Tag: John Gillespie

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Stockard: Memphis Crime Bill Shocks

Rodney and RowVaughn Wells, parents of the late Tyre Nichols, at a Monday press conference speaking out against a bill to overrule a local government measure to limit traffic stops of the type that resulted in Nichols' death. (Photo: John Partipilo, Tennessee Lookout)

Promises, promises. This wouldn’t be the first time they’re broken.

Rep. John Gillespie (R-Bartlett) swore on the House floor Thursday he didn’t tell the family of slain motorist Tyre Nichols’ he would postpone a policing bill they oppose until next week when they could return to the Capitol. That claim brought an accusation from Rep. Justin J. Pearson (D-Memphis) that Gillespie lied to the family (and a subsequent rebuke that amounted to nothing).

Nichols’ parents, Rodney and RowVaughn Wells, also sent out a statement Thursday urging Senators to vote against the bill when it reaches the upper chamber and reiterated what Pearson said, that Gillespie told them not to visit Nashville because he didn’t plan to bring the bill to the floor.

The Wellses visited the legislature Monday lobbying against Gillespie’s bill, which would turn back a Memphis City Council ordinance designed to prevent police officers from making “pretextual” stops such as pulling over motorists for a bad tail light. The Wellses believe their son, Tyre, would be alive if such an ordinance had been in place in January 2023 when police stopped him and beat him (the incident is on video). He later died.

Gillespie responded by postponing the bill until Thursday and attaching an amendment — which is usually a no-no on the floor — making the bill apply only to “pretextual” stops. In other words, police would still make them in Memphis and statewide.

Several Memphis Democrats questioned whether he told the Wellses he would delay the bill until they could return to the Capitol, which is more than three hours from Memphis.

Rodney and RowVaughn Wells, parents of the late Tyre Nichols, at a Monday press conference speaking out against a bill to overrule a local government measure to limit traffic stops of the type that resulted in Nichols’ death. (Photo: John Partipilo, Tennessee Lookout)
“They were told it would be presented next Thursday. John lied to them,” said Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) of Rep. John Gillespie. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
Rep. Gloria Johnson hugs RowVaughn Wells, mother of the late Tyre Nichols. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

Gillespie contended his community is “begging” for safer streets and refused to give in, saying the bill needed to pass immediately to cut Memphis crime.

Afterward, he said he texted Mr. Wells during Thursday’s session to let him know he was moving forward with the bill and received no response.

“I feel horrible that they feel this way. But I told them this bill was on the calendar today and that my intention was adding an amendment if I was allowed,” Gillespie said.

Regardless of who said what and when, Gillespie could have put it off again. Democrats practically begged him for a delay.

But the second-termer who succeeded the late Rep. Jim Coley wouldn’t budge — buoyed by supermajority Republicans. And two efforts by Towns to force postponement failed.

Eventually, the House voted along party lines to adopt Gillespie’s bill, bringing yet more criticism from Pearson.

“They were told it would be presented next Thursday. John lied to them,” Pearson told the Lookout later, basically the same thing he said on the floor.

The Wellses issued a statement later Thursday saying the legislation is a “dangerous step back in the fight for accountability, transparency and justice within law enforcement.” They consider the Memphis ordinances a “part of Tyre’s legacy,” intended to build trust between law enforcement and residents and prevent tragic deaths.

The Senate is likely to follow the House on this issue, even though Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) isn’t enthusiastic about several other constitutionally questionable measures emanating from the lower chamber.

The real question, however, is whether Memphis police will follow the legislature’s orders if the bill becomes law or stick with the Memphis City Council directive to limit “pretextual” stops, those in which officers pull over vehicles to make a “speculative” investigation unconnected to the reason for the stop, and not for enforcing traffic laws.

Some folks call it stereotyping or “driving while Black,” and the U.S. Department of Justice saw enough problems with Memphis policing policy to investigate last year.

But the city council, worn out with traffic stops turning into killings, took things into their own hands and prohibited “pretextual” policing. 

It sounds like something the police department should have done years ago. But in the majority minority city on the banks of the Mississippi, change comes slowly — if at all.

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and Twitter.

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News The Fly-By

MEMernet: Sweet Cheeks, Gonna Be May, and Gun Safety

Posted to Facebook by Sweet Cheeks Espresso

Memphis on the internet.

