama redistricting operatives, including a Balch & Bingham partner.

The efforts to disenfranchise African-Americans in Alabama in 2011 eventually backfired.

The Montgomery Advertiser reports:

Thomas Hofeller, who drew maps for Republicans in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, corresponded with then-Rep. Jim McClendon, R-Springville, who helped oversee Alabama’s redistricting process, and Dorman Walker, a Balch and Bingham attorney who defended the state plan in court, as the redistricting process in Alabama began in 2011.

The legislature was later forced to redraw the maps after federal courts ruled that legislators improperly used race in drawing a dozen districts.

The documents published by The Intercept suggest Hofeller saw guidelines used by the redistricting committee and was researching or had received data on racial breakdowns in the state.

McClendon declined to answer follow-up questions about how the maps were drawn. Walker had no comment on Tuesday. Hofeller died in 2018.

Adding more fuel to the fire, Alabama Political Reporter writes:

Asked about the Hofeller’s documents in The Intercept story relating to his work in Alabama, which indicate Hofeller was dividing Alabama’s district lines based on race to… dilute minority votes, McClendon said “Well, I’m not going to comment on that.”

McClendon said Alabama’s population is about 25 percent black, and “25 percent of our legislators are blacks. Are you getting the picture here? Yeah. So. Okay. What do you want?”

Is anyone truly shocked about Balch & Bingham’s alleged involvement to help divide and dilute African-American voters?

During the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement, Birmingham’s infamous Commissioner of Public Safety Bull Connor used water hoses and attack dogs on African-Americans showing the world the ugly truth of institutional racism.

Today, the use of bribery, money laundering, campaign contributions, “confidentiality agreements,” and the legal system helps keep the ugly truth of institutional racism hidden.

Balch & Bingham probably sees nothing wrong with their alleged egregious conduct now exposed by The Intercept.

But Dorman Walker, (pictured left)  a long time Balch & Bingham partner, ought to hold his head down in shame while Corporate America should continue to reject the unsavory conduct of Balch & Bingham which has yet to apologize to the African-American community for the dishonorable conduct of Balch-made millionaire Joel I. Gilbert.

While Balch and their foolish goons may have believed they had successfully and legally diluted and divided African-Americans, the reality appears to be that Balch has simply diluted and divided the once-prestigious firm.

From the right to “ruin a rival” in the Newsome Conspiracy Case to declaring Balch “owed no duty” to Dave Roberson, the chickens have come home to roost.

18 of 18: Marathon Petroleum Terminates Balch & Bingham Showing that Black Lives Do Matter

North Birmingham Bribery Case, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham, Vincent Land Grab

Marathon Petroleum confirmed tonight that they have terminated Balch & Bingham as their lobbyists in Washington, D.C., and their bold action affirms that Black Lives Matter.

Yesterday, we, the CDLU, had written to Marathon Petroleum’s new Chief Executive Officer Michael J. Hennigan asking him to terminate the firm.

We wrote:

The law firm has been involved in alleged racist misconduct, targeting poor African-American children, and using intimidation tactics reminiscent of the segregationists from the 1960s. A Balch partner was convicted of six federal crimes including money laundering and bribery in a scheme to suppress African-Americans from having their toxic property tested by the EPA.

17 of 18 major lobbying clients in D.C. have dumped the firm, except Marathon. 

Black lives matter and now is the time to do the right thing.  Your corporate Code of Conduct affirms the need to terminate Balch & Bingham, which now has a “history of violating the law.”

In 24 hours, Marathon Petroleum responded. We applaud their decision to terminate Balch.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Marathon has paid Balch & Bingham $810,000 from 2016 through April of 2020. $50,000 had been paid so far this year.

This was the last big D.C. lobbying client of Balch that was paying the embattled firm six-figures a year. The CDLU had reached out to 18 major Balch D.C. lobbying clients of which 17 had terminated Balch by January of 2019, costing the firm millions. Marathon Petroleum was the last hold-out.

