Everyone on the Gulf Coast knows it’s the roux that makes a gumbo worthy. You can’t rush the dark butter base, just stir and stir. The patience pays off later in a dish that’s more than mere soup. 

There’s a gumbo brewing in Mobile, Ala. as county commissioner and political firebrand Stephen Nodine finds himself at the center of yet another controversy only this one threatens to boil his career and possibly his very freedom away.

A grand jury recommended impeachment for the GOP leader based on ethics violations and possession of illegal drugs. He’s also to be the focal point of a grand jury presentation this month that will name him as the murderer of Angela Downs, Nodine’s mistress.

The commissioner’s wife and son and previous campaigns on a platform of “conservative family values” didn’t stop him from indulging in a six-year affair with Downs.

When we last left this saga on Wednesday, May 12, Nodine had retained lawyer Matt Green after being named a person of interest in the death then had checked himself into a local hospital’s psychiatric unit citing mental health issues. It looked as if he was setting up an insanity plea.

A grand jury met the next day to begin looking at the possibility of impeachment. They were rushing it along. 

That same afternoon, Downs’ family held a 5 p.m. press conference. As her sister, brother-in-law and ex-husband stood stoically, their attorney read a statement reiterating their faith.

“The family believes 100-percent that Angel's death was not a suicide and that the person responsible will be charged and convicted without a shadow of doubt,” Raines read. “The family communicated with Angel that day of, and literally minutes before, the incident occurred.”

Nodine checked out of the hospital on the morning of Friday, May 14. A Mobile grand jury continued to look at Nodine’s past behavior while on the commission. Media reported the Baldwin County sheriff and investigators from the Alabama Bureau of Investigations were seen in the vicinity of the grand jury. 

Another new face was there. Defense attorney Jeff Deen has a reputation in Mobile as being the best, the man you want at your table in the direst of circumstances. When he was spotted entering the grand jury with Nodine’s attorney on Friday morning, it raised eyebrows. Why was Deen retained? What else was Nodine facing?

After noon, Baldwin County DA Judy Newcomb let it be known autopsy reports had returned and the evidence pointed clearly to murder.

Meanwhile back over Mobile Bay, the grand jury impeached Nodine on multiple violations. Among the charges:

-Nodine left evidence in his county-issued truck that he had used illegal drugs, including fraudulently obtained opiates, in the neighborhood of 2,400 Lortabs at nine pharmacies in four states. He also tested positive for marijuana and opiates on Tuesday, May 11.

-Frequently used the truck for personal business and driving under the influence. During Mardi Gras season of 2008, Nodine lost his previous county truck after parking it downtown. A week after last seeing it, he inquired and found it impounded.

-The week prior, Nodine showed up drunk and belligerent at the Oil Spill Command Center in Mobile, the heart of international focus and our national response to the largest environmental disaster in nearly a quarter-century. He was not only wearing county commission attire but had to be removed under force of arrest.

-He used county funds to purchase alcohol and fuel in New Orleans.

-Nodine used the truck to stalk, harass and abuse Angela Downs. She not only had sought advice on a Protection From Abuse court order but had needed medical treatment on occasion. In three incidents – two in New Orleans – he flashed a badge and used his official position to prevent police officers or individuals from hindering or charging him.

A jury trial starts within 20 days to decide his fate on those charges.

The confirmation of his drug possession and usage resulted in criminal charges. Nodine surrendered at the jail shortly, his attorney in tow as they ran a gauntlet of shouting press. He was released on a $28,000 bond.

Always a candlefly, it was unusual to see him quiet in the limelight. He walked tersely through the cameras and microphones, eyes fixed on the jailhouse door. Less than an hour later, he emerged in the same style but his instincts slipped through.

“God will, God will show the way and have mercy have, have mercy on everyone,” Nodine said as he returned to the car.

While he was beseeching higher compassion, the authorities in Baldwin County dropped the hammer. DA Newcomb told press that Nodine was now the “one and only” suspect in the Downs murder and she wanted to present her case to a grand jury before May 24.

Nodine's wife filed for divorce that afternoon. Settlement was quick.  

As of Saturday, Nodine had yet to show at the rehab clinic he told the district attorney he would be attending.  

Also on Saturday, a blog emerged from radio personality Shayne McBryde. Now in Florida, McBryde previously worked in Mobile in the bombastic realm of talk radio then moved to Georgia before being busted for pot possession. His blog post is a litany of damning behavior by the author while in the company of Nodine and another radio host popular in the local right-wing radio circuit.  

photos/al.com 

Stephen Nodine

The continual tension of the oil spill situation has certainly added some subliminal psychological fuel to the buzz around this drama. But there's more to it than that.

McBryde's testimonial is intriguing. Caveat: McBryde is a radio personality and therefore any attention is good for him. How much truth would it seem to hold?

Knowing what I do about the drug use and general behavior among Nodine's crowd and some of the people in the radio jock's confessions, aspects are believable. One notable aspect is the coziness with which the political and media worlds mingle in Mobile. He nailed that much. 

It also intimates at the gullibility of the local population, the ease with which their openness and fatalism can be wielded against them. As someone once told me, "The most popular things to be with no qualifications are 'preacher' and 'politician.' All you have to do is call yourself that and you are one." Mobile has plenty of both. 

Nodine has been on the Mobile political scene for over a decade. He slipped into political life with rumor, innuendo and questionable politics. His political running partners can come across as shady, marked by behavior like sneaking into governmental offices and snooping around at night. Nodine didn’t have active enemies – not like he would have the public believe – as much as a lot of folks that just didn’t like him.

Nodine’s behavior was obvious to anyone with open eyes. He cultivated a sizable reputation for crassness, arrogance and licentiousness. Some of his party friends were rumored to have a fondness of cocaine and anything else they could get their hands on.

He didn't hide his womanizing, allegedly taking his son over to meet Downs on occasion. Did his wife know about his exploits? Some who orbited the situation claimed the Nodines had "an understanding." It would appear any such thing has ended. 

The most notable fallout?  The schadenfreude showering its discussion. A Thursday night arts event was marked by a reluctant mirth, the recognition of both tragedy and karma when attendees spoke of the shamed commissioner and the dead woman at the heart of his fall.

Friday upped that. There's a specific nucleus of downtown bars that were the heart of Nodine’s former haunts, places where the public used to see him letting it all hang out. Business there was brisk all night on Friday, fed by a monthly gallery stroll.

"I've heard nothing but amusement all night at what's happened to Nodine," one bartender said, "and we've been busy as hell." 

UPDATE: Edited to extract the previously stated figure of $160,000 as Nodine's salary. Subsequent viewing of the divorce papers revealed that the quoted figure was in error. Kimberlee earned less than $2,000 a month at a local medical facility. Steve earned $6,700 per month from the county.