Many friends, neighbors, and strangers have asked me
recently why I’m running for the Memphis Charter Commission. Actually, that’s a
lie, but if you’re getting into politics you have to start somewhere.
The truth is, like 32 other people,
one reason I’m running for the charter commission is because it’s there.
It’s there, in case you weren’t paying
attention, because organizers obtained more than 10,485 signatures on petitions
in 2004. Contrary to popular belief and some newspaper stories, there was no
public referendum. The charter commission was created by petition signatures of
2.5 percent of the registered voters in Memphis — the first and only time that
has been done.
At any rate, the charterists said they
gathered thousands more signatures than they needed. I don’t doubt it. We live
in a time of unprecedented ability to identify and organize communities of
football fans, ping-pong players, or fed-up citizens thanks to the Internet.
Gathering valid signatures still involves knocking on doors and standing on
street corners because electronic signatures don’t count, at least not yet. But
spreading the word and building the base are easier than they were in 1966 or
1996.
We also live in a time of
unprecedented apathy when it comes to voting in local elections. In 1991,
248,093 people voted in the Memphis election for mayor and City Council. In
2003, only 104,852 people voted in the city election.
The city charter doesn’t say anything
about petitioning for a charter review commission. The guidance comes from the
Tennessee Constitution, which says a charter commission can be created by
petition of at least 10 percent of those voting in the most recent general
municipal election. In 2004, that meant 10,485 signatures.
By coincidence or design, charter
commission organizers got cranking when the magic number was the lowest it had
been in modern history. If petition organizers had had their way, charter
commission members would have been chosen in December 2004 in conjunction with a
District 7 Memphis school-board runoff election that drew a turnout of less than
5 percent.
The turnout, of course, might have
been higher with charter commission candidates on the ballot. But the question
was moot. The election commission reopened the qualifying process and bumped the
election back nearly two years to August 3rd.
Meanwhile, another petition drive was
brewing to recall Mayor Willie Herenton. The charter says a recall election
requires petition signatures of at least 10 percent of the voters in the last mayoral election. (In
a municipal election, some voters don’t vote for mayor, so the numbers are
slightly different.) But before the petition drive started, city attorney Sara
Hall said the state constitution trumps the city charter as to recall
requirements. The constitutional standard is 15 percent of the registered voters
in the city, which translates to something like 64,000 signatures. For whatever
reasons (the section was written in 1953), the constitution imposes a higher
standard for removing someone from elected office than it does for a charter or
amendment.
The August election figures to draw a big turnout because the ballot is jammed
with candidates for Congress, governor, state legislature, county offices, and
judgeships. Oddly enough, the trigger for the charter commission election is the
Memphis City Council seat vacated by Janet Hooks, the lone city office on the
ballot.
The election of charter commission
members may still be confusing. For one thing, voters haven’t done it before.
Candidates run by district but are elected at large — in other words, you can
vote for seven of them. What the commission will do or even discuss — term
limits, pensions, the balance of powers, MLGW, whatever — won’t be known until
the members are chosen. Any recommendations must pass legal muster and be
approved by voters in a future election.
For a highly readable history of the
charter and how it came to be, go to the library and get David M. Tucker’s book,
Memphis Since Crump: Bossism,
Blacks, and Civic Reformers 1954-1968.
My name is John Branston and I approved this message and
didn’t even have to pay for it. And if you see me pounding in signs outside the
election commission, please hit me with a hammer.
