Landslide Grounds New Political Landscape

Memphis needed a mandate.

Yes, Mayor-elect A C Wharton got it, but it was the city that needed it.

We’ve been limping along for eight years or so with no sense that we had anyone in charge, someone with a compelling vision and the public credibility and ability to lead us out of the wilderness, someone who can cast off the civic lethargy that has gripped up for too long.

While Mayor Wharton doesn’t need to play Moses to our wandering tribe, he will have to play Obama for a city demanding change in short order. There is so much that has to be done now and there’s no chance of his doing them one at a time. He has no choice but for daily multi-tasking that will be the theme for the next two years and a skill every one of his directors will have to cultivate.

Waiting For A Great Mayor

That’s why Memphis badly needed a mandate.

Our city needs a reason to shift from despairing about things to becoming hopeful about the future. Our city needs someone who can summon up all of the resources in the public and private sectors to focus on the game changers that can transform our city’s trajectory. Our city needs momentum and nothing can jump start it more than a leader with the overwhelmingly broad-based support that gives him a unique opportunity to make long strides in a short period of time.

In other words, Memphis desperately needs a leader, a city mayor whose landslide gives him a special stature that means he can take charge of his bully pulpit with a no bull attitude. Memphis needs a city mayor who can ask for help from local business leaders and social entrepreneurs with the confidence that they will step forward.

In other words, it’s all about the kind of clout, authority and standing that gives a mayor the chance to be a transformative leader like Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin.

Memphis has had some good mayors, but we’ve never had a great one. Eighteen years Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton had his chance but in the end, it all unraveled as his behavior grew more erratic and his leadership more divisive.

Failing Grades

As a result, Memphis has languished for eight years and it shows. While Nero fiddled, Memphis was burning and its worrisome trends not only continued but they quickened.

Today, about 35% of Memphis workers are either unemployed or have not looked for a job in so long that they are no longer included in the unemployment rate. The number of people living in poverty in Memphis is equivalent to the population of Chattanooga, and the poverty rate in Memphis has risen 27.2% since 2000, and the poverty rate for adolescents has climbed 45%.

Memphis is losing an average of three middle-income families a day and five people a day with college degrees. Inside the 1970 city limits of Memphis, population is down 28% and density is cut in half, making public services more costly and meaning that public facilities are often located in the wrong places.

We’ve said it before and we say it again: Memphis has no margin for error.

To put it even more directly, we do not have five years to float unfocused and uninspired. We have to make strides. We have to do an awful lot of things right. But first, it requires Mayor Wharton to restore confidence for a government that most people believe is a central part of the problem.

THE Question

Ultimately, that’s why the most pressing question facing Mayor Wharton is this: where do I best invest the power of this mandate for the greatest change?

With so many clear needs, there are almost as many answers for what he needs to do first as there are activists. But on one thing, there is no confusion, and Mayor Wharton knows it. If the trend lines for Memphis do not change, our future is sealed and it won’t be pretty.

Mandates are magic. They breathe life into the system. They inject dynamism into the body politic. They arrest the kind of political grandstanding and sniping that come with lesser victories. They act to amass new resources and renewed energy behind a leader who can leverage them to change things.

While President Obama was right when he said we are the leaders we’ve been waiting for, it’s hard to find a city that’s making important progress that also doesn’t have a strong mayor with a bold agenda propelled by a clear mandate for something new and different. Like the president, Mayor Wharton’s task will be to lower expectations, always a necessity for anyone in politics, while juggling multiple political hot potatoes and producing evidence that change is taking place.

Killing The Status Quo

Here’s the harsh reality of politics: most winning elected officials are never more popular than they are on election night, so before the honeymoon subsides, Mayor Wharton has to make the most of it.

The best news for him is that the people said emphatically that they are willing to follow him, and by inference, that others who oppose him do so at their peril. With slightly more than 60 percent of the vote and an approval rating more than one-third higher, odds are that he can bring the executive and legislative branches back into balance in City Hall.

Over the years, Memphis City Council had no choice but to fill the void left by a disengaged Mayor Herenton and it has shown courage on more than one occasion while the mayor sat mute in his seventh floor office. But city government cannot operate on less than all of its cylinders, and the wear and tear of an administration that was rudderless and adrift has taken a terrible toll.

That is likely to be Mayor Wharton’s opening salvo – to send the forceful message that if people are defenders of the status quo and of the same old ways of doing things, they are in the wrong line of work. Also, we suspect he will send the message that the days of independent fiefdoms, turf warfare and directors freelancing – such as hiring fellow church members and making appointments without mayoral approvals – are over.

The Right Theme

He’s already made it clear that a top priority for him is to change the culture of city government. There is almost no goal that he can set that is more important or harder to accomplish. But it is without question the right one to have.

In fact, if all of the 34 planks of his platform were stripped down to the thread that held them all together, it was a theme of culture change.

For a large percentage of Memphians, City Hall has come to symbolize all that is wrong with their city – dysfunctional, lacking vision and no clear plans for progress – and it exhibits the attitudes that penalize our city’s progress – racial division, decisions based on who you know rather than what you know, territoriality and lack of alignment of our energy and our goals.

As the mayor of county government, Mayor Wharton no doubt often felt like a prisoner in the weak mayor form of government that Shelby County has. In that government, he really controlled about 25% of the county budget and employees, and like all county mayors, his visibility was based on his willingness to elbow his way into the spotlight and create his own events to get attention.

Honeymooning

There’s no mistaking that we can name the head of county government mayor and he can have as many employees and a budget as big as Memphis’, but in the end, it’s the city mayor who gets the headlines, the regular media coverage, the most public attention and has the largest megaphone.

That’s why the world as he has known it will change for Mayor Wharton when he takes the helm of city government. The Memphis mayor heads up a strong mayor form of government. He can change the goals and the direction of 6,000 employees with the issuance of a memo. He has the preeminent position of leadership in the city, he speaks with a voice that is amplified and dissected by the news media, and while his actions are analyzed and criticized by the talking heads, but no one has more control over the Memphis destiny.

There are the critics – subdued somewhat by the landslide on election night – who continue to believe that Mayor Wharton cannot succeed: he is not tough enough, he is not decisive enough or he is not willing to take the risks needed to effectuate change. He’s heard the criticisms before of course, and early on, he seems to be sending the modulated message that when stripped down says, “just watch me.”

And every one will be, particularly during his honeymoon period. The length of the grace period for new mayors is never preordained, and as a county mayor shifting to become city mayor, it’s possible that his will be shorter rather than longer, because the public does not expect there to be a learning curve for him.

Building Political Capital

There’s nothing like getting 61% of the vote to give you the currency you need to extend your honeymoon. And that message was not lost on City Council members up for reelection at the same time that Mayor Wharton runs for a full four-year term in 2011. If they are defined then as impediments to the mayor’s agenda, it could prove to be a high-risk venture.

Mayor Pro Tem Myron Lowery – who had done an admirable job as mayor pro tem - made the point on election night. He said the Wharton campaign had more money and a much better campaign organization. The possibility that those same weapons could be turned on critics or obstructionists is a sobering thought already whispered between a few Council members.

So, in the end, what should Mayor Wharton invest his popularity and support to accomplish? Here’s what we think his vision should be: to create a “no excuses” government known for its innovative programs, for its development of change agents, and for making the strategic investments that create, retain and attract talent.
Of course, underneath such a vision are an array of programs that have to be accomplished – from better parks and libraries to institutionalizing an office charged with developing talent; from streamlining city government by reducing the number of divisions and managers by one-third and the workforce by 15% to getting serious about creating a real digital government; from functional consolidation plans that never seem to find a successful end (such as fire and engineering) to looking for ways to add others like information technology (Memphis spends $20 million a year and Shelby County spends $11 million); from scaling back tax freezes to equalizing tax policy; and those are just a few.

No Rest For The Weary

There are pressing issues commanding attention after years of neglect, and many of them are about getting the basics right. After all, the public aren’t normally a demanding group. They just want government to get a few things right - safety, cleanliness, efficiency, responsiveness and a dollar’s worth of value for every dollar in taxes.

In addition, there are threatening issues on the horizon, chiefly the city government budget process that begins in only a couple of months. It would have been tough enough in normal times, but add in the school funding issue and it becomes an immediate test that could be a defining moment for the Wharton Administration.

Getting through that successfully could be the best honeymoon present of all.

Lessons From A "Special" Election

It was in the late Sixties when our dorm walls bore a poster: “Suppose they gave a war and nobody came.”

In those heady days of political activism, it was hard to imagine that the poster today should say: “Suppose they held an election and nobody came.”

