We have not yet reached the halfway point of 2001, a specimen of the one
year in every four that is politics-free in the election calendar of these
parts.
But merely ask the deep-pocketed ones among us whether politics
is at a standstill. Fund-raisers abound for the political hopefuls of Campaign
Season 2002.
Among the notables who’ve had them around town of late are: U.S.
Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (beneficiary of a $500-a-head version at the Plaza
Club at AutoZone park, an increasingly sought-after venue); U.S. Rep. Van
Hilleary, Republican of Tennessee’s 4th Congressional District, who’s
slipped in once or twice for big-ticket affairs; Shelby County Trustee Bob
Patterson, who engaged a prize-winning barbecue team to cater his, at
Kirby Farms; Circuit Court Clerk Jimmy Moore, at the Collierville home
of developer Jackie Welch; and county Probate Clerk Chris
Thomas, who had his affair at another increasingly popular venue, the
Union Planters Bank building on Poplar Avenue.
(For the record, Moore is still considering a run for sheriff
next year instead of one for re-election.)
State Rep. Carol Chumney, who’s gotten off to an early
organizational head start on her Democratic rivals for next year’s nomination
for Shelby County mayor, is unable to hold a fund-raiser by virtue of a state
law forbidding same for legislators while the General Assembly is in
session.
But she did the next best thing — holding a reception last month
at a Germantown supporter’s residence. She, like state Senator Jim
Kyle, a declared party rival for the mayoral post, have to be yearning a
little bit more than the rest of their colleagues for an end to what may turn
out to be another marathon session, like last year’s. (What’s holding things
up, of course, is the legislature’s continued failure to find a solution to a
threatened budget deficit whose dimensions could reach as much as $1 billion
by next year.)
Kyle, by the way, is secretly thankful for Governor Don
Sundquist‘s recent veto of a Kyle-sponsored bill to place a lower limit on
retail gasoline sales. The measure, passed several weeks ago before the latest
dramatic price hikes, is at least off the table now — although the senator
knows to expect gigs from his mayoral rivals.
Down the line
n The Shelby County Democrats don’t have a date fixed yet, but
Chairman Gale Jones Carson announced that the keynote speaker for the
party’s forthcoming Kennedy Dinner will be former Atlanta mayor and noted
civil rights activist Maynard Jackson.
At its last steering committee meeting, the party also formally
voted to petition the Election Commission for a countywide primary next
year.
n Mississippi Governor Ronnie Musgrove told Memphis
Rotarians Tuesday that the NFL’s New Orleans Saints are flirting with a move
to his state’s Gulf coast.
Outside the Box
As no one needs to be reminded, much attention of late has been
focused on the hows and whys and whethers of building an NBA-worthy arena to
house the putatively transplant Grizzlies of Vancouver.
John Q. Public has weighed in on the subject with us, as with the
other paper in town. Following are two excerpts from two unusually pointed
responses to the issue:
“Whenever the subject of securing a professional sports
franchise in Memphis arises, I am reminded of the expression ‘if you can’t run
with the big dogs, stay on the porch.’ In matters urban, the acquisition of a
pro sports team confers ‘big dog’ status like few other things, and Memphis
seems to be a Chihuahua that spends a lot of time barking from behind the
screen door …
“As the ex-wife of an All-American in football and the
mother of two teenage sons who were swinging a baseball bat before they could
read, I understand the importance of sports. As an alumnus of the University
of Memphis, I can attest to the tremendous sense of pride that comes with
having a team bring national attention to our city.
“And I am as weary as anyone else of hearing people complain
that Memphis would be great if only we had a professional team. But if Memphis
is not a viable venue for pro sports profits without taking all the financial
risk, could it be because the economic underpinnings of this city are
fragile?
“Might we be better off trying to solve the problem of an
undereducated work force that depresses our per capita income, which in turn
keeps commerce and pro sports from chasing us? If we improved the economic
foundation of Shelby County first, maybe we could become big dogs without ever
leaving the porch … .” — Ruth Ogles (free-lance writer and 2000
candidate for the Memphis School Board)
“At some point Memphis is going to build a stadium, a
structure budgeted at 250 million dollars, which means that it will probably
cost upwards of $275 to 300 million dollars. With such an expenditure of
money, we might ask how the citizens of Shelby County can best be served this
appropriation, and how we can get the most bang for the buck. Considering the
fact that major league sports teams have become Gypsies, and an NBA team could
well move out of town within a half-dozen years, the new stadium should be
something that will continue to serve even if the NBA team decides to move
on.
“With all of these factors in mind, there really is only one
logical building option: a retrofitted and domed Liberty Bowl. This would be a
multi-sports arena which would also benefit the University of Memphis, the
Liberty Bowl, and the Southern Heritage Classic, all of whom play their
football games there.
“Today all it takes is a threat of rain, or a temperature
drop of 10 degrees to cut attendance by as much as 50 percent, which is a
small fortune at $20 per ticket or more … .” — Larry Moore
(University of Memphis law professor)
