To assist Carrie Fulghum of Gainesville, AL
Donation protected
We are raising funds to assist Ms. Carrie Fulghum, former Mayor of Gainesville, Alabama who was unjustly forced to resign from office and pay $11,548.41 in restitution to the Town of Gainesville, for a minor ethics violation.
Carrie Fulghum was the first African-American elected to serve as a Gainesville City Council person in 1984. She served 16 years on the City Council and in 2000 she was elected the first African-American Mayor of Gainesville, a town in northern Sumter County, Alabama, with a population of 200, with 65% being African-American.
During her 36 years of service on the Gainesville Town Council – 16 as a Council member and 20 as Mayor. Ms. Fulghum helped to raise over $5 million for the town, including building a park and walking trail, two housing rehabilitation grants, purchase of a fire truck, developing a sewage system for the Towns of Gainesville, Emelle and Geiger, downtown beautification, a Health and Wellness Center, expansion of the Town Hall and many other beneficial improvements.
When Carrie Fulghum was re-elected Mayor for her fifth term in 2016, a group of councilmembers, led by conservative whites came after her charging mis-use of city funds. The City's minutes and financial records were researched for wrong-doing. Almost all of the issues were answered, except for two minor points, which were referred to the Alabama Ethics Commission.
The Alabama Ethics Commission referred this matter to Greg Griggers, the white District Attorney for the Alabama 17th. Judicial Circuit. Griggers, pressured by white and 'Uncle Tom' Gainesville council members, brought the matter to the Grand Jury and insisted that Mayor Fulghum resign and pay restitution to the Town of Gainesville before she will be able to run for political office again.
Ms. Fulghum resigned as Mayor of Gainesville on September 1, 2018 and has paid over $4,800 in restitution to the Ethics Commission since that time. The local newspaper, the Sumter County Record Journal, has also worked to hound the Mayor out of office. On April 25, 2019, the newspaper printed a story headlined, "Fulghum has failed to pay back missing funds" which was not true. She had paid over $4,000 to the Alabama Ethics Commission at that time. It took eight weeks, but in its June 20, 2019 newspaper the headline is "She's paying". The local newspaper in its c rusade against Black elected officials still has not printed the factual information about Mayor Fulghum.
The minor violations of the Ethics Act included the following:
she used city funds to pay several months of light bills for the Gainesville Health and Wellness Center. Since she served on the Board of Directors of the Center, this was considered a minor violation of ethics. She is making restitution for these payments, even though the Town Council officially approved them and they were paid to Alabama Power Company not to her.
The other issue she is making restitution for involves a contract that the Town of Gainesville made with her son to cut grass. The contract was awarded after a competitive bidding process; however, the contract was renewed without rebidding for several years, after the initial bid, because the Council was pleased with the services provided. All of the payments were approved and paid by the Town Council. The minutes show that Ms. Fulghum abstained from voting on this contract since it involved her son.
In neither case is there any evidence that Ms. Fulghum received public funds or profited personally from the Town of Gainesville. No funds were misplaced, misused or stolen. Ms. Fulghum agreed to repay funds that she did not receive because of the Alabama Ethic Commission’s investigation and Griggers insistence.
A group of Carrie Fulghum's friends have become so outraged at the treatment of a courageous and conscientious Black woman by the "Alabama white power structure" and the biased coverage of the local press that we have come together to launch this GoFundMe page to raise funds to help Carrie Fulghum make restitution, pay her expenses and run for office again in Gainesville, Alabama in 2020.
We are specifically trying to assist Carrie Fulghum to pay the following expenses:
• $ 11,548.41 : restitution to the Alabama Ethic Commission and the
Town of Gainesville
• 3,000.00: Legal fees and expenses incurred in defending against
false charges at the AL Ethic Commission
• 6,000.00: To assist the Gainesville Health and Wellness Center
• 5,000.00: Campaign Fund for Carrie Fulghum for Mayor in 2020
__________________
$ 25,548.41 : Total Goal of the GoFundMe camapign
We are urging you if you are concerned about simple fairness and the continuation of democracy and voting rights in Alabama that you make a contribution toward this fund. When a Black woman runs for office in Alabama, trusting thye voting system, does a credible job for over 30 years,then democracy and justice loose, when she is hounded out of office by people motivated by jealousy and racial animosity. Please join us if you feel what happened to Mayor Carrie Fulghum must be reversed and overturned!
Caleb from GoFundMe has emailed me on December 9 and asked that we answer the following questions:
• Who you are
• Your specific relationship or contact to the parties you're raising funds for
• Your specific withdrawal plan to get the funds from your personal account to the ultimate beneficiary/ies
In response, sent this email which they asked to post on thev site:
1. I am John Zippert (age 74). I am a resident of Greene County, Alabama and live at 512 Springfield Avenue in Eutaw,
Alabama 35462 and have lived there since August 1976 - 43 years. I retired on Dec. 31, 2018, after serving as Director of Program Operations for the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund, based at our Rural Training and Research Center in Epes, Alabama 35460, and working with the organization for half a century. I am still a volunteer and Program Director Emeritus for the Federation of Southerrn Cooperatives.