Voter turnout numbers in Memphis have been tumbling for years, and even though special elections traditionally attract lower turnout, it’s hard to synchronize the pent-up call for change with the voter apathy seen in today’s election for Memphis mayor.

The total votes cast today just barely exceeded 100,000, compared to 165,397 votes cast in a turnout hailed as lackluster in the 2007 city mayor’s race.

Too Nice To Criticize

Perhaps, it was the inevitability of the victory by Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton as the new city mayor. In the end, no opponent could ever lay a glove on him, and while criticizing him as too nice to be mayor, the other candidates never came to grips with the reality that voters didn’t want to see such a nice person attacked.

It seemed lost on them that once you set him up as the nice guy in the race, it’s really hard to then jump on him without looking like a heavy. That’s why Carol Chumney’s apparent desperation in the election eve debate merely came off as shrill, just as Charles Carpenter’s earlier shots merely sounded snarky.

Voters simply brushed aside criticisms of an elected official with the highest approval ratings of any politician in the modern political history of Memphis.

Meanwhile, if there’s anybody who gained from the election – and it’s hard to see how any one really did – it’s probably Myron Lowery, who in the next 7 to 10 days will revert back to his post as chairman of a Memphis City Council divided down the middle in their opinions about him.

Down And Out

Despite that, the tone of the Lowery campaign and his determination to make the most of his few months as mayor pro tem gained him a measure of respect (at least among Caucasian voters). Among African-American voters, he could never recover from the damage done as the deciding vote with the white Council members on several controversial issues and the neverending saga of City Attorney Elbert Jefferson that dogged his time in the mayor’s office.

Meanwhile, Mr. Carpenter’s campaign began with high hopes. Some pundits even suggested that although his campaign might be a long-shot, he would prove to be a strong candidate and position himself strongly for next year’s county mayor’s election. Any dreams of future office evaporated with his failure to get into double digits – or more than half way to double digits.

The election also put a period on the political career of Ms. Chumney, former Council member and state legislator. It seemed impossible during the campaign for her to find her stride and her repeated, clumsy attempts to cast herself as a victim of a glass ceiling for women politicians never gained traction with even a significant percentage of women voters. Just two years ago, she received 57,196 votes for city mayor. Today, she got slightly more than 10,000.

School board member Kenneth Whalum was reminded of another sad fact of life about Memphis politics. You can excite the youth vote, but you just can’t get them out to the polls, and as a result, his 2% of the total vote was much less than the 5% he had polled only four days before the election.

Residual Effects

If there should have been anyone as happy as the Wharton family, it should have been Shelby County Board of Commissioners Chair Deidre Malone and former state legislator Harold Byrd, who have announced their intentions to run for county mayor next year.

It was widely thought by some news reporters that this election would presage next year’s county election by positioning several candidates strongly for that race. Not so. If anything, the election doomed any serious attempt by any candidate to claim they have the kind of base on which to build a countywide campaign.

Another thing proven by the election is that the impact of controversial blogger Thaddeus Matthews is far more perception than reality. Despite relentless and careless fictions about anyone connected to Mayor Wharton, the Carpenter candidacy, if anything, sunk beneath the weight of his cheerleading.

It reinforced the lesson that some were slow to learn in last year’s campaign against Congressman Steve Cohen. Voters are slow to mobilize around smear campaigns and reckless slanders. The Carpenter campaign proved this again in conclusive fashion. Meanwhile, we are told that a Federal Communications Commission complaint is being drawn up against Mr. Matthews and his radio home, KWAM.

New Day

All in all, it was a “take no prisoners” display by Mayor Wharton, who proved conclusive that even a nice guy can put together one mean campaign. It may be too soon for such predictions, but it’s hard to argue with the view that Mayor Wharton is now the dominant political force and if he invests his honeymoon period well, he has the power to change the entire political landscape in Memphis, particularly its tone and civility, for the better.

He is the antithesis of Mayor Herenton, whose stated disdain for consensus-building makes him a strange person to send to Congress and its 435 members. There is no issue that Mayor Wharton does not believe that he can find consensus and common ground. That will unquestionably be put to the test in City Hall.

For us, however, what interests us most is that he’s positioned himself as the political powerhouse who can achieve his goal of ushering in a new generation of young political leaders and public servants.

In his last race for Memphis mayor, Willie Herenton said he had no choice but run because he had neglected to mentor a successor. While it’s hard to imagine Mayor Wharton suggesting that he should pick who will be the next city mayor, he is clearly sincere about the need to attract young people into key positions in City Hall.

Changing Expectations

If this election was about anything, it was about change.

While Mayor Wharton may have tallied 61%, 100% of the vote was for something different. With 25 candidates in the race, no one stood four square in support of Mayor Herenton. No one defended his record, his philosophy or his approach to his work.

Perhaps, that’s to be expected after 18 years of the same person as city mayor, but it was also a residual effect of the historic election of Barack Obama as president. Suddenly, all things seemed possible, even the once unthinkable – One Memphis.

City Council Acts On Urge To Merge

And we're off.

Today, Memphis City Council, which gets regularly beaten up by so many people, showed uncommon leadership in unanimously approving the creation of a charter commission. Hopefully, that commission will blow up all preconceived notions of what government is supposed to look like and will start all over to build a totally new government for our county.

With this vote, City Council set aside the misinformation being spread on the campaign trail for city mayor by the anti-consolidation candidates who are blind to the need to do something to shake up our government, our community's trends and our future.

City Council joined the Shelby County Board of Commissioners in signaling the go-ahead for a process that should be open, wide-ranging and imaginative. It should begin with an educational program to get everyone up to speed on what city-county consolidation could be if we dream big enough.

Put Out The Welcome Mat

It should be a process that welcomes all voices and all opinions. It should be about listening to the public and soliciting their opinions and it should be about giving people from all over Shelby County a seat at the table.

If there is a foundation to build this process on, we think it is that most people in our community want to have this conversation, to have a chance to talk about what better government could look like and ultimately to decide it at the polls.

To that end, and proving that hope springs eternal, we hope that the town mayors will show a willingness to engage in the debate rather than trying to shout it down.

The Moment

Just imagine.

If we are successful in creating a new government that most people can endorse, we could eliminate the inevitable moment in every meeting where someone says, "If only we were consolidated, we could..."

It’s the “consolidation moment,” the time when someone holds up the merger of city and county governments as the answer to all that ails our city.

Frequently mentioned in these merger moments is the poster child of all things virtuous when it comes to Memphians’ perceptions of consolidation – Nashville. But these days, Louisville is more and more added to the mix.

Power Of Popularity

But Nashville and Louisville did have one thing in common that proved pivotal to passage of consolidation – wildly popular political leaders who set consolidation as their priority and put all of their political chips on the table to get the merger passed by the voters.

In Nashville in 1962, it was the dominating influence of Davidson County Judge Beverly Briley. The Nashville Mayor, Ben West, was distrusted by voters outside of Nashville, who came to see the referendum as a vote of confidence for either Briley or West. That was critical, because consolidation in Nashville, like Memphis, had to be passed in a dual vote of Nashville voters and non-Nashville voters.

It's why Shelby County Mayor AC Wharton - complete with intimidating poll numbers and war chest - is possibly the pivotal figure in our long-time quest for consolidated government. And with Mayor Herenton out of office, the merger proposal is free of the personality politics that dominated this question in the past.

Modernizing Government

In Louisville, the political realities were just the opposite of Nashville’s. In Kentucky, consolidation is passed when a majority of all voters in the county approve it, so there’s only one vote total. There, the wildly popular former Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson – with a 90+ percent approval rating – led the fight for consolidated government and became its first mayor.

Unlike many cities, there was no crisis or scandal in Louisville that served as the catalytic event for consolidation. Instead, it was all about creating a modern government structure that would make the city more competitive, more entrepreneurial and more successful.

There were no claims that consolidation would result in big savings and instead, the business and political leadership made it a vote of confidence about the future of their hometown.

Keep It Vague

The pro-consolidation campaign spent about $2 million while anti-consolidation forces ran a shoestring campaign that was regularly derided by the news media.

Like Memphis, Louisville had been pursuing consolidation without success for decades - 23 years there. Voters turned it down in 1982 and 1983. In 2000, consolidation passed 56% for and 44% against.

The most striking lesson for Memphis in the Louisville vote is the reminder of how simple our governmental structure is. The most obvious contradiction to the widely held perception that we are hopelessly complicated here is this: There are 8 governments in Shelby County; there were 118 local governments in Jefferson County.

Back to Nashville, it was the first Tennessee city to put consolidation on the ballot after passage of the 1953 constitutional amendment that allowed merged governments. That same amendment set up the dual majority requirement that has been the formidable hurdle that has to be cleared here for success.

