Could a “Staged Arrest” Kill Alabama Power’s White Elephant?

Alabama Power and the embattled law firm Balch & Bingham are called “sister-wives.” Almost a century ago, the brother of Alabama Power’s president started the firm.

Mark A. Crosswhite, a former Balch & Bingham partner, is the CEO of Alabama Power, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Southern Company,  and considered one of the most powerful executives in Alabama.

The long-time incestuous, revolving-door relationship may answer the question:

How did the son of a long-time Alabama Power executive (now retired) get involved in an alleged “staged arrest” of one of Balch & Bingham’s most-successful competitors?

With a civil RICO lawsuit to be filed this year, Alabama Power has been thrust into the middle of the Newsome Conspiracy Case.

Although Balch & Bingham is hemorrhaging from the exodus of money-making partners, the million-dollar loss of lobbying clients, and a horrifically bruised and battered reputation, will Crosswhite show loyalty by sticking to his former colleagues and fighting to the death like Balch?

Wall Street and corporate leadership won’t allow the alleged hardball, foolish, and irresponsible conduct by Balch to continue, and hurt the utility by putting them in the middle of a civil RICO lawsuit.

Southern Company, Alabama’s parent company, is publicly-traded and we learned from insiders that Southern’s Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant could bring seismic change to the executive management team if the cost-overruns continue and the plant becomes an embarrassing white elephant.

And that is what Wall Street and institutional investors are being briefed about now:

Is Balch & Bingham a relic of the past, a white elephant that no longer needs to be breast-fed by rate-payers and Wall Street?

Tom Fanning, the CEO of Southern Company has slowly distanced the company from Balch & Bingham (they have not lobbied for Southern Company since 2016).

If Crosswhite wishes to continue to lead and move up the ladder, “the most powerful executive in Alabama” needs to tell Balch to apologize to the North Birmingham African-American community for convicted partner Joel I. Gilbert’s horrendous conduct and to finally bring the Newsome Conspiracy Case to a close.

The matter is no longer about Alabama, Alabama Power, or “fighting the perceived enemy.”

The matter now has national consequences, and Wall Street concerns.

Checkmate!