An elections lawyer told the Parlor over a month ago that Patrick Cooper’s challenge to Larry Langford’s election to the Birmingham mayorship had “no legs.” Today, Circuit Judge Allwin Horn granted Langford’s motion to dismiss Cooper’s challenge. Cooper’s challenge claimed that Langford did not meet the residency requirement to qualify to be on the ballot, but Horn did not agree.
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will patrick cooper go away now?
Maybe he will, but I doubt that the IRS and SEC will.
Now that it’s officially open season… Who wants to be mayor of Birmingham next? Apparently, any of us are qualified, and we now have a precedent! At the very least, we can all rent the worst, cheapest, most unlivable apartments downtown and register to vote.
Thank you, Mayor Langford! Now we really CAN improve Birmingham!
Not pro-langford here by any stretch of the imagination, but cooper i think hurt himself with the challenge. He certainly could have filed it before he lost or might have even been better challenging absentees or other specific ballots, etc. to get the tally back below 50%. Cooper smells distinctly of a sore loser who arrogantly questioned the voters judgement (however bad that judgement may have been). I think you are likely correct that the feds figure Langford out before the b-ham electorate does – they love them some larry…
Yep, we can always depend on the feds.
Birmingham don’t need no stinkin laws
Oh, don’t get me wrong… I’m not a Cooper fan, either. But I DO think that if he wasn’t bringing this up, nobody else would. Heck, the Birmingham media has been kissing Langford’s rear end since there was a prospect that he MIGHT be mayor. Even if Cooper were successful in disqualifying Langford, there’s no chance in hell he’d win in another election. But getting Cooper in isn’t the point… It’s about getting some honesty from a politician for once.
Langford has no real intention of ever moving to Birmingham, and so he has no real motivation for ever improving Birmingham.
Honestly, I was a Cooper supporter and I think he made a huge mistake. I realize there are residency requirements and that Langford in all liklihood did not meet them but most people in Birmingham knew that as well and they voted for Langford anyway. They chose Langford; let them live with that decision.
Oh I absolutely agree that the PEOPLE OF BIRMINGHAM should have to live with that decision. And I agree that the PEOPLE OF BIRMINGHAM should have to pay the bill for that decision.
But the truth remains that one way or another, Langford is going to end up in jail or out of office. And WHEN he ends up in jail or out of office (or both), the PEOPLE OF BIRMINGHAM will be saying hello to Mayor Smitherman, who they also did not vote for. And the PEOPLE OF BIRMINGHAM will have to live with that one, too.
Honestly, that bothers me more than anything. At least if Cooper continues his challenge then another election will likely be held. I’m doubting that the same courtesy will be given once the feds get their hands on ‘Lectric Larry.
[...] The question yet to be answered about Patrick Cooper’s legal challenge (now dismissed pending appeal) to the election of Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford has to do with how much damage Cooper has done to his own political future. The Parlor has heard many people including Cooper supporters say that Cooper did himself no favors by pursuing the matter. An elections lawyer epitomized this sentiment when he said about the challenge, “Legally it’s bad, and politically it’s worse.” [...]