Merry Canary! More Alleged Corruption and Drummond Dollars
We called ex-Drummond executive David Roberson the Missing Link last week, and now there may be more acts of alleged corruption that Roberson can possibly confirm for federal authorities.
As Josh Moon of the Alabama Reporter wrote in 2017:
[In 2014, the] EPA wants to list the [North Birmingham] site on the NPL [National Priorities List]. ADEM [Alabama Department of Environmental Management], which is delegated to speak for the State, says it doesn’t object so long as the state doesn’t owe money.
But then, in September 2014, after the EPA publicly announces its plans to move forward with listing the 35th Ave. site on the NPL, ADEM officials, for some inexplicable reason, freak out. Director Lance LeFleur fires off an email proclaiming the actions to be an “egregious breach of protocol” and claiming that ADEM “DID NOT CONCUR” with the proposal.
So what caused the freak out and caused the Wilted Flower to do a 180?
As revealed in court testimony last year, ex-Balch partner and convicted felon Joel I. Gilbert drafted ghost-written letters for Governor Robert “Luv Guv” Bentley in the summer of 2014 who sent them to LeFleur calling on ADEM to be more aggressive.
As AL.com reported, the Wilted Flower was furious and yelled at Gilbert, according to a trial witness.
And what else happened that September of 2014 during the freak out?
$50,000 was donated by Drummond Company to “Luv Guv” Bentley on September 17, 2014.
Could Roberson confirm if that indeed was an alleged pay-off?
The following month, in October of 2014, Balch stooge Luther Strange did his first $25,000 lap dance for Drummond that we documented last week.
Now we learned of another 23-page letter that Strange dispatched to the EPA in late January of 2015. And guess what? Luther received another $25,000 from Drummond that February.
Facing a 30-month possible death sentence, bankruptcy, the sale of the family home, unbearable emotional stress, Roberson, more than ever, has the incentive to testify and clear his conscience.
Merry Canary!
