Let's play "name that party", since the entire article doesn't
Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford was arrested this morning on federal charges and is being held at the federal courthouse, the FBI and other federal officials confirm. A special grand jury for several months has been investigating county bond deals and Langford's financial dealings. Langford was Jefferson County Commission president 2002-06.
Al LaPierre, a close friend of Langford's who also was part of the federal investigation, will be surrendering today, said his attorney, Tommy Spina.
David McKnight, Montgomery banker Bill Blount's attorney, said Blount is on his way to Birmingham from Montgomery to surrender.
The Langford, LaPierre and Blount indictments are under seal, so details of the charges are not available.
Langford, LaPierre and Montgomery investment banker Bill Blount are accused in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit of not disclosing $156,000 in payments to Langford. The SEC has accused Blount of paying Langford through LaPierre as part of a plan to secure Jefferson County financial business when Langford was Jefferson County Commission president. (Read the May 2008 story)
The SEC lawsuit against Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford fails to show how friends' personal payments to Langford led to $6.7 million in government business, their lawyers said in a filing seeking dismissal of the suit this summer.
Former Jefferson County Commissioner John Katopodis was indicted in October on fraud charges stemming from his involvement with Computer Help for Kids, a charity established by Langford when Langford was mayor of Fairfield. Katapodis was arraigned on those charges in mid-November. Details of those charges.
This statement was released from the mayor's chief of staff, Deborah Vance-Bowie.:
"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."
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/01/2008 12:34 ||
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#1
I was going to post exactly this article for exactly that reason...
President-elect Barack Obama will confirm Hillary Rodham Clinton as his nominee for secretary of state today at a joint appearance in Chicago finalising the incoming national security team. The announcement will end weeks of speculation and behind-the-scenes negotiation, but in turn opens the latest chapter in the Clinton drama.
Alongside the Clinton nomination, Obama is also expected to confirm his decision to continue with Robert Gates, the current secretary of defence, and to appoint retired US marine general James Jones as his national security adviser.
The path to the nomination was cleared for Clinton after her advisers and the Obama transition team agreed on measures related to the activities of her husband, former president Bill Clinton, and his charity, the Clinton Global Initiative. Most notably, Bill Clinton has agreed to divulge the identities of 208,000 donors to his presidential library and foundation. He also agreed to identify all future donors.
Any word on whether Bambi's campaign has to disclosure all its donors?
Under the agreement, the Clinton Global Initiative will stop accepting donations from foreign governments unlike the Obama campaign and it will cease holding meetings overseas, while Clinton himself will submit his lucrative speaking schedule to review and submit any new sources of income to an ethical review.
The potential conflict of interest between the former president's activities and his wife's new job offer was just one stumbling block to her accepting the nomination. Foreign policy was one of the major differences between Clinton and Obama during their long-fought battle for the Democratic presidential nomination. Much of Obama's early campaign was centred on his position as the only major candidate to have opposed the war in Iraq from the start. His campaign made much of Senator Clinton's vote in favour of the war, while she in turn dismissed his opposition, remarking that "many people gave speeches against the war" in 2002.
"That was then; this is now," David Gergen, who worked in the White House under Clinton and Reagan, told Associated Press. "Campaigns are ever thus. There is a recognition that campaigns bring a certain amount of hyperbole, and when it's over you try to find the most talented people you can find to work with you."
However, some shadows remain from the primary campaign. Samantha Power, the Obama adviser forced to leave her post after describing Clinton as a "monster", has joined Obama's transition team, where she is advising the incoming administration on national security agencies, including Clinton's new fiefdom, the state department.
The strong foreign policy voices within the cabinet include not only Clinton, but vice-president Joe Biden, who has served as chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee since January 2007.
Oh lord, the MSM still believes Bumblin' Biden to be a 'strong foreign policy voice' ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/01/2008 00:00 ||
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Can't wait for Bill to offer to present his credentials: "They're right here ... in my diplomatic pouch."
#2
Aah, lust for power (any power) beats sanity hands down in Hillary's case. She's a sheep and in a few years she'll transmogrify into a marvelous scapegoat. Most of clintonistas under Obamarx will, too.
#3
State is full of two faced leakers, personal bureaucratic empire builders, narcissistic pseudo-intellectuals from ivy league schools, and sanctimonious assholes.
#5
BrerRabbit, nope. There is lotsa failures to be made by Obamarx and his requirement for scapegoats will be not marginal. HRC is as good as cooked, she just does not know it yet and she is on a borrowed time.
#6
Remember back in the primaries? Hillary was unacceptable--unacceptable!!!!--to the moonbat Left because of her support of the Iraq war. So instead, the moonbats back Obama, who, once he's in power, names unacceptable warmonger Hillary as his Secretary of State.
The Kos kiddies must be beside themselves with cognitive dissonance.
Posted by: Mike ||
12/01/2008 6:57 Comments ||
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#7
cognitive dissonance involves thinking and reflection, neither of which are strong traits among KosKiddies
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/01/2008 7:39 Comments ||
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#14
But...its a 'living Constitution' [ie we make it up as we go along to fit our needs. And we all know the needs of a few exceed the guarantees of the many].
#16
While Bill has agreed to list the donors, he hasn't to my knowledge, agreed to say how much each gave.
Expect more drama to come.
Also, there will certainly be a foreign screw up in the first year or so and with luck and a complicit press, Obama could blame Hil and pretty much end her political career then and there.
#17
Call me crazy it seems to me that putting the Hildebeeste 4th in line for the Presidency isn't something that a person hoping to live to what might be considered a "ripe old age" would want to do.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
President-elect Barack Obama will confirm Hillary Rodham Clinton as his nominee for secretary of state today at a joint appearance in Chicago finalising the incoming national security team. The announcement will end weeks of speculation and behind-the-scenes negotiation, but in turn opens the latest chapter in the Clinton drama.