Sweet Cheeks

Searcy, Arkansas, is now home to “central Arkansas’ first drive-thru bikini coffee shop.” Sweet Cheeks Espresso opened last month. It serves lattes, cold brew, frappes, chai tea, and Red Bull-infused drinks like the Bubble Butt and Fruity Booty. Yep, all of it made and served by women in bikinis.

It’s Gonna be May

Posted to Facebook by Mike Doughty

May’s Memphis arrival means two things: Memphis in May and Justin Timberlake memes.

NSYNC’s 2000 hit “It’s Gonna Be Me” is the genesis for the “It’s Gonna Be May” meme that blooms each year around this time. Know Your Meme says the original “May” meme was posted to a Tumblr blog in 2012. It’s still going strong 11 years later, as evidenced by the photo above posted to Facebook by Memphis musician Mike Doughty.

Tweet of the Week

Photo: State of Tennessee

In the wake of last week’s shooting at FOX13, state Representative John Gillespie (R-Memphis) seemed ready to work on some sort of gun control in a special session promised by Governor Bill Lee.

“The solution as we know is going to be a complicated one but I am willing to roll up my sleeves, work with my colleagues in Nashville and figure it out. I am here to protect my constituents and speak on behalf of all of those scared for their own safety and the safety of their families and friends. WE MUST DO BETTER AND WE MUST DO IT NOW.”

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Lawmakers React to Governor Lee’s Special Session on Gun Violence

Credit: state of Tennessee

Lawmakers reacted to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s call on Monday for a special session that is aimed to focus on reining in gun violence in the state. 

The GOP supermajority in the Tennessee General Assembly did not allow a review or a vote on Lee’s gun control proposal that came toward the end of the legislature’s 2023 regular session. Before they quit Nashville, though, Lee promised to bring them back to review the issue.

All of it came after the April shooting at a Nashville school that left three teachers and three students dead. Lee’s wife, Maria, previously taught with Cindy Peak and Katherine Koonce, two teachers killed at the school.

The gun-violence issue dominated the final weeks of the 2023 session. The turbulent days brought massive protests at the capitol, GOP efforts to remove three Tennessee House members, the expulsion of two of them, and the reinstatement of them both. 

GOP members wanted to see the Covenant shooter’s so-called “manifesto” before plunging into any kind of discussion on gun control. They also chided Democratic members for bringing gun control measures to the body after the shooting. 

The GOP was largely silent on the issue directly following the announcement. No official statements from their press offices and no Twitter mentions of the session came immediately from House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) nor Senate Speaker Randy McNally. 

However, Rep. John Gillespie (R-Memphis) had plenty to say on the topic before Lee’s announcement. In a series of tweets last week, the lawmaker said he was ready to get to to work on the issue and admitted “guns may be part of the problem.”

Democratic lawmakers from both state houses issued statements from their respective press offices after Lee’s announcement. 

Sen. Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis):

Akbari I State of Tennessee

“The General Assembly should embrace this opportunity to pass sensible gun laws that stop future gun violence. The people demanding action have brought us to this moment and now we need every Tennessean who cares about this issue to tell their elected leaders to show up in August and support legislation that truly addresses gun violence.

“Once we see the official call for the special session, we’ll know exactly what kind of legislation can be introduced. But we already know that broad majorities of voters, from all parts of the state and all political backgrounds, support common sense gun reforms, like extreme risk protection orders, waiting periods, and universal background checks.

“House and Senate Democrats will have a comprehensive package of gun safety bills and we’re ready to get something done.”

Sen. Sara Kyle (D-Memphis):

Kyle I State of Tennessee

“In Memphis, we know all too well the deadly consequences of firearms falling into the hands of people who would do us harm. Gun violence has buried too many of our citizens and ripped apart too many families.

“I appreciate the governor’s commitment to a special session. Now it’s time for this legislature to do its job and address the epidemic of gun violence.”

House Minority Leader Rep. Karen Camper (D-Memphis):

Camper I State of Tennessee

“The House Democratic Caucus is looking forward to working with Governor Lee and our Republican colleagues to enact meaningful legislation regarding sensible, bipartisan gun reform and public safety.  We know that Tennesseans across the state in both urban and rural communities are watching closely to ensure that we address the issues of unlicensed gun sales, extreme risk and protection orders and access to assault weapons and high capacity magazines.

Our caucus was prepared to meet this challenge during the regular session to keep Tennesseans safe.  It is unfortunate that our Republican colleagues decided to ignore our calls for action.  As we wait for the August special session we will continue to work towards our goal to create a Tennessee where public safety is a priority.”

