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Drummond’s Shameful Conduct: Dumping Support for Autistic Kids
Garry Drummond is flip-flopping and twirling in his grave. After firing their loyal Vice President of Government Affairs, David Roberson, on February 7, 2019, sheer vindictiveness and pettiness appear to have driven Drummond Company to allegedly dump their support of Dave Roberson’s charity of choice: Spring Valley School, a school that caters to developmentally disabled, special needs, and autistic children. Unsolicited, Mike Tracy, the CEO of Drummond Company dispatched a letter on February 19, 2019 alleging that a Contribution Committee had met and that the $5,000 annual support had been denied. In his letter, Tracy thanks the school for their…
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Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, RICO, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham
Is Alabama Power’s Crosswhite in the DOJ Cross-hairs?
In Alabama, the plantation mentality wants everyone to stay in their place and to accept the injustice or unsavory conduct—quietly. Even if you are a success story and not from the gentry class, the people with the plantation mentality won’t accept you, especially if you are African-American. If ex-Drummond Vice President of Government Affairs David Roberson sings to the feds, who will be hurt the most in this evolving Greek tragedy? Alabama Power. And who would be in the DOJ’s cross-hairs? Most likely Mark Crosswhite, the current CEO of Alabama Power and a former long-time Balch & Bingham partner. In…
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Scary Canary! Panic as Roberson–the Missing Link– Considers Singing to Feds
Our sources in Washington, D.C. tell us there has been panic since our post a week ago about ex-Drummond executive Dave Roberson who is now considering singing like a canary to federal investigators. Venable, the prestigious law firm out of Baltimore, that tried unsuccessfully to prevent the indictments of Balch & Bingham partners Steven McKinney and Joel I.Gilbert, is now out and about, hot on the trail. Our sources could not tell us who has contracted them (Balch? Drummond?). Our website traffic confirms the sheer depth of the panic: we had record traffic on Monday and Tuesday of last week,…
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Drummond, Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham
Roberson Preparing to Sing like a Canary
Facing 30 months in federal prison, bankruptcy, the loss of the family home, and the insurmountable emotional toll he and his family have suffered, ex-Drummond Commpany executive Dave Roberson is prepared to talk with federal prosecutors about the intricate details of the North Birmingham Bribery Scheme. Roberson never testified in his criminal trial and has never told anyone outside legal counsel about the meticulous and unsettling details. Just a few months back, Balch & Bingham and Drummond Company were not concerned because Roberson’s criminal lawyers were paid by Drummond and Balch’s grip on Jefferson County including federal probes was solid.…
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Balch’s Wilted Flower Ripped to Shreds
During the criminal trial of Balch & Bingham partner Joel I. Gilbert last summer, Lance LeFleur, the Director of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM), became le fleur fanée on the witness stand. As we wrote last year: The words from the [witness] stand shows a web of politicians and paid goons who appear to be all intimidated or controlled by Balch & Bingham. Balch ran the operation, called the shots, and appears to have had everyone’s undivided attention. Yesterday, Kyle Whitmire ripped the Wilted Flower a new one: When Drummond Co. and Balch & Bingham pressured the Alabama Department…
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Balch’s Deception Allegedly Destroys Mountain Brook Family
Selling the family home. Contemplating bankruptcy. Attempting suicide twice. Destabilizing an autistic child. And the alleged cause of these troubles? Balch & Bingham’s deception. Dave Roberson, the ex-Drummond executive who was abruptly fired in February only months after Drummond Company publicly vowed to defend and support him, has mounted a $50 million civil lawsuit that has provoked a deep look at Balch & Bingham’s alleged misconduct. Ex-Balch & Bingham partner and convicted felon Joel I. Gilbert apologized to Dave Roberson during his criminal sentencing hearing. Why? Because Gilbert appears to have repeatedly lied to Roberson, and never had Balch’s ethics…
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Roberson’s Wife Attempted Suicide Twice
In a shocking revelation in open court today, ex-Drummond executive Dave Roberson’s wife Anna, who grew up in Jasper, Alabama attempted suicide twice because of her husband’s troubles allegedly caused by Balch and Bingham’s bad legal advice and Drummond Company’s alleged greed. The bad legal advice was central to the criminal case known as the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal in which ex-Balch & Bingham partner Joel I. Gilbert was sentenced to 5 years to federal prison while Dave Roberson was sentenced to 30 months to prison last year. Both men were found guilty on six federal charges including money laundering…
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Watch Out! $2,000 Bribe Lands Businessman 6 Months in Federal Prison
