Author: Chris Gadd

Give this to Steve Cohen: He knows when to hold up and knows when to fold up. Reluctantly but resignedly, the state senator from Midtown, locked in a struggle with Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen over the configuration of a state lottery, figured he had to do both late last week.

Having put up the stiffest fight of anybody in this late legislative session — otherwise a virtual lovefest in honor of Bredesen — Cohen came down to the final week of the session still holding forth against gubernatorial dominance of a board of directors for the newly created Tennessee lottery.

Cohen, who pursued the cause of a state lottery for two decades and saw his efforts crowned by last year’s voter referendum, had given in on various points during this year’s debate on how to enact the lottery, but drew a line in the sand on the issue of a board of directors — insisting that, as “a creature of the legislature,” the lottery should be overseen by the General Assembly. Early on this year, he and his co-sponsors in his legislature put forth a plan for a five-member board — two members appointed by the speakers of either legislative chamber and one (count Ôem, 1) named by the governor.

Bredesen, who had just launched a budget-cutting regimen that proved popular on both sides of the aisle, said of that proposal, in essence, that Cohen and the others could fold it five times and put it somewhere dark and shady. Cohen went back to the drawing board and emerged with another plan — for a nine-member board, divided three-three-three. Bredesen said No to that one, too.

Thereafter the arguments went back and forth, and other controversies — notably over the appropriate academic standards required of scholarship beneficiaries of lottery revenues — affected the dialogue. Various plans were proposed, and Bredesen — who, for reasons of his office, possessed more bargaining wherewithal than Cohen, gained ground in the struggle, finally winning over enough of Cohen’s support among key legislators to dictate a board membership favorable to himself.

Some commentators have argued that Cohen, whose verbal wit can morph into vitriol in time of adversity, became part of the problem himself.

Whatever the case, the senator entered what proved to be the session’s last week in a state of virtual isolation. “I did my best to hold on to prerogatives for the House leadership, and they undermined me,” said Cohen of such Democratic leaders in the other chamber as Speaker Jimmy Naifeh and Majority Leader Kim McMillan. Crucial allies like State Rep. Larry Miller — who had earlier held the fort — now sided with Bredesen. He still reckoned Lt. Gov. John Wilder, the Senate speaker, as a supporter, but was disappointed when Wilder passed over such pro-Cohen senators as Jerry Cooper, “my best buddy in the Senate,” in his appointments to a joint House-Senate conference committee.

The bottom line: Cohen was outflanked, former and potential allies having made their peace with gubernatorial dominance of the lottery board-to-be. In return for various trade-offs, including a specified number of appointments for the leadership of either house, they were prepared to accede to Bredesen’s insistence on appointing a majority of board appointees.

However isolated, Cohen still retained enough clout to keep the fight going, if need be, past the consensus end-of-May deadline for adjournment. For his part, Naifeh indicated he was prepared to seek adjournment without a fully established lottery. Consulting with such longtime Memphis confidantes as developer Henry Turley and lawyer Irvin Salky, both of whom advised him to give in “for the sake of the lottery” if he could find a way to do so on his own terms, the Senator arrived upon a way to do just that.

For months, Cohen, whose close relationship with former Governor Don Sundquist, a Republican, had permitted frequent one-on-ones, had sought in vain to hold a private conversation with fellow Democrat Bredesen. Making a last effort, he got one for the early hours of Thursday morning.

The outcome surprised everybody. Cohen now proposed that the chief executive be empowered to make, not a majority, but all of the appointees, subject to ratification by the Senate and House. . He and Bredesen would agree on the number of seven — enough, Cohen said afterward, “to ensure that each of the state’s grand divisions could be represented, with an African American from each grand division.”

With that stroke, Cohen had played his trump card. Due to lose the power struggle anyhow, he had managed to concede fully and graciously — and in the process to

shortcut the remaining prerogatives of the legislative leaders who had failed to back him up. In the end, Cohen’s isolation had served him well. The very fact of the early-morning summit between himself and Bredesen had secured the senator’s legacy as father of the lottery.

Cohen shrugged off some of the invective he had hurled at the governor — including skepticism concerning Bredesen’s integrity. “That was just an effort to get him to the bargaining table,” said Cohen, who declared that he and the governor had arrived at “a new relationship.”

