We always suspected they were in cahoots. Former State Attorney General and ex-U.S. Senator Luther Strange appears to be—unequivocally—the biggest stooge for Balch & Bingham, the once prestigious, silk-stocking law firm. Besides ghostwriting for their alleged bought-and-paid-for-politicians, Balch appears to have directly coordinated with state agencies. The Alabama Media Group reports: What hasn’t been evident before was how closely Strange’s office and the Balch lawyers Gilbert and McKinney were working together. When Strange’s administrative assistant emailed the letter to the EPA, she blind carbon copied three lawyers in the Alabama Attorney General’s office — and Gilbert at Balch. Essentially, Strange’s…

Ex-U.S. Senator Luther Strange, one of the biggest stooges for Balch & Bingham, is under scrutiny this morning after a public records request by the Alabama Media Group shows that Strange’s letter submitted to the EPA opposing the placement of North Birmingham on the national priorities list may have been ghost-written by lawyers at Balch & Bingham. An act of environmental racism, Balch and their goons appear to have suppressed African-Americans from having their toxic and contaminated property tested in North Birmingham. Two Balch partners were indicted last September  in a bribery scheme tied to the suppression of Blacks. North…

Infuriating other attorneys at the once prestigious firm, FEC filings show that Joel I. Gilbert, the indicted Balch & Bingham partner who allegedly funneled $360,000 in bribes to disgraced former  Alabama State Representative Oliver Robinson, is still on the payroll at Balch & Bingham as of December 30, 2017. After being indicted on September 28, 2017, Gilbert donated, what appears to be four automatic payroll withdrawals, on October 16, 2017, November 16, 2017, December 22, 2017, and December 30, 2017, to Balch & Bingham’s federal political action committee. The contributions total $388.42. When Gilbert and Balch partner Steve McKinney were…

A letter written in late 2014 by Joel Gilbert,  an indicted Balch partner and one of the alleged masterminds of the Oliver Robinson $360,000 Bribery Conspiracy, appears to be now blowing-up. In the two-page dispatch to GASP, an environmental and health advocacy group based in Birmingham,  Gilbert demands “statements showing the sources of the organization’s income….” The tactic is reminiscent of the 1960’s when segregationists and other racists demanded lists of supporters from  the NAACP and other Civil Rights organizations to intimidate, and instill fear in those supporters. Since those dark days of  racism, public charities are and have always…

Yesterday, U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town of the Northern District of Alabama announced that 2017 saw the highest numbers of charges and highest percentage of persons sent to prison, according to a news report on al.com. Tough on violent crime, tough on criminal immigration, tough on the drug trade, Town is also the one prosecuting two Balch & Bingham partners in the Oliver Robinson Bribery Scandal. Town told al.com, “One thing I’m trying to instill is that we are all prosecutors. We’re all engaged in the same mission. We’re one big team working toward common goals and priorities.” He also…

Why exactly did Balch & Bingham retain, as reported by The American Lawyer,  “W. Warren Hamel, chair of Venable’s investigations and white-collar defense group in Baltimore, to represent it in the government’s corruption probe?” As we wrote  at the end of August when the corrupt Star Chamber was formed,   sources told us legal representatives of  a Balch partner were “allegedly vigorously trying to prevent any indictment or prosecution through direct channels in Washington, D.C.” Two indictments later, that effort obviously failed. According to the The American Lawyer, W. Warren Hammel served as “chief of the environmental crimes and enforcement office…

Individuals tied to environmental racism should have no sanctuary in the U.S. Department of Justice or the Executive Branch. With the federal indictment yesterday of two partners of Balch & Bingham over the Robinson Bribery Scheme,  we called on the Trump Administration today to fire Jeffrey H. Wood, Acting Assistant U.S. Attorney General of the Environment and Natural Resources Division, for his role in the alleged conspiracy to suppress African-Americans in Alabama from testing their toxic and contaminated properties under the CERCLA/Super Fund Act. Before joining the Trump Administration, Woods was a lobbyist at Balch & Bingham, working for the…

After the federal indictments were handed down, Balch & Bingham partners Joel Gilbert and Steven McKinney were put on an indefinite leave of absence and their Balch.com web pages were taken down. Balch released this statement to al.com: “Today we learned of the federal grand jury action regarding Joel Gilbert and Steve McKinney. While we note that Mr. Gilbert has denied the charges and vowed to vigorously defend himself, and expect Mr. McKinney to do the same, the charges allege actions that, if proven to be true, are contrary to the ethical values that guide our firm’s attorneys and staff.…

To defend the indefensible by calling the overt suppression of African-Americans “routine legal services” is economic racism. More indictments are expected today from the U.S. Attorney’s  Office in Birmingham in the Robinson Bribery Case and a partner (or more according to our sources) at Balch & Bingham will be indicted. [Update: As our sources correctly told us, two Balch partners were indicted: Joel Gilbert and Steven McKinney. Full coverage here.] Calling his client’s actions “routine legal services,” Jack Sharman, a partner at Lightfoot, Franklin & White LLC and attorney for Balch partner Joel Gilbert tried to get in front of…

Mike Thompson, the fundraising chairman of Strange’s U.S. Senate campaign was listed as a director of the Alliance for Jobs and the Economy, a tax-exempt entity created in 2015 whose purpose was to funnel $360,000 in bribes to a corrupt politician, former Alabama State Representative Oliver Robinson, according to court filings of the U.S. Department of Justice. The corrupt bribery entity was created, incorporated with the assistance of Balch & Bingham, the embattled law firm currently under investigation in two federal probes. The CDLU, which has been investigating Balch & Bingham since last year in regards to the Newsome Conspiracy…

Kudos to the  new U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama Jay E. Town (pictured) who made it unequivocally clear to Balch & Bingham that their participation in a $360,000 bribery scheme to suppress poor African-Americans from testing their toxic and contaminated property (involving corrupt politician Oliver Robinson) won’t be sidelined and the culprits at even the highest levels of power will be brought to justice. In a statement yesterday after Robinson officially pled guilty, Town articulated: “This lamentable pursuit of self-interest masquerading as beneficial for the little guy is more than a violation of our laws. This was…

Although his knee jerk reaction was to call it “fake news, ” U.S. Senator Luther Strange (pictured) has been linked to the bribery scandal that has rocked the Alabama law firm Balch & Bingham,  when the Alabama Political Reporter reported, that “[Alabama] State Rep. John Rogers told federal investigators that he was approached by executives from Drummond Coal and then-Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange and offered what Rogers considered a bribe if he would lead the State’s and Drummond’s efforts against the EPA’s cleanup of a superfund pollution site in north Birmingham, a source close to Rogers told APR. “Asked…