The victories in last week’s city council runoff elections of three women over their male opponents further dramatizes an ever-increasing trend toward female dominance in the elective positions of both city and county governments.
To recap the results:
In District 2 (East Memphis), Jerri Green defeated Scott McCormick by a total of 1,752 votes to McCormick’s 1,696. In District 3 (Whitehaven), Pearl Walker won out over Rev. James Kirkwood with 781 votes to Kirkwood’s 767. And, in District 7, incumbent Michalyn Easter-Thomas defeated Jimmy Hassan by 966 votes to 504.
Besides reflecting the trend, the razor-thin victory margins of Green and Walker suggest a slight — but potentially crucial — prevalence of progressivism over conservatism in the council’s showdown votes to come.
Green is a Democrat who has been serving as chief policy advisor to Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, while McCormick had significant support among Republican activists; Walker, a community organizer, is an avowed progressive whose opponent was a former ranking MPD officer.
Arguably, the wins of Green and Walker somewhat offset the earlier general election victory of conservative former Councilman Philip Spinosa over progressive Meggan Wurzburg Kiel in District 5 (Midtown/East Memphis). That race had figured as a bona fide ideological showdown of sorts.
Whatever the ultimate political bent of the newly elected council, it will have a female majority of seven women and six men. That will put it in alignment of sorts with the Shelby County Commission, which has the same ratio, with a woman, Miska Clay Bibbs, serving currently as chair. And there is no doubting that the other women on the commission, activists all, are making their influence felt as well.
• Perhaps the most important official position held by a woman at the moment is that of police director, and one of the most frequently vented questions during the recent mayoral contest concerned whether C.J. Davis, who holds the job, could expect to be reappointed by the new mayor.
During the campaign, the mayoral contenders reflected a variety of opinions on the matter, most of them leaning to noncommittal statements of one kind or another.
The victor, Mayor-elect Paul Young, held to a position that he would commit himself neither to hires nor fires of major personnel.
Be that the case or not, Davis, who addressed a luncheon of the Rotary Club of Memphis last week, sounded confident in laying out an agenda for the new year — one that among other things, envisions a significant increase in the MPD’s hands-on corps of sergeants — that she would actually be the person to execute it.
Asked after her remarks about the likelihood of her continuing in office, Davis went the neither-confirm-nor-deny route but made a point of saying that she had enjoyed good relations with Young in their frequent contacts over the years.
• Davis’ speech to the Rotarians followed one to the same group last month by Greater Memphis Chamber president/CEO Ted Townsend, who made a point of downplaying the effect of recent crime outbreaks on the city’s economic development picture.
On a recent recruitment tour, looking for new business, Townsend said, “I didn’t get one question about crime. Not one. I was bracing for it. I prepared for it. I expected it.”
He acknowledged that one national headquarters company located here may have been influenced by “the C-word” and “were thinking about leaving, or wanting to go to Dallas. We fought hard. We set the value proposition, we said work with us, things will be improved. We have not given up on it. You don’t give up on it. … We should fight for Memphis and never give up.”
Photo Credit: North Memphis Grocery Project via Facebook
A project to bring a grocery and resource center to residents in North Memphis is underway.
Councilwoman Michalyn Easter-Thomas presented the North Memphis Grocery Project as a way to address the food desert in North Memphis. She says the store is to be built on Chelsea Avenue at Tunica Street.
An article in the University of Memphis’ Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law publication ML — Memphis Law Magazine by Ryan Jones defined food deserts as “communities that have poor access to healthy and affordable foods. … They are usually concentrated in low-income and historically marginalized areas throughout the country, with issues of longtime systemic racism, racial residential segregation, poor access to transportation and economic inequality woven into the history of these barren food landscapes.”
On Thursday, Easter-Thomas presented the project to residents at a community meeting at Springdale Baptist Church. “A grocery store is something that you all have said that we needed,” she said to the gathering. “I would love for all of us to have access to be able to get something of quality and affordability in our own backyard.”
