Thursday, November 02, 2017
Alabama Power Company Created A “Frankenstein” Called Matrix - Donald V. Watkins
https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins/posts/10214547329419129
Alabama Power Company Created A "Frankenstein" Called Matrix, LLC
By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) November 2, 2017
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) November 2, 2017
Alabama Power Company created a modern-day "Frankenstein" in Matrix, LLC, a Montgomery, Alabama-based PR firm. Former Alabama Education Association "dirty tricks" operative Joe Perkins heads Matrix.
Over the years, Alabama Power has funneled millions of dollars into Matrix for the sole purpose of securing its grip on the political landscape in Alabama. Matrix has worked on the campaigns of numerous political candidates who have enjoyed the financial backing of Alabama Power.
Alabama Power's "Frankenstein" is now on the loose. Since June of 2017, Matrix has been working for the family of Terry Jackson "Sweet T" Jackson, Jr., and their strategic allies to (a) smear the name and character of Megan Rondini, a deceased University of Alabama honors student, and (b) clean up the "street" reputation of 37-year-old Sweet T -- the man Megan accused of raping her at his Tuscaloosa home during the early morning hours of July 2, 2015.
On Monday, Joe Perkins and Matrix openly attacked my news reporting in the Megan Rondini rape case. Perkins issued a press release to the Alabama Political Reporter ("APR") in which he called me a "financially broken, desperate man" who is "suffering from psychological and behavioral problems that have brought him to the brink of ruin."
APR published an article that day using all of Perkins' quotes. The article also states, "Watkins is currently facing federal charges of bilking millions from professional athletes." This statement is a reference to a lawsuit filed by the Atlanta office of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against me in 2016. I have posted several articles on my Facebook page about this lawsuit.
For the record, the SEC has never made any claim in my case that the businesses in question are not ongoing business enterprises, or that the businesses are not commercially valuable, or that any investor has lost money in these businesses. Furthermore, the SEC does not regulate any of my private business enterprises.
The SEC's investigation in my case was commenced in 2014 as an accommodation to then-Alabama governor Robert Bentley and other influential people in Washington who strongly opposed my political independence and hard-hitting brand of investigative journalism.
In the process of collaborating with APR to bash me, Joe Perkins and Matrix failed to point out that the Southern Company, which is the parent company of Alabama Power, is under a major SEC investigation relating to a $6.6 billion power plant that is under construction by Mississippi Power Company in Kemper, Mississippi. Due to cost overruns, the original $2.9 billion cost of the Kemper plant has skyrocketed to $6.6 billion since the construction started several years ago. This investigation has been acknowledged in the Southern Company's 2016 regulatory filings.
The bottom-line question in the SEC's investigation of the Southern Company is this: Whether the millions of customers of the Southern Company's non-Mississippi affiliates (e.g., Alabama Power, Georgia Power, and Gulf Power) had fair and adequate notice that they have been financially subsidizing a substantial portion of the Kemper plant's multi-billion dollar construction cost overruns even though they will likely derive no tangible power supply benefits from the troubled Mississippi plant?
By placing an emphasis on active federal investigations in their press release, Joe Perkins and Matrix have now focused the public's attention on the SEC's ongoing investigation of the Southern Company and the legal, financial, and regulatory affairs of Alabama Power regarding the Kemper power plant.
In an unbelievable turn of events, Joe Perkins and Matrix have taken center stage in the Megan Rondini rape case. In the process of defending Sweet T, they have recklessly dragged Alabama Power Company and the Southern Company into the bright spotlight of this highly controversial rape case.
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