We’re Not Alone

By the way, the last consolidation votes in Memphis were in 1962 and 1971. In one of those votes, the merger failed because it was voted down outside of Memphis, but in the other, it was voted down both inside and outside of Memphis.

By way of reference, the civic frustration caused by failed consolidation votes is not limited to Memphis. It failed at the ballot box in Knoxville in 1958, 1978, 1983 and 1996. Chattanooga voted it down in 1964 and 1970. It also was voted down in Jackson in 1987, Clarksville in 1981 and Bristol in 1982 and 1988.

Besides Nashville, it’s only passed in two other counties, Lynchburg/ Moore, in 1987 and Hartsville/Trousdale in 2000, with respective populations of 4,700 and 2,400.

It is nonetheless something we need to pursue, because Memphis has to do something dramatic to change a trajectory that is headed in the wrong direction, something dramatic to shake off a largely negative national media image and something dramatic to make local government as sophisticated as the economy that our community seeks to compete in.

One Last Fact

Let's get to one of government's favorite points - the proverbial bottom line.

Today, Memphis languishes in the bottom rungs of most economic indicators that matter, and as important, our national image languishes just as much as we are portrayed as divided, conflicted and in an economic freefall.

As a result, we need nothing less than a fundamental game changer for our community - something dramatic, something that serves notice that we've set out in a new direction and something that shows that we are committed to a bolder, more competitive future.

The passage of consolidation will do that, and that alone is enough of a reason to support it.

City-County Merger: Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself

When the topic of city-county government consolidation comes up, it’s hard to figure out if the small town mayors have more in common with Pavlov or Edgar Cayce.

On one hand, like the dogs in the Russian scientist’s famous reflex action studies, the mayors immediately salivate, growling over territory and turf, personality and propaganda.

On the other hand, like the American psychic, the mayors can foretell the future and their citizens’ opinions on something that isn’t even in the form of a proposal yet.

That’s the thing about the knee-jerk reaction elicited every time someone mentions the merger of city-county government. They profess on one hand to espouse basic Republican principles abhorring big government, but they oppose eliminating one of the two big governments here.

More Questions Than Answers

They complain about having a voice in decisions, but they refuse to engage in a discussion of what a better government could look like in our community. They complain that government wastes money, but they resist a change that can eliminate duplication and inefficiency.

But here’s the main thing: what are the mayors against? There is no proposal to be against.

All that Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton, Memphis Mayor Pro Tem Myron Lowery and Shelby County Board of Commissioners Chairman Deidre Malone have suggested is that our community ought to have a discussion about what we could do to reinvent government here, to give the public the chance to weigh in and ultimately, to give the public the chance to vote for or against a proposal.

As Mayor Wharton has said, what he’s heard on his listening tour throughout Shelby County is that people want to have this discussion, to see what a new government could look like and to have the right to vote. That sounds like the fundamental principles of democracy itself.

Why Worry?

And if the mayors are so certain that voters outside Memphis will never approve this government, then what are they worried about? In an incomprehensible mangling of the “one man, one vote” principle, in the end, their voters not only have one vote, but ultimately, veto power as well.

That’s because it doesn’t matter if a majority of Shelby County citizens would prefer a new government, what matters more is whether citizens outside Memphis prefer it. After all, for creation of a better government, there are two referenda and the concept must pass in both – one for voters inside Memphis and one for voters outside Memphis.

It seems a peculiar invention since we are all county residents, and it’s confusing why some votes have more weight at the ballot box than others. But it’s the law in Tennessee, and it would take a complicated, time-consuming change in the state Constitution to make it more rational.

So, the mayors and their citizens – and the increasing number of people living in unincorporated Shelby County - have extraordinary clout on whether the rest of us can get the government that we all want. In the end, however, this isn’t about unity and singing Kumbaya around a communal campfire. More to the point, it’s about doing something dramatic to change the direction of our region – yes, region, because the troubling indicators are not for Memphis only; they are regional.

Old Ideas Block New Ones

There are some who suggest that the mayors are hunkering down because of the changing demographics of the area outside Memphis and making their last stand against black Memphis. Despite the idea by some city politicians, the non-Memphis area of Shelby County is hardly a bastion of white elites.

Already, there are 60,000 African-Americans living outside Memphis, and every town but Germantown is adding diversity, and it’s about more than black people. It’s about Pakistanis, Indians and people of all kinds of religions. The concept of monolithic Ozzie and Harriet suburbs where every one looks alike is as outdated as analog TV.

We resist the contention that opposition to city-county merger is a manifestation of suburban racism. We know most of the suburban mayors, and while we don’t agree with them on this and many issues, we are reluctant to paint them with this brush. They are good people, and more to the point, they are logical within the world in which they live, but they can read the demographic trends. If they cannot govern cities increasingly characterized by diversity, their political futures are short-lived any way.

In their own cities, they are dedicated to processes that engage the public and they often emphasize the importance of considering new ways of doing business. As we’ve written before, there are lessons that the rest of Shelby County can learn from these towns, particularly quality of life issues such as park and outdoor recreation.

Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself

As a result, it’s dispiriting to see them take such a contrary position when this public engagement and innovation involve the broad community of which they are a part and on which their futures depend. Willingness to take a seat at the table and talk about how they think Memphis and Shelby County Governments should be changed is not political weakness. It’s the essence of real leadership.

Of course, fear of change is a compelling motivator, and while we realize that it’s much easier to say what’s wrong with something than to show the leadership to fix it, we think the mayors – if they can take a few steps back and reflect on their own political values – could find places at the table where their input would be valuable and essential.

Now, they say that they are opposed to consolidation. What kind? What governmental structure? What delineation of responsibilities? What district make-up for a new legislative body? How does a new government use technology to cut costs? What is the law enforcement structure and can it fight crime better? What could a new government look like?

In other words, it’s not simple enough any more to say simply that we are for or against consolidation. It’s about being for a process to answer our questions and to consider what could be rather than what is.

Living In The Present

This is a question that should interest the mayors more than anyone else based on their political philosophy and their personal statements. Who knows what we, as a community, could create if we would all just agree to be at the same table to talk about what the future could be rather than fall into roles dictated by our past?

Perhaps we are probably too sympathetic at times to the town mayors, but one of us was reared in one of them and he knows full well the immediate fear and the subsequent dread that any mention of city-county merger provokes.

But that was then. This is now.

All of us, including the town mayors, must shed ourselves of our preconceived notions and our kneejerk opinions. Consolidation is a concept of governance. It does not have a template or a preordained organizational chart. It does not have a rule book.

Finding Our Unique Answers

It is just the opposite. There are as many versions of city-county mergers as there are places where it has been approved. In this way, we have the very real chance to remake a new government in our own image, reflecting our values and our aspirations.

Clearly, the current governmental structure does not work. It is too expensive, it is too wasteful and it is too bureaucratic. Perhaps, just once, our community could be the first in developing what a high-performing government ought to look like in today’s highly competitive world.

There is much that the towns have done right. Memphians need to acknowledge that.

Conversely, there is much that Memphis has done right. All Shelby Countians need to acknowledge that.

Ultimately, we can play our familiar “we versus they” game yet again. But, it is a zero-sum game and in the end, it is a stalemate, and in this case, that is as good as a loss, one we can ill afford.

Herenton's Latest Is No Laughing Matter

Today, Willie W. Herenton officially became a punch line.

There are no ways left to describe his behavior except clinical ones - early onset dementia, early stage Alzheimer’s, self-destructive narcissism, obsessive-compulsive behavior or behavior disorder.

Maybe he’s just an addict – a prisoner of the spotlight with a need to always be the center of attention, or maybe he’s like genital herpes. You always know he’s going to show up again; you just don’t know when.

Whatever it is, he’s become the political equivalent of the three-car pile-up on the interstate. We’d rather look away but it’s just so hard to ignore it.

When he strolled into the Shelby County Election Commission this morning and picked up a qualifying petition to run for city mayor, it didn’t create shock waves. We all just need to look away and drive on.

Pot To Kettle

In throwing his hat back into the ring for a possible run for his old seat, he essentially labeled Mayor Pro Tem Myron Lowery as a menace. It’s hard to imagine a bigger boost that could be given to Mr. Lowery’s campaign.

In our last post, we talked about projection, and it was on display in full force in former Mayor Herenton’s statement charging Mayor Pro Tem Lowery with a “reckless style of leadership.” This from a man whose resignation resulted in a $1 million special election to fill his seat, who put former body guards in appointed offices, who said a mayor can’t do anything about crime, who invited people to leave the city, who berated City Council members at his whim, who inspired a culture of disengagement in City Hall and whose presence had become the most divisive force in our city.

