JB
Q: Why is this man smiling? A: Would’t you be?
Mayor-elect Jim Strickland is clearly no slouch when it comes to being prepared. On Wednesday Strickland, as noted by our Toby Sells, convened the eight teams of his transition committee for a public meeting at the University of Memphis at which they unveiled their recommendations for his administration. Sample recommendation: Treat citizens like customers.
Strickland then went directly from that meeting to a big-ticket ($1,500) fund-raiser in his honor Wednesday evening at the home of Richard Smith, vice president of global trade services for FedEx and son of FedEx founder Fred Smith. Strickland finished his successful mayoral campaign, during which he raised some $600,000, in the black, but, as one associate put it, “he’ll never be any more popular than he is right now,” and he’s already getting organized for a reelection effort in 2019.
And make of this what you will: Back on September 15, Mayor A C Wharton, running for reelection against Strickland and others, went to Nashville for a $500-a-head fundraiser sponsored by a blue-chip donor list including , inter alia, former Mayor and Governor Phil Bredesen, then Mayor Karl Dean, and influential Democrats Charles Bone, and Charles Robert Bone. And on November 12 Wharton’s conqueror, Strickland, had a $500-a-head fundraiser in Nashville sponsored by a blue-chip list including,former Mayor and Governor Phil Bredesen, former Mayor Karl Dean, and influential Democrats Charles Bone, and Charles Robert Bone.
