In August, we’re celebrating Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks, whether they be liars, thieves, extortionists, swindlers or thugs. Running daily until Birmingham mayor Larry Langford’s Aug. 31 federal trial. Thanks to Bhamwiki for helping with this project.

Al LaPierre

Positions held: executive director of the Alabama Democratic Party; lobbyist for the City of Fairfield and Jefferson County Racing Association; consultant to Montgomery-based Blount Parrish and Company for Jefferson County bond swap deals.

Wanted for: conspiracy and filing a false tax return, indicted with Bill Blount and Langford

Date of conviction: July 30

Sentence: To be sentenced Nov. 19. Maximum is 8 years in prison, but prosecution is expected to recommend 4 years, as part of LaPierre’s plea agreement and testimony in Langford’s trial. He also forfeits $371,932 plus taxes owed from 2003 to 2006.

Criminally fun fact: LaPierre promoted VisionLand (now Alabama Adventure) to state legislators on Langford’s behalf in 1996. His political action committees were among the biggest contributors to Langford’s 2002 campaign for the Jefferson County commission.

• • •

Additional reading:

• Bhamwiki: SEC investigation into Jefferson County bond swaps
• Crime Watch
• Meet more of Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks | RSS feed

• • •

Want more Wade on Birmingham? Subscribe to our free newsletter!

In August, we’re celebrating Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks, whether they be liars, thieves, extortionists, swindlers or thugs. Running daily until Birmingham mayor Larry Langford’s Aug. 31 federal trial. Thanks to Bhamwiki for helping with this project.

Chris McNair

Positions held: milkman, photographer, Jefferson County commissioner, state legislator (one of the first black representatives since Reconstruction). Also, father of Denise McNair, one of the four girls killed in the 1963 bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church.

Wanted for: bribery and conspiracy related to awarding contracts in the Jefferson County sewer debacle.

Date of conviction: April 21, 2006

Sentence: 5 years in prison and more than $850,000 in restitution. However, McNair, 83, remains out on bond pending an appeal 2 years after sentencing.

Criminally fun fact: McNair once had a health clinic named in his honor, until the Jefferson County Board of Health renamed it as the West End Health Center in 2008.

• • •

Additional reading:

• Bhamwiki: Chris McNair
• Crime Watch
• Meet more of Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks | RSS feed

• • •

Want more Wade on Birmingham? Subscribe to our free newsletter!

In August, we’re celebrating Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks, whether they be liars, thieves, extortionists, swindlers or thugs. Running daily until Birmingham mayor Larry Langford’s Aug. 31 federal trial. Thanks to Bhamwiki for helping with this project.

Mary Buckelew

Position held: president, Jefferson County Commission (Governing magazine’s 1997 Public Official of the Year)

Wanted for: obstruction of justice, lying to a grand jury about accepted gifts, including $4,000 in designer shoes, a purse and a spa treatment.

Date of conviction: Oct. 28, 2008

Sentence: Faces 12 to 18 months in prison. Sentencing postponed from June 30 to Sept. 30, after Birmingham mayor Larry Langford’s federal trial. Her cooperation in a plea deal was to uncover others involved in criminal activity related to the bond swaps over the Jefferson County sewer system.

Criminally fun fact: Heckuva job … Buckelew was honored by FEMA in 2002 for her “drive, enthusiasm and dedication.”

• • •

Additional reading:

• Bhamwiki: Mary Buckelew
• Crime Watch
• Meet more of Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks | RSS feed

In August, we’re celebrating Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks, whether they be liars, thieves, extortionists, swindlers or thugs. Running daily until Birmingham mayor Larry Langford’s Aug. 31 federal trial. Thanks to Bhamwiki for helping with this project.

Gary White

Positions held: Jefferson County commissioner. Also became Golden Rule Bar-B-Q manager.

Wanted for: bribery and conspiracy related to the $3 billion sewer debacle

Date of conviction: Jan. 10, 2008

Sentence: He faces up to 85 years in prison and $2.25 million in fines, but was awarded a new trial prior to sentencing.

Criminally fun fact: He took up to $4,000 in bribes in hundred-dollar bills.