For those of us who remember him from the days when he won his historic election way back and was poised to one of Memphis’ great mayors, the overriding feeling is simply one of immense sadness. How did that person come to this? How did he lose all self-perception and self-worth? Where did the inspirational man go who once inspired superintendent job offers from New York and Atlanta?

It’s a Memphis tragedy. There’s the argument about whether great men make history or history makes great men, but in this case, history apparently just overtook him and he ended up being the stereotype of the self-indulgent politician who treats his city as if it’s his to do with as he wishes, no matter how much damage he does along the way.

Arbitrary And Capricious

Just think about it. His sense of entitlement is so extreme that it leads him to feel that he can inflict a $1 million bill on the rest of us for the special election, because he now wants to be his own successor. The disregard and self-indulgence evident in his decision to pull a qualifying petition are troubling enough for those who once cared about him, but they are unforgivable to the public who now have to pay for his latest act of caprice.

The Herenton script has become such a self-parody that it makes a Sasha Baron Cohen movie look like a documentary.

As usual, his latest erratic action sent theorists contemplating justifications for his topsy-turvy political strategy. The Herenton insiders – the faithful few – didn’t know that he had requested the qualifying petition until the news media called them for comment. Most responded in the same way that the rest of Memphis did – they just shook their head.

Conspiracy Theories

Some said the controversy surrounding City Attorney Elbert Jefferson had been engineered by Mr. Herenton to weaken Mayor Pro Tem Lowery, who has never been mistaken about the former mayor’s disdain for him.

Some said that he resigned only to make sure his pension was locked down, so that in the event of a federal grand jury indictment, his retirement check was protected. With that done, he’s now looking to return to his old job.

Others conjecture that he got back into the race to undermine the candidacy of Memphis lawyer and Herenton confidante Charles Carpenter. The former city mayor has told some friends that he considered some of Mr. Carpenter’s campaign statements disloyal.

Regardless, this time, he may have gone one bridge too far. When Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton toyed with the idea of opposing Mayor Herenton in the last city mayor’s election, polls clearly showed that he would win. But the spectacle of the area’s two dominant African-Americans battling it out in a divisive race is said to have been instrumental in Mayor Wharton deciding against a race. Clearly, Mr. Herenton has no such qualms.

Lame Railings

He said that he’s jumped into the race out of his fear that Mayor Pro Tem Lowery is on the verge of becoming the new city mayor. We’re not sure how he thinks his entry into the race will block a Lowery Administration. They have two entirely different political bases, so there’s little he can do to fatally damage Mr. Lowery.

As Mayor Pro Tem Lowery himself acknowledged in his comments, it’s Mayor Wharton who’s the frontrunner, and despite Mr. Herenton’s political prognostications, it’s not an “anybody can win” race. Of course, it was only a few weeks ago that Mayor Wharton also was the target of Herenton criticisms (shortly after calling Congressman Cohen an asshole).

Today, he said he’s planning to run for mayor because of “the current dilemma.” We’re not sure what he’s talking about unless it was the blessed sense of relief and the stirrings of a new sense of optimism following his resignation.

At any rate, the reemergence of the Herenton political specter was, if nothing else, deflating in an environment where for the first time in eight years, we had a sense of possibility for the future.

Changing Direction

We need to hold that thought. Mr. Herenton will not win the special election, and he will limp into the race against Congressman Steve Cohen, where he will be vulnerable and easy pickings. In politics, the perception of power is always greater than the reality of power. If he enters this election, his air of invincibility will be blown to shreds.

That’s why we predict that today was just a day to tweak the noses of all the people who were pleased by his absence from the local scene, and that in the end, he will not run for his old job. He may be many things, but he is not dumb, and he knows that a run for city mayor is not only sybaritic but he will be a laughing stock.

More to the point, his election would be a blow to our city’s future. That’s because that all of the devastating trends that threaten Memphis’ future actually accelerated this decade under the Herenton leadership – three middle income families a day move out of our city, three 25-34 year-olds a day move out of our community, economic segregation is deepening, college attainment is down, to name a few.

We have to do something dramatic to change our trajectory and the chance for new leadership, consensus-building leadership, healing leadership is too important to squander. That’s the ultimate irony of the Herenton sideshow. Today, as he often does, he talked about how he “loves” our city, and we take him at his word. However, his action today was anything but an act of love.

Willie W. Herenton: The Hero And Anti-Hero

The signs that Mayor Willie W. Herenton was going to be a short-timer began almost immediately after his reelection.

At his swearing in, he seemed detached and the ceremony lacked the fire in the belly passion that characterized the previous times that he had taken the oaths of office as city mayor.

Always a detached manager, he seemed even less connected and less interested as he launched his fifth term. On his best days, he seemed bored. On his worst days, he just didn’t seem to give a damn.

Shortly after winning one of the most divisive campaigns in recent memory, he began to hint to close confidantes that he would never serve out his full four years. He suggested that other things – such as Memphis City Schools – ignited more passion in him than city government.

The Truth Is Out There

The truth was obvious. After 16 years, he’d seen it all and done it all before.

Despite all the proud public statements to the contrary, he even tired of being a lightning rod and the constant political turmoil that greeted his positions, regardless of their merit.

More than ever, it was obvious to his friends that he just wasn’t having fun. The gleam in his eye was gone, the joy in igniting political short fuses was gone and the sense that he was accomplishing something profound was long gone.

As he considered a life outside City Hall, his mind repeatedly turned to education once again. At an age when elected officials consider their legacies, he realized that his greatest pride centered on his years in Memphis City Schools, rising through the ranks to become one of the youngest principals and the first African-American superintendent.

In those days, he was considered a hot property and various districts romanced him to take their superintendents’ jobs – including Chicago, New York City and Atlanta – but each time, his ties to Memphis proved too strong, and he stayed put. In its way, this may be the greatest regret of his life, despite breaking the color wall at City Hall.

Politics 101

Eventually, his Memphis City Schools superintendency would be marred somewhat by controversy, notably the sexual harassment complaint that was settled out of court and sealed. It was in the midst of that turbulent, troubling time in his life that he decided on the ultimate “I’ll show you” strategy: He ran for mayor. After all, his currency in the superintendent sweepstakes were seriously devalued.

Truthfully, he was almost surprised as every one else when he beat popular incumbent Richard Hackett by a razor-thin 142 votes. One early supporter recalled finding him sitting in his new office following his swearing in ceremony, asking: “Now what do I do?” His friend described him as the dog who caught the car he was chasing.

It was the same motivation that led him to run for a fifth term last year. It wasn’t because he had a clear political agenda or a pressing political program. It was personal. It was to show certain people that he wouldn’t be pushed aside.

It’s hard now after more than six years of unfocused leadership by Mayor Herenton to understand the sense of excitement that greeted his election. It is equally difficult to remember the good work that he did in those early years and the inspiration that he created among people who were traditionally disenfranchised in the political process.

His Finest Hour

Unquestionably, his finest hour was in 1998 when he fought back the incorporation of a ring of new suburban towns around Memphis (think St. Louis). His battle against the state’s “tiny town” legislation pitted him against some powerful political forces and in the end, defeating them was the crowning achievement of his 18 years in office.

He was equally decisive when it came to public facilities and public improvements – such as the riverfront, Autozone Park or FedEx Forum – but on other policy fronts, he regularly laid out bold visions followed by limited action, a tendency that followed him from the school district where it was said that each new year brought a new vision for Memphis’ schools.

Sadly, it resulted in so many chances when he was unable to convert his rhetoric into solid results.

Rhetorical Flourishes

Only in his rhetoric was downtown Memphis in the midst of a renaissance, and regardless of how many times he repeated $3 billion investment as evidence of progress, it was obvious that downtown lacked the vibrancy and activity found in downtowns that had been revived across the U.S. during the Clinton boom years.

Only in his rhetoric was there a plan for the future of Memphis. Parks were declining. Quality public realm was the exception not the rule. There was no emphasis on designing a city as much as taking whatever idea came in the front door.

Only in his rhetoric was there anything resembling a response to the sprawl that was decimating his city. In fact, when confronted with the hollowing out of the city by the middle class, he invited even more to leave.

Only in his rhetoric were there suggestions that the condition of the multi-generationally poor was improving. In fact, they were sinking further and further into a pit of deprivation, lacking money and any serious opportunity to claw their way into the economic mainstream.

Tough Love

While it is impossible to doubt his deep love for his city, it’s inarguable that his rhetoric on several occasions hastened its decline, particularly when he invited people to love it or leave it. It was a time when we almost thought we could hear the stampede, as Memphis took its place as one of the nation’s most hollowed out cities.

Most painfully of all, for the past 19 years, three people between the ages of 25-34 years old left our community each day.

