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Sunday, September 20, 2015
Alabama drops 10 spots in both polls | AL.com
http://www.al.com/alabamafootball/index.ssf/2015/09/alabama_drops_10_spots_in_new.html#incart_big-photo
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Donald Watkins: Executive Betrayal - Robert Bentley's Fleecing of Taxpayers and Donors - Part 2 - Follow The Money
Executive Betrayal - Robert Bentley's Fleecing of Taxpayers and Donors – Part 2
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 thegeneral 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 programprior 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 fromfederal 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 bystate 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 benefitsmoney has been doled out by Jonathan's office towhichever 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, theirfriends, and political cronies. It has become a cesspool of corruption.
More to come on "Follow the Money".
By Donald V.Watkins
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NFL Scores & Schedules - USATODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/nfl/scores/
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Rising Mississippi makes it two wins in a row vs. Alabama - USATODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/sec/2015/09/20/ole-miss-alabama-college-football/72508334/
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Saturday, September 19, 2015
Donald V. Watkins/Facebook - Exclusive: Mike Echols Splits From Bentley - Mike Echols, Governor Robert Bentley’s long-time personal CPA and heavy hitting moneyman for the Robert Bentley Campaign Committee, has split from the governor.
EXCLUSIVE BREAKING NEWS---
Mike Echols Splits From Bentley
By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on September 18, 2015
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on September 18, 2015
Mike Echols, Governor Robert Bentley’s long-time personal CPA and heavy hitting moneyman for the Robert Bentley Campaign Committee, has split from the governor. Echols, who handled the financial books and records for both the Bentleys and the Campaign Committee, resigned his post over a disagreement with Bentley about Rebekah Mason, the governor’s mistress and married paramour.
The precise nature of this dispute, which occurred several weeks ago, is not known at this time.
What is known, however, is that Bentley wanted Echols to do something questionable with the financial records relating to Rebekah Mason. The governor's request did not sit well with Echols, a respected Tuscaloosa accountant and well-known PAC organizer. During a heated exchange between the two men, Echols refused the governor’s request and turned over the various checkbooks and financial records in his custody to Bentley. With this handover, the professional relationship between Echols and Bentley ended.
Echols has been Bentley’s personal accountant for many years. He was also the Campaign Committee’s treasurer in 2010 and 2014.
In a slick move that is expected to become the focus of First Lady Dianne Bentley’s divorce proceedings, as well as law enforcement agencies in Washington, the governor stashed $500,000 of cash from the marital estate away for his life with Rebekah after the divorce. He laundered this money in the form of leftover donations through a series of transfers, starting with a personal loan to his campaign account, then a transfer of this money from his campaign to his newly formed non-profit organization, the Alabama Council for Excellent Government, followed by payments from the Council to Rebekah Mason for services rendered. The loan can be repaid to Bentley’s campaign after his divorce.
As we reported on September 13, 2015, 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 on his illicit love affair, among other matters. Espy specializes in white-collar crimes and public corruption cases. Bentley confirmed Espy’s hiring earlier this week.
Echols’ departure from the governor’s inner circle adds to a growing list of top staffers and supporters who have split with Bentley over his illicit love affair with Rebekah Mason and his cover-up of the misuse of state resources and misspending of campaign funds. This list includes prominent officials in Bentley’s Tuscaloosa church who have urged him, albeit without success, to break off the affair. The list also includes a staffer who reported Rebekah’s misuse of state resources and misspending of campaign funds directly to the governor, and was chastised.
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 Alabama Council for Excellent Government (whose resignations are forthcoming), and several security officers (who are waiting to bolt from the mess created by this scandal).
More to come.
By Donald V. Watkins
Alabama goes with different starting quarterback | AL.com
http://www.al.com/alabamafootball/index.ssf/2015/09/alabama_goes_with_different_st.html#incart_river_mobile
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What's wrong with Auburn quarterback Jeremy Johnson? - USATODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2015/09/19/auburn-qb-jeremy-johnson-struggles-lsu/72488126/
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Alabama, Ole Miss both enter Saturday with plenty to prove | AL.com
http://www.al.com/alabamafootball/index.ssf/2015/09/alabama_ole_miss_both_enter_sa.html#incart_2box
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Watch LSU's Leonard Fournette run all over Auburn | AL.com
http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/index.ssf/2015/09/jeremy_johnson.html#incart_river_mobile
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Golfers react to news of Tiger Woods' surgery - USATODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/golf/2015/09/19/tiger-woods-surgery-reaction/72471088/
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NCAAF Scores & Schedules - USATODAY
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Friday, September 18, 2015
2015 college football TV schedule - USATODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2015/06/02/college-football-tv-guide-schedule-fbs-2015/26525745/
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Game preview: Ole Miss at Alabama | USA TODAY Sports
http://sports.usatoday.com/2015/09/18/game-preview-ole-miss-at-alabama/
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Thursday, September 17, 2015
GOP debate a CNN ratings success - POLITICO
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/2016-cnn-gop-debate-ratings-213786
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Trump's bad morning after - POLITICO
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/donald-trump-after-2016-cnn-debate-213783
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Alabama Legislature's 2015 Winners and Losers | AL.com
http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/09/alabama_legislatures_2015_winn.html#incart_2box
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Milo Hamilton, voice of Hank Aaron's 715th homer, dies | www.ajc.com
http://m.ajc.com/news/sports/baseball/voice-hank-aarons-715th-homer-dies/nnhGL/
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USA TODAY Sports’ Week 2 NFL picks | USA TODAY Sports Wire
http://sportswire.usatoday.com/2015/09/17/week-2-nfl-picks-predictions/
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Fact check: The second Republican debate - USATODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2015/09/17/fact-check-second-republican-debate/32517889/
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Wednesday, September 16, 2015
If Donald Trump wins, what country would you flee to? | OnPolitics
http://onpolitics.usatoday.com/2015/09/15/if-donald-trump-wins-what-country-would-you-flee-to/
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Republican debate 2015: Start time, schedule, and what to expect - Vox
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2015/9/15/9332011/republican-debate-time-schedule
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Apple's $1.1T bet: You want an iPhone payment - USATODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2015/09/16/apple-iphone-payment-bet/32498613/
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Biden: Trump has ‘sick message’ over immigration | OnPolitics
http://onpolitics.usatoday.com/2015/09/16/biden-trump-has-sick-message-over-immigration/
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Wynfield Estate Photo - 'Love Nest for Robert Bentley and Rebekah Mason' -- Donald Watkins
This is the magnificent Wynfield Estate. It served as a love nest for Robert Bentley and Rebekah Mason, courtesy of taxpayers dollars. -- Donald Watkins
Executive Betrayal - Robert Bentley's Fleecing of Taxpayers and Donors - By Donald V. Watkins
Executive Betrayal – Robert Bentley's Fleecing of Taxpayers and Donors
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 resourcesgraduated 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. This12,000 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 trystswith 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 ServeAlabama, 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 inBentley's Tuscaloosa church who have urged him, albeitwithout 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).
Written by Donald V. Watkins
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Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Rangers move into 1st in AL West: 'Never ever quit' - USATODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2015/09/15/rangers-revival-al-west-never-ever-quit/72344600/
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