• • •

Additional reading:

• Bhamwiki: Gary White
• Crime Watch
• Meet more of Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks | RSS feed

Here lies Jefferson County, the biggest county in Alabama, once home to the once biggest city in the state.

What killed Jefferson County? Poor leadership? Not enough civic engagement? Bad financial management? The recession?

Let us start with the budget, a gaping black hole of billions of dollars of debt from the sewer crisis debacle. [More stories on the Jefferson County sewer system problem.] Add to that the demise of the county’s bizarre occupational tax and its $75 million in annual revenue. Rainy day fund? Emergency action plan? What’s Jefferson County’s Plan B? Heck, it doesn’t seem like it has a Plan A …

Kyle Whitmire of Birmingham Weekly does an exceptional job in “Politician-Assisted Suicide” of breaking down the tangled politics and morass of mistakes that have led us to today, the end of the budget.

With no money left, the county has yet to declare bankruptcy. It has however …

• Placed 900 employees on administrative leave with no return date. (The county employs 3,000 workers.)
• Shut down its satellite courthouses where citizens can renew drivers’ licenses and auto tags.
• Revamped its Web site.
• Battled with Sheriff Mike Hale over budget cuts to his department.
• Left Cooper Green Mercy Hospital untouched.
• Fled town: Commission president Bettye Fine Collins was in San Diego at a Republican National Committee meeting (checked into a hotel under her maiden name), and Shelia Smoot was in Nashville at a National Association of Counties convention.

So what’s left? The Legislature could reinstate a revised occupational tax or force the commission to hire a county manager. Jefferson County’s legislators will meet again Tuesday to look for a solution via Montgomery.

Update: The commission must also fend off a lawsuit from within. County tax assessor Dan Weinrib filed suit today to prevent any budget cuts to his department. (Hat tip Kerry Sanders.)

Meanwhile, the debt grows, the commission is out, and workers and citizens are left to wonder how much worse can it get.

The sideshow is over. The main act begins soon.

Once a city council member and a Jefferson County commissioner, John Katopodis (shown at left) formed a children’s charity, Computer Help for Kids, with then-HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy and then-Fairfield mayor and friend Larry Langford.

Scrushy, already sentenced to prison, lost a civil decision in June and owes $2.87 billion. With a ‘B.’

Langford, now Birmingham’s mayor, awaits federal criminal trial on Aug. 25 facing charges of conspiracy, bribery, fraud, money laundering and filing false tax returns alongside William Blount and Al LaPierre.

And Katopodis, for stealing money from the charity designed to bring computers to kids, was found guilty on all 97 counts of mail and wire fraud. The charity received money from the City of Birmingham and the Jefferson County Commission (during which time Langford served on the commission as member and as president).

But Langford is innocent until proven guilty.

Among the disbursements:

• Katopodis withdrew money in New Orleans casinos.
• He spent $250,000 on his friends.
• He bought a guitar and electric piano for Langford and arranged for a car to be sold to Langford.
• One check had the memo “TV Langford,” indicating a TV set purchased to give to Langford.

But Langford is innocent until proven guilty.

The issue surfaced in 2008 when HealthSouth filed a suit against Katopodis, which alleged charity money going to him, Langford and untrained computer technician/Playgirl centerfold/gay porn star Ryan Idol.

But Langford is innocent until proven guilty.

Katopodis is the fifth convicted former commissioner in the past three years, joining Mary Buckelew, Jeff Germany, Chris McNair and Gary White. He will be sentenced Oct. 28, facing up to 20 years per count and forfeiture of $162,910.

Langford is out on $50,000 bond. And he remains innocent until proven guilty.

Until proven guilty.

• Birmingham News: “John Katopodis guilty on all 97 counts in Birmingham federal court”
• Birmingham Business Journal: “Former JeffCo Commissioner Katopodis convicted of fraud”
• Birmingham Weekly: “Katopodis Found Guilty On All Counts”

In his first year, Mayor Larry Langford has proposed more ideas than you’ve forgotten about. Really.