As a result, the Memphis that was created during the Herenton years became one that was largely polarized by race and income, populated by the rich who could afford to live anywhere and the poor who have no options but to stay.

It’s left to history to be the ultimate judge about the Herenton years. At this point, it seems probable that he will be cited as a historic figure and a larger-than-life leader whose promise always seem to remain just out of his grasp. As we have said before, it’s as if the concept of Willie Herenton always outstripped the reality of Willie Herenton.

Benefits To The Wrong City

Had he not been in the Memphis mayor’s office, our city might be in the same position as Nashville, where Mayor Karl Dean is on the verge of taking over operations of his city’s schools and driving reform and change. It is worth remembering that there was a time when Mayor Herenton was considered one of the U.S.’s most innovative urban district superintendents, pioneering decentralized and site-based management.

Sadly, it was another missed opportunity caused by his presence in the mayor’s office. While there was important support for a mayor-led school district in Memphis, there was none for him to lead it. Because of it, the momentum moved ahead in Nashville but died here.

In the end, when Mayor Herenton looks to his most meaningful days, if not his legacy, we suspect that he would cite his years as superintendent of Memphis City Schools. Even today, public education generally and Memphis City Schools specifically elicits an enthusiasm and energy in him that is seldom seen with any other subject (except his family).

In his way, he proved the power that a great mayor can have on a city (his own before and after example). The early version was the bridge builder and he benefitted from the “at least he’s not Harold Ford” sentiment. But he got things done, stood up for racial understanding and built a bi-racial coalition.

Hero To Anti-Hero

But Harold vanished, and there was no good cop-bad cop profile to the city’s political leadership. Enter Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton. Suddenly, Mayor Herenton assumed the Harold Ford role and Mayor Wharton was the highly favored local leader.

It was a bitter point in Mayor Herenton’s career and became a motivator in the anger which always seemed to be seething just below the surface. He became the anti-hero to his first two terms, seeding racial discord, confusing and complicating public debate and confounding reasoned City Hall decision-making.

It was a sad finale to a man with so much promise and who began his political career with such high potential. But he’s not done yet, and it will be interesting whether the hero or the anti-hero shows up for his Congressional campaign against Rep. Steve Cohen.

Herenton Era Ends But Harmony Yet To Emerge

By the time the final hours of the record-setting terms of Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton ticked to an end last week, there was no one left to beg him to stay.

For perhaps the only time in recent years, former Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton produced consensus. Simply put, everyone agreed it was time for him to go.

There was no friend or foe, advocate or adversary, who didn’t seem ready for his dominating – some say, domineering – influence over our city to end, despite the obligatory – if not ironic – tributes delivered at the City Hall reception marking his farewell.

In its way, the end came not with a bang but a whimper, despite frequent attempts by the City Council majority and media reporters to goad him into one last blast. In the end, the best we could get was his labeling of some critics as racists and perverts, and it produced more laughs than gasps.

But for those who cared about him most, he needed to leave for his own good and his own health. The one-dimensional image of him that was so frequently conveyed by the media was more and more becoming the reality – under siege, suspicious, volatile and stressed-out.

Sizing It Up Early

But if there was Herenton fatigue – the civic version of post-traumatic stress syndrome – it was matched by exhaustion from the media’s relentless attempts to translate everything into personalities and conflict. As a result, for many of us, July 31 was to be the dawning of a new day as Mayor Pro Tempore Myron Lowery took the oath of office for his 90-day stint in the mayor’s City Hall penthouse.

Mr. Lowery has already put his name into the election lottery for October 27 and he’s looking to use his three months as his opportunity to prove that he can end the bickering, controversy and conflict that have come to be synonymous with City Hall decision-making.

Memphis Mayor Pro Tempore Lowery and Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton are favorites to be elected to kick off the new era in city government that will begin after the 90 days, but there are about a dozen others placing their own bets on a race. Many of them apparently are basing their hopes on garnering 15% of the vote and counting on the array of candidates to slice up the total vote in a way that gives them a chance.

Polls in the past two weeks reportedly show Mayor Wharton with a healthy lead regardless of the cast of characters in the race, but Mayor Pro Tempore Lowery is hoping to change all that by proving that he also can put together a coalition of black and white voters impressed by his steady, results-oriented leadership in the mayor’s office (although Mayor Wharton will be doing the same in his current office).

It Feels Familiar

If the public is hungry for anything right now, they are calmness and harmony in city government after years of controversy and racial division. That’s why the spectacle of City Attorney Elbert Jefferson being escorted out of City Hall like a thief was so disconcerting.

Voters are anxious for signs that a new day has dawned. They want a reason to be hopeful again. The Jefferson controversy and the tepid justifications by some Council members seem to tell voters that nothing has changed. That’s not fair to the new interim mayor, but it has nevertheless disrupted what should have been his honeymoon period.

Chief among the proof that this is a new day and that there is new leadership unwilling to put his or her own political advantage ahead of the city’s best interests would be the end of the impulse to see everything through the lens of race.

That too is likely to be undercut when the Memphis City Council votes tomorrow on Mayor Pro Tempore Lowery’s request to dismiss Mr. Jefferson. It’s difficult to see how this won’t be yet another racially charged vote with the white Councilmen supporting the interim mayor and the African-American Council members siding with Mr. Jefferson. Not only does Mayor Pro Tempore Lowery not want a racially divided vote, but his alliance with the white Councilmen isn’t going to help him much on the campaign trail.

City Of Choice

It’s a shaky way to usher in the new day that Memphians have anticipated for so long.

That said, the campaign for Memphis mayor promises to be a street fight, so things are likely to get much worse before they get better. But you can say this for the two men presently occupying the city and county mayors’ offices – they have begun the campaign with a pledge of civility and honest, reasoned discussion that we can only hope the other candidates will endorse.

Little more than two weeks ago, both Mayors Wharton and Lowery – along with Robert Lipscomb, director of Memphis Housing and Community Development and executive director of Memphis Housing Authority - attended a meeting at Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., where their efforts to strategically invest the stimulus money here won praise.

In particular, Brookings Institution said they were impressed by the unique context being used in Memphis to develop a plan launched by Mr. Lipscomb: “Memphis: City of Choice.”

Hopeful Signs

In particular, Brookings Institution was interested in the way that the “City of Choice” process was all about identifying “game changers” for Memphis and about tying stimulus money to achievement of a broad vision rather than single shot projects.

We mention this because the chance to herald the Washington exposure should have been tempting for potential candidates, but both Mayor Lowery and Mayor Wharton told the Brookings gathering that they will do nothing to politicize the “city of choice” work, because it’s too important for Memphis’ future.

That alone is enough to be hopeful about this campaign. There will undoubtedly be some bomb throwers – although they are far outnumbered in this race – but in this post-Herenton era, voters aren’t likely to reward such tactics.

We suffer from rhetorical overload. Week after week, Mayor Herenton’s verbal blasts forced all of us to take sides, most regularly along the racial themes and fault lines in this city. In the end, that was the problem. There are many reasons that we need to be addressing race in Memphis – economic segregation, income divide, college attainment rate differences, minority business development and the failure to capitalize on our niche as a hub of African-American talent.

The Wrong Conversation

But we rarely got to talk about the really important, tough issues that deserved all of our attention, because that serious discussion was derailed by the wasted energy and focus that were put into the faux racial controversy du jour. The devastating results are dramatically reflected in the deepening of the conditions that typify too many African-American lives in Memphis, despite a mayor who continually suggested that he was fighting for the forgotten Memphians of South Memphis and North Memphis.

There was so much that Mayor Herenton could have done. Despite the general disapproval of what the former mayor called the “downtown crowd,” he continues to have an unshakable core of support. It is on that core that he is counting in his race for U.S. Congress.

Urged by political consultants to put a year between the Congressional election and his time as mayor, he decided to step down this year. As the Congressional campaign heats up, Mayor Herenton will inevitably rely heavily on the racial angle.

In that race, his entry could be taken as a warning shot for incumbent Congressman Steve Cohen to influence the selection of a sympathetic prosecutor to wrap up the endless investigation into the former Memphis mayor. Even if indicted, he will make the accusation on the campaign trail that his investigation was motivated by his refusal to cave to white power brokers and if he is finally indicted, he will charge that the indictment was returned because he opposed a white Congressman.

Turn Down The Volume

Hopefully, by then, the city mayor’s race will have had the effect of turning down the volume on the racial invective so that the reemergence of the Herenton rhetoric will seem more of an aberration. Yes, we know, hope springs eternal.

It would surprise many Memphians that Mayor Herenton is one of the smartest, most polite and gracious elected officials in private, and while there was a clear sense of this in his first two terms, it rarely emerged in the past eight years as his political survival summoned up racial blasts and shoot-from-the-hip attacks.

