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Gov. Bob Riley maintains that he has the authority to appoint Larry Langford’s successor on the Jefferson County commission and today appointed retired Army Gen. George F. Bowman to fill the vacancy.
Voting rights attorney Ed Still of Birmingham said a lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District Court in Montgomery challenging Bowman’s appointment on the same grounds as the Mobile County case.
Still said the cases are “almost identical.”
[...]
The Jefferson County Election Commission has set a Feb. 5 date for an election to fill the vacancy created when Larry Langford, a Democrat, gave up the seat to become Birmingham mayor.
Alabama Democratic Party Chairman Joe Turnham accused Riley of “thwarting the Democratic process here and denying the voters of Jefferson County their right to elect a representative to the county commission.”
Related to that… the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the Mobile County case involving Riley’s attempted appointment to fill a vacancy on the Mobile County Commission. Montgomery’s U.S. District Court ruled that Riley’s appointment violated the 1965 federal Voting Rights Act.
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For those interested in the pleadings and briefs in these cases, I have many of them on my website.
Here we go again. Why can’t the citizens of Jefferson County choose who they want to represent them instead of who Gov. Riley wants to represent them?
Really, this is embarassing.
This state already concentrates too much power in Montgomery. There’s no reason to hand over any more. I’m no big fan of Larry Langford, but it seems to me that a specific district of a specific county should choose its own representation at the ballot box. The governor (any governor of any party) needs to keep his paws off.
This isn’t about Larry Langford (or is it?), it’s about the right of the voters to decide who their ELECTED representatives are.
It should not be about Larry Langford. If here in Cullman we get to choose a new State House Rep in a special election once the old one steps down, then citizens in a county commission district should have the right to elect a replacement.
[...] In the similar Mobile County situation, Riley appointed Republican Juan Chastang to fill a vacant County Commission seat. A special election was held this year after Montgomery’s U.S. District Court ruled that Riley’s appointment violated the 1965 federal Voting Rights Act. That case is headed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Attorney Ed Still has served in both the Mobile County and Jefferson County cases. [...]