POLITICS: Something for Everybody

Let’s be optimistic. The new city council may turn out to
be ideally balanced between Memphis’ disparate races, social groups, and special
interests.

Among the outright winners last Thursday night were:

District 4: Wanda Halbert, an African
American and a seasoned school board member whose inner-city concerns will be
balanced with knowledge of mainstream issues;

District 5: Jim Strickland, a lawyer whose
whopping 73 percent total over five opponents gave some indication of the
widespread appeal enjoyed by this white former Democratic chairman (whose law
partner is U.S. attorney David Kustoff, a former GOP chairman).

District 7: Barbara Swearengen Holt-Ware, a
black veteran and firm ally of Mayor Willie Herenton who easily turned
aside an energetic challenge from four opponents.

Super District 8, Position 1: Whether he’s profiting
from the cachet of the former Criminal Court judge and current TV jurist who has
the same name as himself or, alternatively, is just well liked for his stout
attention to inner-city neighborhood concerns, Joe Brown made it back
easily over two opponents.

Super District 8, Position 2: More moderate than her
reputation in some quarters, Janis Fullilove has been a fixture on the
airwaves for almost two decades, and her name ID by itself was enough to
overpower seven well-qualified opponents, including interim incumbent Henry
Hooper.

Super District 8, Position 3: Myron Lowery, a
hard-working fixture on the council for a generation and a pillar of both
mainstream and minority concerns, had no problem with his two opponents.

Super District 9, Position 1: Scott McCormick,
the likely new chairman, outpolled all other council candidates and prevailed
easily in a battle in which his ex-military opponent made few public
appearances.

Super District 9, Position 2: Shea Flinn,
Democratic son of a Republican county commissioner, outpointed runner-up Kemp
Conrad, who had GOP support, thanks to his big-bucks campaign, his own
appeal, and an impressive run from “Memphis Watchdog” Joe Saino, who
harvested liberally from Conrad’s conservative base.

Super District 9, Position 3: The winner here was
developer Reid Hedgepeth, whose campaign spent bigtime and had so many
yard signs that Hedgepeth’s campaign manager, retiring councilman Jack
Sammons, wryly suggested recycling some of them at a late fundraiser.

Though he may have lost some votes to challenger Lester
Lit, Hedgepeth saw his main competitor, lawyer Desi Franklin, sharing
enough crucial votes with fellow Democrat Mary Wilder to have to
settle for runner-up status.

Still to be determined:

There will be runoffs on November 8 in four district races.

District 1: School board member Stefanie Gatewood,
an M.O.R. black, vies with teacher Bill Morrison in a northern-suburb
district whose demographics now tilt African American. Educators won’t lose
either way.

District 2: The survivors from a multi-candidate
field in this eastern-edge district are, as expected, former assessor and
veteran civic figure Bill Boyd and hard-charging well-supported lawyer
Brian Stephens, who had the early head start. A tossup.

District 3: Though still youthful, Harold Collins
is a veteran of public service and has much influential support, while teacher
Ike Griffith has some grass-roots strength of his own. Collins is
considered the favorite.

District 6: Another teacher, Edmund Ford
Jr., now a graduate student, had a sizeable election-day lead over runner-up
James O. Catchings, himself a well-known educator. It remains to be seen
whether the current legal predicament of Ford pere, who is leaving the
seat, will be a help or a hindrance in the runoff.