Herein are acknowledged some of the events of the past fortnight (as Time Magazine used to say) that did not get covered in isolated detail in this space.
(1) One of the hard-working candidates for the open District 5 Council seat is architect Charles “Chooch” Pickard, who has held several public events in the recent past. Here he is at one of them, a fundraiser in the lobby of the Lincoln American Tower (pictured behind group), a dormant office space which he secured investment for and rehabbed into a downtown residential address. L to r: David Cambron, Pickard, Dianne Cambron, Paul Shaffer (a candidate for Council Super-District 9, Position 2).
(2) Pickard and yet another hard worker, also a candidate for the District 5 seat, Mary Wilder, longtime activist and neighborhood advocate, as both attended a meeting of the Germantown Democratic Club featuring state Senator Lee Harris as speaker.
(3) And yes, political newcomer Worth Morgan (right) is no doubt the best founded candidate running for any Council seat, having toted up several hundred thousand dollars so far in his quest, also for the District 5 seat. But Morgan, whose base of support is largely Republican and from the business community, also is making an effort to broaden his appeal. Here he is at a Shelby County Democratic Unity breakfast at the IBEW hall, schmoozing with Memphis Democratic state Rep. G.A. Hardaway.
(4) A relatively late entry in the District 5 race is John Marek, here at a fundraiser at Ciao Bello, checking in with attendees David Cambron and Jon Carroll and being checked out in return. Marek is making his first race, but he’s been involved in innumerable ones and was campaign manager for the last two of 9th District Congressman Steve Cohen’s reelection campaigns.
(5) Not to be overlooked in the District 5 race is Dan Springer (left), pictured here at an April fundraiser held at the home of businessman and Shelby County Schools board member Billy Orgel. The man in the middle, of course, is Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell, one of the several political dignitaries Springer has served, either as a campaign aide or as an assistant in office. Springer continues to run hard.
(6) Did we say hard-working? Thurston Smith has been in the field for most of a year, campaigning for the District 7 Council seat now held on an interim basis by Berlin Boyd, who is one of the several candidates who, along with Smith, seek a regular four-year term in the seat. Here, Smith, who is a behavioral health consultant behavioral health consultant and outpatient program manager for the Veterans Health Administration, outlines his stand on the issues to members of the Frayser Exchange Club.
(7) You’ve heard of people whose presence in a room stops traffic? Rachel Knox, here being introduced by Matt Kuhn and waiting to speak at a Fox and Hound fundraiser in East Memphis, has a smile that can do that. A known quantity as a frequent attendee and articulate participant at Council meetings, Knox is an education coordinator and workshop developer at the Orpheum theater. As one of several candidates for the Council District 2 seat now held by the formidable Bill Boyd, she has her work cut out for her, but seems fully committed.
(8) District 6 Councilan Edmund Ford Jr., here with fundraiser host John Farris and attendee Mary Tate-Smith , does his homewok, both on the Council and as a candidate for reelection. A recent well-publicized poll he commissioned seemed to demonstrate that his recent vote for the 2015-16 fiscal year budget won’t hurt him. But Ford has opponents who want to test that thesis, and he has methodically put together a decent war chest fo the campaign ahead.
(9) Harold Byrd, president of Bank of Bartlett, watches as Dr. Todd Richardson of the University of Memphis explains the forthcoming Crosstown Concourse project to a sizeable crowd at the
Crescent Center. Byrd, impresario for the event, is joined hee by Dana Gabrion, executive director of TVs America’s Top Model. Gabrion, a former Memphian now living in Los Angeles, owns several Memhis properties including the Talbot Heirs bed and breakfast address.
A Sampling of Two Weeks (and Earlier) in Memphis Politics
(10) A politically influential crowd of well-wishers turned up recently at the home of former state Rep.Jeanne Richardson (2nd from left), who hosted a 40th birthday affair for her daughter Ellyn Daniel-Ross (seated, center), whose husband. Steve Ross. is seated at left and whose daughter, Frances Marie Daniel, is seated at right. Play the video and sing along with “Happy Birthday!”.
THIS LIST WILL BE UPDATED.