The former Fairfield mayor, TV reporter, theme park entrepreneur and Jefferson County commissioner took office Nov. 13, 2007.

His effort to jump-start, well, everything about the city of Birmingham has generated publicity, arguments, questionable funding and often little else. Save for XO laptops (most still sitting in a warehouse) and periodic neighborhood cleanups, are residents and businesses better off than they were 365 days ago?

The Birmingham News did its standard roundup, prominently mentioning the elephant in the room (the federal grand jury investigation into his commissioner days). Langford says:

“I don’t feel like I need to justify anything to any of these people. The proof is right in front of their faces. We are further along than we have been in the last 20 years.”

An editorial marking his first anniversary in office repeats an oft-heard request: Finish a proposal, any proposal, before moving on to the next 10. Langford usually counters this by saying the city’s too far behind to concentrate on any one project at a time.

Birmingham Weekly catalogs the mayor’s cavalcade of ideas one agonizing month after another. It’s a litany of broken promises and political favors:

November 2007: Before taking office, Langford effectively fires Police Chief Annetta Nunn. In an interview with ABC 33/40, Langford says he will retain Nunn as a consultant to finish upgrades in police technology. Despite the promise, Langford never gives Nunn any such contract.

January 2008: The mayor’s office proposes a $1.4 million contract annually renewable with Ion Interactive to provide camera surveillance for the Birmingham Police Department. Ion Interactive was started by Claude Estes IV, a Birmingham accountant. … The contract is not put out for bid. The council approves the contract. The mayor’s office proposes a $1.3 million, 12-month contract with Tech Providers, Inc. to install financial software and train city employees to use it. Tech Providers Inc. was started by Claude Estes IV. … The contract is not put out for bid. The council approves the contract.

Really, you can just flip open any publication at any time to read about such shenanigans. In the most recent issue of Black and White, learn about him trying to hire a duplicate purchasing agent with a $102,000 salary.

Or just periodically check the BhamWiki for the ever-growing list of initiatives from Mayor Langford.

Larry Langford. Misunderstood dreamer? Schemer? Or about-to-be-indicted loser? And can Birmingham survive another three years?

After 16 years of service on the Jefferson County Commission, Mary Buckelew has gone down in disgrace. She plead guilty Tuesday to one count of obstruction of justice.

Buckelew lied to a grand jury about receiving $4,000 in designer shoes, a purse, a spa treatment and more, all to influence her vote on sewer bonds and swaps.

For eight years, she served as commission president. In 1997, Governing magazine honored her as a Public Official of the Year. Now, she’s expected to lead prosecutors to bigger targets in the ongoing investigation of the county’s poorly managed sewer system.

She joins a growing list of convicted commissioners: Jeff Germany, Chris McNair and Gary White.

Meanwhile, Jefferson County has considered declaring bankruptcy over the $3.2 billion owed in interest alone. How deep is the financial hole, and how deep is the corruption that led us here?
• Birmingham News: Former Jefferson County Commissioner Mary Buckelew pleads guilty

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More headlines | send us your news tips.

Then and now

Fed up: Since the campaign last fall, we knew this was a possibility, a dark cloud on the horizon. And so, it has happened.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil complaint against Mayor Larry Langford, alleging he took cash to help friends profit from sewer system bond swap deals while he served on the Jefferson County Commission. As you may recall, mishandling of the sewer has put the county on the brink of record bankruptcy, not to mention convicting three former commissioners.

Not a peep from the SEC since April, but Langford has talked to the media, most notably this interview with WBHM (90.3 FM).

And if you need a preview of the defendant’s possible testimony in court, we have the video, after the jump …

(more…)

Then and now

Flushed away: Jefferson County is broke, and getting broker by the minute. The commission sent representatives to New York to meet with financial brokers to find a way to pay off the $3.2 billion in interest payments.

It all started with a broken-down sewer system, which led to court-ordered fixes, which led to bonds to raise funds, which led to unsupervised hiring of contractors, which led to corruption and payoffs, which led to bond swaps to get supposedly better deals.

