Southern Company and Balch & Bingham’s Mockery

Southern Company and Balch & Bingham appear to not give a damn and are thumbing their noses at (or giving the bird to) you, us, and the justice system.

Beyond yesterday’s news that Balch caved and  finally admitted re-hiring Irving Jones, Jr., the Spy vs. Spy former counter-intelligence agent who so valiantly infiltrated GASP meetings and ghost-wrote letters for a ghost-writer extraordinaire, another headline shook Alabama yesterday afternoon.

Criminal felon Dave Roberson, the Drummond Coal executive who along with ex-Balch partner Joel I. Gilbert were convicted on all six criminal counts including money laundering and bribery, was honored for his “exemplary service” in a resolution voted unanimously on by the Alabama Water Resources Commission, according to AL.com.

A convicted money launderer. A convicted bribery felon. Honored!

And whose signature appears as the Chairman of the Alabama Water Resources Commission on the resolution honoring convicted felon Roberson? Willard L. Bowers, the retired and former Alabama Power Vice President for Environmental Affairs (pictured left).

Bowers, a client of Balch & Bingham, provides a link between Southern Company and the Newsome Conspiracy Case that has yet to be made public.

As investigators and others continue to probe the matter, Balch & Bingham and Southern Company appear to make a mockery of the justice system, including patting good ol’ Dave on the back (Roberson had served as Vice Chair of the commission).

A spokesperson for the commission had the audacity to say it was “customary practice” to honor people who have served the commission.

We say bull. No one would honor a convicted rapist, a child molester or a murderer.

Bribery and money laundering to suppress poor African-Americans in a toxic and contaminated area are repugnant crimes; yet, a small handful in Alabama  justify, rationalize, celebrate and honor those involved.

Sick. Really sickening.