Clemmons I State of Tennessee

House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville):

“While I am glad to see Gov. Lee finally responding to the ongoing pleas of an overwhelming majority of Tennesseans begging us to take immediate, necessary action, I remain seriously concerned about the inexcusable delay and his willingness to legislatively address the real problem that is causing these continued threats of harm to our children and communities.”

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Politics Politics Feature

Naming Names

Photo: Frederick Tappan with Cary Vaughn

District Attorney-elect Steve Mulroy took the opportunity last week to name the members of his newly created transition team, to be chaired by outgoing County Commissioner and local NAACP head Van Turner.

Turner, who recently acknowledged that he would be a candidate for mayor in next year’s Memphis city election, promised “a thorough, top-to-bottom review of the operations, priorities, and staffing of the District Attorney’s Office.”

Other members of the transition team are: District 29 state Senator Raumesh Akbari (D); District 83 state Representative Mark White (R); Demetria Frank, associate dean for diversity and inclusion at the University of Memphis Law School; Richard Hall, chief of police, city of Germantown; Muriel Malone, executive director of the Tennessee Human Rights Commission and former Shelby County assistant DA; Kevin Rardin, retired member of the Public Defender’s Office and former Shelby County assistant DA; Mike Carpenter, director of marketing and development for My Cup of Tea; Yonée Gibson and Josh Spickler of Just City; and attorneys Jake Brown, Kamilah Turner, Brice Timmons, and Mike Working.

Paul Young (Photo: Jackson Baker)

• Paul Young, the director of the Downtown Memphis Commission, gave members of the Kiwanis Club a comprehensive review of current and future projects for Downtown development on Wednesday of last week. One matter of public curiosity did not go unspoken to in the subsequent Q&A. Would he, someone asked, be a candidate for Memphis mayor next year as has been rumored?

Young’s reply: “Obviously, we’ve had a lot of conversations. And you know, it’s not time for any type of announcements or anything like that. I’m gonna continue to do the job at DMC to the best of my ability, regardless of when the season comes for the mayor’s race, but we definitely have had discussions.”

• Meanwhile, the Shelby County Republican Party, having been defeated for all countywide positions in the recent August 4th election, is doing its best to retain optimism. Looking ahead to the next go-round, the federal-state general election of November 8th, the local GOP held a fundraiser Friday at the South Memphis headquarters of the Rev. Frederick Tappan, who will oppose Democratic nominee (and recently appointed incumbent) London Lamar for the District 33 state Senate seat.

Imported for the occasion was state Senator Ken Yager of Kingston, the GOP’s Senate caucus chair, who assured local Republicans, for what it was worth, that “the Republican leadership are 100 percent committed to the election of Frederick Tappan.”

Tappan, pastor of Eureka TrueVine Baptist Church and founder of L.I.F.E. Changing Ministries, sounded his own note of commitment: “We can do this if we come together. We need one mind, have one mission, to become one Memphis. We don’t lean to the left, we don’t lean to the right.”

GOP chair Cary Vaughn, who would probably admit leaning somewhat to the right, said, “We took it on the chin a few weeks ago. But that was not the finish line. That was the starting line for November 8th, we’ve got a chance to redeem ourselves.” Vaughn mentioned several of the party’s legislative candidates, including state Senator Kevin Vaughan, state representatives Mark White and John Gillespie, and state Senate candidate Brent Taylor. “We have a chance to rectify the situation. And we have an opportunity, not just to finish, but to finish well.”

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Politics Politics Feature

Two Bills From Freshman Legislator Gillespie, Rally for Palestine

Photo: Abdellah Amarir

Last week’s Flyer cover story on the closing out of the 2021 legislative session in Nashville referred to several bills that were passed in the last week of the session. Two that were not included in the survey but deserve some attention, perhaps, were House Bill 22/Senate Bill 14 by state Rep. John Gillespie (R-District 97) and state Senator Brian Kelsey (R-District 31), which raised the penalty for drag racing on public thoroughfares from a Class B misdemeanor to a Class A misdemeanor, and HB1267/SB588 by Gillespie and Sen. Ed Jackson (R-Jackson).

The latter bill was a complicated piece of legislation that established a new governing structure for both the state Lottery Board and the new Sports Wagering Advisory Board.

