WISHFUL THINKING
As we write, federal judge Bernice Donald has not yet pronounced judgment on the
thorny question of who gets to sit in Nashville on behalf of Memphis’ state
Senate District 29. As you read this, her decision has likely already been
announced — to the consternation of one set of supporters, to the delight of the
other.
But there are still matters to resolve,
regardless of whether Democrat Ophelia Ford has been sustained as the winner in
last fall’s special
election,
temporarily or otherwise, or, conversely, whether the state Senate, acting on
complaints of fraud and irregularities lodged by Republican Terry Roland, has
been permitted a final vote to void the election.
If Ford has been
allowed to continue, we trust that conscientious Republicans, certainly those in
the Senate itself, will restrain the impulse to heat and reheat the controversy
for partisan reasons. We hope they will respond in the spirit of GOP senator Jim
Bryson of Franklin, who said to Ford at the close of last Thursday’s exhaustive
single-day hearing in Judge Donald’s court, “See you tomorrow.” Meaning,
presumably, to work together fruitfully and without rancor on legislative
business important to the state. If Ford has ended up the loser and is compelled
to vacate her seat, we expect the Democrats to suck it up and move forward
without recriminations too. After all, they’ll still be favored to win a
regular-election rematch.
Meanwhile, the
loser will presumably be free to appeal the decision.
The real burden
of decision is the one that must be borne by the members of the Shelby County
Commission in the event that the election, now or later, ends up being voided.
In that case, we hope the men and women of the commission will be commissioners
of the public trust first and political partisans second. Meaning? That they not
attempt to name either Ford or Roland as interim senator to represent the
district. By definition, the election results are ambiguous and clouded, and any
attempt by the commission to name the winner arbitrarily will be a further act
of unfairness perpetrated on the citizens of District 29, who deserve to be the
clear arbiters of the matter themselves, the ones who will ultimately set things
right.
The appointment
of a respected centrist candidate, or whichever party, or even of a political
independent, would do just fine in the meantime, thank you.
And, regardless
of how this thing has come out, we have the right to expect better henceforth
from our local election machinery, as well as from the officials whose
responsibility it is to supervise it and sit in judgment over it.
Maybe all the
foregoing is so much wishful thinking — a fact, however, which won’t stop us
from either thinking it or wishing it.
CORETTA SCOTT KING
Like the survivors of other great individuals, the widow of Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr., herself now deceased, was
faced with the enormously difficult task of enduring through grief and
continuing with her own life and that of her family while
representing and bearing witness to her husband’s legacy. That she did so with
dignity for several decades was a great achievement in its own right. She too
will be missed.