Some of Cohen’s critics, in and out of the legislature, suspected the senator of having angled for perks, including a possible guarantee of future lottery-related employment for himself. Both Bredesen and Cohen made haste to spike such rumors. “I’m not getting anything out of this except the satisfaction of achieving something for the students of Tennessee,” said Cohen.

That, plus the fact that in the final act of the drama he had adroitly changed places with his critics. In the end, it would be him, not them, on the inside of the event looking out. All in all, his twenty-year gamble had paid off.

ASSESSING THE FUTURE

Although the field of candidates is sure to proliferate beyond the two of them, both incumbent Shelby county Assessor Rita Clark and former Assessor Michael Hooks will be on the ballot next year when the office is up for election again..

“I’m running,” Clark made a point of volunteering last week. And Hooks conceded as much for his part. “I’ll be running,” he said, “not against Rita Clark but for the office of assessor.”

Presumably, both Hooks and Clark will be candidates in the 2004 Democratic primary. Three years ago, Hooks was one of two independents opposing Democrat Clark and Tom Leatherwood, then the Republican nominee for assessor and later the winner in a special election for the office of Shelby County Register.

Back then, there were rumors — of the sort that proliferate in any multi-candidate race — that Hooks’ purpose in the race was to divert Democratic votes away from Clark in Leatherwood’s interest. It was, of course, at least as arguable that Hooks, who had held the office before losing it in 1992 to Republican Harold Sterling, harbored legitimate hopes of winning himself, should the vote spread fall just right.

By and large, Hook’s fellow Democrats opted for the former theory and shunned his candidacy — one reason being another set of rumors concerning his unstable emotional condition and reported cocaine use. He had been the principal in a widely reported traffic altercation, which some said was really about a drug deal gone wrong.

Hooks would alter be arrested and charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.

He made what amounted to a public confession of his cocaine habit, took a tearful leave from his role as Shelby County Commissioner, and underwent what was both a highly public and, seemingly, highly successful rehabilitation.

Hooks has long since returned to full and active service on the commission, and no one has seriously questioned his bona fides or recovery. “This time my head is on straight. I just want to prove I can do the best job for the people of Shelby County,” Hooks said last week.

Council-Race News: Another well-known member of the Hooks family, Ben Hooks, indicated last week he might enter the political process, but not as a candidate himself. The eminent former jurist, currently president of the National Civil Rights Museum board, said he intended to support the candidacy of Jim Strickland, one of several candidates for the District 5 Memphis city council slot being vacated by two-term incumbent John Vergos.

That would be the second big-name endorsement picked up by Strickland, who was endorsed by Vergos on the occasion of his formal announcement for the post last Thursday. Other candidates for the seat include State Representative Carol Chumney, veteran pol Joe Cooper, and physician/business George Flinn, last year’s unsuccessful Republican nominee for Shelby County mayor and this year’s GOP endorsee for the council post.

The local Republican steering committee is conducting pre-endorsement interviews this week with potential candidates in two other council races — for District 1 and Super-District 9, Position 1. Retiring Shelby County school board member Wyatt Bunker is expected to get the party nod against incumbent E.C. Jones in District 1; businessman Scott McCormick is the likely GOP choice against incumbent Pat VanderSchaaf in the super-district race.

The Standoff Continues: Meanwhile, Shelby County Democrats continued to play at the game of Hatfield vs. McCoy.

The faction which won the recent chairmanship race — by a party executive-committee vote of 21-20 for State Representative Kathryn Bowers vs. Gale Jones Carson, the defeated incumbent — staged a unity meeting at the Racquet Club Saturday, ostensibly in honor of both Bowers and Carson, as well as the former and newly elected party executive committees.

That meeting, formally hosted by 9th District U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. and Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton, was called by emailed invitations toward the end of last week, and the Bowers supporters who organized it acknowledged that it was put together virtually overnight. In a heated exchange of emails with the organizers, Carson contended that she had not informed beforehand of an event which clashed with a Saturday “workshop” she was already committed to.

Charges and counter-charges flew back and forth

Carson’s simultaneous meeting on Saturday seems to have involved all or most of the 20 executive committee members who had voted for her and who continue to keep their distance from Bowers and her 21 supporters.

