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Balch’s Behavior Open to New Scrutiny in Roberson Suit
The $50 million civil lawsuit against Balch & Bingham and Drummond Company by Dave Roberson may open Balch’s internal behavior to new scrutiny. The Washington Post reported yesterday: The Balch billing department balked at instructions from [convicted felon and now ex-Balch partner Joel I.] Gilbert to scrub the Oliver Robinson Foundation’s name from certain invoices and list work as “community outreach” instead of consulting. “I’m not sure why we cloak the reference in our invoice,” chief operating officer David Miceli wrote in a Sept. 22, 2015, email. “You ever hear anything from Joel on this?” he asked in a later…
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The Washington Post: Drummond Company and Balch Sued for $50 Million by “Fall Guy” Dave Roberson
Breaking News: The Washington Post reports how Drummond Company Executive Dave Roberson was thrown over the side of the bridge by Drummond Company. Is Drummond more loyal now to Balch & Bingham than their employees? From today’s breaking news story: Drummond initially stuck by Roberson, its executive. “While we respect the judicial process, we consider David to be a man of integrity who would not knowingly engage in wrongdoing,” the company said in a statement when he was convicted. Then in February, Roberson was summoned to a meeting with the company’s CEO and chief legal officer. Roberson, who earned $300,000…
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More Clients Flee Balch & Bingham; JeffCo Sheriff’s Office Terminates Balch
According to Politico.com, Balch & Bingham has been terminated by two lobbying clients in D.C. this past week. H.H. Technologies out of Cullman County dumped the firm Tuesday, according to Politico. A smaller client, H.H. paid Balch $50,000 in 2012 and 2013 according to the Center for Responsive Politics. But more damaging, the Jefferson County, Alabama Sheriff’s Office gave Balch the boot, too, after paying the firm over $1 million since 2005. Balch & Bingham had a close relationship with Sheriff Mike Hale who lost in the election last November. Hale was funded by Balch affiliated entities and clients. As…
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“Double Standard” Makes Balch Stooge Look Like a Sheer Hypocrite
In a new filing with the Alabama Supreme Court, the Queen of the secretive and unconstitutional Star Chamber and one of Balch & Bingham’s top stooges, Judge Carole Smitherman comes out looking like a sheer hypocrite. In March, we outlined how JeffCo and the Alabama Supreme Court were trying to screw over Burt Newsome with demands for the compilation of Smitherman’s court records of the Newsome Conspiracy Case within a week, something Newsome has no control over. The obligation actually rests on the JeffCo Circuit Court Clerk. The one-week demand came only hours after we wrote a critical piece about…
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Alabama Power Overheats on Ronnlund Connection
Our sources at Southern Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary Alabama Power tell us that Robert Ronnlund, the attorney accused of engaging in alleged obstruction of justice and the alteration of evidence in the Newsome Conspiracy Case, caused a flurry of activity at the utility yesterday afternoon. Ronnlund’s wife, Millicent, serves as General Counsel of Southern Nuclear, another wholly-owned subsidiary of Southern Company. Before joining Southern Nuclear in late 2017, Millicent Ronnlund was a partner at Balch & Bingham. When our sources told us Ronnlund was of gravest concern, we were scratching our heads, asking, “Why?” The answer, unknown to us at first,…
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Crosswhite and the Culture of Hate
With Alabama Power’s Chief Executive Officer Mark Crosswhite under fire for his steadfast support of his former employer, the embattled law firm Balch & Bingham, the Culture of Hate surrounding Alabama Power is indeed raising distress and concern inside the utility, according to our sources. Southern Company, Alabama Power’s parent company, has been under intense scrutiny for the billion-dollar cost overruns at the Vogtle Nuclear Plant in Georgia and the Kemper Natural Gas Plant debacle in Mississippi. Now comes Alabama Power and the Culture of Hate: The “staged arrest” of a Balch competitor was done by a cop who is…
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AG Barr Shows Balch Crony the Door; Southern Company to the Rescue
Ex-Balch & Bingham partner Jeffrey H. Wood, one of President Donald J. Trump’s first nominees to the U.S. Department of Justice after he was inaugurated as President, appears to have been shown the door by U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr, according to our sources. Only days after the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal broke headlines, we, the CDLU, successfully blocked Wood’s nomination in May of 2017 by reaching out to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. We wrote to the committee at the time: Anyone involved in an alleged conspiracy to suppress African-Americans is unfit to serve in the…
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Shock: Newsome Conspiracy Cop is Son of Respected Alabama Power Executive