Easter-Thomas, who is a resident of the community, told the Memphis Flyer that it was public knowledge that there was a need to address the food desert in the community. She said that in her position as councilwoman, she wanted to advocate and get funding started for this project.
Cornelius Sanders, executive director of Promise Development Corporation, explained to residents that the Memphis City Council passed a resolution from American Rescue Plan funds in October 2021 to get the project started. They then entered a purchase agreement for 1993 Chelsea in April of 2022. The project owns 12 acres of land as of May 2023.
Easter-Thomas heavily emphasized the duality of the project as a place for groceries and resources, differentiating it as a resource center and not a retail center.
“The whole aspect is bringing much needed resources together with the collaboration of public and private and government and philanthropic dollars to ensure that those resources are there,” she said. She explained that these resources will encompass aspects of dental, pharmacy, medical and financial. Easter-Thomas said that groceries will be the only retail component there.
She said that this is intentional, because there are a lot of land-owning Black entrepreneurs in the area, and they want to support them, encourage them, and “allow them space to expand.”
“I don’t want to compete with them or make it hard for them to continue to thrive and progress in North Memphis,” she said. “It’s intentionally not including any retail so that those Black businesses can thrive with the upcoming of everything else in the project.”
Editor’s note: After receiving numerous complaints from readers for displaying a photo of Wednesday night’s assailant in this space, we have decided that its news value as an identifier of a dangerous person at-large is no longer applicable, so we’ve removed the picture.
Here is Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s statement in full:
“I want to first, express my deepest sympathy and condolences to the victims and their families who are suffering from this senseless murder rampage. I’m angry for them, and I’m angry that our citizens had to shelter in place for their own safety until the suspect was caught. This is no way for us to live and it is not acceptable.
The people of our city were confronted with the type of violence no one should have to face. Ezekiel Kelly was charged with criminal attempted first degree murder but pled guilty in April of 2021 to the lesser charge of aggravated assault. He was sentenced to three years, but only served 11 months and was released on March 16th, 2022 — less than six months ago.
These evil actions show why truth in sentencing is a must, and we should do all we can to make our city safe. We should not be terrorized by anyone who wants to strike fear in our hearts and take away what we love about Memphis. We must unite around this principle and stand up to the challenge of violent crime in our city.
If Mr. Kelly served his full three-year sentence, he would still be in prison today and four of our fellow citizens would still be alive.
Thank you state legislature, led by [state House Speaker Rep. Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville) and [Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge), for passing truth in sentencing. From now on, three years for aggravated assault means three years.
Our judicial system is too often a revolving door. A citizen emailed me today — ‘until/unless there are real consequences for criminal behavior, it will continue.’
I agree 100 percent. We need the courts and additional state laws to stop this revolving door and I need the public to make their voices heard by those decision makers.
I want to thank the men and women of our Memphis Police Department, and all the supporting law enforcement agencies who supported in capturing the suspect tonight, and aided in the search for Liza Fletcher earlier this week.
This has been a painful week in our city, but I have hope for Memphis, I have love for Memphis, I know that united …..we will endure.”
State House Minority Leader Rep. Karen Camper (D-Memphis):
“Our city is hurting. My heart goes out to the families of those killed and injured tonight. It was an unspeakable horror and it occurred just days after our city was devastated by another tragedy: the terrible murder of elementary school teacher Eliza Fletcher.
“It’s been a sad few months for Memphis. There is a long road ahead and much work ahead for us to do in order to begin to heal our city and we will have those policy discussions. But now we have to lock arms and pray for all of the victims of this week and the past few months and not let these tragic circumstances tear our hearts away from the city we all love.”
Greater Memphis Chamber President and CEO Beverly Robertson:
“The Greater Memphis Chamber and our entire business community are deeply saddened by the tragic events our city has lived through in recent days. We extend our condolences to the families and friends of those lost to these senseless acts of inhumanity.
“The Chamber remains committed to working with our business leaders, elected officials, and residents to thoughtfully identify real solutions that lead to real results. I have already reached out to the mayor and police chief of Memphis to ensure the business community will be at the table as we move forward.
