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Newsome Conspiracy Case Enrages Balch’s Ego
[This post was originally published over a year ago on December 12, 2017. With expenditures now estimated to be in the seven-figures, the Newsome Conspiracy Case highlights gross injustice, abuse of the judicial system, and to some, a sign of sheer stupidity.] They say that anger is the enemy of logic. In our almost 17 years of doing advocacy work, we have never seen an entity like Balch & Bingham that is so defiant, so blind, so unrealistic, so angry over the Newsome Conspiracy Case that the matter has now impacted their reputation, their legacy, and their institutional integrity. Speaking…
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Screwing and Polluting North Birmingham for $2,000?
In March, the Birmingham City Council denied a license to a scrap metal business in North Birmingham because of health, public safety and environmental concerns. A rare victory for the poor, African-American residents of North Birmingham, Jordan Scrap Yard fought back in April filing a lawsuit against the city. Yesterday, we visited the residents of North Birmingham and we learned a troubling fact: the community, which has fought vigorously against the Jordan Scrap Yard, was outraged and angered by a judge who ordered, adjudged, and decreed the city to grant the scrap yard a license on November 13, 2018 in…
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State Attorney General Abdicates
During Thanksgiving week, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall parted ways with Matt Hart (pictured right), the most feared state prosecutor who took on public corruption and successfully convicted high-profile politicos and others. Only Jefferson County has had the intestinal fortitude to investigate further and indict Balch stooges Trey Glenn (who resigned from the EPA the day before Hart was sent home packing) and Scott Phillips. The state, we believe, will no longer even contemplate a probe of Balch & Bingham or Southern Company. And State Senator Rodger Smitherman, Judge Carole Smitherman, and the secretive and unconstitutional Star Chamber, we also believe,…
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Balch & Bingham’s Prophylactic Hypocrisy
[This post originally appeared on October 25, 2017. Over a year later, these actions have become a pillar in the civil RICO lawsuit to be filed next year and appear to demonstrate the manipulation of the Alabama judicial system. The legal doctrine of estoppel looks like it has been violated for Balch & Bingham’s benefit.] In February of 2015, when the Newsome Conspiracy Case was at its infancy, Balch and alleged other co-conspirators vehemently fought the sealing of the case. Balch attorneys wrote at the time: “While Plaintiffs couch their motion as a prophylactic measure to ‘protect’ the reputations of…
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What will Southern Company do in December?
A year ago today, Tom Fanning, CEO of Southern Company, personally called us and spoke about their commitment to “listening to the community” and wanting to hear our concerns about Balch & Bingham, the Newsome Conspiracy Case, and the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal. A year later, the entanglement of Southern Company in the Newsome Conspiracy Case has been solidly linked, and the civil RICO action and possible U.S. Congressional hearings to come in 2019 could only spell for further headaches and embarrassments for Fanning and friends. Tom Fanning, who we believe is an inherently good man, could pick up the…
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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…
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Obstruction of Justice and Southern Company
18 U.S.C. § 1503 defines “obstruction of justice” as an act that “corruptly or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication, influences, obstructs, or impedes, or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede, the due administration of justice.” Robert M. Ronnlund, the attorney that sent the alleged “criminal obstruction of justice” letter in January of 2016 telling AT&T not to release any information about the telephone numbers linked to the Newsome Conspiracy Case falsely claiming there was a court order prohibiting such release, is in the center of the eye of the storm. His wife, Millicent Ronnlund, had…
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Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, Secret Star Chamber, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham
Corrupt State of Affairs in Alabama
We returned late Friday from a very insightful and productive trip to New York City and Washington, D.C. Our high-level sources tell us that with the local Jefferson County indictment of Balch & Bingham stooges Scott Phillips and Trey Glenn, pressure on the U.S. Department of Justice to take a deeper look at the corrupt state of affairs in Alabama has escalated—especially now that Jeff Sessions was ousted. The reporting to prison of bought-and-paid-for politician and former Alabama State Representative Oliver Robinson is scheduled for next week and shows how a Balch & Bingham partner corrupted the legislative branch in…
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Next: U.S. Congressional Hearings
Having allegedly manipulated the legislative and executive branches of Alabama’s state government in the North Birmingham Bribery Case, Balch & Bingham’s alleged manipulation of the Alabama judicial branch in the Newsome Conspiracy Case is now also in the cross-hairs. The mugshots of Balch stooges Scott Phillips and Trey Glenn posted by AL.com are more symbolic than that of two paid consultants. They symbolize that the fight for justice and inherent goodness are not over. Actually, this is the start of the next, new beginning. As the Associated Press reported yesterday: “Trey Glenn should have never made it through any serious vetting process,” said…
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Keystone Cops and Alabama Power
The profound (if not stupidly obvious) link between Alabama Power, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Southern Company, and the Newsome Conspiracy Case was confirmed last night by investigators. What has Balch & Bingham brought upon Southern Company? Abuse under the color of authority? Trampling of Civil Rights and civil liberties? Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning knows what we are talking about. We gave him the details on October 25. Our Balch & Bingham sources told us that Balch, allegedly briefed about the link, was so flustered by the revelation last week they were searching for any public mention of the individuals…
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Was Southern Company Duped, Too?
