Fred Plump

Fred "Coach" Plump (born 1947) is a retired Birmingham firefighter, founder of the Piper Davis Youth Baseball League, president of the Magic City Youth Football League, and was a candidate in the 2008 Jefferson County Commission special election.

Plump was drafted into the U. S. Army and served a one-year tour in Vietnam. He then went to work for the Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service and began a 37-year career in the Alabama National Guard.

In 1972 Plump filed a race-discrimination suit against the Fire Department and won. Another suit filed a decade later asked the department to begin a 1:1 hiring policy to overcome past race discrimination. He retired in 2004 as a lieutenant in the department.

In 2006 Plump ran unsuccessfully as a democrat in the race to represent Alabama House District 57. He was elected to the State Democratic Executive Committee later that same year.

Davis filed a federal lawsuit against Governor Bob Riley when he appointed George Bowman to fulfill Larry Langford's unexpired term on the Jefferson County Commission. The Jefferson County Election Commission ignored the appointment and scheduled their special election to coincide with presidential party primaries on February 5, 2008. A three-judge panel ruled in Plump's suit that the appointment should have not been made without approval of the United States Department of Justice, but did not rule on the question of Riley's authority to make an appointment, given such approval.

Though he did not initially intend to run in the election, he was convinced by friends to put his name in the hat. If elected, he pledged to fight for Cooper Green Mercy Hospital and the county-run Ketona Nursing Home and to work for affordable housing, public transit and better schools. He also pledged to commit a portion of his Commission salary toward helping seniors with utility bills.

Plump and his wife have five children and three grandchildren.

References

• Stock, Erin (January 31, 2008) "Jefferson County Commission candidate Fred Plump says his key issues include affordable housing, better schools, improved public transportation." Birmingham News