On Sept. 30, numerous subpoenaed city of Fairhope officials and staff may have testified before a federal grand jury in Mobile regarding a $639,000 contract for Gulf oil spill response awarded by the city on June 4, 2010 to state Sen. Trip Pittman.

Despite these necessary judicial developments, the Fairhope City Council and mayor remain brazenly committed to their avowed code of silence and inaction about the investigation. They are united against those who want the United States Constitution to work as it was taught to us in civics courses.

Many dubious acts have been perpetuated upon a submissive public slowly battered into a near-catatonic state of cynicism and doubt. An epoch of corrupt rule must come to an end.

Among these aforementioned questionable acts is the award by Fairhope of a two-year emergency debris removal contract on June 14, 2010 to a company owned by Bob James, now a Baldwin County commissioner and business associate of Pittman, whose tractor company strangely held the contract before him.

Greed is quickly killing our country. Americans must fight to reclaim what was once good and just. We must eschew at every instance government corruption and ensure that its perpetrators be jailed.

This fight begins with the Fairhope City Council rescinding this debris removal contract and re-bidding it, and with the federal government fully prosecuting all guilty parties involved in the BP boom scandal.

Chris E. Warner

Fairhope

Editor’s Note: Warner ran for mayor of Fairhope in 2008, has written a number of books. He holds a doctorate of philosophy in urban planning from the University of New Orleans.