John Archibald wasn’t the only one who wrote an interesting story about Larry Langford last week. While John detailed Larry’s payoffs to local media, Kyle Whitmire at the Birmingham Weekly took a look at his questionable approach to funding that extends back through his tenure on the Jefferson County Commission to his leadership of the West Jefferson Amusement and Public Park Authority (read Visionland).
Langford started his term as Birmingham mayor by raising the sales tax rate and business license fees in order to fund transit, scholarships, and a domed stadium, but he hasn’t been able to get the numbers to add up properly from the beginning. He promised $17 million for transit but had to backtrack when it turned out his proposal was full of errors. The number was adjusted downward to $9 million, but he continues to promise the transit director the full $17 million, saying he’ll take the money away from some other project.
Or maybe he’ll just do what he’s done in the past — use money designated for capital investments to pay operating expenses.
Consider the Magic City Math that Commissioner Jim Carns discovered at the Jefferson County Commission. After he took office in 2006, Carns saw that the county was giving $5 million a year to the Cultural Alliance, a regional arts organization. However, he couldn’t tell where the money was coming from. When he asked, officials were cagey and unresponsive, at least until Commissioner Langford left to become Mayor Langford.
“I said something about it twice while Commissioner Langford was still here, but it was ignored,” Carns said.
Now he says he’s figured out the Magic City Math sleight of hand.
According to Carns, from 2004 to 2006 the county was shifting money from capital projects to the general fund. That money then went to the Cultural Alliance. Most of the money in capital projects comes from bonds.
And we all know how well Larry handles bond business:
Bond swaps that the county engaged in during Langford’s tenure have cost the county hundreds of millions in additional interest and fees. These transactions were supposed to save the county money, Langford said at the time.
Larry engaged in that sleight of hand along with fellow commissioners Gary White and Mary Buckelew. White, defeated in the 2006 Republican primary by Jim Carns, was convicted in January of conspiracy and bribery for accepting envelopes full of cash from an engineer whose company was seeking to do business with the county. White and Buckelew, who retired from the commission and was replaced by Bobby Humphryes, were subpoenaed in 2006 (along with Langford, Commissioners Bettye Fine Collins and Shelia Smoot, and former finance director Steve Sayler) to testify before the Securities and Exchange Commission about the bond swaps.
I have it on good authority that the Weekly’s cover story scheduled for release on Thursday will be a “stunner” follow-up on Kyle’s column. Don’t miss it!
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In a related story, Langford enforcer, radio talker, and payoff recipient Frank Matthews (he of the famed “n*ggers and gays” tirade) went ballistic on local radio host Matt Murphy when Murphy asked him about said payoff. Audio should be posted soon at WAPI’s website.
“It sounds like he called me a fat pig and a fat slob, but we’re not sure if he challenged me a debate or a fight,” Murphy said.
Stay classy, Frank.
UPDATE: Here’s the link to the audio (thanks, Kyle).