Print This Print This

Posted on February 14th, 2008 in News, Politics

Weekly Tease No. 3

By Kyle Whitmire

Larry Langford by the numbers

Income 2007

Larry LangfordJefferson County: $73,000
Langford told the SEC that he made $68,000 per year for the Jefferson County Commission, in addition to a $400 per month car allowance.

Birmingham Budweiser: $80,000

For 25 years Langford has done public relations for the beer distributor, a full-time job in addition to his elected positions.

Global Link: $120,000

Langford and his wife run a telecommunications business out of their Fairfield home. However, when questioned by the SEC, Langford gets confused about the company’s name.

Purchases


Clothes: $70,000

Langford told the SEC that in 2002 he had accumulated that much debt, mostly from buying clothes. About $40,000 of that debt was to Shaia’s mens store in Homewood.

Teeth: $52,000

According to Langford, he maxed out his credit cards paying for dental bills.

More Clothes: Unknown

Langford said that he bought thousands of dollars worth of suits while on county bond trips to New York. He charged them to his credit cards, which he previously testified had been maxed out paying dental bills.

Debts


Mortgage: $300,000

Last year, The Birmingham News discovered that Langford had received a $300,000 mortgage in 2000 on his Fairfield home. The loan from The Bank — now Superior Bank — was due in three years, but probate records don’t indicate it was paid. According to Langford, he had two home equity lines, in addition to “a couple of car notes, maybe three.”

Al LaPierre: $150,000

Late last year, Langford told the SEC that he had borrowed a total $150,000 from the lobbyist. Neither Langford nor LaPierre had recorded the loans on their financial disclosures to the Alabama Ethics Commission. The $150,000 is the total from at least two loans. Langford said there is no paperwork and that their agreements were verbal.

Colonial Bank: $50,000 (paid)
Langford took out the loan in 2002 to pay off credit cars and clothing store credit. While the loan was due six months later, Langford never paid. Instead, LaPierre paid it for him with one of the loans above.

Cover story and PDFs of Langford’s testimony here at noon.

  • Share/Bookmark
blog comments powered by Disqus

WEEKLY PICKS: do more now

Weekly Tweets

War on Dumb

Birmingham 101: What will history say about us?

Birmingham 101: What will history say about us?

‘The city of perpetual promise.’ Does that mean incessant failure? Or rather, that Birmingham never gives up hope?

Upon Further Review

Bama wins, 2010 and amen

Bama wins, 2010 and amen

Part two of the college football season recap.

Column

Ties that bind

Ties that bind

A four-in-hand is worth two in the bush

Film

Casualties of war

Casualties of war

“The reasons we go to war always matter,” says the soldier played by Matt Damon [...]

Small World Cartoons

The Paranoid Guide to the 2010 Census

The Paranoid Guide to the 2010 Census

Uncle Sam left something lurking in your mailbox. Dare you open it?

(Click cartoon for a [...]

Suburban Legends

The King of Rock: No, Not Elvis

The King of Rock: No, Not Elvis

The world is designed to piss me off