We applaud Marathon Petroleum for standing up to alleged racist misconduct and unsavory behavior. We provided Marathon with a 14-page report that outlined numerous matters involving Balch including:

  • The North Birmingham Bribery Scandal: The bribery effort against African-Americans, the invoicing, the bribery checks, and ghost-written letters were born at and dispatched from the offices of Balch & Bingham.
  • The Targeting of Black Children: Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Archibald of AL.com wrote about the horrific targeting of poor, African-American children of North Birmingham in a scurrilous “coat drive” allegedly devised by a Balch partner. North Birmingham is 92.5 percent African-American, according to U.S. Census figures.
  • Alleged Racist Land Grab: Balch & Bingham was also advising and providing legal services to a limestone quarry company that allegedly engaged in a “whites-only” land grab in a historically African-American area of Vincent, Alabama. The company was also allegedly considering moving historic slave graves according to local news reports.
  • Balch & Bingham’s convicted partner dispatched an unconscionable letter to a health advocacy group and public charity in 2014 demanding a list of their financial supporters. Using tactics reminiscent of the 1960’s when segregationists and other racists demanded lists of supporters from the NAACP and other Civil Rights organizations to intimidate and instill fear in those supporters, Balch & Bingham should have known better: public charities have no obligation to provide lists of their supporters.
  • Last year, Balch & Bingham let go of Kimberly Bell, their only African-American female attorney in Birmingham, who headed diversity efforts at the firm. With over 200 attorneys, partners, and top staff throughout their footprint, only five Balch & Bingham attorneys at the firm are African-American, each one assigned to a different Balch office, reflecting alleged tokenism.
  • Less than 2.5 percent of Balch & Bingham’s attorneys, partners, and top staff are African-American while six of the cities that Balch has offices in have majority African-American populations, one in which African-Americans represent 79 percent of the population.

Institutional Racism and Balch

North Birmingham Bribery Case, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham, Vincent Land Grab

[This post originally was published on February 5, 2018. All updates are in purple.]

Charles Cole lived in the North Birmingham community of Harriman Park until 1959 after he was brutally beaten by racist Birmingham cops. He saved up his money and immediately moved to Michigan to escape the horrors of segregation.

After retiring, he and his wife moved back to Harriman Park ten years ago to be close to family. The racist cops are gone; segregation is gone; but institutional racism continues.

Balch & Bingham partners allegedly masterminded a $360,000 bribery scheme to suppress, discourage, and disenfranchise African-Americans from having their toxic and contaminated property tested in Harriman Park, Collegeville, and Fairmont by the EPA.  Charles and his neighbors were impacted by this alleged racist scheme.

According to the U.S. Census, 35207, the ZIP Code that these communities are located in, is 92.5% African-American.

The alleged acts by a convicted Balch & Bingham partner appear to be acts of blatant environmental racism.

But has Balch & Bingham been involved in any other recent alleged racial controversies?

In Vincent, Alabama, Balch & Bingham represented a quarry company that allegedly bought out white land-owners but kept the African-American community out in the cold.

According to a news report from 2013:

There is an underlying racial issue at play in the River Loop [in Vincent]. According to the residents who live within a stone’s throw of the proposed limestone quarry, no offer was made on a single black-owned property in the area. As for the white property owners in the area who sold to the quarry, their land sold quickly and quietly for highly inflated rates.

Wanda Threatt is a resident who lives in the River Loop. She claims that the racial discrimination by the quarry company has left her community isolated and without any property value to sell their homes. “White Rock bought land bordered by blacks, but never from them. White Rock bought land bordered by Evangel Temple, but left the black-owned church untouched and devalued. The economic worth of white sellers increased. They moved away. The economic worth of blacks decreased, leaving us trapped by inequities. Our land is devalued — unsaleable. We face exposure to hazardous waste, air, water, noise and vibration pollution,” Threatt said in a letter sent to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The quarry company vehemently denied the accusations on their own website, but the stench of racism, discrimination never left.

So what should Balch’s management  and their new Chief Compliance Officer Steve Feaga do?

Start by publicly apologizing to the North Birmingham African-American community for the inappropriate and criminal conduct by convicted felon Joel Gilbert.

Then Feaga and his team should drive up to North Birmingham and visit the community (as we have). Maybe attend a community meeting (as we have) and publicly apologize again.

The firm is allegedly losing top partners, clients, and its reputation in part due to the alleged mistreatment of African-Americans and in part due to the secret and unconstitutional Star Chamber.

Will Balch and Feaga have the courage to bring alleged institutional racism and discrimination to an end? Will they finally toss aside the “ruining a rival” mentality from 1961 and shut down the Star Chamber?

Dying on the Vine? Balch and Alleged Racism

Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham, Vincent Land Grab

It’s killing them.

Will Balch & Bingham vehemently deny the actions in North Birmingham, an area that is 92.5 percent African-American, are racist?

Will Balch & Bingham vehemently deny the actions by former Balch partner and convicted felon Joel I. Gilbert and his paid stooges targeting poor black children and a school that is 95 percent minority were racist?

