Mayoral candidate Herman Morris’ campaign got a tangible boost Thursday as the two principal co-founders of the now defunct “Draft A C” movement — the Revs. Bill Adkins and La Simba Gray — explained they had now “recovered” and were giving their support to Morris as Memphis’ best hope for the future.
Another veteran of the draft movement, restaurateur Tommy Boggs, was on hand at the candidate’s headquarters for the announcement, while yet a fourth — former county mayor Bill Morris — was said to be on board, though absent at a University of Memphis official function.
“This is a new day for the campaign for mayor of the city of Memphis,” said Morris as he accepted the endorsements of the former “Draft A C” principals, along with several others from prominent African-American ministers.
Adkins, who said after county mayor Wharton’s disavowal of a candidacy last month that he wouldn’t be endorsing anyone else, said he changed his mind after getting three visits from Morris that convinced him of the former MLGW head’s mayoral qualities.
In a press release accompanying the press conference, Adkins coupled Morris with Wharton as potential city/county colleagues: “Just imagine what the dream team of Herman Morris and A C Wharton could do for our city.”
At the press conference, Morris renewed his call for other candidates to follow his example by taking a drug test and demonstrating they were additive-free.
He repeated an assertion he had made last week at a meeting of the Germantown Democratic Club that he was the one candidate drawing equally from both blacks and whites, but he declined to say again, as he had then, that Mayor Willie Herenton and city councilwoman Carol Chumney appeared more to specific racial voting blocs.