Gillespie is a first-termer, elected last year in a hard-fought contest with Democrat Gabby Salinas. Discussing his initial term as a legislator with a reporter in the last days of the session, Gillespie displayed genuine exuberance with the bill-making process, as well he might, given that he would become the recipient of the Tennessee Journal’s unofficial Freshman of the Year Award, announced in the periodical’s most recent issue.

Marchers participate in an Emergency Rally for Palestine in Downtown Memphis. (Photo: Abdellah Amarir)

Perhaps the key accomplishment for Gillespie, however, was not his sponsorship of the two aforementioned measures, but his insistence on not voting for another bill, HB786/SB765, pushed by no less than Governor Bill Lee and sponsored by the majority leaders of the two chambers. Perhaps the No. 1 administration bill of the session, this is the one that allows for permitless carry of firearms in the state, a dramatic change indeed and one with potentially major consequences.

Gillespie was one of only three Republican members of the legislature to reject the governor’s magnum opus, and the only freshman. Took some nerve, that did.

• Memphis is not Portland, but the city has developed its own penchant — orderly, focused, but by no means bashful or lacking in commitment — for responding to local, national, and international events of consequence. Examples in recent years have been the Women’s March of January 2017, a response to the then brand-new Trump administration; the “bridge” demonstration of the previous year to protest police violence against Black youth; and numerous manifestations of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Now add the impressive turnout on Sunday for an “Emergency Rally for Palestine,” which began with a gathering and speeches at City Hall and climaxed with a march of some 300 ethnically mixed participants to the National Civil Rights Museum. The rally was held to protest what its sponsors see as the U.S. government’s uncritical acceptance of Israel’s aggressive control measures in the ongoing violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

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Politics Politics Feature

Wish Lists

CREDIT: Jackson Baker

As expected, the Biden-Harris ticket was an easy winner in Democratic-dominated Shelby County last week; also unsurprising was the overwhelming support enjoyed by the Trump-Pence Republican ticket in Tennessee at large.

To the extent that there was any kind of suspense factor, it was in a pair of local races. Even as Democrats nationally made serious inroads on previously Republican suburban areas, the contests for House District 83 and House District 96, both on the suburban fringe, were unusually tight. Republican state Representative Mark White was able to hold off a stout challenge by Democrat Jerri Green, by a margin of 17,682 to 15,063, and the GOP’s John Gillespie had an even closer margin over Democratic candidate Gabby Salinas, 14,697 to 14,212.

Jackson Baker

House Speaker Cameron Sexton

Gillespie, who won the open seat vacated by former Representative Jim Coley, was one of two new members of the Shelby County delegation. The other was Democrat Torrey Harris, who easily won over longtime incumbent John DeBerry, forced to run this year as an independent, in House District 90.

Both Gillespie and Harris were on hand on Monday and Tuesday for the Shelby County legislative delegation’s annual legislative retreat, this year conducted virtually as a Zoom meeting.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, a first-day speaker, said he wants CLERB, the city’s independent civilian review board, to have subpoena powers of its own so that it need not go through the city council in probing accusations of police misconduct. The mayor also wants Memphis to have equity with Nashville in state funding received for mental health services. “We have many more mental health patients than Nashville, but Nashville gets more,” he said Monday.

The annual retreat, at which spokespersons for major local interests state their wish lists for the coming legislative session in Nashville, is normally held in January, just before the session begins, but got a bit of a jump-start this year.

Among the other desiderata on Monday, the first day of the two-day virtual session:

Patrice J. Robinson, chair of the Memphis City Council, asked the legislators to pass a bill banning payday lenders. She also wanted to see the decriminalization of medical marijuana and a continuation of the COVID-era expedient of allowing sales-to-go of alcoholic beverages from storefronts.

Robinson endorsed as well a bill that state Senator Brian Kelsey (R-District 31) said he would introduce increasing the local portion of the state sales tax — this as a means of recouping some of the financial loss to cities from the pending elimination of the state Hall income tax on dividends and investments.

Memphis Police Department director Michael Rallings focused on the gun problem, maintaining that increased prevalence of firearms was the main reason for a rise in certain categories of crime. “Thank goodness permitless carry was not passed,” Rallings said, musing on the last legislative session. Rallings also noted for the lawmakers that he considers Memphis to be “490 to 700 officers down” from an optimum roster number.

