Balch lawyer charged with bribing former state rep takes the stand

The ABC Coke plant, owned by Drummond Company, at the heart of the EPA issue in north Birmingham (Ivana Hrynkiw | ihrynkiw@al.com)

Joel Gilbert took the stand Monday and said he never asked former state Rep. Oliver Robinson to use his influence or official position to oppose the Environmental Protection Agency.

Gilbert and Steven McKinney, both lawyers at Balch & Bingham, along with Drummond Company executive David Roberson, face six counts of federal charges relating to what prosecutors say was a conspiracy to halt expanding and prioritizing an EPA Superfund site in north Birmingham. Expansion of the area due to be cleaned up could cost Drummond a lot of money.

The trial for the three men is in its fourth week.

Thursday, the Northern District of Alabama rested its case. Gilbert's defense team began presenting evidence and witnesses on Monday. After several people testified to Gilbert's character, he took the stand.

Gilbert said he did not bribe Robinson to do anything, and to his knowledge, neither did Roberson nor McKinney. Gilbert said if he knew Robinson was taking money from his nonprofit organization The Oliver Robinson Foundation -- which was contracted to do the community outreach work on behalf of Drummond -- he "would have stopped the contract immediately."

Robinson said the opposite in his testimony, and that Gilbert wanted Robinson to use his influence as a legislator to oppose the EPA. Robinson has pleaded guilty to charges.

Gilbert, a Grayson Valley native, first talked about his background and degrees in biology and environmental management. After working with Vulcan Materials when he completed his master's degree, went to the University of Alabama School of Law and clerked for an Alabama Supreme Court Justice. After law school in 2003, Gilbert accepted a job with Balch in the environmental law section.

Gilbert said he worked hard and didn't take a vacation for seven years before being promoted to partner. Eventually, Gilbert was named equity partner, meaning he owns a small percentage of the firm.

In the fall of 2014, Gilbert said he started having meetings with all staff and associate lawyers who were working on Drummond matters. Balch handled several issues for Drummond, including the company being named by the EPA a potentially responsible party for the costly 35th Avenue Superfund cleanup. EPA wanted to expand the north Birmingham Superfund site into Tarrant and Inglenook and place the site on its National Priorities List-- both of which Drummond opposed.

In 2014, Gilbert said he was working on forming comments to send to the EPA from municipalities and local businesses who opposed the expansion. A lot of work was being done on all Drummond matters, he said, before Robinson came into the picture.

In notes from a October 2014 staff meeting, Gilbert wrote about a campaign called "Birmingham is not a 'toxic city' communications campaign." He said that idea was formed in response to the environmental group GASP's support of the EPA. In October or November, Gilbert said, the legal team and Roberson met to identify potential groups who could perform community outreach and tell Drummond's side of the story. "It's always prudent to understand what the people impacted understand, know," Gilbert said.

Gilbert said several groups were discussed before Roberson mentioned Robinson's name. Everyone "wholeheartedly endorsed" Robinson, Gilbert said, so Roberson planned to reach out to the legislator and see if he was interested in the work.

Robinson was interested. "He was every enthusiastic," Gilbert said, and Robinson called Gilbert, saying he also had concerns about the EPA's actions in north Birmingham. Robinson sent Gilbert a proposed contract for doing community outreach work, and Gilbert forwarded that contract to McKinney and Roberson.

According to Gilbert, Robinson said the consulting should be done through his foundation because it was a "grassroots, community education type of program." Gilbert said Robinson assured he would not take any money from the foundation.

In December 2014, Gilbert said McKinney told him to run the contract by the ethics lawyers at Balch. Gilbert did, and told the lawyers that Robinson was not going to take money from the foundation or be doing the groundwork. "He was not going to be engaged" beyond strategy, Gilbert said.

The ethics lawyers said that would be fine.

After some negotiation on the price of Robinson's contract, Gilbert signed it in February 2015. He then gave Robinson a $14,000 check from Balch for work done by the foundation in December and January, Gilbert said.

Gilbert said while that money came days before the Alabama Environmental Management Commission meeting where Robinson spoke, the check was for community work and wasn't a bribe.

As for the confidentiality section of Robinson's contract, Gilbert said that's common. "It's very common... so [the consultant] doesn't disclose our client's information." He said the topic was "sensitive" for Drummond.

There was also a section in the contract titled "compliance with laws."

Robinson's contract and payment were strictly for outreach work, Gilbert said. The visit with EPA representatives, the AEMC meeting, and the Alabama joint resolution was not a part of their agreement.

Prior to the February AEMC meeting, Gilbert said no one asked Robinson to attend. He said his team had a "general discussion of someone going to the next commission meeting and asking questions," but they initially wanted someone in the north Birmingham community to go. They asked Robinson if he knew anyone, and Robinson said no. Gilbert then asked if someone from the foundation could go, and Robinson said no but volunteered to go himself.

Gilbert said he told Robinson, "if there's any issue, you shouldn't do it."

Robinson didn't show any reluctance until about two weeks before the meeting, when he had to notify the commission he wanted to speak. Gilbert said Robinson was worried about stepping on toes, since he didn't represent the areas in the Superfund site or the site of the potentially responsible parties. Gilbert encouraged him to submit a request to speak, which he drafted, but told Robinson to back out if he didn't want to go.

After the request was sent, Gilbert said he met with Robinson at Robinson's request to talk about the commission and its members. Gilbert said he didn't give him talking points or tell him what to say.

Robinson did attend and speak at the meeting, and Gilbert said he asked someone to videotape the public meeting. "We just wanted to make sure we captured everything," he said.

Gilbert also admitted to drafting other letters, including ones signed by former Gov. Robert Bentley and former Attorney General Luther Strange. He said those officials believed what was in the letters, and he didn't force them to sign the letters.

Now U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Sen. Richard Shelby, along with Rep. Gary Palmer, also opposed the EPA's actions, Gilbert said.

When asked about the line, "As a state legislator..." Gilbert penned in one of Robinson's letters that ended up on his official state letterhead, Gilbert said he was simply describing who Robinson was. Gilbert didn't know that letter would be sent on official stationary, he said.

After the AEMC appearance, Gilbert said Robinson told him that Robinson would be meeting with several representatives from the EPA, and asked Gilbert to help him draft several questions. Gilbert said he didn't ask Robinson to record that meeting, and was surprised when he received the audio recording. He forwarded it to McKinney and Roberson but never fully listened to it.

When asked about the Oliver Robinson Foundation invoices, Gilbert said he knew the payment was being divided up a certain way and that workers Amanda Robinson, Oliver's daughter, and John Powe were being compensated through Balch's checks. While he noted that Powe said $5,000 per check was going to Robinson, Gilbert said he assumed Powe meant the foundation and not Robinson himself.

"I just took for granted [Powe] meant the foundation," Gilbert said. "If Oliver Robinson was receiving money, I had a huge problem."

Under cross examination, Gilbert said anytime he wrote in emails or on notes that Robinson was being paid, he meant the Oliver Robinson Foundation. He thought the legislator was donating his time without being paid.

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