Gone from Memphis on a new professional mission that is an advance itself which may lead to more is Liz Rincon, who is heading to Chicago to become the new director of development for the Chicago Philharmonic.
Rincon, a longtime activist, has been the proprietor of the Rincon Strategy Firm for, lo, these several years in Memphis and has shepherded many a candidate in a city and county election. She is well-known as an expert in “cutting turf,” i.e, mapping out and organizing neighborhood door-to-door actions, and for her efforts in assisting the city of Memphis in encouraging residents of impoverished areas to accept Covid vaccinations.
• John Marek, the activist and cannabis entrepreneur who ran for the city council’s 5th District seat four years ago, losing to current incumbent Worth Morgan, may try it again, depending on the final shape of the council districts (the bluer the better, from the point of view of Democrat Marek). Alternatively, he is considering a challenge to incumbent Chase Carlisle for the Super District 9-1 seat.
Likely candidates for the 5th so far include Nick Scott, owner of the Alchemy restaurant at Cooper-Young, and Meggan Wurzburg Kiel, an organizer at MICAH (Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope) and former director of support for Soulsville Charter School.
• Greg Blumenthal, who long considered being a candidate for the 5th District council seat, has opted instead to join two other activists, John Carroll and George Boyington, in forming a new political consultancy. The trio is assisting Memphis mayoral candidate Van Turner (who is also helped by the firm run by Matt Kuhn and Mike Lipe), as well as District 86 state House candidate Justin Pearson.
• Justin Pearson,who came to fame as the leader of the successful 2021 campaign against a proposed oil pipeline to be routed through South Memphis, is running with the same vigor for the District 86 seat which was made vacant by the death in November of 93-year-old Barbara Cooper.
Anyone who remembers Pearson’s stewardship of the successful battle against the pipeline knows that he has a way with campaigns and a knack for dramatizing issues. His task of late is more personal. He is attempting to convince the voters of District 86 to vote him in as Cooper’s successor rather than any of several opponents. This past weekend, Pearson turned his birthday party into a fair-sized rally. He has door knockers aplenty at work, has collected a pile of endorsements, and is said to be ready to send out mailers.
As no doubt are others. Nine other candidates are competing, several with good chances, especially considering that, as in the case of any other special-education vote, the turnout is likely to be low. Among the contenders: Tanya Cooper, Barbara Cooper’s daughter and an educator in her own right; Julian Bolton, a longtime member of the Shelby County Commission and other public endeavors who is well remembered among the somewhat elderly voters who regularly vote in this district; Will Richardson, who ran up a decent vote in his August primary challenge to Rep. Cooper; Rome Withers, son of the well-remembered photographer Ernest Withers; Dominique Frost, employee of Shelby County government and an insurance entrepreneur; and Clifford Lewis, son of a well-known activist.
