It was bad enough that three different campaigns in Alabama employed a convicted rapist. It got worse when the only coverage the media gave this story was the fact that he was a redemption story, even though he seems careful to not fully admit his crime, making it sound as though he were merely in the wrong place at the wrong time and could have stopped what someone else did:
“I can’t put into words how much it hurts me that I hurt somebody,” according to Al.com’s article. “I regret what happened, regret I was in position to stop what happened and didn’t…. I have a daughter, a mother, a sister. I regret not standing up for another person’s rights; that’s counter to the way I was raised.”
The media also refuses to share the full details of the crime, instead just saying he served his entire 30-year sentence for rape by forcible compulsion, sodomy I and robbery I, which Littlejohn told Al.com was a plea deal he took and that he “didn’t know any better” because 30 years sounded better than life. They go on to completely ignore his victim (still are).
Yet, Democrat candidate for governor Sue Bell Cobb, after being given every possible benefit of the doubt and opportunity to do and say the right thing, continued to bungle this situation. Cobb decided not only would she defend a convicted rapist AFTER he was arrested for violating the term of his release, she then attacked law enforcement as “politically motivated” for daring to arrest him:
“Why? The Republicans don’t want to run against Sue Bell Cobb. Governor Ivey doesn’t want to run against Sue Bell Cobb. They found that as an opportunity to take advantage of information that had been sent out into the public forum,” Cobb told Al.com.
Why this matters: Cobb truly thinks all of this is about her. It’s not about the victims. It is not about the children at the church where this convicted rapist is working. It isn’t even about the young women working for her campaign. Everything about this is about Sue Bell Cobb and her inability to do the right thing, her inability to see that law enforcement has to enforce the law. Cobb should apologize to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department and Sheriff Mike Hale, and after she does that, she should drop out of the race for the Democrat nomination.
The details:
— Sue Bell Cobbs’ campaign staffer was convicted of forcible rape and sodomy of a young woman.
— Paul Littlejohn spent 30 years in prison, before “turning his life around” by working on now-Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin’s and now-Senator Doug Jones’s campaigns.
— As a registered sex offender, Littlejohn is prohibited from living or working near schools, but he was working at a church with a daycare.
— He was arrested on charges that he failed to comply with registration requirements, yet Cobb still defended him.
@TheDaleJackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a conservative talk show from 7-11 am weekdays on WVNN
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