If life is about anything, it is about timing, but that goes double for political life. If Mayor Herenton had left the mayor’s office after his first eight years, he would have gone down in history as one of the city’s great mayors – the one who transitioned the city from a white to a black political power structure, who returned financial health to city government and who protected his city’s future by fighting and winning the tiny towns battle.

But he didn’t leave at that point, and the downhill descent that began about 18 months later never eased up, bringing with it not only different political climate but a different mayor.

Herenton Resignation Ushers In Political Junkie Heaven

It seems that a lot of people won’t believe Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton is really leaving City Hall until he turns in his keys July 10.

Such is the mystique of unpredictability that surrounds him. Although reports of a resignation have circulated and sounded firm for weeks, there were still people at the City Hall press conference who half expected him to announce that he was appointing a new chief administrative officer.

Because of his dominating presence over the city he has served, it is almost impossible to imagine a post-Herenton Memphis, and passions for and against him are so strong that it will probably rest ultimately with historians to sort out his record time in the mayor’s office.

There are those who think that his political base suffers from Stockholm Syndrome, and there are those who are equally convinced that his critics refuse to recognize that he is truly a fighter for people who have shared his life experience, particularly his hard scrabble upbringing, and his overachieving career.

No Time For Eulogies

There’s little time for reflecting on the Herenton legacy any way, since the line forms on the right for the covey of candidates quequing up for an October election that has a timeline that seems more akin to Great Britain politics.

The mayor’s announcement was reminiscent of the funeral of a county elected official where his potential successors solicited votes in the shadow of the casket. The difference today is that Mayor Herenton is no political corpse, and absent action by the never ending federal investigation, his odds for taking the oath of office as a freshman Congressman are awfully good.

His resignation has produced the political equivalent of a dam bursting. With the pressure soon unleashed, candidates seemed to come out of the woodwork – a couple of them serious candidates, more of them engaged in wishful thinking and even more floating trial balloons that will soon float to the ground.

There are two things you can never have enough of in a campaign - time and money. This time around, candidates will find themselves without enough of either. The candidates who have the power to raise the kinds of money that will be needed to mount a serious campaign – particularly against the popular favorite, Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton – can be counted on one hand (with several fingers left over).

Tag Team Match

In a normal election, before ramping up the media saturation in the last couple of months, candidates take a year (or more) to raise money and set up their ground campaigns. This time around, they will need to out fund raise Mayor Wharton, a considerable hurdle to clear.

With such an abbreviated schedule, the combination of Mayor Wharton’s fundraising abilities and his high approval ratings presents a formidable challenge, because it means that an opponent needs to raise more money than he does if that person is going to position himself/herself and to compete in the air wars.

Because of the short fuse for this election, the advantage goes to candidates who can raise money, who have an existing citywide campaign structure, a strong base and high favorability. Those are tough objectives in campaigns four times longer than the upcoming mayor’s race.

Put simply, the overall campaign objective will be for opponents of Mayor Wharton to bring down his favorable ratings, and to this end, he is said to be preparing for the cadre of contenders to alternate between acting as a tag team attacking him and a Greek chorus describing what they want the audience to believe the drama means.

The Fun Begins

They are counting on Mayor Wharton’s reputation as measured and cautious to keep him off balance, but the Wharton team say they relish the chance for him to show “the real A C.” “People underestimate him because they think he’s dispassionate. We can’t wait.”

It promises to be the most interesting six months in modern Memphis political history. We can’t wait. This is going to be so much fun.

Here’s our post from a couple of weeks ago about the selection process:

Reports about an imminent resignation by Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton are rumbling again, and this time around, they seem to have more credence than before.

But with Mayor Herenton, we’ve learned to believe it when we see it, but if he steps aside, it will have far-reaching ramifications – for not just who follows him as city mayor but who gets elected county mayor.

His political friends report that the lack of passion in City Hall is quickly being replaced with the energy triggered by a potential race for U.S. Congress against two-term incumbent Steve Cohen.

The Contest

Despite the breathless coverage by the media, we are a long way from having any idea how that race is likely to shake out. The poll headlined by Channel 5 showing Rep. Cohen trouncing Mayor Herenton was specious and has little connection with the reality of the situation.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, Mayor Herenton still has a strong base, and the race for Congress between two political veterans – one who’s a master of the sound bite and another whose mastery runs more to biting when least expected – is likely to be a street fight to the death.

At this point, the main questions are how early will the mayor play the race card – or if he will leave it to be played by others – and how early the congressman will bedevil him with his patented barbs designed to either draw laughs or blood.

Swimming Upstream

Congressman Cohen already expects to swim against a strong political current in favor of returning an African-American to the congressional seat in a majority African-American district. In turn, Mayor Herenton should expect to confront an opponent who raises more money than he does and can point to African-American colleagues in Congress who have lauded his work.

But this election is still more than a year away – a lifetime in politics – and a great deal can change, notably Mayor Herenton’s legal status as the federal investigation continues.

More current are the dominoes that will fall if Mayor Herenton steps down within weeks to concentrate on his race for Congress and a new business arrangement with one of his sons.

Options And Plenty Of Them

But we want to talk about mayors’ elections, so consider what happens if the mayor resigns. If Mayor Herenton steps down next month or August, his successor will be chosen in a special election in October or November respectively. Immediately upon the mayor leaving office, Memphis City Council Chairman Myron Lowery would be appointed as interim mayor, and the special election scheduled within 90 days.

At this point, he’s planning to run for mayor, and the prospects of yard signs, “Keep Lowery as Mayor,” are pretty appealing, as well as the ability to leverage the city’s most important bully pulpit as he campaigned.

That said, it’s obvious that a special mayor’s election in such short order favors the person with the county’s highest approval ratings and the deepest campaign pockets – A C Wharton. He would be formidable in the best of circumstances, but in an election called with such a short fuse, it would take lightning striking for him to lose.

One Scenario

We know there is the speculation that the mayor’s race will attract a cavalry of candidates, and as the electorate is divided up like a pie with too many people at the table, Mayor Wharton’s slice will shrink, allowing former Council member Carol Chumney to ease into office. All things are possible in politics but it’s not a prediction to which we subscribe for a variety of reasons, including his ability to attract both black and white votes and that the other candidates are largely fighting for the same votes.

It’s our sense that anyone trying to undercut Mayor Wharton will need to raise at least 50% more than his campaign budget and with only 90 days to do it, the points go to the candidate with a proven ability to raise big money and with an existing war chest.

Assume we’re right: Mayor Herenton resigns and Mayor Wharton is elected city mayor in October. His victory immediately opens up the county mayor’s seat, and the chairman of the Shelby County Board of Commissioners fills in temporarily.

County Options

At this point, the next chair of the legislative body – whose term begins Sept. 1 - is expected to be Joyce Avery, now chairman pro tempore. She would serve for 45 days, upon which time an interim mayor would be elected by the board of commissioners. Commissioner Sidney Chism is interested in running for the next chairman pro tempore and using it as a springboard for the appointment as interim mayor.

All in all, a Herenton exit now is a near miss for the current chair of the board of commissioners, Deidre Malone, a leading candidate for county mayor. Filling in as the 45-day mayor with hopes to create some momentum if appointed interim mayor, her campaign would have been jump started with a head start for the mayor’s race.

It would probably have been tough since Commissioner Chism is backing former state legislator and Bartlett banker Harold Byrd, and he’d try to block her appointment. (On the other hand, it’s just as likely that she’ll work hard to block him being named to the same position.)

Post-Republican Era

Whoever is elected as interim mayor by the board of commissioners, that person will serve until September 1, 2010, when the winner in the county general election takes office as Shelby County’s fifth mayor.

Interestingly, on that same August 5, 2010, ballot will be the election that will be a magnet for large Democratic turnout – the Cohen-Herenton Congressional battle. The returns 14 months from now will ratify the proposition that if we are not in fact in a post-racial world, our community is indeed in a post-Republican world.

It could even make for a difficult race for two-term sheriff Mark Luttrell, and it makes Attorney General Bill Gibbons’ campaign as the Republican candidate for governor an even greater long shot.

And as has been the case for 17 years, everything seems to start with Mayor Herenton.

As Usual, Everything Starts With Mayor Herenton

Reports about an imminent resignation by Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton are rumbling again, and this time around, they seem to have more credence than before.

But with Mayor Herenton, we’ve learned to believe it when we see it, but if he steps aside, it will have far-reaching ramifications – for not just who follows him as city mayor but who gets elected county mayor.

His political friends report that the lack of passion in City Hall is quickly being replaced with the energy triggered by a potential race for U.S. Congress against two-term incumbent Steve Cohen.

