By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published on February 4, 2018 After weeks of online debate, Wikipedia deleted its page titled “Donald Watkins” for the second time in less than three months. Since August 2017, “dirty tricks” operatives aligned with accused rapist Terry Jackson “Sweet T” Bunn, Jr., and The University of Alabama have skillfully manipulated the Wikipedia editorial process in order to sabotage my Wikipedia page. The primary goal of this cyberattack was to erase my personal and professional history from the Internet. Sweet T is the man University of Alabama honors student Megan Rondini identified as her rapist in a July 2, 2015 police report. His father is a rich and powerful mega-donor to the Crimson Tide Foundation. Megan’s rape case was featured in the June 22, 2017 online edition of BuzzFeed News. My Facebook articles investigated the local law enforcement and University officials who mishandled Megan’s case in the criminal justice system. My ongoing news coverage of this incident has infuriated a lot of well-connected people in Alabama. Huntsville, Alabama native Jimmy Wales founded Wikipedia and serves on its board of directors. Wales graduated from Auburn University and earned a master’s degree at The University of Alabama. Wikipedia initially justified its deletion by saying I was not “notable” enough for inclusion in Wikipedia. In response, I provided Wikipedia with online links to news articles in the Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, New York Daily News, L.A. Times, Chicago Tribune, USA Today, Fortune Small Business Magazine, and other national media outlets that chronicled more than four decades on my life experiences, landmark legal cases, and business history in America. I reminded Wikipedia that young porn stars have Wikipedia pages because editors affiliated with Wikipedia have deemed them to be “notable.” The only achievement these performers have demonstrated is their willingness to engage in a wide variety of sexual acts on video. Early on, I was deemed “notable” by Wikipedia, which maintained a page on me for many years. Obviously, something happened inside the Wikipedia community in late 2017, and again in early 2018, that made me a target for deletion. Yesterday, Wikipedia notified me that its deletion decision was final. Sadly, African-Americans have always had their histories ignored, minimized, stolen, and/or erased. As evidenced in my case, Wikipedia has been a contributor to this inexcusable trend. It should be noted that many of Wikipedia’s editors and administrators are European citizens from countries with a history of colonizing Africa and other nations with indigenous people of color. For the most part, these Wikipedia decision-makers have no appreciation for the “fair treatment” arguments advanced by those whose histories have been historically ignored, minimized, stolen, and/or erased by these former colonial powers. Fortunately, the Internet has made it possible for people of color to record, preserve, and distribute oral and written histories about their lives and careers. I have created a website for this express purpose. Starting this week, I will be publishing my articles on donaldwatkins.com. I will also publish them on my public Facebook page. Additionally, I will be archiving the hundreds of previously published Facebook articles on my website, including classics like “Forbidden Love” and “Executive Betrayal.” I will never again depend upon Wikipedia to tell my story. This open media platform is too susceptible to racial bias and unsuspecting manipulation by anonymous cyber-saboteurs. Likewise, I will never again depend upon Facebook as the exclusive platform for distributing my news articles. Facebook can be easily manipulated and hacked. Just ask the Russians. From this point forward, I will tell my stories, record my history, and distribute my articles on my website. Check out my website and help me make it better by visiting: donaldwatkins.com.

©Copyrighted and Published on February 11, 2018 COINTELPRO was a secret counterintelligence program carried out by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to spy on, infiltrate, discredit, and disrupt domestic political and civil rights organizations. COINTELPRO officially began in August 1956 and ended centralized operations in April 1971. Two of the most famous targets of COINTELPRO operations were Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a non-violent civil rights organization founded by Dr. King in 1957. Under COINTELPRO, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover ordered FBI agents to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize" individuals and organizations targeted by the program. By the early 1960s, the FBI identified Dr. King as “the most dangerous Negro of the future in this nation”. In 1964, The Bureau tried to convince Dr. King to committed suicide by anonymously mailing him a suicide letter that had been written by the FBI. The suicide letter, which referred to Dr. King as an “evil, abnormal beast”, was prepared two days after the announcement of King’s impending Nobel Peace Prize. The letter was accompanied by an audiotape recorded by the FBI that allegedly contained a series of King's sexual indiscretions. Dr. King was told the audiotape would be released to media organizations nationwide if he did not acquiesce and commit suicide prior to accepting his Nobel Peace Award. "There is only one way out for you. You better take it before your filthy, abnormal, fraudulent self is bared to the nation,” stated the FBI letter. Dr. King resisted this FBI-sponsored blackmail attempt and effort to end his life. He would be assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968. COINTELPRO was successfully kept secret until 1971 when Director Hoover declared that the centralized COINTELPRO was over, and that all future counterintelligence operations would be handled on a case-by-case basis. In 1976, the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities of the United States Senate, commonly referred to as the "Church Committee", launched a major investigation of the FBI and COINTELPRO. The Final Report of the Church Committee confirmed the primary methods used by the FBI to carry out the objectives and abuses of COINTELPRO. They included: 1. Infiltration: Agents and informers did not merely spy on political activists. Their main purpose was to discredit, disrupt and negatively redirect action. Their very presence served to undermine trust and scare off potential supporters. The FBI and local police exploited this fear to smear genuine activists as agents. 2. Psychological warfare: The FBI and local police used a myriad "dirty tricks" to undermine progressive movements. They planted false media stories and published bogus leaflets and other publications in the name of targeted groups. They also forged correspondence, sent anonymous letters, and made anonymous telephone calls aimed at disrupting legitimate, peaceful protests. 3. Harassment via the legal system: The FBI and local police abused the legal system to harass targets and make them appear to be criminals. Officers of the law gave perjured testimony and presented fabricated evidence as a pretext for false arrests and wrongful imprisonment. They discriminatorily enforced tax laws and other government regulations and used conspicuous surveillance, "investigative" interviews, and grand jury subpoenas in an effort to intimidate activists and silence their supporters. 4. Illegal force: The FBI conspired with local police departments to threaten dissidents; to conduct illegal break-ins in order to search dissident homes; and to commit vandalism, assaults, beatings and assassinations. The object was to frighten or eliminate dissidents and disrupt their movements. 5. Undermine public opinion: One of the primary ways the FBI targeted organizations was by challenging their reputations in the community and denying them a platform to gain legitimacy. Director Hoover specifically designed programs to block leaders from "spreading their philosophy publicly or through the communications media". Furthermore, COINTELPRO created and/or controlled negative media for the purpose of undermining civil rights and political organizations. In Alabama, The Birmingham News (now known as AL.com) was a willing and active participant in COINTELPRO. The News also worked closely with the Alabama Sovereignty Commission to implement its “massive resistance” to desegregation initiatives in Alabama and across the South. Over the course of time, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., evolved from an early COINTELPRO target to the first and only African-American (and non-President) to have a Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. and a national holiday in his honor. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover died on May 2, 1972. His legacy is forever marred by COINTELPRO. The Birmingham News continues in its COINTELPRO role of smearing prominent African-American leaders and spewing negative news stories about them in an effort to undermine their reputations in the community. Fortunately for all Americans, dynamic changes in the news business and stiff competition from independent online journalists have minimized the adverse impact of the News’ traditional COINTELPRO tactics.

