Too bad for Larry, anyway. Good for the citizens of Birmingham and Jefferson County.
From Mixed Media:
Deborah Vance-Bowie, Langford’s chief of staff, released the following statement this morning:
“As you know, the Mayor was detained this morning by federal authorities. We do not know the details of his detention at this time. City business will go on as usual as we are all here to do a job and we’ll continue to do our jobs to ensure we deliver the best services to the taxpayers of Birmingham. This is certainly no surprise to us — we anticipated something happening soon especially knowing Alice Martin’s days in office are numbered with the swearing in of a new president in late January — just a little over a month from now. We are glad the mayor will finally have his day in court. As members of his team, we stand behind him and look forward to the day when we can return the focus to the important issues before the city.”
Alice Martin doesn’t have the best reputation for putting together and winning solid cases. President-elect Obama, OTOH, has already shown that he’s far more interested in competence than in Bush-era tests of political loyalty. I doubt the new administration will save Larry from himself. He’ll likely be wishing for Alice Martin before this is over.
Here’s the reason I haven’t posted anything yet…
That “statement” that was released to the media was actually an email that was sent to the city employees this morning. (Don’t ask me how I know this.) It was then leaked to the media. I got a giggle out of reading it on Mixed Media.
And yes, Artur Davis has already been asked about the Langford situation before the arrest came. Davis stated very pointedly that nobody would be getting a free ride.
Oh dear. Poor Deborah. She should know better by now.