“We all must play a role in driving positive change in our community, and this journey is just starting. Working together, we will make a difference.”
State Rep. London Lamar:
Lamar
“The book of Psalms says ‘I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words.’
This morning, our families in Memphis are crying out for accountability and justice. We are hoping that, together, we can summon the courage to take real action against gun violence.
No community should have to live with the trauma of mass shootings and terrorism. But this isn’t the first senseless tragedy and it won’t be the last if we are unwilling to turn our prayers into action.
I have consistently fought for evidence-based reforms that prevent violent crime. We will continue our work to expand access to mental healthcare. And our mission to end generational poverty never ceases.
But our work is being crippled by policies that make it easier for dangerous people to access deadly weapons. I am a gun owner, but I understand the right to carry must come with meaningful rules and responsibilities.
Again, I am asking anyone at the Capitol who will listen: Please acknowledge the deadly consequences of guns falling into the wrong hands and work with me to end gun violence against our families.”
Taylor
Shelby County Health Department Director Dr. Michelle Taylor:
“The shootings last night in Memphis that left four people dead and three injured, and the kidnapping and death of Eliza Fletcher are a wake-up call for our community.
Shelby County Health Department (SCHD) extends its deepest sympathies to all the victims, their friends and families, and everyone in our community impacted by this past week’s violent events. We also thank the many law enforcement personnel and first responders who risk their lives every day to bring an end to violent crime in our community and make Memphis a “place of good abode,” as it was called when it was founded.
The principles of public health practice are well suited to implement a violence prevention framework that addresses the root causes of violent crime. The key to addressing the endless cycle of shootings and imprisonment in our community is to heal the generational trauma that makes violence appear to be the only option. Adverse childhood experiences and adverse community experiences have increased over time, due to the structural and institutional failures to address the issues leading to inequality and conflict in our community.
Shelby County Health Department is committed to expanding access to behavioral health resources for everyone throughout their lifespan as a first step to addressing the generational traumas that can lead to community violence. SCHD provides a wide range of prevention and screening services. We are expanding our reach by convening behavioral health resources and acting on our analysis of gun violence as a public health crisis in our community. As a part of that work, SCHD has begun a Cure Violence Global pilot program using a local subcontractor (Heal 901) to replicate Cure Violence’s data-driven, evidence-based approach to crime prevention here in Shelby County.
Please join the Shelby County Health Department in our meaningful and collaborative action to bring an end to the senseless violence that harms everyone in our community. To learn more about how to get involved, please visit our website: shelbytnhealth.com.”
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis):
Cohen
“What has been happening in my hometown is harrowing and disturbing. I have been concerned for some time about the crime situation and have spoken with the relevant public officials about addressing the issue.
I have suggested convening a summit with the two mayors, the District Attorney General, the Police Director, the Shelby County Sheriff, the school board president, and the juvenile court judge. We need a comprehensive approach involving the schools and the juvenile justice system to help reverse these disturbing trends.
“Today I wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland to explain the situation in Memphis, noting the high-profile killings in recent days and weeks, and asking him to look favorably on discretionary grants from the Edward Byrne Memorial Grants Assistance and COPS programs and to provide any and all other assistance available from the Department of Justice. I also asked to speak with him at his earliest convenience.”
At Pose 901, guests become part of the art in each of the Memphis-curated sets. (Photo: Antoine Lever)
Pose 901, Memphis’ newest selfie studio, leaves no room to be camera-shy, with twelve uniquely Memphis sets, perfect for striking a pose and snapping a pic. The studio opened last month as a yearlong pop-up with sets that will rotate every three months or so.
Following the nationwide trend of selfie studios, co-owners Michalyn Easter-Thomas and Antoine Lever wanted to set their studio apart by incorporating Memphis culture and history in their set designs. “For example, we have our ‘Hustle and Flow’ set that is a tribute to all Black Memphis artists, throwback and current, so we have Black Moses and Isaac Hayes, all the way to Pooh Shiesty,” Easter-Thomas says. Other sets include a boxing ring with Memphis v. Errbody plastered on the wall, a recording studio complete with headphones and microphones to pose with, and a VIP booth that Lever claims as one of his favorites.