By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published on February 9, 2018 I started my career as an online journalist in 2013. My early investigative articles focused on Mark E. Fuller, a Montgomery federal judge, marital cheater, and notorious wife beater. I also reported on Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore’s many breaches of judicial ethics and his most recent allegations of child molestation. Additionally, I defended the prosecution of Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard on state ethics charges. In 2016, I published a series of investigative articles that solved the 2005 murder of Army Private LaVena Johnson by a four-star general on a military base in Balad, Iraq and exposed the Pentagon's 10-year cover-up of her murder. The Pentagon had deliberately led Private Johnson's family to believe that she committed suicide in order to protect her high-ranking murderer. When I began covering Robert Bentley and his gross misconduct as Alabama’s governor in 2013, all hell broke loose. Bentley, who resigned from office in April 2017 after pleading guilty to state law ethics violations, believed he had the right platform necessary to shut me down. Bentley used his powers as “Chief Magistrate of Alabama” to get the following agencies to investigate me: 1. The Alabama State Banking Department. In 2013, the Banking Department scoured Alamerica Bank’s books and records looking for any technical violation of banking rules and regulations to lodge against the Bank or me. I am the largest shareholder in the Bank. The Department elicited the help of the FDIC in subjecting Alamerica Bank to an unprecedented level of heightened scrutiny. Eventually, the two regulatory agencies agreed that the FDIC should take the lead in investigating me. This move provided the Banking Department regulatory cover and deniability for its impermissible motives. 2. The City of Birmingham, Alabama. In 2013, I was engaged in a constructive dialogue with the City of Birmingham on the question of whether the City had the power and authority to assess business license fees and related taxes on revenues derived from the sale of goods and services outside its city limits. I knew from my extensive legal work for Mayor Emory Folmar (R-Montgomery) and Mayor Richard Arrington, Jr., (D-Birmingham), that the answer to this question was, “no”. Without prior warning or notice, the City filed two highly publicized lawsuits against me in April 2014 seeking $146,000 in business license fees and occupational taxes for the 2007 to 2012 assessment period. The City also asked a judge to padlock my businesses until I paid the fees and taxes it sought. I vigorous defended this lawsuit. Eventually, the City agreed to audit my companies’ financial books and records for the assessment period. The audit revealed that I only owed $11,769, which I promptly paid. 3. The Internal Revenue Service. I am the CEO of Masada Resource Group, LLC, a global waste-to-energy company. On June 7, 2017, Masada was notified that the company had won its appeal relating to $56,490 in IRS penalties that were improvidently imposed on Masada for tax years 2009 through 2014. All of these IRS penalties were imposed on Masada at the same time and without any notice to the company. The IRS never explained why it imposed the penalties for six consecutive tax years in a coordinated, simultaneous fashion and without proper notice to Masada. All of the penalties were abated and the liens removed as a result of our successful appeal. 4. Internal Revenue Service, Again. On February 24, 2017, the IRS ended an inquiry that targeted five items of income totaling $173,458 on my 2014 tax returns. The inquiry started on November 28, 2016. On December 23, 2016, I provided the IRS with substantial documentation to justify each and every item in question. On February 24th, the IRS notified me that the information submitted resolved all questions about my 2014 tax returns. No additional tax dollars were due upon the conclusion of this second IRS probe. 5. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The FDIC issue arose in 2013 and involves the interpretation an exception to the general rule on the extension of credit to bank insiders. As part of its coordinated efforts with the State Banking Department, the FDIC has steadfastly refused to recognize and apply this exception in my case. The FDIC has never offered a credible explanation for denying me the protections codified in this exception to the general rule. An administrative law judge will hear the FDIC case at some future date. 6. The Securities and Exchange Commission. On March 18, 2014, the SEC commenced an investigation of Masada, Watkins Pencor, LLC, Donald V. Watkins, P.C., and me to ascertain: (a) whether I “duped” two professional athletes in connection with the sale of Watkins Pencor economic participations to them; (b) whether I used the proceeds from these sales for personal expenses, without proper authorization; and (c) whether a contemplated transaction between Masada and Waste Management, Inc., in 2011 and 2012 was a genuine acquisition effort by Waste Management. After conducting exhaustive discovery in the case, the SEC essentially abandoned these baseless claims and is now focused on three loans provided to Donald V. Watkins, P.C., by Charles Barkley between 2010 and 2013. Each loan was: (a) authorized by our corporate governance documents and contracts, (b) discussed with Mr. Barkley and his designated financial advisor, (c) properly documented, and (d) contributed to the growth of the businesses involved. Interestingly, the SEC, which does not regulate my businesses, has never publicly mentioned any of these material facts. 7. The U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. In November 2015, I was notified by the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey that his office was investigating my conduct in connection with the sale of the same economic participations that are the subject of the current SEC lawsuit. I voluntarily submitted a detailed factual and evidential memorandum to the U.S. Attorney that addressed and debunked each and every allegation of wrongdoing. The U.S. Attorney’s office closed its investigation within weeks after receiving this detailed memorandum and independently verifying its factual information. The Birmingham News, an affiliate of AL.com, reported on several of these matters, and did so in the most negative light possible. The News, which is a dying media organization, is one of my fading media competitors. It is well documented that the News collaborated with the FBI in its infamous program to discredit social justice activists who opposed racial segregation in the South during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. The News also worked closely with the now-defunct Alabama Sovereignty Commission to implement its “massive resistance” to desegregation initiatives in Alabama and across the South. Anyone considering a career in investigative journalism needs to be prepared to pay the price for this kind of noble work. The price of truth in journalism is extremely high, especially in states where investigative journalists are targeted for harassment and relentlessly attacked by government officials and agencies for their work. Investigative journalism is not a career for the faint of heart.

