Berlin Boyd
The Memphis City Council selected Berlin Boyd Tuesday for the District 7 council seat vacated by Lee Harris, who left the post after winning his race for the state Senate.
Boyd was selected from a list that included, Bryan Carson, Audrey Jones, Charles Leslie, David Pool, and Barbara Swearengen Ware.
Berlin Boyd served as council member for District 7 in 2011 to replace Ware, who resigned after indictments on official misconduct charges. He touted his previous time on the council as a reason he should be chosen for the post.
Each candidate was given four minutes at the public podium to garner votes from council members. After that, standing council members asked questions of some of the candidates.
During this time, council member Janis Fullilove said to Boyd that it was “fun” in the past to work with him, go out of town with him, and break bread with him, but had one serious question for him Tuesday: “Where does you loyalty lie? On the seventh floor (meaning the mayor’s office at city hall) or in the Seventh District? Tell me why.”
“I am my own man always have been and always will be,” Boyd said. “I stand on my own merit. I have no loyalty to the seventh floor but to the people in District Seven.”
Boy said it was time to stop playing politics and get to the business of the issues in his district.
