Tag: Election

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Editorial Opinion

On Democratic Purity

As the eagerly attentive denizens of the planet’s seven continents surely know by now, the Shelby County Democrats were able Monday night to enforce a ban against Republican officeholders at their annual Kennedy Day Dinner. There were, both literally and figuratively, no elephants in the room.

There were, however, some conspicuous elephants outside the room, and Governor Phil Bredesen, titular head of Tennessee Democrats,

alluded to them in an aside to his keynote address. These were the disabled Tennesseans and their sympathizers who picketed the event from positions on the Central Avenue sidewalk outside the Holiday Inn where the dinner took place. In his speech, Bredesen gave these protesters against his TennCare cuts backhanded praise for exercising their constitutionally protected freedom of speech, just as — or so he informed his Democratic audience — he had given them a few minutes of his time before entering the hotel.

The governor’s solicitude for the demonstrators was given appropriate applause. But Bredesen might have merited greater praise had he dealt with the TennCare issue in some other way than by repeating his well-worn mantra that, to maintain the state’s solvency, he had no other choice than to make the draconian series of cuts that left many of the seriously disabled protesters uninsurable.

We seem to recall that state senators Steve Cohen and Rosalind Kurita, both Democrats, had proposed increasing the state cigarette tax so that the resulting revenue might have seriously mitigated the scope of the TennCare reductions. The governor, up for reelection this year and an economy-minded administrator under any circumstances, chose not to support such a measure. More crucially, perhaps, Bredesen took an adamant stand against new taxes of any kind — especially that bugaboo of the state’s recent past, an income tax — and boasted of Tennessee as a “low-tax state.”

It’s true that Tennessee’s rate of per-capita taxation is phenomenally low compared to the national average and to that of the great majority of states. The corollary is that Tennessee is a low-services state as well, and that’s nothing much to brag about.

It should be noted that Bredesen spent much of his speech insisting that his fellow state Democrats marshal their energies this year toward the goal of electing 9th Distict congressman Harold Ford Jr. to the U.S. Senate — the same Harold Ford Jr. who just voted, against the Democratic majority in Congress and along with House Republicans, to make permanent President Bush’s giveaway tax cuts for the wealthy.

It is all well and good for the Democratic Party to safeguard the sanctity of its guest list on formal party occasions. We just wish the party — and its spokespersons — would be just as resolute in upholding Democratic traditions and policies that, once upon a time, benefited the most needy and deserving in our midst.

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Politics Politics Feature

Litmus Test

Except for a generous number of judges and judicial candidates one also sees at Republican events these days, and for the several MOR Democrats (like businessman Karl Schledwitz) active in the campaigns of district attorney general Bill Gibbons and Sheriff Mark Luttrell, there was no taint of Republicanism at the Kennedy Day Dinner held Monday night by a newly cleansed Democratic Party.

Even so, there was still a large enough crowd to nearly fill the third-floor ballroom of the University of Memphis-area Holiday Inn to hear Governor Phil Bredesen‘s keynote address. Ironically, the famously centrist governor would proselytize for a commitment to the U.S. Senate campaign of Congressman Harold Ford Jr., not exactly a stickler for Democratic orthodoxy himself.

As another irony, Memphis mayor Willie Herenton — whose loyalty to party causes and candidates has been, to put it mildly, uneven — was also on hand, at least at the beginning. But Gibbons and Luttrell were kept away, and that certainly represented a victory for the Democratic Party nominees — every countywide candidate save Mayor A C Wharton and the mysteriously invisible Circuit Court clerk nominee Roderic Ford — who had protested the possibility of the two Republican officeholders’ showing up as paying guests.

The group of nominees held two press conferences over the weekend to prevent that indignity and had gone so far as to issue an ultimatum to Shelby County Democratic chairman Matt Kuhn demanding that he disinvite Gibbons and Luttrell. That the letter bearing this demand was hand-delivered to Kuhn’s address after its 5 p.m. Saturday deadline had already expired was an unfortunate piece of bad timing.

