William Barnes was surprised to find himself reading a letter reminding him to cash a check he never received.
Barnes, the CEO of the Birmingham Urban League, told AL.com his organization never received the $15,573.53 referenced in the letter. In fact, he said, the Urban League never even asked for the money.
The letter, reviewed by AL.com, came from the Jefferson County Community Service Fund, a pork barrel account that allows lawmakers to hand out large donations to local groups. Some of those handouts are now at the center of a kickback scheme that took down one state lawmaker.
Donna Briggins, the fund’s administrator, wrote to the Urban League and said that Rep. John Rogers, a longtime state representative from Birmingham, had allocated the money to the Urban League and was supposed to deliver the check.
It never came.
“It is my understanding that John has the check in his possession,” Barnes told AL.com last week. “We don’t want a check to be recut to us, certainly under these circumstances.”
Barnes said the Urban League would reject the funding after AL.com reported that Rogers is one of two lawmakers at the center of the federal court case, which alleges a kickback scheme to defraud the Jefferson County Community Service Fund by funneling public dollars through a youth baseball league and then into a personal account.
Former state lawmaker Fred Plump, the executive director of Piper Davis youth baseball league, pleaded guilty to federal charges, admitted his role in the scheme, named two co-conspirators and resigned from his seat in the Alabama legislature.
Rogers has identified himself as the other lawmaker named in the indictment for directing the money from the county fund to the baseball league. He has not been charged with a crime. Rogers did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this article. He previously spoke at length with AL.com in multiple interviews about the federal court case and denied any wrongdoing or misuse of public funds.
Barnes said he was surprised to see the Urban League named in an article that detailed various groups Rogers has allocated money for through the community service fund. He said that earlier this year his organization received a different letter saying they were approved for funding.
“We did not have that conversation or go through that process with Rep. John Rogers,” Barnes told AL.com, adding that the organization would have rejected the check if it had received it because of the allegations in the federal case. “There was not a conversation about any programs that we would be instituting.”
It turns out that, according to community service fund records, Rogers months ago recommended the Urban League receive the $15,573.53 grant for “general support.” The committee that oversees the fund approved the grant on March 2, according to the records, then gave Rogers a check to deliver.
“At no point did this office receive the check or deposit it,” said Kelli Solomon, the Urban League’s nonprofit’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, in a statement to AL.com.
Michael Brymer, attorney for the fund’s committee, said that Rogers confirmed with the committee that he would deliver the check to the Urban League last week, on the same day the Urban League told AL.com about the missing check. That came more than three months after the committee approved the funding and issued the check.
Now that the Urban League has declined accepting the check, Brymer said the committee will consider what to do with the money at its next meeting on July 20.
“We followed our standard procedures by confirming the eligibility of the recipient, making sure the grant met other legal criteria, getting committee approval, and issuing the check to the requesting legislator,” Brymer said in an email to AL.com.
The community service fund is a collection of public tax dollars that state legislators from Jefferson County get to divvy up to various organizations in the community. The fund collects about $3.6 million each year. Local members of the state House of Representatives, including Rogers, get to allocate roughly $100,000 apiece, while Senators from Jefferson County get to allocate roughly $243,000 each.
Brymer said the committee will decide whether to return the $15,000 to Rogers’ allocation allowance.
It’s not uncommon for legislators to deliver the checks, according to the committee.
“In the past, there have been occasional issues with checks not being delivered and/or deposited in a timely manner,” Brymer said. “As a result, we established a procedure to notify recipients if grant checks have not been deposited in the correct account within 60 days.”
Other organizations that received funds from Rogers’ allocations include the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame and the American Gospel Quartet Convention. Representatives from both organizations told AL.com that they had received their checks.
It’s unclear if any of the other 19 organizations that Rogers allocated funds to were impacted by not receiving checks.
“At no time are we aware of an instance where a check was diverted or where an intended recipient did not receive a grant approved by the committee that oversees the Jefferson County Community Service Fund,” Brymer said.
Barnes said the Urban League has received grants from the community service fund in the past, but only after discussing specific plans with a lawmaker. Records show the organization has received grants totaling more than $200,000 received since 2018. He said before the episode with Rogers, no lawmaker had ever recommended the group for funding without first discussing it.
Rogers’ allocations from the community service fund came under scrutiny after federal prosecutors last month charged Plump with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and obstruction of justice. Plump’s plea agreement says that, for four years, a legislator directed roughly $400,000 from the fund to Plump’s baseball league, half of which Plump sent back to the legislator and his aide. Rogers identified himself as the legislator, and identified his aide as the other individual.
According to the fund’s website, since 2018, Rogers recommended roughly 80 percent of his allocations, nearly $386,000, for Plump’s nonprofit, the Piper Davis Youth Baseball League.
On Wednesday, a federal judge accepted Plump’s guilty plea and set a sentencing date for Oct. 23. He was released on a $5,000 bond.
Brymer said the process of delivering the check to the Urban League was unrelated to the “isolated allegations of wrongdoing” in the case of the federal charges over the kickback scheme.
“The committee remains open to working with the legislative delegation with input from all stakeholders to consider whether any changes to the statute or the committee’s operating procedures would be appropriate,” Brymer said.