“We wanted to make sure it reflected Memphis through what it looked like but also through how it was curated,” Easter-Thomas adds. In fact, the co-owners, who met while at Christian Brothers University, commissioned Memphis-based designers for each of their sets. “Luxe Interiors by Keila V., Raphael Small [of RAPHDesignLLC], Evo’k Designs — those were the main three who designed over half of our sets,” she continues.
Photo: Dederick Blair
“Memphis tends to be behind in things that the rest of the nation is doing,” Lever says, so when Easter-Thomas presented him with the idea, “I was like hell yeah, I’m on board.” While Lever brings his experience as a photographer, Easter-Thomas, a Memphis City Council member, says, “I’m the one who just likes taking pictures, so I have the mindset of what Memphians might like.”
A self-proclaimed Millennial enthusiast, she assures, “This isn’t just a Millennial thing; we’re going all the way up to age 109.” As such, the studio plans to host family nights, so kids under the age of 10 can join in on the fun, and the studio will be available for party venues, hour-long group sessions, and professional photoshoots in addition to 45-minute individual sessions.
Plus, for those who plan to go solo, the studio has camera stands available, and employees are more than happy to snap a few shots. “We wouldn’t leave you out there,” Easter-Thomas says. “We’d even make sure you have the right angle.”
Photo: Malik tha Martian
“It’s a one-of-a-kind, dope, kind of like a hypnotizing experience,” she says of the new studio. “You can immerse yourself in the set and feel like you’re somewhere else. We have music in here, projectors, different things going on. You’re not gonna want to leave.”
Tickets are available to purchase online or at the door. The studio is open Thursdays-Sundays and is located in Whitehaven at the Southbrook Town Center. “A lot of good things are happening in Whitehaven,” Easter-Thomas says, “and we’re happy to add to it.”
For more information, visit pose901selfie.com and keep up with Pose’s Instagram page, where they will tease out future set designs.
The vote by the Tennessee Historical Commission on whether or not to remove the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest from the Tennessee State Capitol has been rescheduled from February 17th to March 9th.
The State Capitol Commission voted in favor of removing the bust from the Capitol in July, and petitioned the Historical Commission to move the bust from the Capitol to the Tennessee State Museum. Forrest was a Confederate general, slave trader, and Ku Klux Klan leader. The sculpture of his likeness has been front and center in the Tennessee State Capitol Building since the late 1970s. The Flyer spoke to three local leaders about the issue.
Michalyn Easter-Thomas of the Memphis City Council
“We should pay close attention to what we choose to memorialize and render as proud history, said Memphis City Council member Michalyn Easter-Thomas. “My hope is that our state legislators vote to remove the bust that symbolizes murder, oppression, and tyranny in this city, region, state, and nation. However, no matter the outcome, it can be assured that the fight for justice will continue no matter whose bust is on the pedestal.”
“I obviously don’t agree with the statue being in the Capitol and I’ve expressed that. I did a live video talking about that. I continue to disagree with that symbol governing over the most powerful building in the state of Tennessee,” said Tennessee State Representative Antonio Parkinson.
Tennessee State Representative Antonio Parkinson
“This statue sits in the most prominent place when you get off the elevator. I vehemently oppose it. However, it is nowhere near my highest priority in regards to what I think is important for people at this time. We are coming out probably the worst period in most Americans lives, financially, mentally and even educationally. My priorities are the health of our community and the education of our children and how we put money on the table of the people we represent. That statue doesn’t address any of those. The governor’s office and the General Assembly know exactly where I stand on that, they know exactly what to do.”
