By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on February 8, 2025
Exclusive Special Report and Editorial Opinion ---
From 1985 to 1998, I served as Special Counsel to Birmingham, Alabama Mayor Richard Arrington, Jr. I was tasked with using the legal system to drive and protect Arrington's public policy agenda.
In February 1992, I needed help in defeating a racially biased and politically motivated effort by local federal prosecutors to topple Mayor Arrington from power. It was a coup d'état in progress.
From January 1988 through January 1992, I fought a very intense legal battle to stop Frank Donaldson, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, from using a rigged federal criminal justice system to run Arrington out of office and jail him on trumped up bribery charges.
By January 1992, I was running out of legal maneuvers in my fight against Donaldson and his gang of prosecutors and investigators. Even though my previous maneuvers slowed the long-running federal criminal investigation, Donaldson still posed a substantial threat to Arrington’s freedom and his public policy initiatives at City Hall.
My Efforts to Stop Donaldson's Weaponization of His Office Against Arrington Stalled Until I Could Join Forces with an Unexpected Ally
On February 21, 1990, I filed a complaint with the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee about the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) targeting, harassment, and mistreatment of Mayor Arrington throughout his first two and a half terms in office. The complaint was entered into the Congressional Record by then-U.S. Senator Howell Heflin (D-Alabama). However, this action did not deter Donaldson from continuing to weaponize the DOJ for the purpose of lynching Arrington in the federal criminal justice system.
On December 12, 1991, Arrington was served with a subpoena duces tecum in connection with Donaldson’s ongoing federal grand jury investigation. The subpoena required Arrington to produce certain documents relating to his official annual calendars and scheduled appointments. Based upon the advice of counsel, Arrington asserted legal objections to the subpoena and refused to produce the requested documents.
Despite his objections, a federal judge in Birmingham ordered Arrington to produce the subpoenaed documents. Again, Arrington refused to comply.
On January 16, 1992, the judge ordered Arrington to show cause why he should not be held in contempt. After a hearing on January 17th, the judge found that Arrington's refusal to produce the subpoenaed documents constituted contempt of court.
The judge fined Arrington $1,000 per day until he produced the requested documents. The judge also ordered Arrington jailed every weekend until he complied with the order to produce the documents.
Arrington was incarcerated on January 23, 1992. He remained in federal prison for one day.
On January 24, 1992, Arrington surrendered the requested documents (under protest) while the judge's order was appealed.
The spectacle of Arrington in jail for one day made national and international news. It also led to a quick and quiet change in the local U.S. Attorney's Office.
On January 27, 1992, President George H.W. Bush appointed Jack W. Selden to replace Frank Donaldson as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. Seldon was an honest, unbiased, highly intelligent, and very professional federal prosecutor.
I Requested Montgomery Mayor Emory Folmar's Help with Arrington's Case and Got It
In early February 1992, I asked Richard Arrington for permission to approach Montgomery, Alabama Mayor Emory Folmar for help. Folmar was a staunch conservative who had been mayor of Montgomery since 1977. He was chairman of the Alabama Republican Party from 1985 to 1989. Folmar was also the Alabama state chairman of George H.W. Bush’s 1988 and 1992 presidential election campaigns. In short, Folmar was the most powerful Republican in Alabama.
I knew Folmar from my days on the Montgomery city council (1979 to 1983), where we often sparred as fierce political adversaries. I was also the plaintiffs' counsel in a lawsuit involving black police officers who had been denied promotions in the Montgomery police department. I won this class action case by knocking out the old discriminatory promotional exams and job assessment instruments for each ranking position.
From 1978 to 1988, Folmar and I selected the officers who would be promoted in the Montgomery police department until a new promotional system could be devised, validated, court approved, and implemented. For every three officers Folmar picked for promotion, lead plaintiff Sidney T. Williams and I picked two.
For 10 years, Folmar and I worked closely on all promotions within the police department. The one thing we had in common was our word. When it was given, our word was our bond. Folmar and I highly valued that personal trait.
The Surprising Way Emory Folmar Saved Richard Arrington, Jr.
With Arrington’s blessing, I traveled to Montgomery to meet with Mayor Emory Folmar in his office. I told Folmar I needed his help with the DOJ’s long-running criminal investigation of Arrington. Based upon the mutual trust and respect we had developed between us after working 10 years together on promotions within the police department, Folmar looked me straight in the eyes and asked me one question: “Is Arrington guilty?” Without hesitation, I looked Folmar in the eyes and promptly said, “No.”
