Yeah, those guys — the New Kids on the Block — play the Mud Island Ampitheatre.
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Month: July 2009
Well, it looks like the David Lee-Zach Randolph question within the organization has resolved itself in the form of the lower-risk financially and higher-risk on the court and in the locker room route of Zach Randolph.
The L.A. Times‘ Mark Heisler is reporting tonight that the Grizzlies and Clippers have agreed to a deal that would exchange Zach Randolph for Quentin Richardson. The Times says the deal won’t be consummated until next week. I haven’t been able to confirm the deal, but I presume it’s true as this is the direction the team seemed to be heading in following Ric Bucher’s report of Michael Heisley objecting to giving an offer-sheet to David Lee.
I’m facing deadlines with non-Griz work tomorrow and won’t be able to get into this heavily for probably a couple of days, but some quick reactions and questions:
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$3.9 Million in Legal Fees
This morning, in our regular weekly meeting, we were discussing the city offering former MLGW director and now city parks deputy director Joseph Lee a $426,000 settlement for legal fees he accrued while under indictment.
After the City Council said they wouldn’t pay his legal fees — which, at almost $900 a day, some people thought were excessive — Lee sued the city. (And, if memory serves me right, council member Barbara Swearengen Ware said she hoped he would.)
Lee’s attorney is Robert Spence, who was once the city attorney. The city attorney’s office is the one who has offered the settlement. Lee is once again working for the administration, an administration that is leaving office rather shortly.
This all got me thinking about some information I requested and never got around to using: How much the city and county pay their various attorneys and legal counsel.
I just got an email from a friend directing me to Lisa Marie Presley‘s blog post about Michael Jackson‘s death, which she posted on her MySpace page earlier this week.
The post, titled “He Knew,” is sad, sad, sad.
In it, Lisa Marie divulges that her one-time husband told her he knew he was gonna end up like her father, and the “gutted” feeling she’s left with as she tries to process his death. Factor in the mythologies of the various players — the King of Rock and Roll and the King of Pop — and it’s loaded with all the elements of a Greek tragedy:
As I sit here overwhelmed with sadness, reflection and confusion at what was my biggest failure to date, watching on the news almost play by play The exact Scenario I saw happen on August 16th, 1977 happening again right now with Michael (A sight I never wanted to see again) just as he predicted, I am truly, truly gutted.
Follow this link for the rest of Lisa Marie’s post, which details her efforts to save MJ from “the inevitable,” and how she nearly lost herself in the process.
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New Que Huong Now Open
Tuyen Le just opened a new restaurant in Collierville called New Que Huong. The name is Vietnamese for “new homeland.”
Regulars of the Midtown mainstay Saigon Le will recognize Tuyen right away as one of the two sisters who waited tables there for years.
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Joseph Lee’s Legal Fees: A Parting Gift?
The city’s legal department just decided to pay former MLGW chief Joseph Lee’s legal fees. Bruce VanWyngarden thinks that arrangement is a little too cozy. UPDATE: Mary Cashiola has more info on the city’s attorney expenses.
In what sponsors of the occasions — as well as the beneficiary himself — would later say was one of the most successful fundraising events in Memphis political history, 9th District congressman Steve Cohen was feted at the Goodwyn Building downtown Tuesday night for the second of two fundraisers assisted in part by an old political foe, former congressman Harold Ford Sr.
Ford, a successful Capitol Hill lobbyist now living in Florida, had backed his son Jake Ford’s independent candidacy against Cohen in 2006 but has maintained a good working relationship with Cohen in Washington and materialized several weeks back as a co-sponsor of two fundraisers for the incumbent congressman — one in D.C. last week and the Tuesday night affair in Memphis. Ford, however, was not an attendee here.
Among those in the crowd Tuesday night were such other former opponents as Pinnacle Airlines executive Phil Trenary, who had been a major supporter of Niikki Tinker’s bid against Cohen in the last two Democratic primaries. Longtime Cohen backers like mega-developer Henry Turley were on hand, as were luminaries of the civil rights movement like Maxine and Vasco Smith.