A Columbiana, Alabama police officer who pulled Burt Newsome over in May of 2013 in an alleged “staged arrest” was none other than Jeffrey Bowers, the son of Willard L. Bowers, the retired, long-time executive at Alabama Power (pictured left) who last served as Vice President of Environmental Affairs for the utility. Was this “staged arrest” done for the benefit of embattled law firm Balch & Bingham? Alabama Power and Balch & Bingham are called “sister-wives.” Almost a century ago, the brother of Alabama Power’s president started the firm. Mark A. Crosswhite, a former Balch & Bingham partner, is currently…
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Balch’s Doomsday Machine: Third-Party Risk
[This post originally appeared on May 10, 2018 before ex-Balch & Bingham partner and convicted felon Joel I. Gilbert was found guilty on all six criminal counts in July, including bribery and money laundering. Now that Balch has lost 17 of their 18 original lobbying clients in Washington, DC, no client, none, will be able say they did not know that they were using a law firm whose reputation was allegedly in tatters or in the midst of being named in a civil RICO suit. Balch associates may be wondering, for whom the bell tolls?] In October, days after two…
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Smitherman’s Spring Break Fever
Balch & Bingham stooge Judge Carole Smitherman may take a few days off for Spring Break reflecting on the worst week she has had in her career. What kind of idiot signs her name to an order that simply adds explosive fuel to a civil RICO lawsuit? Previously, we had shown over $30,000 in questionable contributions to Smitherman and her husband State Senator Rodger Smitherman that appear to have been possibly used to influence the horrendous decisions made in the Newsome Conspiracy Case. The over $30,000 came from entities or individuals affiliated with the alleged co-conspirators or Balch, including $2,000…
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Happy 2nd Birthday to BanBalch.com!
Today marks two years since we launched our website advocating for inherent goodness from Balch & Bingham’s leadership. Balch & Bingham has foolishly ignored us for 730 days instead of putting the matters behind them. Our efforts began with the Burt Newsome Conspiracy Case. We met Burt Newsome for the first time at a charity event in the late fall of 2016. When we heard his horrific story of being a victim of the alleged inappropriate acts of a powerful law firm, we were in disbelief. At the time we launched this website, Balch & Bingham was at the pinnacle…
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Did Judge Smitherman Sign Her Own Arrest Warrant?
The sheer stupidity of Balch & Bingham stooge Judge Carole Smitherman signing an illegal order last Friday giving a bogus “extension” of time to the JeffCo clerk to compile the record of the Newsome Conspiracy Case for the Alabama Supreme Court has sent shock waves throughout the state. Also under fire is the Alabama Supreme Court, which only hours after we posted a critical report about Alabama Supreme Court Justice and former Balch partner Will Sellers had their clerk threatened to dismiss Newsome’s two appeals if the record was not submitted in seven days. Undisputed fact: Newsome is not responsible…
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Smoking Gun: Smitherman Signs Illegal Order Showing Her Hands Are in the Corrupt Cookie Jar
Last week, we questioned if Balch stooge Judge Carole Smitherman was behind the ridiculous stalling by JeffCo’s Clerk who never compiled the record on appeal of the Newsome Conspiracy Case for the Alabama Supreme Court in 30 days. The clerk of the Alabama Supreme Court threatened last week to dismiss both of Newsome’s appeals if the compiled record was not submitted in seven days. (The appeals were filed in December and the records should have been submitted in January.) The threat came only hours after we reported about Supreme Court Justice Will Sellers alleged misconduct. Sellers was a Balch & Bingham…
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Andy2K’s Ugly Law Firm Divorce Finalized
As we wrote in January, the illustrious Andrew “Andy2K” Campbell, the lead counsel for Balch & Bingham in the Newsome Conspiracy Case, appeared to have settled his ugly divorce from his former law partners in December. His former partners and owners at the old firm had alleged that Andy2K “failed to comply with operating agreements…failed to distribute funds due and … further failed to provide an accounting thereof,” according to a lawsuit filed against Andy2K in August. Andy2K was the manager of two LLCs affiliated with the old law firm, but according to the suit, he was“in the process of being…
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JeffCo and Alabama Supreme Court Add Explosive Fuel to RICO Suit; Balch Hits Panic Button
Just hours after we posted our report yesterday about the alleged misconduct by Alabama Supreme Court Justice William B. Sellers, a former Balch & Bingham partner, the Supreme Court issued an order declaring that both of Burt Newsome’s appeals would be dismissed in seven days because of a deficiency in not obtaining the court records from the Star Chamber. And whose fault is that? The appeals clerk of Jefferson County who is required to compile the record and send it down to Montgomery. The clerk had 30 days to do so. Both Newsome appeals (one against the retaliatory summary judgment;…
