If you reside in Birmingham, AL, and you’ve read a newspaper or watch local TV news, you’ve probably heard a little bit about the growing controversy surrounding Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford.

Most of the news has been generated from two separate depositions involving Langford. The first being a SEC deposition in Miami, FL and the second deposition from a lawsuit filed by HealthSouth against a computer charity he founded.

HealthSouth deposition

Larry and the city council are trying to rollout a laptop for every kid in the Birmingham City School System. He’s trying to set up some sort of board to help administer and provide support for the laptops. John Katopodis, a close friend of Langford who is organizing the mayor’s initiative, faces questions in a civil lawsuit and in federal subpoenas about how he managed Langford’s first computer charity. Katopodis is being sued by HealthSouth. You can read the story here, but here’s the summary:

• The lawsuit questions why the first computer charity gave Langford money, paid for casino trips and handed out donated computers to friends and politicians.
• The charity also paid $30,000 to Marc Anthony Donais, also known as Ryan Idol, a star in gay adult films, to do computer repair work and other work.
• $28,000 in cash to Katopodis through checks and automatic teller withdrawals, including withdrawals at casinos.
• Also, as much as $10,000 to Langford, which he said went to a private charity he controlled.

Photos courtesy of Jonathan Purvis.

I scanned Larry’s deposition and found these humorous quotes:

The attorney asked Larry if he had talked to anyone else regarding Katopodis’ suit against Healthsouth.

Larry: No, ma’am.

Q: Have you read any -
Larry: Well, my wife. You know, I live with her. So, you know.

Q: And she was also deposed in this case, and so that probably came up as part of your discussions?
Larry: Oh, yeah. Oh, it cam up all right.

Q: Have you and your wife — did you and your wife talk about her deposition testimony after her deposition?
Larry: Uh-huh

Q: What did she say about her testimony?
Larry: She was pretty pissed off, how she was treated.

Q: Did she say anything about her actual testimony?
Larry: No. That she was just pissed off — excuse my English — of how she was disrespected and treated.

Later when questioned about whether or not he was ever compensated by Healthsouth, he replied:

Larry: I’ve never been compensated by HealthSouth for anything

Q: Okay

Larry: As a matter of fact, I even had a test done over there, and they charged me for it. Those suckers. I mean to talk to Richard [Scrushy] about that, too.

I love it…Larry says excuse my English (rather than French) and he wanted free treatment from HealthSouth. What’s Richard going to do about it Larry? He’s in jail.

Larry’s SEC deposition

The Birmingham Weekly’s Kyle Whitmire had a very interesting article written after the reading through Larry’s deposition in Miami, FL.

I am amazed at what Larry stated. I’ll let Kyle’s words speak for themselves:

In 2002, about the same time he was running for county commission, Langford had accumulated about $70,000 in credit card debts and department store bills. Most of that debt was for clothes, he told the SEC.

“I’m a kind of a clothes person,” Langford said. “I like clothes.”

In other settings, Langford has rhetorically attacked parents who buy their children expensive tennis shoes and designer clothes they can’t afford.

“We pay $120 for a pair of sneakers for a 12-year-old child. Are you crazy?” Langford said in his inaugural speech. “You are paying $60 and $80 for blue jeans with the names of somebody tattooed on your children’s butt you don’t even know. When was the last time Tommy Hilfiger was at your house?”

Indeed, Langford wouldn’t be caught dead wearing Tommy Hilfiger or shopping at the mall. When Langford needed clothes, he went to Shaia’s the upscale clothing store for men in Homewood among other places.

There, according to his testimony, he bought at least $40,000 worth of clothing, all on store credit. By the summer of 2002, his store account was close to going to collections.

And his Fairfield house…

Last November, Birmingham News metro columnist John Archibald discovered that at least one mortgage Langford had was disproportionate to the value of his Fairfield home. Probate court records showed that in 2000, Langford had received a $300,000 mortgage on his home. In 1999, the same house had been appraised at $96,430. The loan from The Bank — now Superior Bank — was for three years. If he ever paid it, there is no record.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 at 2:35 pm and is filed under Birmingham. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.