By now, with early voting under way and scarcely two weeks
to go before Election Day itself, it is apparent — even to the extreme
Pollyanna types among us — that Mayor Willie Herenton will not be aiding
the voters (or his opponents) by participating in any multi-candidate forums.
That’s unless you count the two times he has appeared in
series with his three major adversaries – city council member Carol Chumney,
former MLGW head Herman Morris, and former Shelby County Commissioner
John Willingham.
The first of those occasions occurred several weeks back
when the mayor deigned to appear – separately, as did the others — before a
public evaluation session of the Coalition for a Better Memphis, answering the
same set of policy questions as his opponents. He was third in line for that
event and, coincidentally or not, also finished third in the Coalition’s
ultimate numerical evaluations (behind Morris and Chumney, in that order).
Only last week, Herenton made another partial concession to
the forum concept when, at Homebuilders on Germantown Parkway, he deigned,
albeit briefly, to sit on the same stage as his three main contenders at an
event put on by the Cordova Neighborhood Association. Speaking first, he
itemized his dogs and ponies and then left, leaving Chumney to chastise him for
not staying to “answer questions” and Morris and Willingham to do similar
tut-tutting.
Actually, the format of the evening, which also featured
candidates in several council districts, did not permit questions, nor, ipso
facto, did it allow for answers.
Herenton next had an opportunity for some joint Q-and-A
action on Sunday, when he, the other mayoral candidates, and aspirants for
various council seats were invited to appear at an event sponsored by the
Central Gardens Neighborhood Association at Idlewild School.
His Honor had accepted the Association’s invite, but he
opted out when he learned he would not be able, as at the two prior events, to
speak his two-cents’ worth and then depart, but would be expected to stick
around with the others to field questions – including some from the audience and
from children at three neighborhood schools and, potentially at least, from his
opponents.
As it happened, the Central Gardens folks excluded several
candidates who had not managed to complete the Association’s fairly extensive
questionnaire on issues before a deadline had passed. As a result, both Chumney
and Willingham, along with various council candidates, found themselves on the
outside looking in, having to settle for passing out their campaign literature
to arriving attendees.
Among mayoral contenders, only Morris and the inimitable
Laura Davis Aaron were empanelled. Morris, who – buoyed by a fresh
endorsement from The Commercial Appeal — seems to be enjoying something
of a late rise, performed well, and Aaron, whose persona has sometimes seemed to
be an SNL improvisation, outdid herself with a dire warning – Grim
Reaper-like, given the presence of the student corps – that children educated in
the public schools, unlike their home-schooled counterparts, would die.
(It was some consolation that “Dr.” Aaron, who claims to
receive visions from God, did not say when.)
One of the questions directed at the field of candidates
concerned their attitude toward those of their opponents who had spurned the
opportunity to come forth. Predictably, the absent Herenton drew barbs from
Morris and others – as did incumbent District 8, Position 1 councilman Joe
Brown from opponent Ian Randolph, who has picked up some good late
support in various quarters.
Brown has indeed been a no-show at the campaign year’s
public forums and other collective events, whether or not his reason is what
Randolph alleges it is — to exploit voter confusion of himself with the other
Joe Brown, the former Criminal Court Judge who now holds court on syndicated
national television.
The other main target of complaints concerning his chronic
abseentism from public scrutiny was Reid Hedgepeth, a political newcomer
who is seeking election to the District 9, Position 3 seat being vacated by
council veteran Jack Sammons and who has stout support from Sammons,
FedEx founder Fred Smith, and other influential Memphians.
Hedgepeth’s support group also includes the first-time
candidate’s fellow developers, or so alleges opponent Lester Lit, a
retired businessman who makes that charge in a radio ad now running and who
verbally blistered Hedgepeth on Sunday for consistently making himself scarce.
“Vote for me or Desi [Franklin] or Mary
[Wilder],” was Lit’s generous advice to attendees at the Central Gardens
forum. (Both Franklin and Wilder, who also seek the District 9, Position 3 seat,
were present, as they – like Lit — have been for other candidate forums this
year.)
Hedgepeth’s is a special case, for – unlike Brown, who
maintains his own North Memphis community center for constituents, and unlike
Herenton, who has been the cynosure at several mass rallies in the inner city
and who has made selected drop-in appearances elsewhere, Hedgepeth has, by
apparent design, been the subject of few public sightings.
Sammons, who by general acknowledgement is directing the
Hedgepeth campaign, pooh-poohs the necessity of his protégé’s making appearances
at forums and other such events. “He needs to be out where the people are,” said
the retiring councilman on the occasion of the recent opening of Hedgepeth’s
Park Place campaign headquarters.
And that, Sammons went on, passing his hand over a wall
map, meant concentrating on door-to-door canvassing. It should be said that
there are skeptics in other candidates’ camps who doubt that Hedgepeth is doing
much door-to-door, either. What is incontestable is that Hedgepeth has beaucoup
campaign signs – including what would seem to be scores of large wooden ones –
all over District 9 and, for that matter, in adjoining areas, both inside and
outside the city.
And this week saw the appearance of a TV spot in which the
30-year-old former University of Memphis tight end appears both personable and
focused and promises, once in office, to be the source of “straight talk” and
“practical solutions.”
Meanwhile, it would seem, voters will have to do without
much of either. Hedgepeth’s highly packaged and well-financed campaign so far
has distinct resemblances to the election efforts of Nikki Tinker, a
repeat candidate for the 9th District congressional seat who, in both
2006 and in the campaign she has already launched for 2008, has eschewed much in
the way of policy statements and whose public appearances are highly controlled.
She, too, like Hedgepeth, has relied heavily on mailouts, visible campaign
paraphernalia, and expensively produced media.
Whether coincidentally or not, both Hedgepeth and Tinker
also reportedly have stout support in local corporate circles.
None of that conclusively demonstrates anything, for better
or worse, about the potential of either candidate in office, but it is the kind
of outward, detached manifestation that Joe Saino, a candidate for
District 9, Position 2, had in mind on Sunday at the Central Gardens forum when
– almost in the manner of ’60s balladeer Joe South — he denounced the
prevalence of “signs, signs, signs.”
But even Saino, a retired businessman and public official
who is best known these days for his muckraking blog efforts at
memphiswatchdog.org, has his signs out. They all do. On the day after Election
Day we’ll see which ones were omens and which just turned out to be litter.
(Next week: the Flyer‘s pre-election issue.)
