The first election Fowlkes ran in took place on September13, 1961, the primary to run for alderman for the Eighth Ward, Position2. The incumbent at the time was Goodwyn "Shag" Cates. Speaking to the North Fulton Optimist Club in July 1961, Fowlkes said, "It is the responsibility of the public to see that only men with integrity, with honesty, and with high moral character run the city government." He was endorsed by the
Atlanta Constitution. The day after the primary election, the race was still uncalled, with one precinct still yet to report as Fowlkes led Cates by fewer than 500 votes.
Eugene Patterson, writing for the
Atlanta Constitution after the election, noted that "the Negro 'bloc vote' is usually alleged... to be tantamount to election. Yet an incumbent alderman, Goodwyn 'Shag' Cates, took a majority of the Negro vote and lost to Buddy Fowlkes." The general election for the city, in which no one on the ballot faced opposition, took place on December6, 1961; Fowlkes received a total of 13,718 votes. At the age of 33, Fowlkes was the youngest person ever elected to the Board of Aldermen when he was sworn in on January2, 1962. He recalled that then-mayor
Ivan Allen Jr. "treat[ed] me like a kid. He wanted to pat me on the head like I was a little boy. I twisted his tail by sending some of his programs down the tube. He called and asked to make peace with me, and we got along okay after that." Fowlkes represented the Eighth Ward, Position2 from 1962 until the council was reorganized in 1974, when he represented At-large Post 16. Later, he represented District7. In the 1969 and 1981 elections, Fowlkes was unopposed. When mayor
Maynard Jackson requested that Fowlkes redirect city money away from
Bobby Jones Golf Course to poorly-funded parks in the southside instead, it sparked an eight-year-long feud between the two. When the People's Fair II was held in
Piedmont Park in 1971, Fowlkes said "there were so many hippies that they are taking over the park." In 1977, as Atlanta became more liberal, Fowlkes decided to stop representing the city-wide At-large Post16 and instead run for District7, which was opening up as its incumbent, George Cotsakis, announced his retirement; Fowlkes's opponents were Hank Schwab and Lou Hohenstein. Fowlkes said he wanted to "steer away from tremendous social programs". Fowlkes won 49.8% of the vote in the general election, causing him to face Schwab in a runoff, which Fowlkes won. Fowlkes was a conservative and described as having an "exacting, no-nonsense style." Fowlkes was opposed to the
I-85 to
I-285 extension of
GA 400, which was completed in the early 1990s; "I'm encouraged," he said in 1989. "People are starting to understand that there are alternatives to the Georgia 400 extension." The same year, he was honored by
Chastain Park, which declared June 10, 1989 as "Buddy Fowlkes Day".
Airport bribery scandal In 1994, Fowlkes was indicted in a bribery scandal involving
the city's airport, which he oversaw as chair of the Transportation Committee. In 1993, before Fowlkes's indictment, then-councilmember
Bill Campbell said "I would be shocked if there were any truth to the allegation. I have known him to be a man of unimpeachable integrity." Fowlkes began to announce privately that he would resign in August 1993; two people ran for election to his seat, James Garcia and Lee Morris. Morris won the election. Fowlkes was suspended from office at noon on December14, 1993 by a three-person state commission. On the stand in court, Fowlkes said "I am not guilty of the charge. I have never sold my vote, nor would I consider it." After a jury trial before the
United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Fowlkes was found guilty on three counts of income tax fraud and one count of accepting a bribe; he was sentenced to 41 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, and fined $25,000. The prosecutor was
Sally Yates. In December 1995, Fowlkes was still free as his appeal worked its way through the courts. The conviction was upheld by the
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in 1996, and by January 1998, Fowlkes was incarcerated. Fowlkes's BOP Register number was 45419–019. In 2006, it was reported that Fowlkes had nonetheless received over $200,000 in pensions since the trial and was once again living in
Marco Island, Florida. Hip-hop group
Goodie Mob mentioned Fowlkes and the scandal in their song "Thought Process" on their 1995 album
Soul Food.
Big Gipp raps: "Makin' more deals than Buddy Fowlkes made with Hartsfield." ==Personal life==