https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins/posts/10209472280666082
We Have Their Attention
By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on May 20, 2016
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on May 20, 2016
Change within the American political and judicial systems is an evolutionary process, not a revolutionary one. In less than a year, our Facebook network has made a measurable and positive difference on the political and judicial scenes in Alabama.
In August 2015, we forced wife beating, marital cheating, and lying judge Mark E. Fuller to resign from his lifetime appointment on the federal bench in Montgomery, Alabama. Nobody thought this could happen, but our Facebook network did it.
Since September 2015, we have exposed Governor Robert Bentley's "sex for power" and public corruption scandal with paramour/lover Rebekah Mason. These lovers are now the "subjects" of at least four criminal investigations on the racketeering and public corruption matters we first revealed.
Two months ago, we started drafting a voter-led ethics reform package because legislators chose to form a "human shield" around Bentley instead of protecting us.
House Speaker Mike Hubbard is on trial right now on 23 counts of ethics and public corruption charges. We have made his case too public to sweep under the rug.
Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore is suspended from office (for the second time) for defying a U.S. Supreme Court landmark case on same-sex marriages. We highlighted the absurdity of Moore's defiance of the Supreme law of the land.
The lobbyists are worried to death that our ethics reform movement will kill their business in Montgomery. They want us to back off.
The Big Bosses Are Now Calling
After yesterday's article on "Stepping on the Toes of Lobbyists" was published, I received several calls from top corporate executives around the state. These executives are affiliated with some of the state's top corporations. They are the ones that hire an army of lobbyists in Montgomery and arm them with the money and entertainment tools necessary to seduce and capture our legislators.
We have their attention. Like the public officials and lobbyists, the business community is worried. Politicians and lobbyists are expendable to them. They can change them out like we change clothes.
The business community does not want us focusing on its tacit support of Bentley, or on its glaring political chokehold on our state legislators. Its dictatorial grip on Senate President Del Marsh and House Speaker Mike Hubbard keeps nearly all Alabama legislators in check.
The business community also realizes that things must change in state government for several reasons. First, Bentley and Rebekah Mason are under a criminal investigation that is expected to result in their indictment on federal racketeering and public corruption charges. Second, Mike Hubbard's trial on 23 counts of ethics and public corruption charges is expected to result in a conviction by his trial jury, or guilty plea by him. Third, Roy Moore's suspension is expected to become permanent, much to the relief of everybody.
With respect to Robert Bentley, it is a known fact that the business community made him governor of Alabama, twice. They poured money into his two campaigns. Now, Bentley is somewhat estranged from them. From the Business Council of Alabama, to business mogul Paul Bryant, Jr., to individual corporate giants, they all think Bentley is a "love struck" idiot who has lost his way. He embarrasses them on a daily basis.
The business community first noticed that something was wrong with Bentley when First Lady Dianne Bentley started distancing herself from the governor in the summer of 2014. It did not take these corporate executives long to figure out that Rebekah Mason had become Bentley's scheming paramour, as well as the "de facto" governor of Alabama.
Rebekah Changed Their World Too
Typically, the business community runs Alabama on autopilot. By 2014, Bentley had started acting weird with this crowd as well. Suddenly, the governor was no longer seeking their input or advice. Bentley ignored them on matters dealing with economic development and fiscal policy. The only time they heard from Bentley was when he was hustling them for money to funnel in Rebekah's direction.
Meanwhile, Rebekah had found a strong and forceful ally in chief legal adviser David Byrne, the man who presided over the 2009 multi-billion-dollar collapse of Colonial Bank. Byrne was Bentley's consigliere, but he also served as Rebekah's all-purpose butler. Today, Byrne is best known as the attorney who lawyered Bentley into the worst legal nightmare in recent Alabama history.
The corporate executives I spoke with yesterday had followed the "Forbidden Love" and "Executive Betrayal" investigative series of articles published in September 2015. They privately knew and affirmed what I published publicly about Bentley's marital infidelity and use of tax dollars and state resources to carry on the secret love affair.
They, too, had watched Bentley turn against family members, staffers and longtime friends who tried to talk the governor out of his "not-so-secret" May-December romance with Rebekah. They were afraid to confront Bentley directly with a dose of reality. They had watched Dianne Bentley, the governor's children, Trooper Lt. Wendell Ray Lewis, Wanda Kelly, Mike Echols, Seth Hammett, Spencer Collier, and Jennifer Ardis flee Bentley after he became lost in "love" with Rebekah. The governor does not care that these family members, friends, and loyal supporters are gone from his life. After all, in his mind, Bentley still has Rebekah - the love of his life.
In the end, the corporate community has chosen to remain silent on the governor's "sex for power" scandal. They simply tried to work around Bentley, where possible.
Even then, Rebekah has muscled her way into major deals presented to Bentley for his review, recommendation, and/or approval. She embedded herself in the governor's $800 million prison construction proposal; she arranged for her husband to skim fees off PR contracts awarded by friendly state universities and other state agencies; she orchestrated the controversial closing of driver's license offices in Black Belt counties; and she induced the governor to recommend that TVA sell its Hollywood, Alabama nuclear power plant, which is something Bentley's $300,000 campaign donor Franklin Haney wanted done.
The business community now knows they have created an out-of-control monster in Bentley. He is just as dangerous to them as he is to his family, staff members, and critics. While the governor knows right from wrong, he is incapable of making the right decisions on "Affairs of State" and is unable to speak truthfully about his relationship with Rebekah Mason because his judgment is clouded by his "love" for her. Rebekah, who is still married and whose husband is still receiving "hush" money from Bentley in the form a government-paid salary, is NOT in love with Bentley.
The Business Community Wants to Avoid the Spotlight
Our focus on lobbyists in yesterday's article has made the business community very uncomfortable. To a person, the executives who contacted me yesterday wanted to know whether I would be writing about their companies' lobbying activities in future articles. As I explained to each of them, the answer depends upon whether they are going to stand with the reform-minded voters or align their companies with Bentley and his "human shield" legislators.
They have adequate time to decide which side of this important public policy issue they are on. We will rollout the final version of our ethics reform package on Memorial Day. The business community can stand with the voters and back the reforms, or they can fight us. The choice is theirs.
I left my corporate friends with this message of hope: We will accomplish our ethics reform goals in stages. For the first time ever, Facebook and other social media platforms have given voters and ordinary citizens the tools we need to organize and effectively fight public corruption and engrained corporate influence peddling.
Our public officials should not go into public office seeking to get rich. They should go into public office to serve the public. Our voter-led ethics reform initiative is a step in the right direction along the long road to accountability, transparency, and integrity in government.
Donald V. Watkins
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