[This post was originally published on April 20, 2018. As the link between Alabama Power and the Newsome Conspiracy Case solidifies with additional evidence, Balch & Bingham appears to have abused their close relationship with Southern Company’s subsidiary Alabama Power. Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning (pictured left) and Alabama Power CEO Mark Crosswhite (pictured right) must hold Balch accountable including partner Schuyler Allen Baker, Jr. (pictured center).] When a Drummond Coal company’s executive was indicted along with two Balch & Bingham partners for suppressing poor African-Americans from having their toxic property tested by the EPA in a $360,000 bribery scheme,…
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How the Newsome Conspiracy Case Helped Bring Down Jeff Sessions
Even though he had spoken with the ambassador from Russia twice, Jeff Sessions never, ever has disclosed or discussed his relationship with Black Hall Aerospace or Balch & Bingham. We met Alabama attorney Burt Newsome for the first time almost two-years ago at a charity event. When we heard the incredible conspiracy tale of a wrongful arrest and the alleged attempt to steal his business, we were in disbelief. We reached out to Balch & Bingham in January of 2017 with emails and phone calls in an attempt to resolve the situation quietly and behind closed doors. Like Newsome, we…
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Sessions Ousted by Trump; Balch’s Investment Goes Belly-Up
When President Donald J. Trump was elected, media reports suggested Balch & Bingham was a big winner, going to make a windfall, and have the inside track to multi-million dollars in legal fees and lobbying efforts because of their close ties to then-U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions who was the first major elected official to endorse candidate Trump in 2016. Instead of growing with power and influence these past two-years, Balch appears to have plummeted in shame and disgrace. Sessions’ Department of Justice successfully prosecuted and convicted Balch partner Joel I. Gilbert on six criminal counts including bribery and money laundering.…
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Winds of Change
[UPDATE: U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions was asked to resign as of 1:45 p.m. CST. He was ousted by the President. Read more here.] Although many speculate that Balch & Bingham’s top connection in Washington, D.C. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will be replaced, other moves are coming that could impact the embattled law firm. Congressman Adam Schiff will become the new Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and declared this morning that he will enforce oversight that the current Congress “abdicated.” Just up the the Golden State Freeway from CDLU’s home office in East Los Angeles, we visited with…
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Living Well: Smitherman’s Bags of Cash
With the headline “Lawmakers raise millions while running unopposed,” Kyle Whitmire of AL.com reports: Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, raised $240,161, with about $110,000 coming after no one qualified to run against him. Under Alabama law, officials can use leftover campaign funds for any expenses reasonably related to the office. So what’s reasonable? That’s largely subject to interpretation and lawmakers often have imaginations as big as their campaign accounts. Plane tickets, car leases, new tires for a truck, dinners in Montgomery, dinners out of state, cell phones, laptops — the list is long. The point of all this is, special interest…
