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Who will Go: Balch or Crosswhite?
What kind of utility company allows a vendor to violate a structured code of conduct and abuse their inter-connected relationships by allegedly engaging in a “staged arrest?” With Wall Street analysts and institutional investors being briefed this week, the aftermath of the link of Alabama Power to the Newsome Conspiracy Case and a coming civil RICO lawsuit, the question everyone is asking is who will go: Balch & Bingham or Mark Crosswhite? Crosswhite, who serves as CEO of Alabama Power and one of the most powerful business players in Alabama, (and who has shown brilliant leadership in the past) may…
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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;…
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Did Alabama Supreme Court Justice Sellers Sell-Out for Balch & Bingham?
In October of 2017, the Alabama Supreme Court issued an order demanding that the State of Alabama and alleged Balch & Bingham stooges file briefs in regards to the bogus criminal case against Burt Newsome that had been resurrected from the dead almost a year after being properly expunged. The order on the Writ of Certiorari was supported by eight of the nine justices. And who dissented? Associate Justice William B. Sellers, a former partner at Balch & Bingham who was appointed to the Supreme Court only months before this order was issued. Instead of dissenting, Sellers should have recused himself since…
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Judicial Corruption: Minor Infractions Compared to Alabama
While Balch & Bingham may foolishly believe all of their contributions and affiliated PAC donations to Judge Carole Smitherman and her husband State Senator Rodger Smitherman were legal, proper campaign contributions, scrutiny of behind the scenes conduct by corrupt judges is growing. Nashville, Tennessee NBC affiliate WSMV reported yesterday: Before former … Judge Casey Moreland was sentenced to prison last year on corruption charges, he gave a two-day interview to the FBI and federal prosecutors. One of the topics Moreland covered, according to court documents, was Moreland’s trips to Costa Rica with friends. According to sentencing documents written by federal…
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The Alabama Supreme Court Wrestles with Balch & Bingham’s Stigma
The Alabama Supreme Court has been quiet, dead quiet on two matters: The redacted, illegible attorney fees of $192,000 imposed on Burt Newsome by a Balch & Bingham stooge; Keeping the Newsome Conspiracy Case sealed, as Balch & Bingham wants, even though there will be no jury trial or jury to be tainted. Has the stigma of Balch & Bingham finally reached Montgomery? Are the justices intentionally remaining quiet? Although some blind-mice at Balch foolishly believe the worst is over, the reality is that there are more headaches to come. Last month, a West Virginia Supreme Court Justice was sentenced…
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FBI: Ex-Balch Partner Gilbert “Will be Serving Time”
Even though many in the legal community in Alabama are currently focused on the Donald Watkins trial, the conviction and five-year sentence of ex-Balch & Bingham partner and ghost-writer extraordinaire Joel I. Gilbert have not gone away. In an extraordinary news post last week on the FBI website, the FBI wrote about the North Birmingham public corruption trial. In the lede, the FBI bluntly wrote: An Alabama legislator who was bribed by a corporation to represent the company’s interests—instead of his constituents’—is now serving prison time, and the two men who paid him will be serving time as well. Why…
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Institutional Racism and Balch
[This post originally was published on February 5, 2018. All updates are in purple.] Charles Cole lived in the North Birmingham community of Harriman Park until 1959 after he was brutally beaten by racist Birmingham cops. He saved up his money and immediately moved to Michigan to escape the horrors of segregation. After retiring, he and his wife moved back to Harriman Park ten years ago to be close to family. The racist cops are gone; segregation is gone; but institutional racism continues. Balch & Bingham partners allegedly masterminded a $360,000 bribery scheme to suppress, discourage, and disenfranchise African-Americans from…