Tennessee State Representative London Lamar
“There is no question that the history of Nathan Bedford Forrest is a symbol of hate,” said State Representative London Lamar. “The Confederacy itself symbolized the legalization of slavery where Nathan Bedford became rich from selling slaves on an auction block in Memphis, Tennessee, and served as the first Grand Wizard of the KKK. There is no positive Tennessee history behind Nathan Bedford Forrest, so there is no reason that Tennessee should be honoring him with a bust in our State Capitol. The people that we should be honoring are those who make a positive impact on our State’s history.
“The bust should be moved to the Tennessee State Museum because removing this bust does absolutely nothing to remove Tennessee’s history, it simply removes the fact that Tennessee seems to praise the man who obviously symbolizes white supremacy through his determination to keep slavery legal in this state and led mass murder on African Americans. I hope the commission votes to remove the bust to the museum where the story of Nathan Bedford Forrest can be told in the appropriate context.“
A Memphis City Council committee passed a resolution Tuesday requesting an investigation of any public safety employees involved in the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021.
The resolution asks Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s administration to “develop and present a plan to the council” revealing those employees and creating a “process to ensure former city of Memphis public safety employees re-hiring status reflects participation in [the] U.S. Capitol riots.”
The council’s public safety committee gave a near-anonymous approval of the resolution with only council member Worth Morgan voting against it. The resolution is sponsored by council members Michalyn Easter-Thomas, Martavius Jones, J B Smiley, and Dr. Jeff Warren.
The resolution comes as “several sworn police officers from departments across the nation now face federal criminal charges as a result of their participation in the insurrection,” it reads. That becomes important, it says, to further “address concerns about the need for increased oversight and accountability within public-safety-based departments, especially in light of 2020’s international call for reform within the criminal justice system.”
“I think we need to amend the resolution in the first recital to say the Memphis City Council hereby requests the director of Police Services to investigate whether any city of Memphis employees, based upon evidence provided by FBI of such participation in the U.S. Capitol riot,” said council member Chase Carlisle. “We don’t need to get sued.”
Jones suggested including the Secret Service and other federal agencies to the groups providing evidence. Council members expanded the resolution to legitimate evidence from citizens who may have captured the event.
The public safety and homeland security committee of the city council convened on Tuesday to discuss a myriad of public issues related to automobile ordinances in the city.
First on the docket was a resolution to accept and appropriate Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds for a backup generator at the Office of Emergency. The resolution passed with 7 yes votes and 6 abstains. The resolution will allow the movement of $238,500.
A majority of the committee’s time was spent discussing items two and three on the docket, an ordinance that would punish non-driver participation in drag racing, and an ordinance that would add fines and fees for muffler violations in the city. J. Ford Canale sponsored both ordinances.
Canale addressed the council citing a rise in “drag racing and reckless driving exhibitions” as proof of the need for a city-wide ordinance against passengers in drag racing. The three suggested ordinances are follow-ups to a bill that was filed by Senator Brian Kelsey at the start of the month to deter drag racing statewide. Through the city ordinance, the violation for being in the car with someone found to be drag racing or participating in reckless driving would elevate from a Class C misdemeanor to a Class A misdemeanor, equating in a shift from a maximum $50 fine to a maximum $2,500 fine.
“I think that we have all had our fair share of complaints from our constituents about the drag racing issue across the city,” Canale said. “No district, no neighborhood is immune to this. It’s dangerous, it’s reckless, it’s gonna cost lives if it continues, and generally, it’s just a public nuisance.”
Canale was frank in his criticism of reckless drivers in the city and appealed to his fellow council members to listen to their constituents before debate took place.
“I’m willing to bet all 13 of us have received numerous emails of complaining about drag racing, reckless driving, and also loud noises emitting from vehicles disrupting everyone’s quality of life. It’s not only dangerous to other drivers on the street, it’s dangerous for pedestrians and bicyclists.”
In 2020, 52 pedestrians have been struck and killed in Memphis, and there have been over 32,000 traffic crashes in the city.
Though most of the council was in favor of the ordinance, Councilman Martavius Jones questioned the fairness of levying fines against someone that was not directly involved in the act of drag racing.
