Carole Smitherman

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Carole Catlin Smitherman (born 1952) is the sitting President of the Birmingham City Council. She represents District 6 and also serves as Chair of the Administration, Budget & Finance Committee and as a member of the Economic Development & Job Recruitment and Education committees. She was first elected to the City Council in 2001 and has been re-elected twice. Her current term ends in 2009.

Smitherman and her brother were adopted by her grandmother, a Lawson State Community College teacher, after her mother remarried and moved to New York. She graduated from Spelman College in Atlanta and received her Juris Doctorate from Miles College in 1979, graduating first in her class. She was the first African-American woman to serve as a circuit court judge in Alabama. She has also worked for district attorney’s office and currently is in private practice with her husband.

Smitherman finished 4,000 votes behind winner Bernard Kincaid in the 2003 Birmingham mayoral election. She won the City Council presidency by virtue of seniority after the 2005 Birmingham City Council election. In 2007 she again launched a mayoral campaign, with the slogan "Birmingham Can, Smitherman Will".

Smitherman is married to Alabama State Senator Rodger Smitherman. They combined their law practices in 1993. The couple has four children.

Smitherman claims the following accomplishments in her official biography:

  • Establishing an oratorical context for Birmingham students to develop language proficiency.
  • Creating the Children of the Village program, aimed at teaching strategies for success
  • Supporting Strings for Students to give children access to classical music training.
  • Initiating Economic Development Summits to address concerns and challenges faced by small businesses and corporations operating in Birmingham.

Smitherman was a childhood friend of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and, in 2004, invited her to visit Birmingham.

References

  • Bryant, Joseph D. (September 2, 2007) "Hopefuls have just weeks to win votes." Birmingham News.
  • Wolfson, Hannah (September 24, 2007) "Smitherman brings heart, endurance to race." Birmingham News.

External links

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