One of the attendees at the event hosted by Ford and Wharton was Democratic state chairman Randy Button, whose office had just issued an opinion formally validating the results of the local party election, which was under challenge from the losing side.

If bad feelings persist between the two factions, they could affect the District 5 council race. Though neither Strickland nor Chumney have evinced any personal interest in taking sides, and both attended the Racquet Club event, Strickland has long enjoyed close relations with the faction close to Carson, and Chumney’s candidacy has the active support of some of Bowers’ core group of supporters.

The party executive-committee meeting at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union hall on Madison on Thursday night of this week could end up shedding light on relative degrees of party harmony and disharmony.

That congressional rematch next year between Memphis lawyer David Kustoff and 7th District GOP incumbent Marsha Blackburn?

Fahgidaboutit!

Kustoff turned up at a Blackburn fundraiser at The Rendezvous Friday night, stayed long enough to do some shmoozing, and let it be known that (a) he would not be a candidate for the 7th District seat next year, as he had previously indicated he might; and (b) he would instead support Blackburn, his successful opponent in last year’s crowded Republican primary.

The only political campaign Kustoff is going to be involved in for the next several months is the one being waged for the District 5 Memphis city council seat by his law partner, Jim Strickland, who happens to be a Democrat — a former chairman of the local Democratic Party, in fact.

That last circumstance has several of Kustoff’s partymates concerned — although current Republican chairman Kemp Conrad, who is aggressively overseeing a GOP endorsement process in this year’s city elections, says he can understand it.

“They’re partners,” Conrad noted of Kustoff and Strickland. He is somewhat less acquiescent about the support Strickland is getting from two other well-known Republicans, District Attorney General Bill Gibbons and lawyer Alan Crone. Crone preceded Conrad as local GOP chairman (as Kustoff had preceded Crone in that role.)

“Alan’s an old friend of Strickland’s. They were in each other’s weddings, I think. And Jim went to bat for Gibbons when he ran and withstood some criticism from Democrats for it. But stillÉ” The rest of that sentence was a blank he assumed his auditor would have no trouble filling in.

Conrad is optimistic all the same that the GOP can win in District 5 with its endorsee, George Flinn, the physician/businessman who as the Republican nominee lost the county mayor’s race last year to Democrat A C Wharton. Flinn had some major trouble last year with disaffection from local Republicans who had been partial to his defeated primary opponent, then State Rep. Larry Scroggs. They had a hard time forgiving Flinn, a novice politician, for the harsh attacks on Scroggs (and later on Wharton) orchestrated by his highly paid out-of-state advisers.

“But George is going to run a different kind of campaign this year,” Conrad insisted Friday night. “He’s going to be a uniter. The Democrats can be dividers.”

Indeed, Shelby County Democrats are going to have a hard time avoiding intra-party strife in the de facto primary that will precede what everyone expects to be a runoff.

Flinn should occupy one place in that runoff, goes the theory, while the other will be taken by either Strickland or State Rep. Carol Chumney, also a Democrat, with another Democrat, frequent candidate Joe Cooper, expected to play something of a spoiler’s role.

The local Democrats have for the last several months been experiencing something of a Hatfield-McCoy feud — one which peaked in the bitterly contested recent contest for the party chairmanship between State Rep. Kathryn Bowers, the winner, and Gale Jones Carson, the defeated incumbent chairman.

Strickland has always been identified with the faction supporting Carson, while Chumney, who generally dances to her own tune, is being promoted by the faction which backed Bowers. In a loose sense, the Carson faction is close to such figures as Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton (whom Carson serves as press secretary) and Bartlett banker and former mayoral candidate Harold Byrd, who is a close ally of Strickland,his erstwhile campaign chairman.

The aggregate which supported Bowers — and which, for the most part, also supports Chumney — is linked to Democratic legislators and to members of the local Ford organization — though there is no evidence that either U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. or his father, former congressman Harold Ford Sr., are taking sides in the showdown.

But showdown it is — so serious that Carson continues to keep her distance from Bowers et al. and contends that prior commitments will keep her from attending a party fete on Saturday organized by the Bowers supporters. One report had it that she would be huddling instead with members of her own support group.

