GordonUnleashed

Birmingham Mayoral Debate Online

September 19th, 2007 by Steve

Kyle Whitmire posted the video and liveblogged the Birmingham mayoral debate over at the Birmingham Weekly blog. I’ve got friends working for or strongly supporting several of the campaigns but have no Birmingham residence at the moment, so I’ve stayed totally out of this political contest so far. However, here are some notes from the debate:

• I’ve met Valerie at several events and she’s a nice lady. She knows her neighborhoods — especially the parks within them. However, I’ve not seen evidence that she has the executive skills to be Mayor of Birmingham. [oopsie deleted]
• William Bell sounded a bit more mayoral than the other candidates, but didn’t inspire the passion about his leadership skills within me that he tried to instill in the audience. His one point crime plan: “We’re gonna run the thugs out of Birmingham.” I wonder if this counts the elected thugs, as well.
• Ray Brooks talked about being fire chief, which might be appropriate. Whomever is elected will have to put out a lot of fires during City Council meetings. He wants a strong but non-abusive police presence.
• Patrick Cooper had the best Bill Clinton moment when he told us about digging ditches following Yale but prior to law school and practicing on Wall Street, etc. He’d probably have connected a bit better if he’d played a saxophone on the stage.
• Willie “Buddy” Hendrix, Mickey Mouse, entertainer had a great claim to fame: “I went to every school in Birmingham…” Either he’s been kicked out of a lot of schools or should have worded that one a bit better. He will solve the city’s problems with either hypnotism or Scouting programs; he lost me a bit on that one.
• The consensus of a lot of my Birmingham friends is that Mayor Bernie should be re-elected merely because he hasn’t screwed up too badly during his current term in office. In today’s political arena, not screwing up too badly is sometimes as good as it can get. However, Kyle’s comment that Bernie said “that the glass is half full, doesn’t say full of what,” is relevant. The Mayor says crime is down; I’m wondering if he plans on walking alone after dark in some of the city’s tougher neighborhoods.
• Larry Langford said he’s running for Mayor because “Birmingham needs a crazy man to run this city.” His talk about killers, killing and M-16s clearly underscored his point.
• Daryl Perry doesn’t want to be a leader. Despite my opposition to a domed stadium, I’ll bet the voters won’t elect him to be a leader, either. He wants to arrest kingpins in the copper trade, but had a valid point on guns.
• Carole Smitherman trashed the Second Amendment: “Got a gun, get caught, go to jail.” Unless she’s planning on overriding state and federal law, she should choose her words better. Her authoritarian platform did provide a public transportation solution for people engaged in the horrendously felonious act of loitering: “…get a free ride in the police car.”
• Barry Taylor is full of love, both for the citizens and for the city. He’s going to ensure that the citizens of Birmingham never get robbed again — and laid out a plan to make sure that the real criminals (government) don’t steal from the people again. He will lower crime by attacking the source of the crime — alternately, arresting marijuana smokers to reduce the homicide rate.

Since moving back from DC, I’m spending more than enough money on Birmingham hotel rooms to cover the cost of a Southside apartment. However, with this cast of characters running for mayor, I’m not very inspired to allocate that much of my money into the Birmingham community.

Here’s the video:

Posted in It's a Southern Thang, Alabama Politics

2 Responses to “Birmingham Mayoral Debate Online”

1. GordonUnleashed » Blog Archive » Bob Barr, Rudy Giuliani, Zero Tolerance and Common Sense wrote on 09/19/07 at 1:10 pm :

   […] This mentality, while dominated by Republicans, certainly isn’t lost on Birmingham mayoral candidates. […]

2. Laney wrote on 09/19/07 at 9:56 pm :

   The police chief is Annetta Nunn, she replaced Mike Coppage in 2003.

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