By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published on February 5, 2018 On the morning of May 28, 2014, Dr. Maya Angelou left her Earthly body for God’s Heavenly home. As I reflected upon her passing, I realized how fortunate I had been to have met and been mentored by so many of the greatest figures in history. My life has been an incredible journey along the road of greatness. I was born into the family of Levi and Lillian Watkins , my parents and first set of heroes. I have never met any two people who had more courage, class, and character than my parents. They, along with my sisters and brothers, launched me forward on a remarkable journey along which I would enjoy full exposure to the best of the best in greatness among Americans of color. I met the apostle of agape love at an early age. His name was Martin Luther King, Jr. He was my pastor and Sunday school teacher at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. Ralph David Abernathy was his friend and my family’s pastor for a while. Rosa Parks was my mom’s close friend. Dr. E.D. Nixon , who groomed Ms. Parks for her pioneering civil rights role during the Montgomery bus boycott, was one of my early mentors. I met a young minister/civil rights activist named Jesse Jackson while I was a college student at Southern Illinois University. I learned the power of mass protest from Rev. Jackson during my summers at PUSH headquarters in Chicago. Rev. Bernard Lee , his colleague, was married to my sister Pearl. Through Bernard, I met Andy Young, Hosea Williams, James Orange , and a host of the Atlanta freedom fighters. The NAACP, America’s oldest civil rights organization, awarded me a scholarship to desegregate The University of Alabama School of Law. It was there that I met Mr. Ramus Rhodes , the remarkable “janitor” who would mold me into a prolific and effective litigator. Mr. Rhodes’ mentorship gave me the trial skills I needed to amass one of the best records of landmark cases in the annals of American jurisprudence. After law school, I met and worked for Clarence Norris , the last known surviving “Scottsboro Boy" . Roy Wilkins , the famed and world-renowned executive director of the NAACP, personally directed Mr. Norris’ successful two-year fight for a full and unconditional pardon from the State of Alabama. The pardon, which was awarded in 1976, ended a 45-year legal fight to clear the nine innocent Scottsboro Boys of trumped up rape charges involving two white women. Andrew Hayde n, the first black mayor of Uniontown, Alabama, mentored me in 1974 on how to become a great city attorney. It was there that I met Larry Tate, the CEO of my bank in Birmingham, Alabama. Mayor Hayden, along with Mr. Tate, Ms. Jackson, Chief Hester, and myself, rebuilt this small West Alabama town into a booming municipality in the 1970s. In 1975, Ida Mae Whitehurst and her daughter-in-law, Florence Whitehurst , gave me an opportunity to reform the Montgomery Police Department. Their case involved a police execution of an unarmed and innocent Bernard Whitehurst on December 2nd of that year. When officers realized “we done shot the wrong nigger,” they engaged in a massive cover-up of the shooting. They planted a “throw-down” pistol by Whitehurst’s dead body and falsified witness statements, among other things. The Whitehurst case evolved into a nationally recognized scandal that resulted in the resignations of Montgomery’s mayor and police commissioner, the indictment of three police officers, and the firing or resignation of eight others. On April 3, 1977, the Washington Post called it “Alabama’s Watergate" . Then came Maggie Bozeman and Julia Wilder . Maggie was a true warrior queen. Her courage knew no limits. She and Julia liberated blacks in West Alabama by registering them to vote when it was dangerous to do so. They paid a heavy price for their courage and conviction but never regretted the road they took toward freedom. Maggie’s daughter Punta carries on her mother’s legacy today. Alabama’s male warrior for civil rights and equal justice was John Knight . A recipient of the Silver Star for gallantry in action during the Vietnam War, Knight and his band of four brave freedom fighters spent 25 years as plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit that desegregated Alabama’s 32 four-year public colleges and universities and resulted in (a) court-ordered doctoral and new academic programs, (b) nearly $600 million in new funding (beyond the regular state appropriations), and (c) endowment money for Alabama State University and Alabama A&M University. Richard Arrington, Jr ., the City of Birmingham’s first black mayor, was my next stop along the road of greatness. Arrington expanded the breadth and depth of my exposure to the interaction of civil rights activism with the governance of a major municipality. Mayor Hayden launched my municipal law career. Arrington took it to the stratosphere. Arrington was a brilliant, fearless, and hard working leader. I spent 15 years learning at the feet of this civil rights icon and political guru. He was the first person I knew who kept a computer printout on how much money he directed to minority participation on city contracts. Arrington’s empowerment of the black business community in Birmingham was second to none. When I expanded my waste-to-energy business internationally in 2007, I met Charles Barkley . His mother, Ms. Charcey Glenn , was a civil rights icon in Leeds, Alabama. Ms. Glenn, who passed in June 2015, brought Charles to my office for an introduction. She and I had become friends several years earlier. I have known many former athletes in my life, but Charles is a close friend, a brilliant businessman, a consummate professional, a business partner, and a great human being. From Charles, I learned how to create, expand, and maintain a positive international brand for my businesses. I met Dr. Maya Angelou through my brother Levi, who was her friend and doctor. I enjoyed my many private moments with Dr. Angelou. We laughed, talked, cried, and rejoiced for hours. Our lives were bound by a common experience - we both yearned to be free. I have tried to live my life by being true to her many inspirational words and deeds. She was a good friend and mentor. She was greatness on a world stage. Because of Dr. Angelou, I know why the caged bird sings. In 2015, I met Dr. Saadiq El-Amin, III , M.D., and Ph.D. while he was visiting Atlanta. Dr. El-Amin is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon and internationally known expert in sports medicine. Dr. El-Amin, 49, has taken bone and tissue medicine to a new level with his pioneering work in orthopedic medicine, molecular and cell biology, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, concussions, and advanced biomaterials. Dr. El-Amin received his M.D. and Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia. He received his orthopedic surgery training at the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center in Charlottesville, Virginia. Dr. El-Amin founded the Laboratory for Tissue Engineering and Advanced Biomaterials at Southern Illinois University. He holds patents in the following medical research areas: (a) 3-dimensional polyphosphazene matrices, (b) muscle-polymer constructs for tissue engineering, (c) injectable ceramics for spinal fusion, and (d) cAMP-based molecules for bone growth. Beyond his impressive intellectual acumen and ground-breaking work in medical research, Dr. El-Amin is one of the nicest, most down-to-earth, and caring human beings I have ever met. Whether his patient is the president of a nation, a celebrity athlete, or a working-class American, every one of them receives the “best of the best” in medical care from this gifted physician. My journey along the road of greatness has been exhilarating. I hope it continues for a long time.