With that answer, Folmar immediately picked up his office phone, dialed a number (from memory), and put the phone on the voice speaker feature so I could listen to the call. A female answered the call.
Folmar said, “Barbara, I need to speak to George.” Barbara said, “He’s in the bathroom.” Folmar said, "Knock on the door and tell him I need to talk to him, now. I’ll hold!” Barbara complied with Folmar's request.
To my surprise, Emory Folmar had called a direct line to the private residence in the White House. He was talking to Barbara Bush and waiting for President George H.W. Bush to pick up the phone.
When President Bush picked up the phone, Folmar said, “George, I’ve got a problem down here.” Bush said, “What’s the problem, Emory?” Folmar replied, “Your people in the DOJ are fucking over a friend of mine.” Bush asked, “Who is it, Emory?” Folmar said, “Richard Arrington. He’s the mayor of Birmingham.”
Bush said, “I don’t know anything about it.” Folmar replied, “I know you don't. That’s my job to keep you in the loop on problems that may hurt us in Alabama. I don’t need your DOJ guys making a martyr out of Richard Arrington while I am trying to get you re-elected.”
Bush told Folmar he was going to talk to Borden Gray and Gray would call Folmar within a few minutes. Bush assured Folmar that the "matter would be handled.”
Within minutes, Borden Gray, who served as President Bush’s White House Counsel, called Folmar. Mayor Folmar took the call in my presence and talked to Gray with the voice speaker feature on.
Folmar informed Gray that DOJ had investigated Arrington throughout his entire term in office and the investigation intensified in 1988. Gray asked Folmar what he wanted done in Arrington’s case. Folmar said, “DOJ should piss or get off the pot.”
Then, Folmar lectured Gray on public corruption cases by saying, “It doesn’t take 4 years to develop a bribery case against a mayor. It sounds to me like your DOJ guys are trying to frame Arrington.” Gray promised Folmar he would check on Arrington's case and report back to him. Folmar replied, “This case needs to be filed away some place in the Department where it can gather dust.”
Several days later, Emory Folmar called me to tell me President Bush had appointed Jack Seldon to replace Frank Donaldson on January 27th, which I did not know at the time of our visit. Folmar also said Arrington’s case was “as dead as Kelsey’s nuts.” According to Folmar, Selden was expected to be confirmed by the Senate in March 1992.
Folmar instructed me to tone down my political rhetoric about Arrington's criminal investigation and stop throwing "spitballs" at the DOJ. I complied with Folmar's directives and told Arrington to do so, as well.
After Folmar hosted President Bush at a campaign rally in Birmingham on August 22, 1992, he called me to let me know that he saw U.S. Attorney Jack Selden at the event. According to Folmar, he strongly suggested to Selden that DOJ end its review of Arrington's case fairly quickly.
On November 15, 1992, Selden publicly announced that "based on a thorough evaluation of the evidence, the Department of Justice determined, with my concurrence, that prosecution [of Arrington] should be declined."
After the investigation was closed, Folmar called me to let me know the DOJ office in Washington would be sending Arrington the first-ever letter of apology for targeting him for a criminal investigation without sufficient evidence. Folmar gleefully told me I could thank him later. The DOJ letter of apology arrived, just as Folmar promised it would.
Without Emory Folmar’s direct, persistent, and persuasive involvement in Mayor Arrington’s ongoing federal criminal investigation, the history of Richard Arrington's tenure as Birmingham’s first black mayor might have turned out very differently.
About a year later, Mayor Folmar asked for my assistance in Washington on a matter that was very important to him and the city of Montgomery. Folmar reminded me that I owed him a "thank you" from his display of friendship in the Arrington case. I rendered the assistance, exactly as Folmar requested. Folmar received precisely what he requested.
What that assistance was and how it was delivered is a story for another day.
This story illustrates why I NEVER allow anyone to pick my political friends or enemies. My political alliances are strategic, sensitive and complicated. I, alone, determine who enters my friendship circle and who gets on my enemies list. No one will ever decide this matter for me.
Never underestimate the value of strategic alliances with powerful political figures. I never waste my time cultivating relationships with weak-kneed politicians. Remember, a politician who will not fight for himself/herself will not fight for others. In the end, you can never depend upon a weak-kneed politician to do anything beyond bullshitting you.
Why Mayor Emory Folmar saved Mayor Richard Arrington is an equally fascinating story. One day, I will explain why Folmar saved Arrington.
What a story! I remember some of this from xxx years ago.