My wife, Carol Prejean Zippert and I are the Co-Publishers and Editors of the Greene County Democrat, weekly newspaper, based in Eutaw, Alabama. We have publisted the newspaper each week (circulation - 3,000) since we acquired it in 1984.
I also serve on numerous non-profit boards of directors for national, state and local organizations including: Rural Coalition, Rural Development Leadership Network, Alabama New South Coalition, Alabama Council on Human Relations, Black Belt Community Foundation, Greene County Industrial Development Authority and Greene County Health System.
My wife and I have three grown children and 12 grandchildren.
2. I have known and worked with Ms. Carrie Fulghum for four decades since she was a teenager. I hired her as a VISTA worker for the Federation in the 1970's and have worked with her in variuos capacities since that time. Most recently as a board member of the PLBA Housing Management and Development Company of Gainesville, Alabama, which employs Ms. Fulghum as a manager of housing for low income people in Alabama.
I urged Ms. Fulghum to run for public office, first as a Town Council Member and then Mayor of Gainesville, Alabama.
I worked with her to help raise funds and attract industry, commercial and cultural development to her community. I was appalled and outraged by the way the local white political power structure treated her and forced her to resign over questionable "minor ethical violations" and make costly restitution of funds to the State of Alabama.
Together with Clark Arrington, another long time colleague, and friends and other supporters of Ms. Fulghum, we organized the GoFundMe site to assist Ms. Fulghum in paying off the restitution and costs in this settlement with the Alabama Ethics Commission.
3. My plan was to set up a separate bank account to handle these funds but representatives of GoFundMe pressured me to accept the funds or they would be sent back to the donors. I wanted to receive the funds in $500 or larger increments but GoFundMe insisted on sending the funds to my bank account as they came in.
We issued a cashiers check for the first $1,500 that I received from GoFundMe, to Ms. Fulghum, in October, made out to the Alabama Ethics Commission. She transmitted the check to the Alabama Ethics Commission so that it would be applied correctly to her restitution account. Copies of this check are available for review. We are planning to issue a second check for $500 next week and we will continue to issue checks as funds are received in the GoFundMe account. Clark Arrington, I and others have sent emails and made other connections to urge people to support the GoFundMe account.
John Zippert
205/657-0273 (cell phone)
Carrie Fulghum was the first African-American elected to serve as a Gainesville City Council person in 1984. She served 16 years on the City Council and in 2000 she was elected the first African-American Mayor of Gainesville, a town in northern Sumter County, Alabama, with a population of 200, with 65% being African-American.
During her 36 years of service on the Gainesville Town Council – 16 as a Council member and 20 as Mayor. Ms. Fulghum helped to raise over $5 million for the town, including building a park and walking trail, two housing rehabilitation grants, purchase of a fire truck, developing a sewage system for the Towns of Gainesville, Emelle and Geiger, downtown beautification, a Health and Wellness Center, expansion of the Town Hall and many other beneficial improvements.
When Carrie Fulghum was re-elected Mayor for her fifth term in 2016, a group of councilmembers, led by conservative whites came after her charging mis-use of city funds. The City's minutes and financial records were researched for wrong-doing. Almost all of the issues were answered, except for two minor points, which were referred to the Alabama Ethics Commission.
The Alabama Ethics Commission referred this matter to Greg Griggers, the white District Attorney for the Alabama 17th. Judicial Circuit. Griggers, pressured by white and 'Uncle Tom' Gainesville council members, brought the matter to the Grand Jury and insisted that Mayor Fulghum resign and pay restitution to the Town of Gainesville before she will be able to run for political office again.
Ms. Fulghum resigned as Mayor of Gainesville on September 1, 2018 and has paid over $4,800 in restitution to the Ethics Commission since that time. The local newspaper, the Sumter County Record Journal, has also worked to hound the Mayor out of office. On April 25, 2019, the newspaper printed a story headlined, "Fulghum has failed to pay back missing funds" which was not true. She had paid over $4,000 to the Alabama Ethics Commission at that time. It took eight weeks, but in its June 20, 2019 newspaper the headline is "She's paying". The local newspaper in its c rusade against Black elected officials still has not printed the factual information about Mayor Fulghum.
The minor violations of the Ethics Act included the following:
she used city funds to pay several months of light bills for the Gainesville Health and Wellness Center. Since she served on the Board of Directors of the Center, this was considered a minor violation of ethics. She is making restitution for these payments, even though the Town Council officially approved them and they were paid to Alabama Power Company not to her.
The other issue she is making restitution for involves a contract that the Town of Gainesville made with her son to cut grass. The contract was awarded after a competitive bidding process; however, the contract was renewed without rebidding for several years, after the initial bid, because the Council was pleased with the services provided. All of the payments were approved and paid by the Town Council. The minutes show that Ms. Fulghum abstained from voting on this contract since it involved her son.