By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on September 4, 2015. By all accounts, Alabama First Lady Dianne Jones Bentley is a first-class woman. She is widely known for her compassion and respect for all Alabamians. Mrs. Bentley is a graduate of the University of Alabama with a degree in bacteriology. She met Governor Robert Bentley during his first year of medical school and they married on July 24, 1965. She loved and supported her husband throughout their marriage. She is a loving mother to her four sons. The Bentleys are members of First Baptist Church of Tuscaloosa where Mrs. Bentley spent twenty-eight years teaching Sunday school. She also facilitated a women’s Bible study for thirty years. As First Lady, Mrs. Bentley has chosen to support foster care and promote awareness for domestic violence prevention and Family Justice Centers. She is a staunch advocate for healthy marriages and families. Above all, Mrs. Bentley is a Christian who always strives to remain in God’s will. On August 26, 2015, this advocate for healthy marriage signed her name to a sworn divorce complaint she would file two days later against her husband of 50 years. A mere 32 days after the Bentleys’ Golden Anniversary, the First Lady of Alabama swore that her marriage to the Governor was over. On August 28th, Mrs. Bentley broke with the time-honored tradition where a political wife “suffers in silence” while her husband carries on an extra-marital affair. Even though the Governor’s infidelity was not yet public and her husband’s mistress had skillfully crafted his public image as a “Christian”, the First Lady took the bold and painful step of filing for a divorce against her husband. In doing so, she honored herself, her dignity as a woman and loving mother, and her Christian principles. This was a rare act of courage by the wife of a sitting governor. The divorce filing caught the Governor by complete surprise. He was stunned, angry, and visibly shaken. Mrs. Bentley’s divorce action signaled to the world that she would not live a lie. She was prepared to endure whatever public shame and embarrassment flowed from her divorce filing, suffer any act of retaliation or revenge from the Governor and his henchmen that might result from her public disclosure that their marriage was over, and bear the heavy burden of starting life over again at 72 years old. Mrs. Bentley’s sons supported their mother’s divorce action. They had become estranged from their father because of his betrayal of their mother’s trust and love. Through the divorce filing, a stunned Alabama public learned for the first time that the First Couple had separated in January of 2015. The First Lady had taken up residency in Tuscaloosa while he remained in the Governor’s mansion. Details of the divorce trickled out at first. The complaint simply said there was “a conflict of personalities which destroyed the legitimate aims of matrimony” and that “all possibilities of reconciliation are futile”. It also claimed that the marriage had suffered an “irretrievable breakdown” and that “further attempts at reconciliation are impractical and not in the best interest of the parties”. The First Lady was right. Governor Bentley had exited the marriage. He was in love with another woman. He was a cheater. The signs of the Governor’s cheating were subtle at first, but by the 2014, they were in Mrs. Bentley’s face. She had reached the breaking point by the couple’s 50th wedding anniversary on July 24, 2015. Which brings us to the crux of the story: What happened and why? Bentley was elected as Governor in November of 2010 and took office as Alabama’s 53rd governor on January 17, 2011. Bentley was considered a long-shot for governor and had never enjoyed any high visibility in life, yet this little-known dermatologist and legislator from Tuscaloosa was now the governor of Alabama. Once Bentley became governor, he changed. He manifested an oversized ego and an inflated sense of importance. Bentley became enamored with the trappings of the office – the trooper escorts, use of the state airplane, global travels to exotic ports of call, access to dignitaries and celebrities, life in the Governor’s mansion, and other perks of the office. Staff members catered to his every whim. Bentley loved it all. He had gone from obscurity to rock-star status and simply could not handle it. After taking office, Bentley brought several people into his inner circle. One was Wendell Ray Lewis, a black state trooper sergeant from Tuscaloosa who would go on to receive a total of $799.285 in base pay and overtime (from 2010 to 2015), as well as a highly questionable promotion from sergeant to lieutenant over more objectively qualified white troopers, during Bentley’s first term in office. The Governor also placed Lewis in command of his executive security detail, a position that has been historically held by higher-ranking troopers. Lewis became a close Bentley confidant whom the Governor rewarded handsomely. Lewis, who holds strong Christian beliefs, retired from the trooper force a few months ago, in part, because he was powerless to stop Bentley’s marital infidelity. Because Lewis had developed a strong admiration for the First Lady while serving on the Governor’s security detail, he could no longer function comfortably in the duplicitous environment of deceit and betrayal perpetrated by Bentley on the First Lady. Lewis’ loyalty to Mrs. Bentley’s principled life as a devout Christian trumped the Governor‘s efforts to curry favor with him. To his credit, Lewis actually tried to encourage the Governor to stop his illicit love affair. Bentley would not listen to Lewis, or anyone else. Another member of the inner circle was Rebekah Caldwell Mason, the young and attractive mother of three children who evolved from a little-known Tuscaloosa public relations consultant in 2010 into the architect of Bentley’s “Christian” public image during his successful re-election campaign in 2014. Mrs. Mason, who joined the Governor’s staff as his communications director in 2011, is married to Jonathan P. Mason. Jonathan was a weatherman at WVUA, a small local television station in Tuscaloosa. This was a low-paying job. Bentley created Serve Alabama in 2011, which is the state agency for the Governor’s faith-based programs and services, and made Jonathan its director. Bentley also brought in David Byrne, a Montgomery attorney, to serve as his legal advisor. Byrne’s wife, Alice Ann Byrne, was already on the state’s payroll as the general counsel of the State Personnel Department, a position she had held since August 2000. This powerful husband-wife duo made all things happen for Bentley when it came to the assignment, promotion, and compensation of state employees like Wendell Ray Lewis, Jonathan Mason, and Rebekah Mason. No one in the Personnel Department questioned this duo’s legal advice or power, nor did anyone question directives David Byrne issued on behalf of the Governor. Rebekah Mason’s work placed her in constant contact with the Governor. Over time, the two developed a deeply personal relationship. Along with the personal relationship came lucrative financial payments for Rebekah and her husband Jonathan. As communications director and owner of RCM Communications, Inc., Rebekah Mason has received a total of $161,570 in state pay (from 2011 to June 2013) and contracts to RCM from Bentley’s campaign committee totaling $426,978 (from July 2013 to November 2014) because she enjoyed a special personal relationship with Bentley. Her compensation since November of 2014 will be discussed in a later story. Jonathan Mason has received a total of $393,538 in state pay (from 2011 to date) and has dominion and control over a staff of thirteen employees because of his wife’s special relationship with Bentley. The Governor’s relationship with Rebekah Mason raised eyebrows around the Capitol and with Mrs. Bentley. Rebekah Mason was quickly emerging as the Governor’s voice on any important speech or comment made by him during his first term. In time, Rebekah Mason would run the state of Alabama through her special personal relationship with Bentley. By July 2013, Rebekah Mason had moved out of the governor’s office to serve as the communications director for Bentley’s re-election campaign. After the election, she became Bentley’s “Senior Political Advisor”. The two became inseparable. Bentley fell in love with Rebekah Mason. She became his paramour. After achieving paramour status, Mason had unfettered access to state trooper transportation, the state aircraft, the Governor’s mansion, and a host of other state resources and privileges typically reserved for the First Lady. There were two big problems with Bentley’s obvious affection for Rebekah Mason. First, Rebekah was married to Jonathan, a member of Bentley’s staff. Second, Bentley was married to the First Lady. As time passed, Mrs. Bentley picked up on the affection and body language between the Governor and Rebekah Mason. She confronted Bentley about the relationship, and though the Governor admitted his affection for Rebekah, he claimed it was platonic. The First Lady later discovered for herself that the relation was much more than a platonic one. Confronted with the devastating reality that Robert Bentley was a cheater, Mrs. Bentley started distancing herself from the Governor. Staffers had to beg the First Lady to attend events during and after the re-election season. She reluctantly agreed at the last minute to appear at Bentley’s January inauguration while she mulled her options. After consulting with her sons, Mrs. Bentley opted to file for a divorce.

