BIRMINGHAM, ALA. — A lobbyist who pleaded guilty Thursday to paying thousands of dollars in bribes to Mayor Larry Langford will likely testify for prosecutors in Langford's upcoming federal trial.
Al LaPierre admitted being the go-between in a conspiracy to route money to Langford from Montgomery investment banker Bill Blount. Blount's firm received millions of dollars in bond work from the Jefferson County Commission while Langford was a member.Langford is accused of accepting more than $230,000 in bribes in exchange for funneling bond business to Blount's company.The bond deals — which funded years of work on Jefferson County's county sewer system — went sour and have helped push Jefferson County to the brink of filing the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.
Both Langford and Blount have pleaded not guilty, and a judge set their trial for Aug. 31.LaPierre signed the plea deal Wednesday, agreeing to admit to charges of conspiracy and filing a false tax return. His attorney, Tommy Spina, said LaPierre likely would testify in the Langford trial."The agreement requires Al to testify truthfully if he is called as a witness in this case, and I suspect he will be," Spina said.
Prosecutors will recommend a sentence of four years in prison in exchange for LaPierre's assistance, according to the plea agreement. LaPierre also agreed to forfeit nearly $372,000, an amount that Spina said LaPierre allegedly handled for Blount as the middleman.Blount's firm received $7.1 million in county bond work while Langford was commission president, court documents show. LaPierre is accused of using money from Blount to pay off loans and clothing bills for Langford, writing him checks for as much as $69,000.
There is nothing new about this nor are these events isolated to Alabama:
CDR and the Democrats
The withdrawal of Bill Richardson recently made the headlines. In his case CDR gave money to Si SE Puede, a PAC formed to help pay Richardson's expenses at the 2004 Democratic Convention. In exchange its argued that CDR received favorable treatment in regards to bids to do business for GRIP (Govenor Richardson's Investment program), bid rigging in short.
Another aspect of pay for play, and one more likely to land a politician in jail is CDR's tactic of finding friends, fundraisers and associates of elected Democrats, and hiring them as "Consultants". In New Mexico it was Richardson friend Mike Stratton who was hired by CDR. On a side note the Director of Si Se Puede Fred Duval was hired by UBS ,a Swiss bank, as a consultant. UBS was also one of several banks that ended up receiving a cut of the GRIP pie. The collusion of CDR, elected Democrat, and consultants that occurred in New Mexico is similar to other CDR linked scandals. In Philadelphia it was Ron White (now deceased) who received money and super bowl tickets from the company and was hired as a consultant. He was also an associate and fundraiser for Philly Mayor Sharpe. In Pennsylvania as a whole it was Alan Kessler who was the chief lobbyist for CDR and a top fundraiser for Ed Rendell. The most egregious example would be Mayor Larry Langford of Birmingham Alabama, who is accused in a 101 count indictment of using his friend William Blount and lobbyist Albert LaPierre to funnel money, jewelry, cloths, and watches into his hands in exchange for government favors while he was President of the Jefferson County Commission. Jefferson County, which includes Birmingham is on the precipice of the greatest municipal bankruptcy in history. There are also questions of CDR's actions in Atlanta and several of municipalities and CDR is currently being sued by over 20 school districts and cities in addition to the criminal investigations.
With the Feds active in Pennsylvania and the New Mexico Grand Jury still out the muni-bond scandal may be entering a more aggressive stage. Of course La Pierre is testifying against Langford for his bagman activities, but will these guys testify against the companies and institutions who "payed" for play?
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