Under those circumstances, either Strickland or Chumney might face a difficult challenge in maintaining unity among Democrats for a runoff campaign. Perhaps such party falloff would be marginal, but even a slight margin could be enough to decide the outcome in the politically balanced 5th District, which comprises hunks of Midtown and East Memphis.

Conrad and the party organization he heads will be active in two other council races. One is that for District 1, in which the GOP endorsee — and challenger to incumbent E.C. Jones, a Democrat — will almost certainly be retiring county school board member Wyatt Bunker, a Republican and social conservative. The other is for the “SuperDistrict” 9, Position 1 seat currently held by longtime incumbent Pat VanderSchaaf, a nominal Republican who will likely hold forth against a large candidate field. The GOP endorsee is virtually sure to be businessman Scott McCormick.

Subj: Important Update: Democratic Roundup 2003

Date: 5/29/2003 4:10:34 PM Central Standard Time

From: shelbycountyexecutivecomm@earthlink.net

To: shelbycountyexecutivecomm@earthlink.net

Sent from the Internet (Details)

“Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.”

–Gertrude Stein

In the political world, that’s called disconnect. Everybody is looking for alternative motives for everything that happens. But sometimes, things are real simple, even when it’s complicated.

At the time I sent my email announcement yesterday of the event, Janie Orr had spoken with and received authorization from Commissioner Deidre Malone to be listed as a host of the event. About an hour later, Ms. Orr advised that Deidre had called back to say she did not want to be one of the hosts. As a courtesy, I am resending the invitation with her name removed. The call was received prior to the actual printing of the invitation, so the invitations that were mailed did not include her name.

So it was, so it is and so it shall be.

This event was quickly planned by the Congressman and The Mayor, in consultation with Ms. Bowers. As a member of both Gale’s 2001-2003 Committee and Kathryn’s 2003-2205 Committee, I appreciate their gesture to honor the efforts of the past, as well as the hopes for the future, especially during this time of emotional upheaval that so often occurs during political campaigns. They’re not actually doing all the planning themselves, of course. They are busy people. A number of volunteers are doing most of the work, as it always is, and properly so. But they are primary hosts and they are thinking of the needs of the Democratic Party.

So, thank you Harold. Thank you AC.

After all, the convention and selection of a chair is just another form of political campaigning, an expression of points of view and a desire to present and promote agendas that are heartfelt and believed to be important and worthwhile by the participants. Those of us who supported Kathryn were right to do so. Those of supported Gale were also right to do so. But, when the voting was done and all the arm twisting was over, we were 21, they were 20.

Granted, it was close. But still. I may be confused, but I think that’s called winning the argument in a democratic society, especially a Democratic one.

Some of the Twenty believed that the TwentyOne should feel guilty about that.

I’ve given that argument long and serious consideration. And I’ve decided that I don’t feel guilty. In fact, I feel quite the opposite. I feel validated — sad that the Twenty are so upset, which I understand, I would be too — but validated nonetheless. When you’ve won a race, you are entitled to feel that way.

It very appropriate that the Twenty should feel sad that their agenda was defeated. It is not appropriate for them to feel vindictive about it.

So I will not be putting guilt on my agenda.

So it is, so it was and so it shall be.

I’m assuming the Congressman’s and Mayor’s goal was is to pay due respect to the 66 members of the 2001-2003 Committee, as well as to encourage and uplift the 41 members of the incoming 2003-2005 Committee. I assume, of course, because I haven’t spoken with them personally, I was just enlisted to help. There is an honoree list of 107 people, more than the membership of the Tennessee House of Representatives. There was also the co-host committee of 24, all our elected Democratic officials and presidents of the most active Democratic Clubs who had to be contacted before listing them as hosts. Mr. Burgess, President of the Midtown Democrats, was reached only five minutes before the deadline I had given (as print director of the project) before I punched the Enter key to send the invitation via email and a PDF to the printer. And that was just for the issue of approvals from the hosts.

For those of you who had done much of it, you will realize that it takes a lot of time to work the phones. Time is a relentless enemy, it’s constantly advancing and it takes no prisoners. When time runs out, you are OUT. No reprieve. The March of Time ensures that you have to act if you expect to do.