The Contest

Despite the breathless coverage by the media, we are a long way from having any idea how that race is likely to shake out. The poll headlined by Channel 5 showing Rep. Cohen trouncing Mayor Herenton was specious and has little connection with the reality of the situation.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, Mayor Herenton still has a strong base, and the race for Congress between two political veterans – one who’s a master of the sound bite and another whose mastery runs more to biting when least expected – is likely to be a street fight to the death.

At this point, the main questions are how early will the mayor play the race card – or if he will leave it to be played by others – and how early the congressman will bedevil him with his patented barbs designed to either draw laughs or blood.

Swimming Upstream

Congressman Cohen already expects to swim against a strong political current in favor of returning an African-American to the congressional seat in a majority African-American district. In turn, Mayor Herenton should expect to confront an opponent who raises more money than he does and can point to African-American colleagues in Congress who have lauded his work.

But this election is still more than a year away – a lifetime in politics – and a great deal can change, notably Mayor Herenton’s legal status as the federal investigation continues.

More current are the dominoes that will fall if Mayor Herenton steps down within weeks to concentrate on his race for Congress and a new business arrangement with one of his sons.

Options And Plenty Of Them

But we want to talk about mayors’ elections, so consider what happens if the mayor resigns. If Mayor Herenton steps down next month or August, his successor will be chosen in a special election in October or November respectively. Immediately upon the mayor leaving office, Memphis City Council Chairman Myron Lowery would be appointed as interim mayor, and the special election scheduled within 90 days.

At this point, he’s planning to run for mayor, and the prospects of yard signs, “Keep Lowery as Mayor,” are pretty appealing, as well as the ability to leverage the city’s most important bully pulpit as he campaigned.

That said, it’s obvious that a special mayor’s election in such short order favors the person with the county’s highest approval ratings and the deepest campaign pockets – A C Wharton. He would be formidable in the best of circumstances, but in an election called with such a short fuse, it would take lightning striking for him to lose.

One Scenario

We know there is the speculation that the mayor’s race will attract a cavalry of candidates, and as the electorate is divided up like a pie with too many people at the table, Mayor Wharton’s slice will shrink, allowing former Council member Carol Chumney to ease into office. All things are possible in politics but it’s not a prediction to which we subscribe for a variety of reasons, including his ability to attract both black and white votes and that the other candidates are largely fighting for the same votes.

It’s our sense that anyone trying to undercut Mayor Wharton will need to raise at least 50% more than his campaign budget and with only 90 days to do it, the points go to the candidate with a proven ability to raise big money and with an existing war chest.

Assume we’re right: Mayor Herenton resigns and Mayor Wharton is elected city mayor in October. His victory immediately opens up the county mayor’s seat, and the chairman of the Shelby County Board of Commissioners fills in temporarily.

County Options

At this point, the next chair of the legislative body – whose term begins Sept. 1 - is expected to be Joyce Avery, now chairman pro tempore. She would serve for 45 days, upon which time an interim mayor would be elected by the board of commissioners. Commissioner Sidney Chism is interested in running for the next chairman pro tempore and using it as a springboard for the appointment as interim mayor.

All in all, a Herenton exit now is a near miss for the current chair of the board of commissioners, Deidre Malone, a leading candidate for county mayor. Filling in as the 45-day mayor with hopes to create some momentum if appointed interim mayor, her campaign would have been jump started with a head start for the mayor’s race.

It would probably have been tough since Commissioner Chism is backing former state legislator and Bartlett banker Harold Byrd, and he’d try to block her appointment. (On the other hand, it’s just as likely that she’ll work hard to block him being named to the same position.)

Post-Republican Era

Whoever is elected as interim mayor by the board of commissioners, that person will serve until September 1, 2010, when the winner in the county general election takes office as Shelby County’s fifth mayor.

Interestingly, on that same August 5, 2010, ballot will be the election that will be a magnet for large Democratic turnout – the Cohen-Herenton Congressional battle. The returns 14 months from now will ratify the proposition that if we are not in fact in a post-racial world, our community is indeed in a post-Republican world.

It could even make for a difficult race for two-term sheriff Mark Luttrell, and it makes Attorney General Bill Gibbons’ campaign as the Republican candidate for governor an even greater long shot.

And as has been the case for 16 years, everything seems to start with Mayor Herenton.

Bail Constitutional Amendment Guilty Of Over-reaching

You can count us among those civil liberties advocates who were expected to oppose the Tennessee Constitutional amendment being pushed by a cadre of elected officials that include Shelby County Mayor AC Wharton, Attorney General Bill Gibbons, Sheriff Mark Luttrell, Shelby County Commissioner Steve Mulroy and Shelby County Commissioners Chair Deidre Malone.

Apparently, the political upside that comes from looking tough on crime trumps the Tennessee Constitutional. These elected officials have teamed up to push an amendment to the Constitution that would allow judges to deny bail. It feels an awfully lot like taking a nuclear warhead to kill a gnat, because Constitutional amendments should be reserved for the rarest of issues, and this one feels largely feels unnecessary.

Already, it would seem that in Shelby County courts, high bails are tantamount to denying bail for defendants in the first place, because by and large the people marching before a judge in our criminal courts have no capacity to pay hefty bails.

Unlighting The Ideals

That this push was publicized a few days after U.S. President Barack Obama said in his inaugural speech: “As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake.”

It seems that the push for the amendment to Tennessee Constitution seems all too rooted in fear and expediency, the same kind that our new president courageously confronts by underscoring the basic beliefs of our justice system with the announced closing of Guantanamo and secret prisons. Just as we try to get our balance following eight years of the Bush Administration’s thumbing its nose at well-accepted legal principles, our local politicians embark on a crusade whose political upsides seem too irresistible.

After all, who really cares if people charged with crimes are kept in jail until their cases are heard? Who really cares if we erode the purpose of bail to use the worst people among us for political benefit?

Paying Down

For one thing, we should care as taxpayers, but we should also care because there is such a temptation these days at the federal and local level to address safety issues by throwing more people in jail and stretching out sentences, even if it means that we have to wink at or change Constitutional guarantees and even it means that we do it while research shows that it has little effect.

It’s not too surprising that Attorney General Gibbons is in favor of this change in the Constitutional rights of Tennesseeans. He needs something to put some life into his bid for governor, and that impulse is destined to amplify now that he has announced his interest in entering the race for governor. In a race where he has as little chance for success as this one, it seems a given that he will pound his law and order themes as he criss-crosses Tennessee. In supporting the Constitutional amendment, he decried the criminal justice system’s “revolving door,” saying some defendants are released on bail the same day they are arrested.

We presume that he’d prefer for county taxpayers to foot the bill to pay for an insatiable appetite for new laws that keep people in jail longer (even though much research suggests that criminal activity is relatively age specific). For example, there’s no denying that headline-grabbing public calls for longer sentences for gun crimes pay off at the ballot box, but they also pay off in the bills that taxpayers have to pay to keep people in prison into their senior years long after they have passed the ages when they are highly unlikely to commit crimes.

Prophetic Words

It was about 25 years ago that Shelby County’s second mayor, Bill Morris, a former sheriff, rightly concluded that it was pure insanity for local government to think it could “build its way out of the crime problem” with more cells in bigger prisons when it makes more sense in economic and human terms to address the roots of crime. As he pointed out then, we could pay for all state prisoners to be sent to Ivy League universities more cheaply than paying for their yearly upkeep at state expense.

And yet, here we are, decades later, still wrestling with the symptoms rather than the problem itself. Still, today, it is more politically palatable to advocate policies that cost taxpayers $30,000 a year per prisoner than to crusade for interventions that could cost 80% less and open up options that could keep adolescents from lives of crime.

As former U.S. Attorney Veronica Coleman rightly points out, there is unquestionably different treatment of African-American juveniles in the justice system. The statistics are too compelling and the anecdotal evidence too strong to disagree with her conclusion that institutional racism is alive and well in the juvenile justice system, and that somehow, we have to invest money to move youths from paths to Juvenile Court and instead to the mainstream of our city.

Forgetting What Bail Is About

Here’s the thing about bail. It’s intended to guarantee the appearance of the defendant for court hearings and trial. That’s it. It’s not about punishment and it’s not punitive. It’s not intended to make money for the state and it shouldn’t be used by prosecutors as leverage to encourage defendants to cop a plea.

We abhor the smirk on Bernie Madoff’s face as much as anyone as he shuffles back and forth to court after bilking $50 billion out of good people in his megalomaniacal Ponzi scheme. Victims called for him to be locked up without bail, but his bail is working. He’s showing up in court, and just because we’re mad about what he’s done, bail still isn’t supposed to be punishment, because when it is set, the defendant is still is cloaked with the presumption of innocence.