By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on September 4, 2015. Discovering Her Husband’s Infidelity First Lady Dianne Bentley, a 72-year old devout Christian and loving wife, unselfishly gave Governor Robert Bentley 50 faithful years of marriage, birthed and raised four successful sons, sacrificed her own professional career as a bacteriologist to support her husband’s career as a physician and legislator, and campaigned tirelessly for her husband’s successful election as governor in 2010. Governor Bentley, 72, rewarded her for this steadfast faithfulness and support by engaging in a hot and heavy romance with his senior political advisor, Rebekah Caldwell Mason. The First Lady overheard the governor’s steamy love talk during some of his private phone calls with Rebekah. She also read his text messages, which graphically depicted the nature and scope of the love affair between her husband and his paramour. No further proof of his infidelity was needed. Devastated and hurt beyond belief, the First Lady knew from the phone calls and text messages that her marriage was over. Rebekah, 43, had stolen Robert Bentley’s heart and affection. The only thing left for Dianne Bentley to do was prepare her sons and other family members for the dissolution of the marriage. She chose to accomplish this painful task in two phases. First, she would separate from the governor in January of 2015 and move back to Tuscaloosa, where she is still revered for her work as an advocate for healthy marriages and for being a staunch opponent of domestic abuse. Second, she would begin the arduous task of finding a competent lawyer who was not afraid to sue a sitting governor for her divorce. Mrs. Bentley’s Golden wedding anniversary, on July 24, 2015, sealed the deal. While she was sitting alone in Tuscaloosa and grieving the death of her marriage, the governor was having the time of his life wining and dining his entourage of groupies on taxpayers’ dollars while attending the 2015 National Governors Association summer meeting in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia. Financing the Love Affair For over a year, the governor seemed oblivious to the hurt and pain he had caused to Mrs. Bentley and his children by his love affair with Rebekah. Since he was re-elected last year, Bentley’s primary concern has been figuring out how best to use the financial resources of the state, along with leftover campaign funds and the financial resources of friendly political groups, to support his romantic lifestyle with Rebekah. In February, Governor Bentley established the Alabama Council for Excellent Government, a 501(c)(4) non-profit corporation. Bentley’s former legal advisor Cooper Shattuck formed the Council at Bentley’s request. The stated purpose of the organization is to “support Governor Bentley in his efforts to solve real problems and to make Alabama greater, stronger and more excellent for all the hardworking men and women who call this great state our home”. In reality, the Council is a slush fund that was set up to (a) fund Bentley’s love affair with Rebekah while concealing payments to her from the view of public oversight and accountability, and (b) stash money for life with Rebekah after the governor’s divorce from Mrs. Bentley. Bentley funded the Council with excess campaign funds left over from his 2014 gubernatorial campaign. The Council has also received a $25,000 contribution this year from AEA and $20,000 from the Alabama Hospital Association. Adding insult to injury, Bentley took advantage of a legal maneuver at the end of the 2014 campaign that essentially cheated the marital estate out of $500,000 in jointly owned cash and instead channeled it in Rebekah’s direction. In a classic money-laundering move, Bentley made a surprising personal loan of $500,000 to his campaign on October 24, 2014. The Bentley campaign then began funneling this money to the Council after its formation. From the Council, the money was channeled to Rebekah as “compensation” for whatever services she was rendering to the Governor. Executive Perks for Rebekah Mason Bentley also made sure that Rebekah Mason had unfettered access to state trooper transportation, the Governor’s mansion (at all times of the night), the state airplane, the Winton Blount mansion in Montgomery (which was donated to the state), and to any other state resource she needed to make herself fully available to the governor for his personal pleasure. After all, Rebekah, in Bentley’s mind, was the real “First Lady” of Alabama. Just this year, Bentley pulled a state employee off of the state plane at the last minute in order to accommodate Rebekah as an unscheduled passenger on this out-of-state flight. When the scheduler for this flight questioned this executive action, Bentley chastised the scheduler publicly and unmercifully, shouting that he was the “Governor” and that he could do whatever he wanted to do. Rebekah was said to have been very pleased with this display of Bentley’s manhood. A Policy of Concealment and Silence Meanwhile, Chief Legal Advisor David Byrne, Chief of Staff Seth Hammett, and other Bentley staffers have been working diligently to conceal evidence of Bentley’s secret love affair with Rebekah. They have asked state troopers who were assigned to the governor’s security detail to sign confidentiality agreements. They have secured a private attorney to handle Bentley’s divorce case. They have also secured Joe Espy, a Montgomery attorney and fellow University of Alabama trustee, to handle the governor’s potential criminal exposure for using state resources to carry on his illicit love affair. To date, Bentley and Rebekah have remained silent about their affair. However, the electronic footprint of the affair is permanent and cannot be erased. These lovers have painted a portrait of their love in their own words through their text messages, for all time. More to come…

By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on September 11, 2015. Bentley’s Real Executive Protection George L. Beck, Jr., is the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama, which includes Montgomery. President Obama appointed Beck to the top federal prosecutor’s job in Montgomery in 2011. Beck’s Senate confirmation took a mere three months from the date of his nomination, even in the midst of a gridlocked Congress, because Beck enjoyed the support and loyalty of Alabama’s two Republican senators, as well as its Republican governor and state attorney general. For all practical purposes, Beck is a “closet” Republican. Beck received his law degree from the University of Alabama, where he was a law school classmate and personal friend of David Byrne, Governor Robert Bentley’s chief legal advisor. Over the years, the two men formed a very close personal and professional bond. They also practiced law in the same law firm for many years, and Byrne's son was even a partner in Beck's law firm. Byrne and Beck, along with their wives, hang out together socially. It would therefore appear that Byrne holds significant sway over Beck. Byrne eventually became one of Beck’s most trusted confidants, especially after Beck became U.S. Attorney. By late 2012, Bentley realized that he could effectively commandeer the U.S. Attorney's office in Montgomery through Byrne’s close relationship with Beck. This allowed Bentley to use Beck’s office, including its broad prosecutorial discretion, as a tool to protect the governor from potential public corruption charges. In light of the laundering of Bentley’s leftover campaign funds and his use of state property for personal gain, one might say that Bentley is in desperate need of Beck’s protection. Because of the strong Byrne-Beck relationship, Bentley feels confident that he has Beck under control. As a prophylactic measure in case he is wrong, Bentley has secured the services of Joe Espy, a Montgomery attorney and fellow University of Alabama trustee, to handle any potential criminal exposure for using state resources and campaign funds to carry on his illicit love affair. Bentley diverted attention away from his secret love affair for three years, in part, by launching a $2 million high-profile investigation of financial management practices at Alabama State University, a historically black college. Bentley referred the preliminary results of this investigation to Beck, as well as a handpicked Republican state prosecutor in Pickens County. This diversionary tactic played on the worst instincts of white Alabamians and severely crippled ASU because of the heavy negative media coverage regarding the investigation. Thirty-six months and two grand jury investigations later, no ASU money was found to be missing or otherwise unaccounted for. No ASU trustee or administrator was ever charged, criminally or civilly, with any financial wrongdoing. Beck’s office conducted the federal investigation of ASU and its officials. Beck unleashed a flurry of grand jury subpoenas against ASU and various entities associated with the University. At first, it all seemed to be a legitimate exercise of prosecutorial power. One of the matters probed by Beck was a “rumor”, which was publicly announced by Bentley, that former ASU board chairman Elton Dean secured a contract for a female vendor with whom he was having an extra-marital relationship. On the basis of this “rumor” (not an actual allegation), Beck jumped into action. Beck’s office fired grand jury subpoenas at ASU like bullets. The female vendor was hauled before a federal grand jury and browbeaten by Beck’s prosecutors. Despite an intense and lengthy federal investigation, no improper relationship was ever established between Dean and the vendor or with any other ASU official. To date, not one federal grand jury subpoena has been issued by Beck to Bentley or Rebekah Mason about their love affair. This failure of prosecutorial duty and equal justice is glaring because it has been widely known since 2013 that the governor has been using state resources and campaign funds to fund his love affair with Mrs. Mason. Beck continues to look the other way. Has Beck simply missed all of the signs of Bentley’s misuse of public funds? No he has not. Are allegations of taxpayer-sponsored infidelity worthy of a federal investigation? Apparently they are, as evidenced by the ASU investigation, but not this time. It is interesting that a mere “rumor” of infidelity relating to an ASU trustee could be enough to launch Beck into aggressive action, but the ongoing love affair carried out by Bentley seems to be off-limits. Why is it that Beck has turned a blind eye to Bentley’s not-so-secret affair with Mason while crucifying the individuals associated with the ASU trustee-related “rumor”? Beck, using prosecutorial discretion, has chosen to give Bentley a “pass” on his affair with Mason because David Byrne controls Beck. A new Justice Department policy announced this week by Attorney General Loretta Lynch just might help to nullify Beck’s preferential treatment for Bentley. Stung by years of criticism that it has coddled high-profile white-collar criminals, the Justice Department issued new policies that prioritize the prosecution of individual employees – not just their companies – and put pressure on corporations to turn over evidence against their executives. In this case, the focus of the Justice Department’s investigation might be on Bentley and Mason and not just the companies and organizations that funded their love affair.