“That’s problematic if I’m just sitting in the passenger seat. I realize that [the driver] is jeopardizing my life and there should be something that I say about that but for me, to ticketed and cited for that I do have some concerns about that part being included in,” Jones said.
The ordinance passed with 12 votes and one abstention.
Councilman Canale’s second ordinance, which would fine those found to be operating cars with tainted mufflers, was vastly more decisive. The debate began with Councilwoman Michalyn Easter-Thomas raised scrutiny on the price of the fine and whether the law would be fairly enforced by the Memphis Police Department (MPD) in the city.
“[Officers] would just be going off of supposed sounds and supposed sights to make the decision to pull somebody over to look at their muffler?” asked Councilwoman Easter-Thomas to the MPD representative Paul Wright.
Though Wright assured Easter-Thomas that MPD would be able to accurately distinguish those using modified mufflers, Easter-Thomas was not convinced.
“I understand the intent, Councilman Canale, from citizens who may have called from noise, but as we are a metropolitan city. We’re not gonna be free from noise. I’m having trouble because it just seems as though this will increase pulling over, let me make an assumption and say, Black and brown men in the city.”
Canale countered arguing that the MPD has decibel readers as well as the knowledge to decipher the difference between modified and correctly functioning mufflers.
“This is not an attempt to pull anybody over,” said Canale, “but we all know there is a distinct difference between somebody that has a muffler cutout, that has cut their muffler off, and someone that operates with a normal compliant muffler system.”
Councilman Jones also brought up concerns around the ordinance citing that some cars maybe have disproportionately loud mufflers that could lead to Memphians with said cars being pulled over at higher rates.
“You can tune what or how loud an exhaust may be. As I’m reading this I can have a factory automobile but if I happen to have a sports car or a Mustang or a Charger or a Camaro my muffler is still in good working order but I still run the risk,” Jones said. “I may not have altered my automobile what so ever besides the adjusting what the sound of the exhaust is but am I subject to being pulled over for that?”
Councilman Chase Carlisle took a neutral stance in the debate ultimately siding with but Canale and Easter-Thomas.
“I want to be able to hold people accountable,” said Carlisle, “but sending someone that had a broken muffler or rusted-out muffler or didn’t have the money to fix it, then a court appearance and they get assessed $250 in court fees is a little problematic.”
The ordinance did not pass in a 6-5 vote with two abstentions. The council will meet in the new year to follow up on the ordinances that passed.
The 2019 Memphis city election finally concluded Thursday with the ouster of the incumbents in two runoff elections. In District 1 (Frayser, Raleigh) challenger Rhonda Logan, president of the Raleigh Community Development Corporation, edged interim incumbent Sherman Greer. And, in District 7 (North Memphis, Downtown, riverfront) newcomer Michalyn Easter-Thomas handily defeated longtime incumbent Berlin Boyd.
Final vote totals were: Logan, 1034; Greer, 802; in District 1, and Easter-Thomas, 2036; Boyd, 665 in District 7.
For Logan, who was backed by state Representative Antonio Parkinson, former City Councilman Rickey Peete, and other northside figures, the outcome amounted to delayed gratification, in that she had failed by a single vote to garner enough votes of then-Council incumbents to fill the vacancy left by departing incumbent Bill Morrison in 2018.
Ironically, Boyd was one of the holdouts in that fill-in election, which was ultimately won by Greer, a longtime aide for two 9th District Congressmen, Harold Ford Jr. and Steve Cohen.
Boyd’s own case for retention by the voters was undermined by an imperious personal attitude and by publicity regarding his own apparent involvement in projects he was advancing, several of which seemed commendable in their own right. Beginning with her endorsement last summer by the resurgent People’s Convention, Easter-Thomas successfully knit together a supportive network of several civic groups.