“Our chief defect is that we are more given to talking about things than to doing them.”

–Jawaharlal Nehru (first Prime Minister of India)

Unfortunately, we are all children of the Star Trek generation, where we grew up with the subconscious belief that you poke at computer screens or whisper into hidden microphones to make things happen instantaneously. But we live in the real world, where a lot of time and effort has to go into doing even the simplest things. With only a small handful people working on the details, it was not possible to contact all the honorees in advance to clear their schedules.

I was awakened this morning (that’s noon for me) from a very sound sleep to be advised of Deidre’s decision to withdraw from the host committee, and to learn that Ms. Carson, as an honoree, was expressing concern that she had not been informed about the event and would not be able to attend because she was conducting a workshop scheduled many weeks in advance.

As the outgoing Chair, she should have been contacted as a simple courtesy.

Gale, I apologize for that oversight. I wasn’t on the phone committee, but I apologize anyway.

However, I also understand that Ms. Bowers has left numerous messages over the last two weeks on Gale’s voice mail in order to discuss several issues regarding the transfer of responsibility, and to make sure she knew about the reception.

Ms. Bowers has advised that none of the calls have been returned. If you don’t return your calls before the fact, you get to find out things after the fact.

If Gale had returned Kathryn’s calls, maybe she wouldn’t be so surprised as she claims to be on the The Flyer website today:

• “Anyway, I can not believe that I am only learning of this event three days prior to it happening and that an e-mail invitation is going out with my name on it and no one has contacted me to see if I would be available.” — Gale Jones Carson

  Full Text At: http://www.memphisflyer.com/onthefly/onthefly_new.asp?ID=2376

So Gale will not be there Saturday. She has a workshop that she has worked long and hard on for many weeks. I’m sure she was planning it before the reception was even conceived.

By the way, I am equally surprised that there’s a workshop going on this weekend. I haven’t heard anything about it.

So it was, so it is and so it shall be.

It’s an unfortunate coincidence, but coincidence nonetheless. I’m sure that a number of committee members, past and present, may not be able to attend for any number of reasons. Gale is an honoree of the event, along with 106 others, and her understandable absence will not diminish the Congressman’s and Mayor’s honest intent. Why Deidre chose to be the only elected Democratic official to not agree to be a host is also unknown to me. Maybe it was a misunderstanding in that she thought agreement compelled attendance (I understand she is also involved in the workshop). I will assume that was the case.

I’m having to assume a lot of things because I’m in no position to take the lead in every activity being planned. I’m not on anybody’s “contact first” list. I’m just a grunt and party trench warfare specialist, and I don’t hold any public office. I’m just the lousy little party Secretary, an office I haven’t held a month yet. I could assume that everything being said is being said with evil intent. I haven’t made that assumption so far. I’ve been waiting for evidence, and evidence of evil intent is beginning to accumulate.

We will raise a glass to the absent in their honor regardless (by the way, I am told that wine and soft drinks are being provided, otherwise it’s Cash Bar — I’m not on the event planning committee either).

We should not be dealing with issues of transfer of party records from one administration to another at this point. It should have already been done, at Gale’s order, not Kathryn’s request. You want us to contact Matt Kuhn for the financials, fine. If you want us to contact Shirley Mason for the meeting minutes, fine. If you want to drag your feet at every opportunity, fine. If you’re depressed over the events that have transpired, fine. Go to your doctor and get a prescription for Prozac. You’ll feel better, I promise.

By the way, we also need the contact info and access codes for the party website. Maybe everyone else has been to tentative for asking for this info in fear of getting their butt chewed. So while we’re at it, I’ll make this an official request. Send me the information, in email, ASAP. If you want to chew my butt for asking, fine. I got a big butt, I can take it.

Some people fear a public viewing of differences. In general, I’m in favor of it. The strength of arguments carries the day. The wheat from the chaff gets sorted quickly that way.

I’ve been hearing reports about appearances on black talk radio by Gale and others over the last few weeks that compares the whites on the new committee to slave owners and the black members as slaves.

That’s the kind of analogy that doesn’t win any arguments. See what I mean about evidence?