In neither case is there any evidence that Ms. Fulghum received public funds or profited personally from the Town of Gainesville. No funds were misplaced, misused or stolen. Ms. Fulghum agreed to repay funds that she did not receive because of the Alabama Ethic Commission’s investigation and Griggers insistence.
A group of Carrie Fulghum's friends have become so outraged at the treatment of a courageous and conscientious Black woman by the "Alabama white power structure" and the biased coverage of the local press that we have come together to launch this GoFundMe page to raise funds to help Carrie Fulghum make restitution, pay her expenses and run for office again in Gainesville, Alabama in 2020.
We are specifically trying to assist Carrie Fulghum to pay the following expenses:
• $ 11,548.41 : restitution to the Alabama Ethic Commission and the
Town of Gainesville
• 3,000.00: Legal fees and expenses incurred in defending against
false charges at the AL Ethic Commission
• 6,000.00: To assist the Gainesville Health and Wellness Center
• 5,000.00: Campaign Fund for Carrie Fulghum for Mayor in 2020
__________________
$ 25,548.41 : Total Goal of the GoFundMe camapign
We are urging you if you are concerned about simple fairness and the continuation of democracy and voting rights in Alabama that you make a contribution toward this fund. When a Black woman runs for office in Alabama, trusting thye voting system, does a credible job for over 30 years,then democracy and justice loose, when she is hounded out of office by people motivated by jealousy and racial animosity. Please join us if you feel what happened to Mayor Carrie Fulghum must be reversed and overturned!
Caleb from GoFundMe has emailed me on December 9 and asked that we answer the following questions:
• Who you are
• Your specific relationship or contact to the parties you're raising funds for
• Your specific withdrawal plan to get the funds from your personal account to the ultimate beneficiary/ies
In response, sent this email which they asked to post on thev site:
1. I am John Zippert (age 74). I am a resident of Greene County, Alabama and live at 512 Springfield Avenue in Eutaw,
Alabama 35462 and have lived there since August 1976 - 43 years. I retired on Dec. 31, 2018, after serving as Director of Program Operations for the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund, based at our Rural Training and Research Center in Epes, Alabama 35460, and working with the organization for half a century. I am still a volunteer and Program Director Emeritus for the Federation of Southerrn Cooperatives.
My wife, Carol Prejean Zippert and I are the Co-Publishers and Editors of the Greene County Democrat, weekly newspaper, based in Eutaw, Alabama. We have publisted the newspaper each week (circulation - 3,000) since we acquired it in 1984.
I also serve on numerous non-profit boards of directors for national, state and local organizations including: Rural Coalition, Rural Development Leadership Network, Alabama New South Coalition, Alabama Council on Human Relations, Black Belt Community Foundation, Greene County Industrial Development Authority and Greene County Health System.
My wife and I have three grown children and 12 grandchildren.
2. I have known and worked with Ms. Carrie Fulghum for four decades since she was a teenager. I hired her as a VISTA worker for the Federation in the 1970's and have worked with her in variuos capacities since that time. Most recently as a board member of the PLBA Housing Management and Development Company of Gainesville, Alabama, which employs Ms. Fulghum as a manager of housing for low income people in Alabama.
I urged Ms. Fulghum to run for public office, first as a Town Council Member and then Mayor of Gainesville, Alabama.
I worked with her to help raise funds and attract industry, commercial and cultural development to her community. I was appalled and outraged by the way the local white political power structure treated her and forced her to resign over questionable "minor ethical violations" and make costly restitution of funds to the State of Alabama.
Together with Clark Arrington, another long time colleague, and friends and other supporters of Ms. Fulghum, we organized the GoFundMe site to assist Ms. Fulghum in paying off the restitution and costs in this settlement with the Alabama Ethics Commission.
3. My plan was to set up a separate bank account to handle these funds but representatives of GoFundMe pressured me to accept the funds or they would be sent back to the donors. I wanted to receive the funds in $500 or larger increments but GoFundMe insisted on sending the funds to my bank account as they came in.
We issued a cashiers check for the first $1,500 that I received from GoFundMe, to Ms. Fulghum, in October, made out to the Alabama Ethics Commission. She transmitted the check to the Alabama Ethics Commission so that it would be applied correctly to her restitution account. Copies of this check are available for review. We are planning to issue a second check for $500 next week and we will continue to issue checks as funds are received in the GoFundMe account. Clark Arrington, I and others have sent emails and made other connections to urge people to support the GoFundMe account.
John Zippert
205/657-0273 (cell phone)
Fundraising team (2)
John Zippert
Organizer
Raised $470 from 6 donations
Eutaw, AL
Clark Arrington
Team member
Raised $550 from 6 donations
This team raised $1,300 from 10 other donations.