Perhaps understandably, the normally laid-back Kuhn was perturbed by that circumstance, as well as by a statement made Sunday by Gibbons’ general-election opponent, Gail Mathes, the Democratic nominee for district attorney general. Mathes, who was serving as spokesperson for the group of nominees, said of Kuhn, “He did not return calls until the very last minute, when he may have called Mr. Gibbons — only Mr. Gibbons, and not necessarily the other incumbents, and he may have talked Mr. Gibbons into not coming.”

Kuhn would later characterize the implication that he ignored calls from Democratic nominees as a “boldfaced lie.” He said the only calls he had not returned were from Democratic activist David Upton, who played a major role in organizing the nominees’ protest, and that he had specifically and immediately returned a telephone call from Shep Wilbun, the party’s nominee for Juvenile Court clerk.

Kuhn said he had twice last week discussed with fellow Democrats the issue of a Republican presence at the dinner. This was after rumblings had started among Democrats in the blogosphere. The matter came up on Wednesday night at a planning session for the dinner and again on Thursday night at a meeting of the party’s steering committee. By then, Kuhn had evolved a policy, which the committee gave its unanimous backing to.

In essence, the party would not obstruct the attendance at the event of Gibbons and Luttrell, who had purchased tickets online and not by anybody’s invitation.

Kuhn and the committee members agreed that the two GOP officials would not be recognized from the dais or be allowed to do any electioneering. Kuhn called Luttrell and Gibbons on Friday, briefing them on the ground rules. Neither objected.

But the party nominees did, and the brouhahas of the weekend ensued. Luttrell bowed out, and an intermediary prevailed on Gibbons to do the same. (Gibbons issued a formal statement to that effect on Monday, pointedly appending to it a lengthy list of his Democratic supporters.)

When it came time for Kuhn to address Monday night’s gathering, he conveyed a tone of battle fatigue — understandable for one who, in scarcely 10 months at the helm, has had to deal with continued factionalism and case after case relating to the issue of party fidelity vs. inclusiveness.

“Are you a Republican?” he began brazenly. “If you are, as a last resort, we may ask our sergeant-at-arms … to come around … to ask about a litmus test and see if you’re a bona fide Democrat, to give you the secret handshake and hear the password.”

As the crowd began to stir with nervous energy — some of it delighted, some of it clearly not — Kuhn delivered the clincher: “That secret password is ‘minority.'” A brief and, as they say, pregnant pause ensued, punctuated with an audible gasp or two. Kuhn proceeded to detail the fact of a current Republican majority on the County Commission and segued into a castigation of the local GOP for having led the way into partisan and “divisive” local elections more than a decade ago.

The young chairman then launched into a conventional call to arms on behalf of the party’s candidates this year, and the rest of the evening proceeded along more or less traditional lines, culminating with Bredesen’s speech. But, just as Kuhn’s critics within the party had made their point, so, finally, had he made his.

The GOP “Homecoming”

The Shelby County Republicans had just put on a formal dinner of their own only two nights earlier at the Al Chymia Shrine Temple on Shelby Oaks Drive, where Republican chairman Bill Giannini had an easier time of it.

The Saturday-night event, called “A Tennessee Homecoming,” featured patriotic songs by former Miss America Kellye Cash, a skit from impressionist Paul Shanklin, remarks from former county mayor Jim Rout and former governor Winfield Dunn, and — the pièce de résistance — an appearance by actress Dixie Carter. Carter entertained the crowd with a speech that focused on Republican “values” and detailed her lifelong loyalty to the Republican Party.

State senator Jim Bryson of Franklin, the state GOP’s favored candidate for governor this year, also dropped in. A home truth was spoken, perhaps inadvertently, when Dunn spoke of his, and the party’s, gratitude to Bryson — who forfeited his chance for reelection to the state Senate — for making the governor’s race.

Said Dunn: “Surely, we’re not going to let that guy in Nashville, in the Capitol building, who’s a pretty nice guy, as everyone would acknowledge, have a free ride into the governorship for four more years. And we looked hard for a candidate.” That was an oblique way, perhaps, of saying “sacrificial lamb.”

Also on hand were the three Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate — former Chattanooga mayor Bob Corker and former congressmen Van Hilleary and Ed Bryant. The latter two, who huddled together before the event, may have been appearing in the same place for the first time since they recently agreed to avoid attacks on each other and to make common cause against the perceived “moderate” Corker.

