Tag: Bruce McMullen

Categories
News News Blog

State Supreme Court Denies Sons of Confederate Veterans’ Petition to Review Lower Courts’ Decision

Minutes before Nathan Bedford Forrest’s statue was removed from Health Sciences Park

The Supreme Court of Tennessee denied the Sons of Confederate Veterans’ (SCV) petition to review the dismissal of its case against the city of Memphis for the removal of three confederate monuments from former city-owned parks.

The SCV sought a temporary injunction in 2018 to preserve the monuments that were removed in 2017 by Memphis Greenspace, the nonprofit that purchased the two Memphis parks and subsequently removed the statues.

Last year, the Davidson County Chancery Court determined that the monuments were no longer on public property and therefore were not covered under the Tennessee Historical Protection Act (THPA) of 2013.

[pullquote-1]

The court also determined that the city acted legally in its efforts to remove the monuments.

That decision was upheld first in June by the Tennessee Court of Appeals and then again this week by the Tennessee Supreme Court.

Here is what the city’s chief legal officer, Bruce McMullen said about the court’s decision:

“We’re pleased with the Supreme Court’s denial of the application of the Sons of Confederate Veterans petition to review the dismissal of this case in the lower Courts. This decision effectively ends this litigation and allows Memphis Greenspace to relocate the statues to an appropriate venue outside of Shelby County. Every decision the city of Memphis has made throughout this process has been thoughtful and most importantly, legal.”

Categories
News News Blog

Councilman Highlights Potential Conflict of Interest Between City and Its Attorney

McMullen

Two days ahead of the municipal election here, a Memphis City Council member raised concerns about a conflict of interest between the city and its Chief Legal Officer (CLO).

Councilman Martavious Jones said Tuesday that because Bruce McMullen, the city’s CLO, is a shareholder at the Baker Donelson law firm, which is contracted by the city, there could be an unfair benefit for McMullen.

Jones said that since McMullen was appointed in 2016 by Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, Baker Donelson has received a 427 percent increase in revenue.

Jones said that Baker Donelson’s revenues from the city have been steadily increasing, going from about $330,500 in 2016 to $452,000 so far in 2019. He said the firm earned just under $1 million for its work on the federal police surveillance trial last year.

Jones gave all of these figures during a council committee hearing Tuesday. It was unclear where Jones got the information.  

Jones noted that per city ordinance, an officer of the city is not allowed to receive benefits from increased contracts with the city.

“The transparency required for a public entity is different than the private section,” Jones said.

McMullen said that there are procedures in place to prevent conflicts of interest from occurring. McMullen said that he does not participate in referring cases to Baker Donelson. Instead, that’s done by the city’s deputy attorney Mike Fletcher and approved by the mayor.

McMullen also said that he personally does not receive any financial benefits for the cases the city contracts Baker Donelson to try.

Fletcher added that the earnings Baker Donelson made between 2008 and 2011 for contracting with the city is “comprable, if not more,” than the amounts between 2016 and now.

[pullquote-1]

Strickland released a statement shortly after the discussion, saying that “there is no conflict of interest or ethical violation on the part of the Chief Legal Officer.”

“In addition, some of our best CLOs in the past have served in a part-time capacity, including Cliff Pierce and Robert Spence,” Strickland said. “Chief McMullen serves us well in his part-time capacity and has represented the city with integrity.”

Strickland continues, saying that Baker Donelson is one of the “most pre-eminent firms in the country,” and it has represented the city for more than 40 years.

“As mayor, I will not deny the city access to this firm simply because our Chief Legal Officer is a member,” Strickland said. “I made that clear when Bruce was appointed, and I stand by that decision.”

To avoid this type of potential conflict of interest in the future, “whether perceived or real” Jones is working on a city ordinance that would require all city officers and directors appointed by the mayor to work full-time. Currently, McMullen works part-time for the city.

Requiring all officers and division directors to be full-time would ensure they are “dedicated primarily to the duties of their office and needs of the city,” a draft of the ordinance reads.

The ordinance also would require officers and directors to be residents of the city. Doug MGowen, the city’s chief operating officer, said the city charter would have to be amended to put that requirement in place. The charter can only be amended by referendum, he said.

Jones plans to bring an amended version of the ordinance back at the council’s next meeting in two weeks for further discussion.

Categories
News News Blog

ACLU Trial Wraps Up, Ruling to Come in September

CREDIT: Brandon Dill

Brandon Dill

Protesters and police officers face off during the 2016 Hernando de Soto bridge protest

Court adjourned Thursday morning in the federal trial over Memphis police surveillance on activists. 

Memphis Police Department (MPD) Major Lambert Ross was the last witness to take the stand in U.S. District Judge Jon McCalla’s courtroom. Ross was the head of the Real Time Crime Center (RTCC) during the time of the alleged police surveillance.

