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Lipscomb, Alabama: Where All the Politicians are Crooks. Literally.
This is exactly the kind of story for which our "All Muck is Local" series was created.
Simon Speights is the mayor of Lipscomb, Alabama. He got the job back in 2005 when his predecessor resigned and the City Council voted him in. But Speights isn’t exactly eligible to be mayor.
Speights pleaded guilty to burglary in 1994, and while his voting rights have since been restored, his right to run for political office has not. Records show Speights occasionally uses the surname Speight, which might account for no one realizing the mayor’s criminal record. Oh, and he’s driving a stolen car (no one knows how he got it). And he’s collecting more than twice his authorized salary (no one knows how that happened). Last week, the local district attorney demanded that a judge remove the mayor from office.
But who would replace him? The mayor pro tempore is Gaston Randle, a city councilman and the former police commissioner. Randle might not be the man people want in charge; last month he resigned his commissioner job after being indicted for stalking a local Hispanic woman. And more recently, Randle has been charged with extortion, bribing and impersonating an officer.
Next in line for mayor would be City Councilman David Horn. But Horn was charged two weeks ago with impersonating a police officer. Apparently Horn was annoyed with a citizen who challenged him on fire safety statutes and so threatened to arrest him. He then pulled out an honorary police commission card and claimed to be a sheriff.
Horn posted bail for the incident, but then the police realized he was wanted in connection to an outstanding charge of domestic violence. He was promptly rearrested.
What is it with this perfect storm of small-town corruption? Well, the county sheriff first began an investigation of the Lipscomb police (the second in three years) after receiving allegations that officers were harassing Hispanic citizens. The sheriff found that the cops were shaking down pretty much everyone, regardless of ethnicity. And in the process, he found much to investigate at the city council.
Speights is still in charge, and has since applied to have his rights restored. But the local district attorney wants him out of there now. If the judge were up to it, he’d do well to toss Speights and the entire city council along with him.
Comments (27)
DiFi Fan wrote on July 22, 2007 10:38 AM:Great stuff! Thanks for the laughs.
RandyBastard wrote on July 22, 2007 10:59 AM:Were all these people elected in non-partisan or partisan elections? I know a lot of places hold elections where no party affiliation is allowed.
If they were party members I'd like to see the (R) placed next to each and every name.
See what I did there? I just made what my dad used to call an "educated guess."
John wrote on July 22, 2007 11:56 AM:Lipscomb is 65% Black. I'd guess they're most likely Democrats.
Tommy Harper wrote on July 22, 2007 11:57 AM:Welcome to Alabama politics. I moved over here from Atlanta about 18 years ago and the only better comedy show than the political leaders are the local TV anchors.
Anonymous wrote on July 22, 2007 12:12 PM:Typical Alabama s#^t hole politics. "Sweet Home Alabama" you can get away with anything here.
Black voters have been systematically discriminated against from day 1 in Alabama. Most of these small towns are 65% black but they are run by corrupt White oligarchs. See above.
Timmy wrote on July 22, 2007 12:13 PM:Alabama...
You got a wheel in the ditch...
And a wheel on the track.
KYJurisDoctor wrote on July 22, 2007 12:31 PM:His laugh won't last long. The primary election will wipe it off!
http://osi-speaks.blogspot.com/2007/07/mitt-romney-may-laugh-now-but-his-laugh.html#links
j swift wrote on July 22, 2007 12:48 PM:LOL, this is so good it could be satire, if it weren't true. The only thing to make it better... all these crackers being church-going fundie Christians.
Hoppy wrote on July 22, 2007 12:51 PM:I'm now wondering what the judge has been up to. My guess is that he is no more an upstanding citizen than the rest of the crooks in office there. But, these are elected officials, so the voters obviously want to be governed by crooks.