“I’m flattered,” said Corker Saturday night.

To no one’s surprise, a straw poll at the dinner went overwhelmingly in favor of Bryant, who, as a longtime congressman from the 7th District, is something of a favorite son in Shelby County.

Last Thursday night a crowd of some 300 at the University of Memphis Law School auditorium saw the largest turnout yet of declared Democratic candidates for the open 9th District congressional seat — 12 candidates and a surrogate — at a forum sponsored by the Shelby County Democratic Party and participating Democratic clubs.

A review of that event, which generated some sparks and may have shaken up the perceived pecking order somewhat, will appear online at MemphisFlyer.com and in next week’s Flyer, along with a retrospective on the congressional campaign to date.

Categories
Opinion

Because It’s There

Many friends, neighbors, and strangers have asked me recently why I’m running for the Memphis Charter Commission. Actually, that’s a lie, but if you’re getting into politics you have to start somewhere.

The truth is, like 32 other people, one reason I’m running for the charter commission is because it’s there.

It’s there, in case you weren’t paying attention, because organizers obtained more than 10,485 signatures on petitions in 2004. Contrary to popular belief and some newspaper stories, there was no public referendum. The charter commission was created by petition signatures of 2.5 percent of the registered voters in Memphis — the first and only time that has been done.

At any rate, the charterists said they gathered thousands more signatures than they needed. I don’t doubt it. We live in a time of unprecedented ability to identify and organize communities of football fans, ping-pong players, or fed-up citizens thanks to the Internet. Gathering valid signatures still involves knocking on doors and standing on street corners because electronic signatures don’t count, at least not yet. But spreading the word and building the base are easier than they were in 1966 or 1996.

We also live in a time of unprecedented apathy when it comes to voting in local elections. In 1991, 248,093 people voted in the Memphis election for mayor and City Council. In 2003, only 104,852 people voted in the city election.

The city charter doesn’t say anything about petitioning for a charter review commission. The guidance comes from the Tennessee Constitution, which says a charter commission can be created by petition of at least 10 percent of those voting in the most recent general municipal election. In 2004, that meant 10,485 signatures.

By coincidence or design, charter commission organizers got cranking when the magic number was the lowest it had been in modern history. If petition organizers had had their way, charter commission members would have been chosen in December 2004 in conjunction with a District 7 Memphis school-board runoff election that drew a turnout of less than 5 percent.

The turnout, of course, might have been higher with charter commission candidates on the ballot. But the question was moot. The election commission reopened the qualifying process and bumped the election back nearly two years to August 3rd.

Meanwhile, another petition drive was brewing to recall Mayor Willie Herenton. The charter says a recall election requires petition signatures of at least 10 percent of the voters in the last mayoral election. (In a municipal election, some voters don’t vote for mayor, so the numbers are slightly different.) But before the petition drive started, city attorney Sara Hall said the state constitution trumps the city charter as to recall requirements. The constitutional standard is 15 percent of the registered voters in the city, which translates to something like 64,000 signatures. For whatever reasons (the section was written in 1953), the constitution imposes a higher standard for removing someone from elected office than it does for a charter or amendment.

The August election figures to draw a big turnout because the ballot is jammed with candidates for Congress, governor, state legislature, county offices, and judgeships. Oddly enough, the trigger for the charter commission election is the Memphis City Council seat vacated by Janet Hooks, the lone city office on the ballot.

The election of charter commission members may still be confusing. For one thing, voters haven’t done it before. Candidates run by district but are elected at large — in other words, you can vote for seven of them. What the commission will do or even discuss — term limits, pensions, the balance of powers, MLGW, whatever — won’t be known until the members are chosen. Any recommendations must pass legal muster and be approved by voters in a future election.

For a highly readable history of the charter and how it came to be, go to the library and get David M. Tucker’s book, Memphis Since Crump: Bossism, Blacks, and Civic Reformers 1954-1968.

My name is John Branston and I approved this message and didn’t even have to pay for it. And if you see me pounding in signs outside the election commission, please hit me with a hammer.