The headliner on day two, Tuesday, was state Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton, Republican of Crossville, who promised the legislators that the General Assembly’s calendar would be flexed with the uncertainties of COVID-19 in mind so that, as one example, they would have a little “extra time for filing their bills.”

Asked about his attitude toward marijuana legislation, Sexton said he would feel more comfortable with efforts to legalize medical marijuana if the federal government removed its status as a Schedule 1 drug. Sexton said he was in favor of local jurisdictions making decisions about such issues as school openings and guns on school property. He also said, apropos the dormant Memphis megasite, “We’ve gone too far to pull back.”

During his appearance before the legislators, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris noted his concern about skeptical statements made by Governor Bill Lee and state Attorney General Herbert Slatery regarding the results of the presidential election won by President-elect Joe Biden. That was one of the few times during the two-day session that partisanship as such became a subject of discussion.

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Politics Politics Feature

It Ain’t Beanbag: Local Campaigns Sling Mud in Last-Ditch Efforts

CREDIT: Jackson Baker

So you think this is the hard stuff — President Trump calling his opponent Joe Biden “Sleepy Joe” and using the term “criminal enterprise” to describe the Biden family — or Biden reciprocating by calling the president a “clown” and saying to him, “Man, why don’t you just shut up!”

Both presidential candidates have addressed each other coarsely, though Trump certainly has been worse. Think of Trump’s newest audience-participation contribution: When a disapproved-of public figure is mentioned, the crowd chants, “Lock him up!” That epithet has even been hurled at Dr. Anthony Fauci, the hard-working, non-political chief of infectious disease research in these pandemic times. It’s the sort of thing that is regarded as unprecedented — as a sign of irreversible decline in the civility of our political process.

Jackson Baker

Gabby Salinas (second from left) at Shelby Farms

Well, the fact is, such invective is par for the course, and always has been in the practice of our national democracy. Just look at some of the stuff that’s being put out in our local elections.

Here’s a recent mailout from the Tennessee Republican Party, up in Nashville, aimed at Democrat Gabby Salinas, candidate for local state House District 97: Side one warns boldly, “Gabby Salinas and her Socialist friends are taking aim at our guns.” To the right of this is a huge, ugly, bright-red gun sight, and underneath the warning and the graphic is a triad of heads: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), Gabby Salinas, and Bernie Sanders. If that side of the mailer is outrageous, side two is all of that and a blatant fraud as well.

The reverse side of the mailer is loaded up with more gun symbols and with the information that Salinas is “Endorsed by Memphis Democrat Socialists of America; Endorsed by far-left Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren; Supports Socialist Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.”

Jim McCarter

John Gillespie at Cordova Community Center

The outright fraud part comes when the piece declaims “Gabby Salinas Earns an F Rating from the NRA!” sandwiched in between headshots of Warren and AOC and overlaying this legend: “Here’s what the NRA says about candidates [note that plural] who earn an F rating. True enemy of gun owners’ rights. A consistent anti-gun candidate who always opposes gun owners’ rights.” It seems clear that this scourging text was not composed by the NRA with Salinas in mind. She isn’t a “consistent anti-gun candidate.” She isn’t even a “consistent” candidate. This is only her second race! And she runs as what she is, a cancer survivor who came to St. Jude from Bolivia as a child to get medical treatment that saved her life, and stayed on as a naturalized American and as a research scientist interested most of all in public health — someone given the highest possible endorsement by Marlo Thomas of St. Jude.

The negative lines quoted above from the mailer were more likely aimed at Warren or AOC or some other person concerned about firearm violence. Both Salinas and her opponent, John Gillespie, a grant coordinator for Trezevant Episcopal Home, have issued mailouts touting their own claims to office.

And the Tennessee Tomorrow PAC has put out its own attack mailer on Gillespie. It brandishes a cartoon image of the GOP candidate and is in the style of a poem, entitled “Little Johnny Gillespie wants to work on Capitol Hill.” It begins: “There was nothing Little Gillespie/really wanted to be./Why be a doctor? Why dig a ditch?/Why do anything? My daddy is rich!” And it continues in kind.

The contest between Salinas and Gillespie in House District 97 is considered one of the closest and most hard-fought on the ballot, though it is only one of several similar ones taking place in hybrid city-suburban districts this year that will test the Republican hold on the shifting populations of the suburban fringe area.

For the record, candidate Salinas faces the end game with a financial balance of $77,945.43, while Gillespie has $43,430.77.