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Luther Strange Coordinated with Indicted Balch Partners
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…
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Balch’s Stooge, Luther Strange, Under Scrutiny
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…
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Can Balch become Good, Sensible, and Ethical?
Although we, the CDLU, are not environmentalists, conservationists, or preservationist, we do believe in common sense and respecting the community. With the serious allegations of suppressing the African-American community in North Birmingham from having their toxic and contaminated property tested; wrongly targeting a competitor and father of four young children in an alleged criminal conspiracy; being linked to an alleged scheme to buy white-only property for a limestone quarry in Vincent, Alabama; Balch and Bingham is now involved in another controversial wrangling. According to a report in the Courthouse News Service, Balch represents Luminate’s Martin Lake Power Plant (pictured above)…
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The Smitherman Shuffle
As we pointed out in different posts starting in December, Judge Carole Smitherman’s husband Alabama State Senator Rodger Smitherman received first-time contributions and other political cash tied to Balch & Bingham or the co-conspirators of the Newsome Conspiracy case, a case that Judge Smitherman is presiding over. Influence peddling? Corruption? Or just coincidence? Now comes Judge Carole Smitherman’s first campaign disclosure report of the election season, and guess who has donated to her heavily? Attorneys and law firms. No surprise. But what will surely raise eyebrows is the $500 contribution from Hare, Wynn, Newell & Newton. As we wrote on…
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Alabama Anniversaries
This week marks significant anniversaries of the scandals and controversies surrounding Balch & Bingham. Yesterday, February 28th marks the two-year anniversary in which then-U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions endorsed President Donald Trump. Sessions was to have endorsed Trump at the Russian-linked aerospace company, Black Hall Aerospace Inc. a/k/a AAL USA Inc. but the venue was changed at the last moment. Ironically, February 28th also marks the one-year anniversary in which we met with attorneys at Burr Forman who represent Oleg Sirbu, the Soviet immigrant who owns AAL USA Inc. a/k/a Black Hall Aerospace. Tomorrow, March 2nd, is the one-year anniversary in which Balch…
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Bombshell: Indicted Balch Partner Gilbert Still on Balch Payroll
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…
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Thank You to Our Readers
We would like nothing more than to unplug this site if and only if Balch & Bingham would settle the Burt Newsome Conspiracy case and apologize to the North Birmingham African-American community. Our educational advocacy project simply started with the Newsome conspiracy case and has mushroomed into numerous unsettling matters concerning the once prestigious, silk-stocking law firm. Google analytics tells us we have over 17,000 unique users who visit our site regularly, some on a daily basis. We thank you for your readership. Google also tells us that our number one post of all time is about the unconstitutional and…
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Black Hall Aerospace and Oleg Sirbu
[Paul Daigle, Ex-CEO of Black Hall Aerospace Indicted 11/17/2020. Read Update here.] We received an email from Paul Daigle of the Russian-linked aerospace company Black Hall Aerospace, Inc. a/k/a AAL USA, Inc. Last March, Balch & Bingham scrubbed all website references to successfully changing Russian sanctions on behalf of the aerospace company just weeks after we exposed Balch’s connection to Black Hall. Daigle wrote: “I am the majority owner of Black Hall Aerospace and, based on some of your posts, I believe you have been given some misleading and flat-out false information about Black Hall Aerospace. I left the U.S. Army as…
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Star Chamber Cash?
The blackout and secretive proceedings of the unconstitutional Star Chamber remain sealed and unknown almost six months later. No one close to Balch or working at Jefferson County can tell us what is happening in the Newsome Conspiracy Case—not even Judge Carole Smitherman’s most trusted acquaintances. Silence. Darkness. Secrecy. Although the parties could be in the middle of jury selection or settlement talks, the only thing we have found is what looks like smelly corruption: first time contributions and other political cash to Judge Smitherman’s husband, State Senator Rodger Smitherman. Then again, it could be all a coincidence. Rodger that!
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Alleged Racism and Age-Discrimination in Vincent
The CDLU met with residents of Vincent, Alabama who allege adamantly that Balch & Bingham lawyers (and their public relations stooges) spearheaded the strategic purchase of farm land and the fast-as-lightening re-zoning of said land, and oversaw the lucrative transactions for a client called White Rock Quarries, starting almost a decade ago. The outrage they allege is that only white land owners were approach for land purchases while African-Americans were not; worse many of these African-Americans were older, senior citizens, descendants of slaves. In a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice from May, 2012, Wanda Threatt, an African-American resident…
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Indicted Balch Partner Letter Explodes
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…
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Balch’s P.R. Fluff Won’t End the Fallout
As the exodus of money-making Balch partners made headlines in the past two weeks, Balch’s public relations department dispatched what looks like deceptive, inaccurate fluff. On January 24th, Balch wrote in a news release, “Balch & Bingham LLP is pleased to announce that BTI Consulting Group has recognized the firm as a leader in client service in its Client Service A-Team 2018 report….” Not! BTI didn’t recognize the firm; BTI recognized one of Balch’s stellar partners, Gregory C. Cook, who was nominated by a professional services firm for his outstanding client service. 56 firms were recognized by BTI for having multiple outstanding…
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Balch’s Waterloo?
Why is Balch & Bingham still following the path of Oliver Robinson, Joel Gilbert, Steven McKinney and others instead of stopping this alleged cycle of corruption and unsavory conduct? The cartoon below is satirical but has elements of truth. The questionable first-time contributions to Judge Carole Smitherman’s husband State Senator Rodger Smitherman has been the talk of Montgomery. Yesterday was a record breaking day of internet traffic to our website. Thank you for your readership.
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Blanca Blancas versus the Brookies
Good morning from the Windy City where the CDLU will be meeting with surgeons and others to help Blanca Blancas obtain a hopeful and ground-breaking treatment in an attempt to save her life. That is what the CDLU is truly about: helping the sick and the dying. What we thought would be an easy task of working with Balch & Bingham to rid themselves of bad apples, has turned into an investigation on multiple fronts while esteemed partners leave the firm. As some of the elite in Mountain Brook defend Balch’s alleged abhorrent misconduct, we will not lose sight of…
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Palace Intrigue: What did Sessions tell Mueller?
So did Sessions talk to Mueller about the Russians in his backyard and his cozy relationship with Balch & Bingham? Balch & Bingham’s relationship with and lobbying efforts on behalf of Russian-linked, Huntsville-based aerospace company Black Hall Aerospace, Inc. a/k/a AAL USA, Inc. may be under a growing microscope. In November of 2015, Balch successfully had Russian sanctions changed on behalf of Black Hall. As published, the sanctions “shall not apply to subcontracts at any tier with ROE and any successor, sub-unit, or subsidiary thereof made on behalf of the United States Government for goods, technology, and services for the…
