Jaw-Dropping Photos: Mark A. Crosswhite’s Meeting with U.S. Attorney Rocks Alabama Power
Stuffed in an unmarked, unlabeled manila envelope, several 8 X 10 photos appear to confirm what ex-Drummond Company Executive and “fall guy” David Roberson has repeatedly declared: Before Roberson was indicted, his friend Mike Cole had told Roberson that Cole and Alabama Power’s CEO Mark A. Crosswhite had a meeting with the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, Jay E. Town.
Crosswhite was attempting to allegedly quash the prosecution of anyone who had been accused of bribing disgraced politician Oliver Robinson. Town allegedly replied that he was confirmed too late to kill the North Birmingham Bribery prosecution and that people were going to go to jail. Town allegedly assured Crosswhite that Alabama Power would not be prosecuted nor called as a witness in the trial.
Town was sworn in as U.S. Attorney on August 11, 2017. Seven weeks later, “fall guy” David Roberson and two Balch & Bingham partners, Joel I. Gilbert and Steven McKinney, were indicted.
The explosive photos show Crosswhite, “the most powerful man in Alabama,” enjoying libations with Town and Cole at the Moon Shine Lounge at the Elyton Hotel in downtown Birmingham.
The photos, shot from a distance, include a close-up of Town wearing a U.S. Department of Justice lapel pin, confirming he was U.S. Attorney. (The Moon Shine Lounge opened in July of 2017, just weeks before Town was confirmed.)
The photos appear to demonstrate unequivocally that David Roberson was a victim, the perfect foil, the “fall guy” for the AstroTurf campaign to discredit the environmental group GASP, allegedly spearheaded by Alabama Power and Balch & Bingham goons.
As we reported in December, convicted felon and Balch-made millionaire Joel I. Gilbert sent email updates on the bribery/AstroTurf scheme in North Birmingham addressed to Alabama Power executives. Roberson, who was convicted of participating in the bribery scheme, was simply cc’d.
So is Alabama Power truly “untouchable?”
We, the CDLU, have now called on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Mark A. Crosswhite, Alabama Power, and their sister-wife, Siamese twin Balch & Bingham for the alleged trampling of civil liberties, criminal obstruction of justice, abuse of the color of law, and possible corruption.
Why?
First and foremost, Roberson, who has lost everything, appears to have been the “throw-away” lobbyist and fall guy in Alabama Power’s “brilliant” attempt to block the environmental group GASP using a money-laundering entity called the Alliance for Jobs and the Economy (AJE).
Alabama Power’s sister-wife Balch & Bingham appointed Roberson as the president of AJE, even though he was more of a puppet than a decision-maker.
We remind our readers about what we wrote in July:
In 2016, two-years after he was named Alabama Power’s CEO,Crosswhite told AL.com, “For years I had been deeply involved in helping with the decision-making process, in offering recommendations, courses of action, but I was never involved in the final decision-making and when the chance came to cross over from the legal side to the business side that is why I did it.”
So Crosswhite likes to make decisions. Final decisions.
We are told that back in 2014, Alabama Power was concerned that their polluting but money-making Miller Steam Plant would be the next target of environmental group GASP. (In 2016, GASP did indeed file public comments regarding permits for the Miller Steam Plant.) This concern could be the genesis of the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal.
Secondly, investigations related to the Newsome Conspiracy Case, involving Balch and the cop-son of a retired Alabama Power executive, appear to have been stonewalled at least four times. Frustrated criminal investigators and others have now reported this to the Office of the Inspector General and other oversight agencies at the U.S. Department of Justice.
Why and by whom?
The photographs in the manila envelope were placed inside David Roberson’s mailbox during Thanksgiving. All evidence points towards that these photos appear to have been taken between late August and the middle of September of 2017, a few weeks before the indictments were handed down.
We believe the photographs were taken either by disgruntled law enforcement agents or a private investigator. Who was shadowing Crosswhite or Town and why? And why were they given to Roberson now?
The photographs are truly Alabama Power’s problem.
Alabama Power’s problem is now with Mark A. Crosswhite.
And Crosswhite’s problem is with Balch & Bingham which has refused to resolve the Roberson and Newsome matters and put Crosswhite, his career, and his legacy on the brink.
