The many faces of Larry Langford (Birmingham AL mayor and his gay pornstar escort)

The Daily Voice ^ | December 3, 2008 | Staff Reporter

[The KG9 Kid]

There doesn't seem to be a lot of sympathy out there for Birmingham, Alabama Mayor Larry Langford, who was arrested this week and charged on Monday with 101 counts of bribery and corruption, including charges of accepting expensive jewelry in return for public favors.

Langford seems to be taking heat from all sides, including two of our own syndicated bloggers at The Daily Voice.

Writing what he calls "another black official 'done went and done' me wrong post," attorney and columnist Wain Bennett accuses Langford of betraying the public trust.

"Here is the thing Larry: All those folks who felt the wrath of Bull Conner's dogs and the sting of the fire hoses on their backs, didn't do it so that...[you] could get elected Mayor of their city one day, just to be able to fly up to New York and have Rolex watches and jewelry given to you at the expense of the interests of the citizens you serve," writes Bennett.

Anticipating Langford's response to the charges, Bennett challenges the mayor to come clean. "A black man is President now. You can't cry racism while stealing from us anymore, that crap will not fly in the age of Obama," he writes.

In his scathing piece, Bennett calls Langford a "phony" politician who forgot where he came from and who he serves. "Here is hoping that if found guilty, this greedy scumbag, like 'dollar Bill' and all the others who came before him, will do a nice long perp walk with some shiny bling on both of his wrists," writes Bennett.

Bennett was not alone in his criticism of the mayor. "It couldn't happen to a better person," says writer Rod McCullom.

McCullom describes Langford as a "black anti-gay social conservative" and criticizes the mayor for refusing to issue a parade permit for gay pride earlier this year. It's been a colorful year for Mayor Larry P. Langford, whose motto is 'A world without Jesus is a mess waiting to happen," writes McCullom.

McCullom says the mayor wore a sackcloth and Rolex watch in April as he led a prayer rally against crime. "Oh and a children's charity founded by Langford is also being investigated by the feds for lavishly spending money and writing checks to a gay porn star Ryan Idol," according to McCullom. "None of this sounds very Christian," he writes.

If the critics are after him, Mayor Langford doesn't seem to be bothered, at least not publicly. It was almost business as usual for Langford on Tuesday. The mayor delivered his regular weekly report to the city council and even took part in the annual Christmas parade and tree lighting ceremony, according to the Birmingham News.

The mayor was defiant with reporters as well. "If you all are waiting for me for me to drop my head and crawl, that is not going to happen," he told them. "I got elected to do a job and I'm going to do that job," he said.

[The KG9 Kid]

In 2008, Idol was mentioned, under his real name, in court documents related to a lawsuit filed by HealthSouth in connection with allegations of misuse of funds donated to Birmingham, Alabama mayor Larry Langford's Computer Help for Kids charity. The papers show $30,000 being paid to Idol, with $5,000 coming from the charity and $25,000 from the Council of Cooperating Governments. Charity director John Katopodis testified in a deposition that Idol was paid to repair computers and also to set up computer giveaway programs in other areas.[10] Idol testified that, because of his 1998 fall, he was "not at [his] full faculties" and could not recall the details of his time with the organization.[11]

[The KG9 Kid]

*Ping*

[The KG9 Kid]

Showing how stories are killed in the lamestream media, the following article once appeared at AL.com (The Birmingham News) website:

The Birmingham News Staff (2008-02-19). "HealthSouth lawsuit challenges Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford's first computer charity". al.com.

This has become 'Story Not Found' on The Birmingham News website. Searching for the story using their 'Search' function produces several unrelated stories concerning HealthSouth.

Someone used their influence to scrub the story. This is yet another example of the liberal media placing stories embarassing to Democrat politicians on their website rather than in their printed newspaper record so that they can delete it later and make the story go away with no evidence that it ever existed. Very clever.

[freekitty]

Is there not an elected leader that is not in the gutter?

[The KG9 Kid]

What needs to be asked is how come decent people don't run for public office anymore and have relinquished the job to those like Larry Langford and Blagovogoblagovich and Eliot Spitzer and any one of the hundreds of vile creatures who end up running afoul of the law.

Answer me that.

[Bob]

Gee... I wonder which party this guy belongs to. The mayor’s post must be one of those non-partisan positions. (Bull Conner and the mayor that he served under were both dimocRATs by the way.)

[pepsionice]

Decent people don’t have a need to be corrupted. Political figures have an absolute desire for corruption. They can smell money a mile away, and cook up a deal within ten minutes to make the money they need.

As for Larry...up until the Fed charges...he was considered one of the top three guys to be the next governor. Right now....he’s hoping that he can tie Karl Rove to most of these deals...and get a free-pass out of the mess.

[yawningotter]

“You can’t cry racism...in the age of 0bama.” That is going to be a fun line to use over the next four years.

[MovementConservative]

"If you all are waiting for me for me to drop my head and crawl, that is not going to happen," he told them. "I got elected to do a job and I'm going to do that job," he said.

I like his attitude toward the press. I'd like to see this play out more before I'm going to believe the press completely. If this guy is indeed corrupt, then sadly he has simply learned from the best. So many of our politicians, even the supposed 'good guys', are really little more than undiscovered Blagos.

[freekitty]

You have a point. I don’t believe we will be seeing a second term for Obama in 2012. The people are sick of these cheap crook elitists.

[mtnwmn]

They don't have enough money to get elected; or, they are too busy making money in private industry; or, they don't want their reputation being smeared by the MSM. Probably one of the above.

[mtnwmn]

That comment so reminded me of what Bill Clinton said.