Mark_W wrote on July 22, 2007 1:23 PM:Gaston Randle and Speights/Speight are both African American but I can't find any indication of party affiliation in the media
http://www.myfoxal.com/myfox/pages/ContentDetail?contentId=3802078
BlueTexan wrote on July 22, 2007 3:47 PM:Old news. There's new and improved antics afoot.
anon wrote on July 22, 2007 4:34 PM:www.wiat.com/news/local/8309757.html
sounds like New Haven politics
Tap Duncan wrote on July 22, 2007 6:01 PM:One word- Alabama
johnnydoughey wrote on July 22, 2007 6:24 PM:Looks like local politicians are just wanna be national politicians...
dixiegrl wrote on July 22, 2007 6:50 PM:They need to begin committing federal crimes before they can think about Washington, though....
Few years ago, a candidate in a local Mayor's race
had a billboard sign urging us to vote for him on the grounds...
"Has Never Been Indicted"
All the world's a stage here in Alabama...we laugh a lot.
JEP wrote on July 22, 2007 6:59 PM:http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/12_week.gif
take a look at this .gif, then find Lipscomb on the map...
cosmic
Anna S. wrote on July 22, 2007 8:03 PM:BlueTexan (3:47) , the 'another city official' referred to in the link you give is the David Horn of the TPM story. The TPM story reports him as a city councilman (which he may well be), but the local news story calls him the fire chief. Apparently he not only wore a police uniform, he tried to make an arrest (!) while impersonating an officer. At the end of that link, the local news station reports finding more stolen vehicles in the local impound lot, so the mayor may be in even more trouble than before.
This is really amusing. The town of Lipscomb only has about 2500 people in it, and no post office (luckily enough; this way no one can indict the post inspector). In a town that small, most people in the town would *know* who the cops were because they're probably related to them by blood or marriage, so impersonating a police officer is a particularly strange felony to commit. Apparently it's a popular one, though. The local costume shop must get lots of business.
Kelvin Phillips wrote on July 22, 2007 10:37 PM:Wow! Is the town trying to get on a reality T.V. show? If so they're off to a good start. Is there no one there who can take over the office and act honorably, responsibly?
Kelvin Phillips wrote on July 22, 2007 10:45 PM:Wow! Is the town trying to get on a reality T.V. show? If so they're off to a good start. Is there no one there who can take over the office and act honorably, responsibly?
gus hocker wrote on July 22, 2007 11:56 PM:Even better police chief had free car wash for citizens by the police dept so they could get to know the actual members of thr police force
Anonymous wrote on July 23, 2007 1:13 AM:West Hollywood: 80th to vote Bush impeachment
by Mark Silva
So the vote of West Hollywood to call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney makes the Southern California city the 80th city or township in the nation to make such a declaration, following similar symbolic votes in Michigan, Ohio and Vermont.
Scott L wrote on July 23, 2007 2:42 AM:.
http://tinyurl.com/28hzyc
.
Sounds like these guys belong as Bush cabinet members. Perfect fit
dan wrote on July 23, 2007 7:17 AM:This is not funny at all. It's depressing with no end in sight.
Dan S wrote on July 23, 2007 5:23 PM:While blacks down here were shut out of politics for 150+ years, they've sure proved quick studies once they were allowed in, and are now every bit as good at it as the white politicians.
This and a few other poorly-run, mostly black (and black politically) towns around the state---Tuskegee and Prichard come to mind quickly---are all many Alabama whites need as proof that "they" just can't run things, can't be trusted with public office, etc., though amazingly these same whites never take it as "proof" of white incompetence or criminality when a white politician breaks the law.
Using that line of thinking--and changing subject somewhat--you could make a case that when devising the Republican reverse vote fraud scam now infecting the U.S. Justice Department, Karl Rove probably had in mind Alabama's Spiver "Vote Early, Vote Often" Gordon as the scheme's poster child.
Kurt C. wrote on August 9, 2007 11:27 AM:Sounds like the Clinton administration.
qbez cujl wrote on August 23, 2007 10:34 AM:dtfoaurb angbpfz lnwyec bhxcn iyzhuef zpvl zeohgqlyc
ergre wrote on October 6, 2007 4:13 PM:regrege