New campaign flyers from some group no one's ever heard of target Birmingham mayoral candidate Patrick Cooper for his support of Howard Bayless, a former school board member who ran for City Council this year.  Bayless' “crime”?  He's the first openly gay man elected to public office in Alabama.

One flier's disclaimer reads “Paid for by Faith in Birmingham.” However, no such group is registered with the Alabama Secretary of State’s Office or with the Jefferson County Probate Office. The other flier lists no sponsor.

Alabama’s Fair Campaign Practices Act mandates such campaign literature be marked as a paid political advertisement and give the identification of the principal individual who paid for or authorized it.

I don't know if William Bell is behind this attack or not.  I do know that he is a coward who attacked Cooper at a local prayer breakfast as a “slave trader from Mobile” (I heard it from an eyewitness well before the Cooper campaign called him out on it) and then tried to excuse it by saying he didn't name any names.

I also know that I will be making a donation to the Cooper campaign tomorrow.  BTW, Commissioner Bell “Faith” in Birmingham, that's known as the Law of Unintended Consequences.

If you'd like to join me, here's Cooper's donation link.