We’ve heard public defenders – some who were working at the time for the future Shelby County Mayor when he was chief public defender Wharton -- and defense attorneys say this for years, and despite the theatrical portrayals of the justice system on television, it is nonetheless true. Bail is only intended to make sure that the defendant shows up for trial. Period. End of sentence.

Right Signal

In a letter written by Mayor Wharton, he said: “It sends the wrong signal to our neighborhoods when they see individuals accused of grave and serious crimes continuing to walk the streets…while the judicial process proceeds at a slow pace.” He is certainly right that the judicial process proceeds at a slow pace, and all these elected officials ought to band together to fix that. There is no greater deterrent to crime than quick and certain justice.

To us, the wrong signal is amending the Constitution of our state for some transitory benefit that does nothing to strike at the seedbeds for crime in the first place. As President Obama said during his campaign for the presidency, when we give up freedoms out of fear, it only means that the terrorists and the criminals have won.

They seem close to winning in Tennessee.

Nothing Healthy About Memphians' Tax Burden

Memphis City Councilman Bill Morrison is right.

He has proposed for Memphis City Council to end city government’s funding of the Health Department.

The logic is similar to the courageous – and completely logical – cut of $66 million in school funding: Shelby County Government, according to state law, is mandated to provide health services, and Memphis taxpayers are paying twice for them – once as county taxpayers and again as city taxpayers.

It’s an untenable, not to mention completely inequitable and regressive, tax policy, and Councilman Morrison, who led the fight to end the double taxation for public education, finds himself once again leading a cause of significance to every Memphis taxpayer.

Communicate, Not Litigate

That’s not to say that Shelby County CAO Jim Huntzicker isn’t also correct when he says that city and county governments should meet to discuss these funding issues. That is of course preferable, and based on what we are hearing from City Hall, there’s really no aversion to doing that; however, it will not derail the present consideration of ending the Health Department funding unless Shelby County Government demonstrates convincingly that these talks are imminent.

Meanwhile, Bartlett Mayor Keith McDonald engages in magical thinking in trying to defend the status quo, which for decades has resulted in Shelby County Government directly subsidizing services within the small town borders as part of their preferential treatment. Mayor McDonald says that Memphis entered into an agreement to pay more for health services because they use most of the services.

There’s nothing to indicate that he’s right, and anyway, we thought he abhorred consolidation in principle. When the city and county health departments were officially merged September 1, 1950, it followed the consolidation of several functions – vital records in 1934, venereal diseases in 1939 and tuberculosis in 1941.
Times Change

It was a totally different time. Shelby County Government was a rural government of good old boys who provided services to Memphis grudgingly, if at all, and even then, Memphis had to scratch and claw for whatever it got. It’s this fact that is behind city funding for several services typically the sole province of county governments.

We are now light years from the county government that was so rurally dominated that it was ground zero for the landmark U.S. Supreme Court's "one man one vote" ruling in Baker vs. Carr that changed reapportionment not only for Shelby County, but for every legislative body in the entire country. Until then, although the majority of Shelby County's population had always lived inside Memphis, the majority of the county's legislative body members was from outside Memphis.

In fact, every county town – including the hamlets Germantown and Collierville and four-way stops like Arlington – had their own County Court Squires (now the county board of commissioners), so decisions were all about what to do for the people outside of Memphis. Meanwhile, the Chairman of the County Court was also in charge of large parts of the administrative functions, and the long-time occupant of that post was the legendary, powerful Charles Baker of Millington, whose name is attached to the landmark Supreme Court ruling.

Small Town Logic

In other words, Memphis got short shrift in services and funding, and because of it, city government layered on funding to get services that the other towns got without any funding at all from their local governments, prompting city government to jump into the breach and tax for schools and other services although it was ultimately the responsibility of county government.

Over the years, the predecessors to the present cadre of town mayors have pushed back anytime anyone in Shelby County Government tried to even out the financial scales. To his credit, after 30 years of limited efforts to create more fairness, Mayor AC Wharton has made strides in ending some county subsidies that had existed for decades for things from roads to libraries.

As part of this tug of war, the county mayors have created their own justifications for the double taxation of Memphians. Mayor McDonald – ironically someone who talks a good game of “we’re all in this together” – rolled out his explanation: Memphians pay twice for health services because these funding arrangements were made years ago on the basis of who uses the services.

He’s wrong. There has never been a test for funding that addressed the sources of users. And last time we checked Bartlett used schools funded only through county taxes (with about 60% from Memphians).

Two Wrongs Don’t Make A Right

To add to his error, he said that Bartlett residents pay county taxes for certain things, including the county jail, in which Memphis usage is high but its funding is minimal. Actually, Memphis has no jail, because it helped to fund the Justice Center (unlike the towns, by the way) and the jail was part of the quid pro for the help.

As for his fundamental point, he’s right and he’s wrong. Yes, the vast majority of people in the Shelby County Jail are Memphians, but no, Bartlett taxpayers shouldn’t be freed from paying taxes for it. That’s the concept of democracy, and despite the demagoguery of the recent presidential election, our entire government is built on the basis of redistributed taxes from one area to another to pay for services that are needed for the overall health of the area. But come to think of it, most Memphians aren’t using the roads and schools that they were forced to fund as county government became the willing vehicle for more and more unsustainable sprawl (which costs about $100 million a year in bond payments).

We’ve said it until you’re tired of hearing it from us, but Memphians should only be paying for services that are comparable to services in the county towns. All other services should be regional, or countywide, and they should be supported by the larger tax base.

A Level Playing Field

In other words, Memphians should be paying primarily for fire, police, sanitation, parks and libraries. Everything else should be immediately moved to the county tax base, especially regional amenities like museums that should be backed with the broader tax base, and Memphis Area Transit Authority, which is running buses to the towns although citizens of Memphis are footing the bill. These are regional services and should be treated and funded as such.

If we had the power, we would also move to the countywide tax base all libraries and all parks. We deserve to have a coordinated, interconnected system that delivers services seamlessly and without regard to the imaginary government borders that we put so much stock into.

Clearly, Shelby County Government saw this funding issue coming. Mr. Huntzicker asked for a legal opinion about it from the Shelby County Attorney’s office a few months ago, and on October 13, 2008, he received the standard “the county is right and the city is wrong” legal opinion. Before this debate ratchets up much more, we are certain that we’ll have a City Attorney’s opinion saying just the opposite.

Opinions: Everybody’s Got One

Mr. Huntzicker asked the attorney’s office to answer this question: “Whether the City of Memphis could reduce or terminate funding to the Memphis and Shelby County and what consequence would result?” Of course, no one in City Hall is swayed by what county government says about city rights and responsibilities, but the answer from the county attorney’s office was: “City of Memphis remains a financial partner of the Memphis and Shelby County Health Department.” The opinion acknowledged that by law, Shelby County is “required to maintain and support a county health department,” but adds that the “City of Memphis is responsible for a proportionate share of the costs of operations, maintenance, and financing of the Memphis and Shelby County Health Department.”

Not mentioned in the opinion is that the conclusion flies in the face of three decades of county policy built on the principle that county government is required to provide health services and that city government could end its funding any time it had the political will to do so. In fact, it was 10 years ago that the former director of the health department wrote a memo reiterating the long-held belief. He said county government is ultimately responsible for the health department, not the city, and that the city could end its funding with six months notice.

In fact, when city and county governments sat down at the table to consider a new alignment of public services in the wake of the “tiny town” controversy, both sides agreed at the beginning of the meeting that Shelby County Government was responsible for health funding, not city government. For that reason, it was assumed as a given that health department funding should move totally to the county’s side of the
ledger.

Courting Disaster

Perhaps, this issue is headed for court, where it can join the tin-eared lawsuit filed by Memphis City Schools against City Council for cutting its funding. Some, including the editorial page of our daily newspaper, say that a court judgment is the wisest way to resolve this issue. But that position fails to recognize the obvious fact that this is not about contractual obligations and 50-year-old legal agreements.

More to the point, it is a question of equitable tax policy for Memphians. Surely, no one in county government would argue that it is fair that Memphians pay twice for services and that city taxpayers- -who have lower median incomes - should pay a greater percentage of their incomes in taxes than taxpayers outside Memphis - who make higher median incomes.

That’s why it was encouraging that Mr. Huntzicker said that city and county governments should begin discussions to consider the full array of funding issues between them. That said, it’s got to begin immediately and have a deadline that we’ll live to see, based on 30 years of promises that city and county engineering will be merged or headlines two years ago that city and county fire departments were looking to merge.

It’s past time to bring rationality to our local tax structure, and it’s way past time for Memphians’ tax burden to be equitable and fair. In the end, there should be no greater objective for either city or county governments.