By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on September 13, 2015 State of the Union The state of Alabama is flat broke. The Legislature is in the midst of the second special session that was called to pass a general fund budget for 2015-2016, having failed the task during both the regular session and the first special session. Alabama has been named one of the most corrupt states in America by researchers at Harvard University. Mike Hubbard, Alabama's speaker of the house, is currently under indictment for twenty-three felony counts of ethics law violations. Former Montgomery federal judge Mark E. Fuller was forced to resign August 1st because he was arrested last year for viciously beating his second wife Kelli. He also cheated on Kelli with his young female law clerk. Governor Robert Bentley’s wife Dianne, 72, is suing him for a divorce after 50 years of marriage because of his illicit love affair with senior political advisor/paramour Rebekah Caldwell Mason. Dianne is seeking title to their home, alimony, and the payment of her attorney’s fees. The governor’s handpicked judge has sealed the divorce records from public view. The governor is also estranged from his four sons because of his betrayal of their mother. In essence, the governor has betrayed his entire family, not to mention the 4.8 million people in the state of Alabama, in a selfish act of lust and love. Up until July 24th, the night when Dianne spent her 50th wedding anniversary alone, she thought there was a glimmer of hope that the governor would come to his senses and return to his marriage and family. She was wrong. Wendell Ray Lewis, the former head of the governor’s security detail, took an early retirement from his job because he could no longer, in good conscience, watch and facilitate Bentley’s betrayal of Dianne as he romanced Rebekah. In the end, Lewis was loyal to Dianne. Bentley’s close personal friends in Tuscaloosa think he has lost his mind over Rebekah. Friends, including fellow University of Alabama trustee Paul Bryant, Jr., have ended their friendship with the governor over his love affair with Rebekah. The carefully crafted “Christian” image developed for the governor by Rebekah during the 2010 campaign has been shattered. Bentley’s self-portrait as a philanderer and home-wrecker has emerged publicly in the aftermath of Dianne’s divorce filing. In a cunning move, the governor stashed away $500,000 of cash from the marital estate, saving it for his life with Rebekah after the divorce. He laundered this money in a series of structured transfers, starting with a personal loan to his campaign account. Following that, he transferred the money from his campaign to his newly formed non-profit organization, the Alabama Council for Excellent Government, which promptly made concealed payments to Rebekah Mason for “services” rendered. The loan can be repaid to Bentley after his divorce has been finalized. The governor has secured the legal services of Joe Espy, a Montgomery attorney and fellow University of Alabama trustee, to handle his potential criminal exposure for using state resources to carry out his illicit love affair. This arrangement may well violate Section 36-25-13(e) of the Alabama Code because Espy serves as UA trustee, along with Bentley. Espy cannot sit on the UA board as an agent of the state and represent Bentley in a legal matter in which the state has a direct and substantial interest. In Bentley’s case, the state is a white-collar crime victim. Bentley’s use of state resources and campaign funds to romance Rebekah for personal gratification is illegal under state and federal law, just as his hiring of Espy is prohibited under state law. Furthermore, Bentley’s case is dripping with evidence of criminal conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, and racketeering violations under federal law. At the end of the day, Robert Bentley is nothing more than a marital cheater and “run-of-the-mill” crook who sponsored his illicit love affair with Rebekah using taxpayers' dollars and campaign donations. Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange is too weak and scared to handle a criminal case of this magnitude. Montgomery U.S. Attorney George L. Beck, Jr., has a conflict of interest because of his close personal relationship with David Byrne, the governor’s chief legal advisor. Bentley’s marital infidelity is an embarrassment to the state of Alabama. It is one thing for Bentley, 72, to make a fool out of himself by romancing Rebekah, 43, with his own money; it is criminal for him to do it with taxpayers’ money. However, hope is not lost. The U.S. has a new Attorney General, Ms. Loretta Lynch, who seems willing and capable of taking on the big-name white-collar criminals. All of the information and evidence gathered during the course of our year-long investigation will be sent to the Attorney General in Washington, along with a request for a thorough criminal investigation by seasoned federal prosecutors.

By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on September 16, 2015 Governor Robert Bentley could barely contain his lust and love for Rebekah Caldwell Mason in the months leading up to his re-election in 2014. He was so obsessed with Rebekah that he sent a romantic text written for Rebekah to First Lady Dianne Bentley by mistake. It was graphic in content. Ms. Bentley’s subsequent review of her husband’s text messages answered all of her questions about the nature and scope of the governor’s marital infidelity. The text message exchange between the two lovers, along with what Dianne overheard during the governor’s private phone calls to Rebekah, let her know that the governor, 72, was “head-over-heels” in love and lust with his 43-year-old paramour. Not only has Bentley proven to be a cheater and a sexual pervert, but now he has proven to be a crooked governor too. We have recently learned that Bentley not only had direct and personal knowledge of Rebekah’s handling of questionable financial practices with state and campaign monies, but he even went so far as to take calculated measures to prevent his staff from investigating these practices. During the 2014 campaign season and beyond, the Bentley-Mason romance flamed with an intensity that bothered the governor’s close friends and most loyal staffers. They worried that the love affair would eventually spill over into the public arena. They were also very concerned with Rebekah’s unfettered access to state resources and cash, which included her unprecedented control over the expenditure of campaign funds. At first the lines were blurred with regard to legitimate uses of state resources and campaign funds. When those blurred lines failed to raise any red flags among the oversight groups, the seemingly minor misuse of funds and resources graduated to a blatant disrespect for and clear abuse of the applicable regulatory rules and laws. Internal efforts to check Rebekah’s control over the money became an exercise in futility. Rebekah made it known among the campaign staff and within the governor’s office that she spoke for the governor, and her word was final. Eventually, one of the governor’s top staffers and campaign officials grew impatient with the incessant whitewashing of Rebekah’s questionable financial practices. This staffer, whose name is being withheld because the individual is not authorized to speak on these matters, became afraid of being implicated in the governor’s scheme to skirt Alabama’s financial accountability and election reporting laws, as well as various federal anti-public corruption laws. The staffer mustered up the courage to approach Governor Bentley about Rebekah’s control and dominion over state resources and campaign funds. He also informed the governor that she was misusing the state resources and misspending the campaign funds. After the staffer offered to investigate the matter further, an angry Bentley snapped and told this individual to “drop it or leave”. The staffer dutifully complied with the governor’s directive and dropped the matter. The financial shenanigans continued unabated until Dianne Bentley filed her divorce complaint in August. The governor and de facto First Lady Rebekah Mason took their love affair to the “new” governor’s mansion – the Wynfield Mansion, a/k/a Winton Blount Estate. This 12,000 square feet, $28 million mansion was donated to the state in 2007 by the estate of the late billionaire Winton Blount. The mansion is breathtaking in its magnificence, beauty and elegance. The governor has used public money and donor funds to ready the secluded mansion for his romantic lunches, discreet in-town getaways, and trysts with Rebekah. Rebekah also made sure her husband Jonathan continued to be well compensated for continuing to turn a blind eye toward the love affair. Not only is Jonathan drawing a healthy annual salary in his position as director of Serve Alabama, he also reportedly receives economic benefits for the donations he secures for the various programs under this umbrella organization. The governor and Rebekah made sure that they would continue to have access to lifestyle money with the establishment of Bentley’s “Alabama Council for Excellent Government”. This non-profit organization made it possible for Bentley to shield from public view the payments to Rebekah. The Council has three board members and has never had a board meeting. Yet, expenditures of Council funds have been made without board knowledge or approval. After the news of the Bentleys’ divorce broke, Bentley arranged a hasty exit for Rebekah from the state. She is reportedly working for Presidential candidate John Kasich (R-Ohio). Kasich is also the current Governor of Ohio. Bentley endorsed Kasich for President in a surprise announcement on August 17th. Rebekah landed a job with the Kasich campaign shortly after the announcement. In the aftermath of the governor’s cheating scandal, the list of defections by Bentley’s top staffers and supporters is growing. This list now includes prominent officials in Bentley’s Tuscaloosa church who have urged him, albeit without success, to break off the affair. The list also includes the staffer who reported Rebekah’s misuse of state resources and misspending of campaign funds. Others on the list include former trooper lieutenant Wendell Ray Lewis, the departing chief legal advisor David Byrne, a former executive employee at the state capitol who quit because of the Bentley-Mason affair, two of the three board members of the Council for Excellence (whose resignations are forthcoming), and several security officers (who are waiting to bolt from the mess created by this scandal).

