Larry and the News
Have you been wondering why the Birmingham News has rolled over for new mayor Larry Langford? Here’s a little insight.
…Last week, after the new mayor spoke to the Birmingham Rotary Club, Langford had a heated discussion with News Publisher Victor Hanson III. Hanson won’t discuss the conversation, but if the scuttlebutt from his own newsroom is to be believed, Langford cussed him and accused him of being a racist.
That conversation follows a similar one Langford had with News Editor Tom Scarritt about a week before Langford took office. Like Hanson, Scarritt would not reveal what specifically Langford said to him, except that the conversation was animated and typical of the new mayor.
Again the newsroom scuttlebutt was that Langford had threatened to call the News out for being racist and that he had threatened to get restraining orders against the paper’s reporters. When I asked him about it last month, Scarritt said he could not recall the specifics of the conversation, but that Langford might have said those things.
What is known is that, after that conversation, Scarritt gave an instruction to his staff that they were no longer to contact Langford for comment outside of the mayor’s own news conferences…
Apparently it was racist to point out Langford’s successful effort to paint rival mayoral candidate Patrick Cooper as too white. (For those of you not from around here, Cooper is black.)
Langford is also holding hostage the city’s contract for publication of legal advertising, easy revenue for a newspaper and something the News has counted on over the years. And, of course, his amen corner loves it.
The law requires municipal governments to buy these unhandsome ads in local newspapers of general circulation, but last week the City of Birmingham stopped short of reauthorizing its annual contract. At the last minute, Mayor Larry Langford pulled the item from the agenda.
But the mayor wasn’t shopping for a better bargain. Again, he was trying to show the News who’s boss.
As soon as Langford asked the council president to hold the item, his allies on the dais snickered. His supporters in the peanut gallery giggled and a few outright applauded. Their political champion was making those newsboys pay.
Sounds like Larry comes from the schoolyard bully school of negotiating. Tom Scarritt and Victor Hanson should take note that bullies only respect those who stand up to them. Meanwhile, it’s a good thing we have Kyle Whitmire and the Birmingham Weekly to fill in the blanks for us.
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It looks like the News editorial staff might be growing a backbone with this morning’s smackdown of Larry’s latest plan to build his precious dome at the Birmingham Race Track rather than downtown. The title? ‘Out of Box,’ Out of Mind, which seems pretty descriptive of Larry’s mental processes. Unfortunately, as you’ll find if you click on the link, the print title didn’t make it to the online edition, which eschews short and snarky in favor of long and boring. At least Scott Stantis’ editorial cartoon made it to the Intertubes.
December 14th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
You know, I was at a meeting where Russell Cunningham spoke, and told us the reason the Chamber of Commerce had acted so quickly to endorse Larry’s taxes was that the last time a serious proposal was made, the Chamber of Commerce was left out. He told us that the Chamber was going to make sure it had a seat at the table.
My (unspoken) response was, “You’re the f*ing chamber of commerce! They should be begging YOU for your input. What the hell am I paying $350 a year for if you’re just going to crawl on your belly like a whipped puppy?
Same thing with the News, dammit. They’ve just turned into big business and are keeping any journalistic impulses under the publisher’s thumb. They’re the biggest newspaper in the state. They shouldn’t be knuckling under to an elected official - their JOB is to stand up to them and to make sure the people know what’s going on. They should be so lucky as to get the mayor of the state’s largest city to try and get a restraining order. THAT would be a story! Which I suppose they would never write.
Thank God for Birmingham Weekly.
December 15th, 2007 at 10:15 am
“They should be so lucky as to get the mayor of the state’s largest city to try and get a restraining order. THAT would be a story! Which I suppose they would never write.”
I’d love to see Larry try to get restraining orders on local reporters. It would (or should) get national coverage, and maybe it would shake our corporatized press corps out of its torpor.
“Thank God for Birmingham Weekly.”
Amen, Sister!
December 15th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Hey, and an Attaboy to Joseph Bryant for his article in Friday’s B’ham News –front page of the local section– on who owns land around the track (Milton McGregor) and who pumped money into PACs that dumped money into Langford’s coffers (Milton McGregor, Ala Power, etc). Everybody and his dog needs to read the article.
And a big ole honkin’ thanks to the Weekly! Kyle better watch his back, tho.
December 18th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
“Kyle better watch his back, tho.”
I agree.