Will Balch & Bingham rather die on the vine than acknowledge, apologize,  and advance beyond the ugliest chapter of their almost 100-year history?

With the new foolish LMAO campaign to try to justify Gilbert’s criminal conduct and the targeting of poor black children in North Birmingham, we start with a Monday morning reminder and review that Balch appears to have an unsavory history when it comes to African-Americans.

Let’s first look at Balch & Bingham partner Clark A. Cooper who allegedly spearheaded the Newsome Conspiracy Case and was fired in March of 2017 and is now selling mattresses.

Cooper was sued in 2013 by the Alabama State Attorney General in his role as a board member of an Alabama educational scholarship trust for wrongly limiting scholarship recipients to only a small number of universities, including only 1 of the 12 historically black universities in Alabama. Cooper resigned from the board the day after the suit was filed. The trust was established for first-ever family members to attend a university.

In Vincent, Alabama, Balch & Bingham partner Robert Fowler represented a quarry company that allegedly bought out white land-owners but kept the African-American community out in the cold.

According to a news report from 2013:

There is an underlying racial issue at play in the River Loop [in Vincent]. According to the residents who live within a stone’s throw of the proposed limestone quarry, no offer was made on a single black-owned property in the area. As for the white property owners in the area who sold to the quarry, their land sold quickly and quietly for highly inflated rates.

Wanda Threatt is a resident who lives in the River Loop. She claims that the racial discrimination by the quarry company has left her community isolated and without any property value to sell their homes. “White Rock bought land bordered by blacks, but never from them. White Rock bought land bordered by Evangel Temple, but left the black-owned church untouched and devalued. The economic worth of white sellers increased. They moved away. The economic worth of blacks decreased, leaving us trapped by inequities. Our land is devalued — unsaleable. We face exposure to hazardous waste, air, water, noise and vibration pollution,” Threatt said in a letter sent to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The quarry company denied the accusations on their own website, but the stench of racism, discrimination remains.

In February, we took convicted felon and Balch-made millionaire Gilbert to task for drafting what appears to be a letter of intimidation to a public charity in 2014 that demanded a list of their financial supporters.

The hardball tactic reminded us of the unsavory tactics of segregationists and racists in the 1960s who would demand lists of financial supporters of Civil Rights organizations. Public charities are protected from these tactics.

Interestingly, during the Gilbert trial we couldn’t find billing records for the ominous letter.

Balch appears to be hemorrhaging internally and externally not only by the criminal conviction, but the blind arrogance and impunity that continues to warp Balch.

Balch should confront and resolve these issues or they may simply wither and die on the vine.

Alleged Racism and Age-Discrimination in Vincent

Vincent Land Grab

The CDLU met with residents of Vincent, Alabama who allege adamantly that Balch & Bingham lawyers (and their public relations stooges) spearheaded the strategic purchase of farm land and the fast-as-lightening re-zoning of said land,  and oversaw the lucrative transactions for a client called White Rock Quarries, starting almost a decade ago.

The outrage they allege is that only white land owners were approach for land purchases while African-Americans were not; worse many of these African-Americans were older, senior citizens, descendants of slaves.

In a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice from May, 2012, Wanda Threatt, an African-American resident of Vincent, wrote:

“The River Loop” is predominately Black-owned property. Many of the inhabitants are slave descendants. Prior to the rezoning of the property by the Vincent Council, White Rock Quarries had surreptitiously bought the property under various names for highly inflated prices for the reported purpose of growing corn for conversion to gasoline. No offer at any price was made to a Black. The quarry bought what has become known as the purposed quarry site right up to the boundaries of Black-owned property (ours included). White Rock bought land bordered by Blacks, but never from Blacks. White Rock bought land bordered by Evangel Temple, but left the Black-owned church untouched and devalued. The economic worth of White sellers increased. They moved away. The economic worth of Blacks decreased, leaving us trapped by inequities. Our land is devalued—un-saleable.

Interestingly, local politicians, including a zoning official, allegedly sold their farmland for a nice bundle of cash as if “the fix” were in.

Like the allegations in the Oliver Robinson Bribery Scandal and Newsome Conspiracy Case, the methodology appears to be the same: line-up the politicians, grease the wheels, hammer through needed results, and trample anyone in the way.

A pillar of integrity, Balch’s first ever Chief Compliance Officer Stephen Feaga must clean up another mess that looks like a cesspool of political corruption and institutional racism.