Birmingham, Ala., Mayor Larry Langford has been charged with accepting nearly $250,000 in bribes from two former top officials of Alabama’s Democratic Party. Both former state party chairman William Blount, a Montgomery investment banker, and former state party executive director Al LaPierre also have been charged in connection with the alleged scheme:

The charges stem from a long-running federal investigation surrounding bond deals that were at the center of Jefferson County’s upgrade of its sewer system, deals that have left the county billions of dollars in debt and on the verge of bankruptcy.

The 80-page federal indictment in this case is online, and the Birmingham News has a special page about the Langford case. Democrats have claimed for months that the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman was a politically motivated “witch hunt” orchestrated by Karl Rove. We’ll see if they’ll try the same defense for Langford, Blount and LaPierre.

All these (allegedly) corrupt Democrats — somebody ought to write a book about it.