Did Balch Terminate Stiers? Russian Link Clarified

After 20 years at Balch & Bingham, William F. Stiers, their top-Washington, D.C. lobbyist, left the firm in November. 

Stiers announcement came shortly after half of Balch’s paying lobbying clients dumped the firm that October.

In our 48 minute conversation yesterday with Paul Daigle, the CEO of Black Hall Aerospace, Inc., Daigle alleges that Stiers was fired and may have been given time to find a new position as a courtesy.

Saying that Stiers was an upstanding professional, Daigle opined that Stiers may have not wanted to adhere to demands by Balch.

In November, Politico.com quoted Stiers as saying, “The Balch platform is great for energy and environmental issues but my portfolio doesn’t sync with that.”

Really?  Stiers worked for Balch for 20 years, and he finally figured out he was out of sync?

We actually think bribery allegations, federal indictments, criminal conspiracies, and website scrubs didn’t sync with Stiers. We are pleased he found another firm to work for.

Daigle also wanted to clarify the record with us.

Daigle said that AAL USA, Inc. was a franchise of AAL Group Ltd. and that Oleg Sirbu, the Soviet-born immigrant, had not invested financially into Black Hall. He, his then-pregnant wife, and a friend were the ones that made Black Hall Aerospace, Inc. a success.

Although under heavy dispute in a civil court case, Daigle was adamant that Oleg Sirbu, who currently lives in Dubai, had nothing to do with Black Hall Aerospace, Inc. whatsoever.

[Update 3/22/2018: Paul Daigle wrote to us and we have made a change. “I wanted to clarify that – in the second to last paragraph – AAL USA (not Black Hall, as written) was a franchise of AAL Group in the UAE. It’s an important distinction.”]