Former Jefferson County Commissioner Mary Buckelew Pleads Guilty In Sewer Bond Scandal
Former Jefferson County Commissioner Mary Buckelew has pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice as part of a federal corruption investigation into bond sales used to finance the county’s controversial sewer system. When Buckelew initially was questioned by a grand jury several months ago on whether she received any payments from a Montgomery investment banker involved in the county’s sewer bond deals, she denied any wrongdoing.
In reality, however, prosecutors showed that Buckelew accepted numerous gifts - including some $4,000 worth of designer shoes and purses, as well as a $1,400 spa treatment - from an investment banker whose firm later collected millions of dollars in fees and commissions related to the county’s bond financing deals.
In pleading guilty to the charge of obstruction of justice, Buckelew could face up to 20 years in prison and fines of $250,000.
Buckelew isn’t the first Jefferson County commissioner to wind up in a federal courthouse. On Sept. 19, 2007, former Jefferson County Commissioner Chris McNair was sentenced to 60 months in prison on charges of conspiracy and taking bribes from sewer contractors. In addition, McNair was ordered to pay restitution to Jefferson County in the amount of $851,927.
Another former commissioner, Gary White, also was arrested on federal bribery charges for his alleged influence in the county’s $3.2 billion sewer work. White was convicted once and is now awaiting his second trial on charges that he took at least $20,000 from sewer contractors.
In total, 22 people have been convicted in Jefferson County’s ongoing sewer project scandal, including contractors, engineers and now three former county commissioners.
Jefferson County’s problems first began in 2002, when county commissioners sought the advice of JP Morgan Chase and other banks to finance a massive upgrade to the county’s sewer system, which was pumping raw and partially treated sewage into nearby streams. The county then borrowed money for the sewer project via the bond market in a series of complex transactions called interest-rate swaps. When the mortgage crisis began to unfold and banks subsequently tightened their lending, interest rates on the sewer debt skyrocketed out of control.
Meanwhile, upon hearing the news of Buckelew’s plea deal, Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford - who once resided on the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners at the time the sewer plans were first put together and who also is the target of an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for his connection in the bond swap transactions - offered his support for the commissioner, describing her as “an exceptionally fine person,” according to a Sept. 23 article in The Birmingham News.
The citizens of Jefferson County may have a different opinion. Because of the corrupt actions of their elected officials and Wall Street banks, water rates have gone up more than 350%, with the average customer now paying about $65 a month. On top of that, Jefferson County still cannot meet its payment obligations for the overpriced sewer work, meaning it is looking at the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.
To read Buckelew’s plea agreement in its entirety, go to http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2008/09/buckelewplea.pdf.
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October 17th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Re: Langford’s response to Mary Buckelew as a “fine person” reminds of another woman he thought was very fine. This other fine person involved Budweiser and VisionLand. He wanted this other fine person to go to dinner and etc. and if she did would be awarded a fine job at Visionland. I think when the smoke clears you will find Langford standing in the same spot as Buckelew muttering the same words, guilty as charged sir.