BIRMINGHAM NEEDS A MAYOR ever since the last one, Larry Langford, was ousted. Convicted of corruption on 60 federal counts in a bribery scheme linked to a multi-billion dollar municipal debt crisis, Langford was automatically removed from office in October.
Birmingham, Alabama's biggest city, is struggling to prevent what may become the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.
The mayor's office is prime real estate, particularly if you want to make money while an elected official. Hot diggity -- bribes will be a comin'. Since Langford was ousted, the city has had two interim mayors.
FOURTEEN FOR MAYOR
There were 14 candidates who signed up to run for mayor in a special election held yesterday. When candidate Ernie Dunn died last week, the field was reduced to 13, not known as a fortuitous number.
The runoff election, scheduled for Jan.19, will include an Ivy League lawyer and a county commissioner.
Lawyer Patrick Cooper, left, got 40 percent of the vote to 25 percent for Jefferson Co. Commissioner William Bell, right.
RACIAL OVERTONES
The campaign took on racial overtones, says the Southern Political Report, when "a circular urged voters to give a white candidate a chance while Cooper accused Bell of calling him "a slave trader from Mobile." What was called "another white-black runoff" by Southern Political Report was a strange error.
WHO'S BLACK, WHO'S WHITE?
Later in the day, the post suddenly included an editor's note:
"In a report earlier today on this race, Southern Political Report inaccurately reported that this race had come down to a white-black runoff. Both runoff contestants are African-American. We regret the error."
Very strange. One black candidate thinks another black candidate is white. In photos, Cooper looks white to me. But shouldn't they know that he is African-American in Alabama? After all, Cooper ran against Langford for mayor in 2007. You'd think the subject of race would have come up then. The reports from 'Bama make it sound as if Cooper has been "passing" as white. Or, maybe that's what the Bell camp wants Black voters to think?
RACE BAITING
Ah...I just found an article in The Birmingham News several days before the recent mayoral election. In the article, Michael McDonald, associate professor of government and politics at George Mason University, says that one way candidates sometimes try to stand out in a short election cycle is to appeal to voters emotionally, and that can take the form of race baiting. Two handouts are circulating that disparage Cooper, who is black. One says to vote for Cooper because white people deserve a second chance. Huh?
The most recent racial attacks "appear to be aimed at hurting Cooper among black voters, particularly those in poorer areas, by painting him as the white person's candidate," reports The Birmingham News.
THE RACE CARD & SOUTHERN POLITICS
Yes, both candidates are black. But apparently, in the South, they always find a way to play the race card. That's even if a Yankee, like me, just doesn't get it.
What this Yankee does get is this -- if Birmingham voters don't start choosing their elected officials more wisely, their city may never get out of its hole of debt, deep enough to become the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. They may not be able to crawl out of that hole, regardless of who is the new mayor.
TO READ "OUT OF THE SEWERS INTO FEDERAL PRISON: BIRMINGHAM'S LANGFORD GETS 15 YEARS" CLICK HERE.
TO READ "BIRMINGHAM EXPOSED TO UNCONSCIONABLE DEGREE OF RISK: SUES JP MORGAN CHASE" CLICK HERE.
TO READ "BIRMINGHAM MAYOR LANGFORD CONVICTED ON 60 COUNTS OF BRIBERY, MONEY LAUNDERING" CLICK HERE.
by Sharon McEachern
Comments