Matrix LLC

Here is a little more on Alabama Power and the political influence they wield that touches on an earlier one of our Top 10 Most Interesting Questions to Be Answered by the Primary Elections, and it will also be helpful on our next one.

Alabama Power’s influence in the political arena might be described as being guided by the proverb made famous by Teddy Roosevelt, “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.”

After hearing that Alabama Power was the most powerful force in Alabama politics, I asked another campaign veteran his take.

If you say “ALFA,” that is automatically polarizing. But with Alabama Power, there is no stigma in taking their money except maybe with the environmental community. If I’m a Democrat and my candidate took ALFA money I would have to look real hard. If my candidate took Alabama Power money, no problem. A reason that ALFA might be less powerful [than Alabama Power] is because ALFA works one side of the aisle better than other.

The same appears to be true on the other side of the aisle. Senate District 25 Republican candidate Will Barfoot has taken heavy criticism from his Republican primary opponents for being willing to take campaign money from “Democratically-aligned” AEA. But no one seems to have a problem that he is also taking money from PACs connected to Alabama Power, like Children’s PAC and STA PAC.

By speaking softly, that is, by staying “behind the scenes” or “under the radar,” Alabama Power has not become a polarizing presence.

This campaign veteran also makes the point that businesses or special interests who want to change the power structure so that it is friendlier to their particular interests don’t have to have beat an incumbent in the general election. Rather than working so hard to win a general election (where many districts are not competitive anyway), they can change the power structure to their liking through the primaries. Here Alabama Power has an advantage over other heavyweights ALFA and AEA; candidates on either side of the aisle can take Alabama Power money without questions (or eyebrows) being raised.

Their big sticks?

Money. And the Matrix Group.

Alabama Power has a long-standing business relationship with the Matrix Group.

The Matrix Group is the creation of Joseph W. Perkins, and has been called “the closest thing Alabama politics has to a non-governmental secret agency.” Matrix is “one of the largest communication consulting firms in the state” (and has an office in Jackson, Miss.) Its services offered include lobbying and “opposition research.”

How low-profile are they? Well, oddly enough, one of the state’s largest communications consulting firms doesn’t even have a public web presence. (Seriously, help me out here. Am I wrong?) They are so discreet that if you had responded to their fall ad in the Huntingdon College student newspaper (pdf file) for a “Political Consulting office” needing a “versatile multi-tasker for deliveries and office work,” not only would you have not known it was for the Matrix Group, but you could not even have responded to a phone number or a street address.

These “Communications Consultants,” “Political Consultants,” and “Business Management Consultants” once had a website listing its specialties as “Communications – Governmental Affairs – Intelligence – Executive Security.” A more recent version offered “Public Communications Specialists,” “Strategic Planning and Research,” and “Political Relations.” (As I mentioned, they apparently have no public web site now. They have had a internet domain name since 2000 that was renewed again in January of this year. It calls up a blank page.)

The Mobile Register reported in 2001 that Alabama Power had employed the services of Perkins-led companies since the 1980’s. In 1999 alone, Alabama Power paid over $900,000 to Perkins Communications. (The Mobile Register story is an excellent piece that provides much of the information outlined here.)

Besides Alabama Power, Matrix has also had a long relationship with Don Siegelman. In fact, intertwined threads join all three. Joe Perkins has been described (pdf file) as a “longtime Siegelman confidant and political advisor.” Paul Hamrick, now on trial with Siegelman, had left Gov. Siegelman’s office to join Matrix where he worked in public relations and later as a lobbyist. Henry Mabry was Siegelman’s Finance Director after he had worked for Alabama Power. Henry Mabry’s wife, Nicole worked for Keystone Learning, a Joe Perkins company that has shared resources with Matrix. Nick Sellers pulled off the trifecta: he left Matrix to be Gov. Siegelman’s policy director and now works for Alabama Power as its federal legislative director.

One of Joe Perkins’ specialties is opposition research. For example, he and Matrix employees had prominent roles in promoting the tale (later discredited) that 1998 Candidate for Lt. Governor Steve Windom had beaten and raped a prostitute.

Matrix is pretty good at lobbying too. For example, three computer companies received $10 million in no-bid contracts under the Siegelman administration. Associated Press reported that two of them had hired Matrix as lobbyists. The third was owned by a former lobbying colleague of Henry Mabry.

More from the 2001 Mobile Register article:

Birmingham-Southern College politics professor Natalie Davis, who has done polling for Perkins, called him an “absolute idealist who reads ‘The Art of War’ on a regular basis.”

“Winning is everything in this book,” she said, of the 2,000-year-old Chinese classic on warfare. “It is about how to win. Joe approaches every project that way, and he works very, very hard.”

Asked if Perkins’ work for candidates could be called dirty politics, as detractors say, Davis hesitated. “I don’t know if I would say he’s dirty,” she said. “I think he would be more likely to say that the means justify the ends.”

According to Davis, Perkins is a former Baptist minister who is “very, very religious and a highly moral person.”

“If Joe was on my side, I would trust him with my life,” Davis said.

And if not?

“I’d be scared to death.”

Speak softly and carry a big stick.