The importance of the latter was that the Smiths and others present like former Judge Russell Sugarmon had been well-known supporters of Rep. Cohen’s current declared opponent, outgoing Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton.
Aside from an obligue reference to revving up his fundraising earlier than expected, Cohen made no reference in his remarks Tuesday night to the Herenton challenge per se, focusing instead on constituent affairs and the congressional business at hand. Indications are that this is the tack the congressman will pursue throughout the campaign months to come.
Herenton himself was more head-on in his approach to the contest, including provocative remarks about Cohen in this week’s Flyer cover story, “Willie Herenton: The Exit Interview,” now on the streets.
In recent days, lots of folks have begun jumping the HMS Herenton before it leaves the dock, taking lovely parting gifts in the form of 5- and 6-figure pensions. (As God is their witness, they’ll never have to guard another body!)
And now, the city’s various legal eagles have also signed off on a final parting gift from the taxpayers: A $426,422 payment to cover former MLGW head Joseph Lee’s legal fees, owed to former city attorney Robert Spence. Take out weekends and holidays, and Spence billed Lee more than $1,000 a day for the 489 days he handled the case! This bill is absurdly high and if it’s not an absolute rip-off of the taxpayers of Memphis, Spence at least should have to prove it. Remember, this case didn’t even go to trial!
A little backstory: The MLGW board initially voted to pay Lee’s legal fees, because, well, that’s how they roll. Keep things cozy and civil. No big deal. What’s a half-million-dollar legal fee among friends? The City Council, thinking that $1,000 a day over the course of a year and a half was just a tad excessive, voted not to pay the fees. It should be noted that the council’s attorney is former city attorney Alan Wade, who is ALSO a former law partner of Spence’s (Thanks, Marty!).
Today, we learned that the city’s legal department, headed by current city attorney, Elbert Jefferson, decided to go ahead and “settle” the dispute by paying Lee’s bill. I’m not a lawyer (though I’m married to one), but in my experience, a settlement is a compromise. This was more like a full capitulation, a cozy “let’s not take this to court” arrangement. It’s bullshit. Spence’s bill should have been picked apart by Jefferson and fought tooth and nail, in court if necessary — billed hour by billed hour, charge by charge. If Spence really put in that much time and effort defending Joseph Lee, let’s see the evidence — or let a jury see it.
Let’s review, shall we? We have a former city attorney (Spence) getting massive legal fees on behalf of a former MLGW employee and current city employee, Joseph Lee. We have another former city attorney (Wade, a former partner of Spence’s, remember) representing the City Council. And we have the current city attorney deciding to “settle” with a former city attorney for the full amount of what appears to be an inflated legal fee, with the blessing of his former partner, another former city attorney.
Something seems very odd here. It’s all too cozy. If I’m interim mayor Myron Lowery, the first thing I do is very publicly fight this payment “on behalf of the taxpayers.” Then I fire all the lawyers and rebuild the city’s legal department, which has been consistently over budget for years. Lowery’s got 90 days to show he means business and make a name for himself. AC Wharton’s got a head-start and a bucket of cash. Myron’s only shot is to very publicly clean up City Hall and make himself the candidate of change. And, dare I say it — hope.
High fives and champagne all around! André Bruce Ward, Theatre Memphis’ resident costume designer for 33 years and Christopher McCullom, the theater’s relatively new scenic designer, have received the highest honor that can be bestowed upon community theater designers. Both were honored with certificates for outstanding achievement issued by the American Association of Community Theatre at the AACT convention on Saturday, June 27 in Tacoma, Washington. Ward, who is 71 and whose designs were collected in the 2008 book André: 30 Years of Costume Design at Theatre Memphis, also received the organization’s lifetime achievement award.
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Chelsea and Violet
Justin Fox Burks
We spotted Jasmin Saville and her cool and collected Chelsea and Violet dress at one of South Main’s many trolley stops. We loved the pouf sleeves and the bibbed neckline, as well as the pattern.
She told us she got it at Dillard’s and that she wore it that night because “it’s art night and it’s a lot of fun.”
You can’t see them in this picture, but the dress also had three precious little buttons on the back of the neck.