By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on September 20, 2015 Follow the Money Rebekah Caldwell Mason, Governor Robert Bentley’s mistress and the de facto First Lady of Alabama, is married to Jonathan P. Mason. Jonathan was a weatherman at WVUA, a small local television station in Tuscaloosa. When Bentley took office in January of 2011, however, he made Jonathan the director of Serve Alabama, which is the state agency for the governor’s faith-based programs and services. Serve Alabama functions as the Alabama State Service Commission, granting and administering ten state AmeriCorps programs across Alabama. It is the state’s lead agency for Volunteer and Donations Management after disasters. This office serves as a liaison to the state for faith-based and community-based non-profit groups. Serve Alabama also administered FEMA’s Disaster Case Management Program for survivors of the April 2011 storms. It administers the Governor’s Emergency Relief Fund. The office administers ReadyAlabama.gov, Alabama’s statewide disaster preparedness campaign. Serve Alabama states that it carries out the goals and objectives of the Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Volunteer Service through partnerships, integrity, and a sense of community. Since Jonathan Mason has been its director, the agency has taken on a highly suspect role in the Bentley administration. As the governor’s lover and mistress, Rebekah made sure that Bentley directed a lucrative stream of financial payments to Jonathan. Not only did this money to supplement their household income, but it also helped to ensure that Jonathan would turn a blind eye toward the clandestine love affair between Bentley and Rebekah. It is reported that Jonathan draws a healthy annual salary in his position as director of Serve Alabama, while also receiving economic benefits for the donations he secures for the various programs under this umbrella organization. Jonathan Mason has received a total of $393,538 in state pay (from 2011 to date) and has dominion and control over a staff of thirteen employees. Payroll costs and employee benefits for Serve Alabama employees have totaled more than $2.9 million since Jonathan has been director. From his Serve Alabama empire, this former “weatherman” is now in a command position to hand out millions of dollars annually to religious and service organizations all over the state, with no adequate checks and balance and minimal financial oversight. The funds that pour into Serve Alabama come from the general fund, education trust fund and several special revenue funds, federal grants, private contributions, inter-fund state and federal programs, and other sources. The Alabama Commission on National and Community Service is authorized to accept funds and in-kind services from other state and federal entities on behalf of Serve Alabama. Jonathan, who had no executive experience running a large business enterprise or managing a major financial program prior to joining Serve Alabama, decides how this pool of money will be spent and who will benefit from it. In fiscal year 2011-2012, Jonathan spent $9,591,869, followed by $6,576,204 in 2012-2013, $3,036,305 in 2013-2014, and $2,984,971 in 2014-2015 year-to-date. Even though Jonathan joined Bentley’s administration in January of 2011, he spent the overwhelming majority of Serve Alabama’s $4,589,423 for fiscal year 2010-2011. Since 2011, Jonathan has awarded more than $20 million in grants and program benefits to a wide range of entities and programs across the state. Most of this money came from federal program funds. Federal funds are protected from fraud, misapplication, misappropriation, and other abuses. These funds are subject to federal criminal prosecution if they are misused. Many of the Serve Alabama awardees have been qualified and deserving recipients. However, some of the Serve Alabama money went to “pass through” entities that were controlled by Bentley and his cronies. This made it possible for these expenditures escape to the normal transparency and oversight governing the expenditure of other public funds. In fact, audits of Serve Alabama by state examiners only verify that the grant money was disbursed to the recipients. The examiners do not verify how the recipients spent the money. The Commission also has no meaningful oversight role with regard to expenditures by financial recipients. In reality, Serve Alabama grant and program benefits money has been doled out by Jonathan’s office to whichever organizations, entities, and persons Jonathan, Rebekah and Bentley favored. Since Jonathan has been its director, Serve Alabama has evolved into another slush fund that was used to reward Bentley, the Masons, their friends, and political cronies. It has become a cesspool of corruption. More to come on “Follow the Money”.