The RTCC houses more than 30 large, high-definition monitors displaying live footage from 1,000 cameras around the city. The footage is monitored by both civilian and commissioned officer analysts who can radio officers when incidents occur, Ross said.

Ross said that the RTCC was never used for political surveillance, but to find out where events were being held and how many people were involved. Precincts were then made aware of any large events that were ongoing in their area.

The RTCC began searching social media in 2014, Ross said. Initially, it was used to assist in solving crimes, but after the 2016 bridge protest, searches related to protests were more common. Specifically, Ross said Black Lives Matter was a recurring search term.

“I’m not going to say we chose that term, but it chose us,” Ross testified. “The event picks the search term.”

When asked if searching social media was ever done to find out if specific people would be involved in an event, Ross said no. Ross said as a black man, he “understands the right to protest” and would never interfere. As his MPD colleagues testified before him, Ross said the motivation for the monitoring was public safety.

The city and the ACLU-TN both rested their cases following Ross’ testimony and are required to submit closing briefs in writing to McCalla by Friday, Sept. 14th. Then, both sides have until Friday, Sept. 24th to respond to the opposing side’s brief.

McCalla will release the ruling after both sides have answered each others’ briefs. After court adjourned, one of the attorney’s for the ACLU-TN, Thomas Castelli, said he hopes that the trial will result in court-ordered independent monitoring of MPD, a change in their policies, and better training as it related to the 1978 consent decree.

Additionally and separately from this case, the city has filed a motion to vacate or modify the decree. The ACLU has until early October to that request.

Bruce McMullen, chief legal officer for the city of Memphis, said the city is asking the court vacate the consent decree “because it’s not really relevant today.” It predates any standard technology that law enforcement uses today, he said.

If the court isn’t willing to completely do away with the decree, McMullen said it should “at least be modified and updated so that it’s applicable to the law enforcement best practices that we use today.”

“I want to emphasize that it’s nothing we’re doing today that 155 other jurisdictions do not do in law enforcement,” McMullen said. “It’s basic law enforcement, from Skycops to body cams, which a lot of citizens supported us getting.”

Categories
Editorial Opinion

Mayor Strickland’s New Cabinet

So far, the major appointees of Mayor-elect Jim Strickland seem an acceptable bunch. Like the members of his transition team, they are a mix. Appropriately enough for mayoral bridegroom Strickland, the old nuptial saying applies: “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.”

The “something old” component, previously announced, includes several retainees: interim, now permanent, public works director Robert Knecht; general services director Antonio Adams; information services director Brent Nair; libraries director Keenon McCloy; executive director of workforce investment Kevin Woods; finance director Brian Collins; and Memphis Police director Toney Armstrong.

Among the “something new” appointees: Douglas McGowen as chief operating officer (COO), a new position; Bruce McMullen as city attorney; Alexandria Smith as human resources director; and Ursula Madden as chief communications officer.

Madden, a longtime news anchor for WMC-TV, Action News 5, also qualifies in the “something borrowed” category, inasmuch as she is a lift from the ranks of the media, a rival “estate” to government in Edmund Burke’s category of major societal divisions.

And “something blue” as a category applies handily to Armstrong, the head of city law enforcement whose tenure in office has in the past few weeks endured despite dismissive rhetoric by two mayors. A C Wharton made a premature announcement of Armstrong’s departure in the aftermath of the election that proved to be, in the old Nixonian-era term, “inoperative.” And Strickland’s persistent refusals during his campaign to commit himself to re-employing Armstrong were widely read (and apparently misread) as a vote of no confidence.

Indeed, it would almost seem that Armstrong himself — as resourceful in the politics of survival, it appears, as in his celebrated detective work (chronicled for a nation in TV’s 48 Hours) — has the major say in his professional destiny, including whether he will abide by his erstwhile, Wharton-era decision to retire in 2017 or keep on keeping on. The director is remarkably direct in his statements, keeping a sense of independence and an even keel, as when he spoke of the “logistical nightmare” he faced after cuts in police benefits played havoc with his forces. And who among us even remembers that group of restive police dissidents he identified as “the monsters” when he took over as director in 2001. Without much fuss or fanfare, they were simply subdued.

And, speaking of independent hands, we confess to being intrigued by Strickland’s “buck-stops-here” determination to reorganize his administration with himself as the hands-on center of the wheel vis-à-vis his major appointees. This contrasts with Wharton’s approach, which was more of a sort of chairmanship relationship to a group of autonomous departments.

All in all, we think Strickland has begun cautiously and well. And, without being at all conspicuous in a ticket-balancing sort of way, he appears to be fashioning an administration that is diverse and representative of several points of view — an administration that does not break jarringly with the preceding one but clearly can move in its own chosen direction.