Councilman VS. ThyssenKrupp

By Tiffany Craig Investigative Reporter
.

Mobile City Councilman Fred Richardson and ThyssenKrupp officials explain what the fuss is all about. Councilman VS. ThyssenKrupp
Published: Fri, March 21, 2008 - 5:28 pm
Tiffany Craig
Tiffany Craig
Mobile City Councilman Fred Richardson caused quite a stir Thursday night when he called out representatives of ThyssenKrupp Steel.

He invited a speaker of the steel giant to address questions at a workforce development meeting.

The problems started when no one from the company showed up to address the crowd.

Then, Richardson challenged the media to start asking questions. "I want the news media to call ThyssenKrupp. Is this the kind of business you wanna conduct in Mobile County? If so, you can leave!"

It's safe to say that Fred Richardson was on a roll Thursday night. "My mama didn't raise no fool. I aint going down like that now."

The District 1 councilman didn't mince words when addressing a room full of people wanting to meet the representative from ThyssenKrupp. "Alright John, you better show up. I am writing the CEO in the morning. Fed Ex. I want them to get it the next day. Whatever happened to John, I don't care."

On Friday, Richardson and TK spokesperson Scott Posey talked. Posey says the problem turned out to be a scheduling mix up. "We look for opportunities to tell our story. If we had it on our schedule, we would have loved to participate."

Then, Richardson explains that he was misunderstood at the meeting. "Aint no way in the world I would make that statement about no company in Mobile. You come all the way from Germany to here and I'm gonna tell you to go back home?"

But that's how it sounded when our camera was rolling on Thursday. "Is this is the kind of business you wanna conduct in Mobile County? If so, you can leave!"

Councilman Richardson plans to schedule another workforce development seminar later this year. TK officials say all they need is an invitation and they'll be there!

Since News 5 Investigates started looking into this story, we have uncovered that some are concerned about who will get hired at the new 3.7 billion dollar steel mill.

We have confirmed that 2 letters have been sent to the Mobile office of ThyssenKrupp. One was sent from State Representative James Buskey and the other from the local chapter of the NAACP. They just want to make sure that everyone is included in the company's hiring process.

A representative from Atlantic Marine was also on the list of people asked to attend. We are still waiting for company officials to call us back and explain that no-show.



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Well today would have been a perfect opportunity to apologize at the council meeting…but alas….nothing.  How Sad, how very sad.

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Voters in his district need to take note.  Election will come up!?

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Thanks Primate, sounds like the law is once again above the law. At least he wont kill anyone from DWI now, of course he could still shoot somebody while drunk -  take his gun too.

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Are you talking about Harold?

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dan asks: What’s worse a school board official that takes money for mardi gras throws, a judge who allegedly paddles people privately or a councilman that runs off of the mouth? how bout a city police chief that wrecked so many police cars drunk we had to assign him a driver..that might top a loud-mouth councilman..

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another sad case of someone that forgot to engage brain ‘before’ opening mouth…

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Well every body has a bad day.Let’s see if he makes a public apology and realizes he made a mistake,if he doesn’t then he will show his arrogance or ignorance.sometimes the mouth engages before the brain dose.

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Sounds like big mouth “Fred Richardson” needs to apologize to everybody. Be a man dude, admit that you were way out of line, of course if you were a man you wouldn’t had said it in the first place, and if you haven’t grown up yet, there’s little chance of that happening now. Just remember, when you are in a public forum, try to at least “act” like a human being.

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Mayor Jones spent more on his private wetbar than his plan for poor black kids.  Check it out!

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Dan I agree!

We (Mobile) need to put our best face out and show the world this is a new south.  Richardson took us back at least 100 years!

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