Breaking news tonight from AL.com: A California business executive was sentenced to six months in federal prison Tuesday for conspiring to bribe the former majority leader of the Alabama House of Representatives. G. Ford Gilbert, 71, paid former Alabama House Majority Leader Micky Hammon $2,000 to drum up support for a bill that would force Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama to cover diabetes treatment provided by his company, Trina Health. But the bill died in the 2016 legislative session after failing to advance out of committee. The judge overseeing the case ordered Gilbert to serve six months in federal…
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Balch & Bingham’s “Owed No Duty” Goes Contrary to Southern Company’s Values
Southern Company has released its annual corporate responsibility report and they list their values including: Unquestionable Trust Honesty, respect, fairness and integrity drive our behavior. We keep our promises, and ethical behavior is our standard. As we approach more publicly-traded companies about the controversies surrounding Balch & Bingham, Balch’s alleged dishonesty, disrespect, unfairness, and lack of integrity are garnering attention, especially now that Balch has declared in court filings that Balch “owed no duty” to Dave Roberson, the ex-Drummond Company executive who was lied to repeatedly by Balch-made millionaire Joel I. Gilbert. Balch’s owing no duty exemplifies the arrogance of…
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Southern Company and Balch’s Third-Party Risk
[This post was originally published last year on April 30, 2018. Today is the annual shareholders meeting of Southern Company. With a federal probe emanating from Mississippi, cost overruns at a nuclear power plant in Georgia, and Balch & Bingham’s alleged shenanigans in Alabama, Southern Company has many issues to confront; however, CEO Tom Fanning in the past year has quietly distanced the company from Balch, while hiring some of the best talent from the embattled law firm.] Institutional investors and Wall Street analysts are keenly aware of third-party risks and the ability of major corporations to manage them. Right…
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Opposition to Balch & Bingham Builds Nationally
Does Balch & Bingham truly believe that hiring one white-male attorney in Augusta while letting go of the only black female attorney in Birmingham is a public relations coup? Last week, trying to deflect their troubles with blinders on, Balch & Bingham announced the opening of a one-attorney office in Augusta, Georgia and tried to spin the news as “an expansion” of their footprint. Augusta is the county seat of Richmond County which is 54 percent African-American. How well will the community in Richmond County react to a law firm that appears to have engaged in environmental racism and refuses…
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When the Good Go Bad
[This post originally was published on February 23, 2018 before the conviction of Balch-made millionaire Joel I. Gilbert. We think this post is a sobering story about when good people go astray.] Greed. Power. Selfish pride. They lead to the downfall and the crumbling of inherent goodness for many people and institutions. In January of 2006, we, the CDLU, jumped into action after Ruby Cintron, who was watching New Year’s Fireworks on her back porch was hit in the eye by a stray bullet while holding a young 7-month-old baby in her arms. Some idiot, a couple miles away somewhere…
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Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham
Do Black Women Need Not Apply at Balch & Bingham?
Of the 203 attorneys, staff, and partners we counted on Balch & Bingham’s webpage, only three are African-American women. Scattered each in a different regional office, none are located in Balch’s principal office in Birmingham. Kimberly Bell appears to have been the only African-American female attorney in Balch’s central office in Birmingham. No more we learned on Friday. This afternoon, we wrote to Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning thanking him for quietly distancing the utility from the embattled law firm and observing: We are sure the layoff or firing of the only African-American female attorney at Balch’s offices in Birmingham,…
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Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham
Saving Balch & Bingham
When we, the CDLU, started our outreach to Balch & Bingham in January of 2017, never would we have thought that we would end up with one of the most widely read blogs in Alabama or that our posts would have been read by over 1.5 million users on Facebook Trying to serve as a bridge between Burt Newsome and Balch & Bingham, we respected Balch & Bingham as a law firm and thought we could resolve the matter amiably by March or April of 2017. Instead, Balch & Bingham’s leadership foolishly turned this into a scorched-earth fight at the…
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Sorry Balch & Bingham, Drummond: The Fat Lady Has Not Sung!
The bombshell from Kyle Whitmire’s column yesterday: The Justice Department could pursue its case further. So far, the US Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, Jay Town, has said only the men convicted already [ex Balch partner Joel I. Gilbert, ex State Rep. Oliver Robinson, and Drummond Executive Dave Roberson] were responsible. Does that change now that one of those men [Dave Roberson] is saying that’s not true? “DOJ and the EPA continue to discuss next steps as it concerns north Birmingham and Tarrant,” Town said when I asked him this week. Dave Roberson has opened a can of…