On Thursday, the commission rejected a proposed plan from Merrill Lynch to create an independent oversight board. Naturally, the commission is paying Merrill Lynch $75,000 a month to make proposals for it to reject.

If the commission doesn’t come up with a plan by Aug. 1, it will default on $100 million in payments. Not to mention the possibility of filing for bankruptcy, the largest in U.S. history.

So much for solvency. So much more for leadership.

More on festivals, war and schools, after the jump …

(more…)

Then and now

Does not compute: Back in his Fairfield days, Mayor Langford set up a charity with pals John Katopodis and Richard Scrushy to get computers to kids. Except that tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars went to him, Katopodis and a gay porn star. All of this came out in court as HealthSouth and Katopodis sued each other.

Both sides settled in March without revealing the terms of the deal. Frankly, plenty was revealed already.

Meanwhile, Langford’s latest effort to give computers to kids rolls on, having ordered an additional 14,000 laptops this week without Birmingham school board approval. The technology upgrades could cost millions for a system already struggling to keep facilities open.

More on Larry Langford and John Katopodis.

Keep reading for more updates, plus a scandalous photo of yours truly, after the jump …

(more…)

Then and now

The road to skinny: Our extended coverage of “The Biggest Loser: Couples” began with former Alabama linemen Roger Shultz and Trent Patterson. Shultz, an Enterprise native, went on to take second place while losing his day job at Jacksonville State.

He does still have his radio show and has embarked on the post-reality show career of choice: appearances! This weekend, he’ll be at a celebrity charity weekend in Orange Beach. But he still has time for the kids, like stopping by a fourth-grade class at Helena Intermediate School in May.

Check out the slimmed-down Shultz, plus more news updates, after the jump …

(more…)

Jefferson County’s debt crisis could be the worst in U.S. history, thanks to bond swaps and other financial shenanigans. Who’s to blame? The government says Larry Langford, former head of the county commission and current head of Birmingham.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil complaint today against the mayor for taking more than $156,000 in cash and benefits, in exchange for helping his good buddy Bill Blount get in on the bond swap action worth more than $6 million in business. Also named is Al LaPierre, another Langford pal/lobbyist/former head of the state Democratic Party. The SEC accused LaPierre of receiving $219,500 from Blount to help win the county’s financial business.

Langford and LaPierre have denied any wrongdoing.

At the heart of the case, accusations of concealed payments, backroom deals and financial mismanagement of public funds of the worst kind. Meanwhile, the mayor continues to propose sketchily detailed projects and funding for the city. Where, and how, will it all end?

Also:

• The SEC press release
• How Langford’s $70,000 clothing crunch may have cost billions to county residents (PDF)
• Langford: “My whole life has been put out in the public. Name me another official that’s been put under that type of scrutiny.”
• WBHM interviews Glenn Gordon of the SEC (MP3)
• Fox 6 explains the complexities of municipal finance in Bond Deals 101

• Birmingham News: SEC files civil complaint against Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford, banker and lobbyist

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More headlines | send us your news tips.

Bell wins Jefferson County Commission seat

Mike Huckabee has won the Republican primary in Alabama. He has 41 percent of the votes with 99 percent of the boxes counted. CNN says that he’ll win 14 delegates, while John McCain (at 37 percent) will win 13 delegates.

Barack Obama has won the state’s Democratic primary. He has 56 percent of the votes with 99 percent of the boxes counted. CNN projects that he’ll earn 20 delegates, while Hillary Clinton, with 42 percent of the vote, will earn 21(!) delegates.

Also, Birmingham city council member William Bell has won Place 1 on the Jefferson County Commission.

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Complete Vote 2008 coverage.

Former Jefferson County commissioner Gary White was convicted Thursday of bribery in the never-ending but always depressing $3 billion sewer debacle. White, 61, took bribes, up to $4,000 in $100 bills, to favor one bidding company in sewer contracts. He faces up to 85 years in prison and $2.25 million in fines. His fellow commissioners Jeff Germany and Chris McNair were also convicted in 2006.

Ah, life on the county commission. You either end up in jail or city hall.
• The Birmingham News: Jury finds White guilty of bribery

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More headlines | send us your news tips.