Hmmm.... I think Shelia Tyson should win the Birmingham City Council District 6 run-off

Well, after reading the Birmingham News article in today's paper talking about the future of the helm of mayor is pending upon the run-offs.  For starters, Mayor Larry Langford is pretty much going to get convicted willing some catastrophic screw-up were to occur in the federal prosecutions case.  Now the District 6 race is heated for sure because 1) current Council woman Carole Smitherman is also City Council President, 2) when Mayor Langford is convicted he will be removed from office and the Council President would become interim mayor, and 3) this could set the playing field for the next mayoral election which will likely occur 45 days after the interim mayor been in office. 

Now after reading the article saying how former Birmingham mayor Richard Arrington has endorsed Shelia Tyson, I gave her the side-eye for his endorsement.  Tyson is current West End Neighborhood Association President and President of the Community Neighborhood Associations of Birmingham along with former campaign manager of 2007 mayoral candidate Patrick Cooper.  However, Tyson seems to not even acknowledge Arrington in her responses to the newspaper.  On the other hand, Tyson does respond direct t to Smitherman's attempt to call her "Patrick Cooper and the over-the-mountain elite's puppet" by saying that "Smitherman is trying to run for mayor via this race". 

Tyson has been endorsed by current Alabama House Delegate John Rogers.  He is also a distant cousin of Shelia Tyson as well.  That's not what I care about rather the accusation that a Smitherman supporter told Tyson to run against Rogers for re-election.  Normally, I don't take any sides on these things, but that is really BOLD of the Smitherman campaign to do some mess like that.  I'm one of those people that thinks Rogers is a joke, but I'm more aggravated by the attempt by the Smitherman campaign to tell somebody to go for the "easier route" instead of "messing up" Councilwoman Smitherman's path to being mayor (for awhile).  Sorry, I just don't cosign on bull***t and that is bull***t.  Smitherman has ran for mayor 3 times already and lost every single time, so I mean REALLY Councilwoman Smitherman.

I do know somebody personally that has been lobbying for Smitherman to become mayor now, but IMO, Tyson should win on principal.  Honestly, I would much rather Cooper be mayor than Smitherman or Arrington.  Sometimes it better to shake up things a little and see what happens because at the end of the day, we all know who got more votes between Smitherman and Cooper.  Arrington doesn't stand a chance in hell of winning because all his endorsements the first go-around with the council races where rejected and they all lost.  To sum it up, Smitherman has done nothing by using any of her leverage since her husband is State Senator to get anything major accomplished from the state level or the local level.  When was the last time Smitherman has tried to propose on her own something progressive or substantial to fix Birmingham? Also when was the last time that Smitherman has tried to work to form any time of coalition with the more socially progressive young professional voters (both black and white) in the city or a candidate or official that stands for that effort?  Last time I remember, not once.

Time for someone new and out with the old and the same-ol', same-ol'. 

We have enough issues with political dynasties around here and this one with some many old heads gots to go..