By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on September 25, 2015 David Byrne – Governor Bentley’s Consigliere On August 14, 2009, federal and state regulators took control of Colonial BancGroup, a regional banking powerhouse based in Montgomery. The seizure of Colonial Bank's 346 branches and $26 billion in assets made it the sixth-biggest bank failure in U.S. history, the worst of 2009, and the third largest during the credit crisis that plunged the financial markets into turmoil in 2008. Colonial’s collapse cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation $2.8 billion. Colonial’s shareholders lost billions of dollars in stock value. Thousands of bank employees lost their jobs. Although the public focused on the failed leadership of Bobby Lowder, Colonial’s founder and CEO, it was David B. Byrne, Jr., who was in charge of the bank’s legal affairs and regulatory compliance when Colonial failed. Byrne was Colonial’s executive vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary. Byrne is the same man who would later emerge as Governor Robert Bentley’s chief legal advisor and consigliere. After Colonial collapsed, Byrne was retained for a while by BB&T, the North Carolina-based bank that bought Colonial’s assets. He was eventually pushed out of BB&T and was looking for work. Lowder, Byrne and other top Colonial executives worried about an investigation by the FBI and the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program into Colonial's “warehouse” mortgage lending business. Colonial had applied for $550 million in TARP funds during the financial crisis of 2008, but the bank was never cleared to receive a bailout. On August 3, 2009, just eleven days before regulators shut down Colonial, law enforcement agents raided the bank's offices in Orlando, where the warehouse lending was managed. David Byrne was the man who signed off on the legal review of Colonial’s regulatory filings with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission. He also reviewed Colonial’s highly suspect TARP funding application before it was submitted to the U.S. Treasury Department. Byrne worried that, as Colonial’s executive vice president and general counsel, he could face civil or even criminal charges if fraud was found in the bank's TARP application or customary business operations. Federal prosecutors found a $3 billion fraud scheme operating during Byrne’s watch at Colonial. Senior vice president Catherine Kissick was charged, convicted, and sentenced to eight years in prison for her role in the fraud. Byrne escaped criminal prosecution. However, Byrne was deemed to be “unemployable” because the $3 billion fraud scheme operated right underneath his nose at Colonial and it was larger than the $2.7 billion accounting fraud discovered in 2003 at HealthSouth. In 2012, Bentley rescued Byrne from the ranks of the unemployed by hiring him to replace R. Cooper Shattuck as his chief legal advisor. This action came after Byrne’s wife, Alice Ann Byrne, brokered a deal with Bentley to advance and protect the interests of Rebekah and Jonathan Mason as state employees in exchange for a job for David. Alice, who has served as the general counsel of the State Personnel Department since 2000, practically ran the Department from her lawyer’s position. The governor agreed to this deal. After David joined Bentley’s staff, he and Alice took care of the governor’s wishes with respect to his favorite state employees. They arranged for former trooper Wendell Ray Lewis to receive a total of $799,285 in base pay and overtime as a member of Bentley’s executive security detail, as well as a highly questionable promotion from sergeant to lieutenant in 2014. They aided Bentley in directing $393,538 in total compensation to Jonathan, as the director of Serve Alabama. They also helped Jonathan increase Serve Alabama’s small staff to thirteen state employees. David advised Jonathan on Serve Alabama’s distribution of $20 million in grants and program benefits to religious and service organizations across the state. These payments included substantial financial contributions each year to the First Baptist Church of Montgomery Foundation, where David Byrne serves as a board member. David also cleared the way for Rebekah to operate her private public relations firm, RCM Communications, Inc., while working full-time as Bentley’s communications director. Undeterred by state ethics laws, Rebekah conducted RCM business from the governor’s office and used state resources to further her private business interests. On August 26, 2015, David Byrne, along with Bentley and others, were accused in a federal court lawsuit of forcing Alabama One Credit Union, a Tuscaloosa-based financial institution with $598 million in assets, into settling hotly disputed legal claims for millions of dollars to benefit one of Byrne’s former law partners and close personal friends, attorney Justin D. "Jay" Smyth, III. Bentley and Byrne, who are named defendants in the lawsuit, pressured a state regulatory agency into facilitating the delivery of monetary benefits to Smyth and his clients. This was an unprecedented abuse of executive powers by Bentley and Byrne. Their actions pushed Alabama One into conservatorship under state control. This was the second time in six years that David Byrne has been a central figure in the demise of a regulated financial institution. First, it was the 2009 collapse of Colonial Bank. Next, it was the conservatorship of Alabama One. Each time, the collateral damage to innocent parties was catastrophic.

By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on October 2, 2015 Getting the Alabama Media to Look the Other Way The Birmingham News (the “News”) is a media entity in the Alabama Media Group. The Mobile and Huntsville newspapers are also in this media group. The News was a willing participant in the FBI's COINTELPRO program that was aimed at secretly spying on, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting domestic political organizations. The News worked closely with the Alabama Sovereignty Commission and state and local officials who opposed racial integration in Alabama. In doing so, the News targeted individuals like Martin Luther King, Jr., Richard Arrington, Jr., and other civil rights leaders from the 1950s to the 1970s for an unrelenting campaign of negative news reporting in an attempt to undermine their credibility. COINTELPRO came to an official end after it was publicly exposed in the 1976 Congressional “Church Committee” hearings. Unofficial activities continued. Today, the News plays a significant role in advancing and protecting the interests of unfit state officials. The latest case in point involves disgraced Governor Robert Bentley and his marital infidelity scandal. Bentley, who was recently divorced by his wife Dianne, used the News and other Alabama media organizations to spin this scandal in the light most favorable to him. Charles J. Dean, who covers the capitol for the News, wrote and published several favorable stories on the governor’s marital troubles. Leada Gore, who wrote soft stories about the scandal and Bentley’s paramour Rebekah Caldwell Mason, joined Dean in this thinly veiled PR campaign. What the News never disclosed to the public was the fact that Dean’s name, email and home addresses, and amount of money paid were all listed on the leaked Ashley Madison database last August. Dean says the listing occurred because his credit card had been compromised, and he reported the $1,661 in “unauthorized” Ashley Madison “purchases” to the News. Ashley Madison is a business that facilitates marital infidelity. Interestingly, Gore wrote a story on August 24th discouraging the public from downloading the Ashley Madison leaked database. She did not mention that Dean’s name was on the list. Gore now claims she did not know Dean’s name was on the list. Dean followed with a September 23rd story about the Bentley scandal that said, “Don’t believe everything you read”. Instead of breaking the Bentley cheating scandal wide open, the News opted to challenge the accuracy of three peripheral facts in our exclusive “Forbidden Love” and “Executive Betrayal” series of articles, using stories authored by the Dean/Gore team for this purpose. Without disclosing that Rebekah is a close friend of Dean, they wrote stories claiming: (a) Bentley’s lawyer and consigliere, David Byrne, had not resigned, even though another lawyer had been offered the job and turned it down; (b) Bentley had not moved from the Governor’s mansion to the Winton Blount Estate, even though the Blount home was only identified in our articles as a “love nest” for Bentley/Mason trysts; and (c) Mason was not working for the John Kasich presidential campaign, even though she delivered Bentley’s endorsement of Kasich in exchange for future work with the Ohio governor. The Montgomery Advertiser, another COINTELPRO newspaper owned by a different media group, never engaged in any reporting of the infidelity scandal beyond one rambling story chastising the News for mentioning our Facebook-published articles. The Divorce Settlement The governor’s divorce settlement is telling. The lawsuit caught the governor off guard. Bentley raced to have the records sealed. He was scheduled to give testimony under oath in November. Instead, the governor filed an answer denying that his 50-year marriage was “irretrievably” broken and quickly settled the case before any evidence of his marital infidelity with Rebekah surfaced in court. The settlement also showed that the governor is highly leveraged and cash-strapped. Yet, he was romancing Rebekah in grand style. How was this possible? Romancing on Taxpayers and Donor Money Taxpayers and donors have sponsored every aspect of the governor’s love affair with Rebekah. Bentley’s campaign organizations paid her in 2010 and again from July 2013 through November 2014. She was on the governor’s payroll from January 2011 to June 2013. In early 2015, Bentley pressured donors to contribute “dark money” to his Alabama Council for Excellent Government “slush” fund. The money was then funneled to Rebekah in structured transactions. The governor has also directed other income streams to Rebekah from businesses benefitting from the $20 million in Serve Alabama money that has been doled out by her husband Jonathan, who is the agency’s well-paid director. Bentley routinely “wined and dined” Rebekah on taxpayers and donor money. Taxpayers and donors covered the airplane flights, trooper escorts, and international travel needed for Rebekah to properly service the governor’s desires. The $28 million “love nest” at the secluded Winton Blount estate was closed to the public under the guise of ongoing “renovation” work so that the lovers could use it for their personal pleasure and private enjoyment, courtesy of taxpayers. Finally, both the governor and Rebekah have hired top criminal lawyers who specialize in public corruption cases. Donor money is paying this tab as well. There is no end in sight to Bentley’s fleecing of taxpayers and donors, and it’s all in the name of love.