The laws of physics teach us that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. So let the rumors fly. Democrats in Shelby County and the new Executive Committee don’t have time to dwell on the past, very little time to act in the present, and the Great Enemy Time to fight against for the future. Because of the brouhaha of the Chair’s race that should have been decided by the majority of the 21 members elected on April 12, we will already be two months behind in getting the new committee and it’s standing committees properly constituted and functioning.

From my point of view, given the pressure of the Great Enemy Time, that is a more than adequate period to suspend action in order to hold folk’s hands and tell Ôem that everything is going to be alright. From this point forward, you’re either part of the team or you ARE NOT.

“If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”

–Eldridge Cleaver,

Minister of Information for the Black Panther Party,

who eventually became a born-again Christian and a Republican. Go figure.

Anyone that doesn’t want to be part of the solution is free to sit on the sidelines. That’s another common and understandable human reaction, and I won’t fault anyone who chooses that option. I’ve done it myself. Sometimes the best thing to do is to sit out. It gives one an opportunity to reassess things, gather energy for the future and center your chi.

I’m one-eighth Cherokee Indian and I’m going to call on my animal totem, The Bear, to give me strength over the next two years. The shaman that read my animal sign told me not to get too excited over my totem. “You’re not a grizzly bear,” he said. “You’re a black bear. You’re way too happy to be a grizzly.”

Obviously, the shaman never saw me in a political fight. And he was Choctaw, not Cherokee, but he assured me that wasn’t a problem. But he is a shaman, so maybe he knows more about me than I do. Let’s just accept that I’m a Happy Black Bear. But even a Happy Black Bear has its limits when it comes to provocation. As every animal keeper will tell you: Look but don’t Touch. I’ll bounce balls on my nose, wear silly hats and do all the things that entertain at children’s birthday parties. I’ll even let you poke me once in a while, but if you poke too often, understand that there’s a bear paw at the end of this arm. And I can bite, too.

So on June 5, this Executive Committee is going to don our hard hats and go to work. The hand-holding is over as far as I’m concerned. Everyone else is free to make their own judgments. We are all individually responsible for our individual actions.

So it was, so it is and so it shall be.

I’ll see you Saturday at the Racquet Club. Or I won’t.

“The world is a messy place, and unfortunately the messier it gets, the more work we have to do.”

–KOFI ANNAN, the United Nations secretary general and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. (NY Times)

—— Forwarded Message

From: ExecCom

Date: Wed, 28 May 2003 14:25:30 -0500

Subject: Democratic Roundup 2003: Saturday at 4 p.m.

You are invited to attend

Saturday, May 31, 2003

4 p.m. – 6 p.m.

at the

The Racquet Club Walnut Room

Democratic Roundup 2003!

Hosted By

Congressman Harold Ford Û Mayor A.C. Wharton

To Honor

New Democratic Party Chair

Kathryn Bowers and the incoming 2003-2005 Executive Committee

and Party Chair Emeritus

Gale Jones Carson and the 2001-2003 Executive Committee

Co-Hosted By:

State Senators Steve Cohen, Roscoe Dixon, John Ford and Jim Kyle

State Representatives Henri Brooks, Carol Chumney, Barbara Cooper, John DeBerry, Lois DeBerry, Ulysses Jones, Mike Kernell, Larry Miller, Joe Towns and Larry Turner

Assessor Rita Clark

County Commissioners Walter Bailey, Jr., Julian Bolton, Joe Ford, Michael Hooks,

and Dr. Cleo Kirk

and

Felicia Boyd, President, Shelby County Democratic Women

Dick Klenz, President, Germantown Democratic Club

Melvin Burgess III, President, Midtown Democratic Club

—

Oran Quintrell

Secretary

Shelby County Democratic ExecCom

901.327.8655

shelbycountyexecutivecomm@earthlink.net

Memphis, Tennessee

ADDENDUM

…Date: 5/30/2003 7:59:37 AM Central Standard Time

From: galecarson@peoplepc.com

…[T]he references about me appearing on Black radio talk shows and making racial attacks on the White members of the Executive Committee [are] not true and I have an appointment with an attorney today to consider filing a slander suit.

Also, I have received no messages from Chairman Bowers. The cell number that she has for me has been cut off for a while now and I have no voice mail on my home phone….

Gale Jones Carson