Now that the “nonpartisan” city election is over and done with — as presumably it will be after two runoff elections for Memphis City Council seats, in District 1 (incumbent Sherman Greer vs. Rhonda Logan) and District 7 (incumbent Berlin Boyd vs. Michalyn Easter-Thomas), are completed this week — it is high time for local Republicans and Democrats to resume their more or less nonstop competition for influence in public affairs.
Jackson Baker
Michalyn Easter-Thomas
Not that this rivalry really ceased for the city election. Although no candidate in the city general election was listed on the ballot under a party label, there were numerous races that were understood to be cases in which the two parties vied against each other.
One such was the race for Position 1 in Super District 9, between public school teacher Erika Sugarmon, a Democrat supported by Democrats, and developer Chase Carlisle, whose Republican sponsorship was equally obvious. There is a certain overlap between the white/black dichotomy and the partisan one, inasmuch as Shelby County’s whites, by and large, gravitate to the GOP, while African Americans constitute the vital core of the Democratic Party.
That fact makes the neck-and-neck race between Sugarmon and ultimate winner Carlisle all the more revealing. That contest was decided by a mere 531 votes out of 46,311 cast. Given the fact that Super District 9, roughly the eastern half of Memphis, is predominantly white, the obvious message is that of a potential racial and political parity there.
Underscoring the point is the legal matter of the bogus ballots — sample ballots in which endorsement space is sold to candidates on a pay-to-play basis. Carlisle and several other candidates who bore the official endorsement of the Shelby County Republican Party got themselves listed as well on two pay-to-play ballots put out under the auspices, respectively, of the Greater Memphis Democratic Club and the Shelby County Democratic Club, two shell enterprises which had no relationship to the actual Shelby County Democratic Party. Both ballots got heavy distribution, right up to the end of voting on Election Day itself, when, before the polls closed, a judge issued a restraining order on their further circulation.
It takes no great leap of logic to see that in an ostensibly nonpartisan race, the two sample ballots could have confused Democratic voters and accounted for the difference in the Sugarmon-Carlisle contest. (Interestingly, Special Judge William B. Acree of Jackson, who issued the restraining order on October 3rd, has scheduled a hearing in Memphis on Wednesday of this week — one day before the runoffs in District 1 and District 7 — to determine the future legality of pay-to-play ballots.)
In any case, next year, local voters will see overtly partisan contests — for legislative seats, one U.S. Senate seat, and presidential preference primaries. The last time the two parties took on each other directly, there was a much-vaunted “blue wave” nationally that favored Democrats. It didn’t help the party’s statewide candidates: Democrats Phil Bredesen and Karl Dean lost to Republicans Marsha Blackburn and Bill Lee for U.S. senator and governor, respectively. And while Democrats held their own in Memphis and came unexpectedly close in several suburban legislative contests, they failed to unseat Republican incumbents.
One exception was Democratic State Representative Dwayne Thompson, who was an upset winner in 2016 of the suburban District 96 seat and was re-elected in 2018. Party cadres expect Thompson to prevail again, as they made clear in a strategy session held on Tuesday night of last week in the Great Hall of Germantown and billed under the title, “How Liberal Are You? Winning in 2020 by Unifying the Left, the Far Left, and the Radical Left.”
Three seats in the state House of Representatives received special attention — Thompson’s in District 96 and those in two adjoining districts now held by Republicans. At least one Democrat, Jerri Green, has declared herself as an opponent of GOP incumbent Mark White in District 83. And Allan Creasy, who got 45 percent of the vote in District 97 last year, will try again for that seat, which is being vacated by Republican incumbent Jim Coley. Another possible Democratic contender for the District 97 seat is rumored to be Gabby Salinas, who gave Republican State Senator Brian Kelsey a close race in his 2018 re-election bid.
It would surprise no one to see tight races again.
With a week left in the runoff elections for the two remaining undecided Memphis City Council seats, the incumbent in the District 1 race, Berlin Boyd, who is opposed by Michalyn Easter-Thomas, is pursuing an unusual and all-out advertising campaign.
One deviation from the norm is the fact that the Boyd campaign has purchased some large billboards on major thoroughfares in the city’s far eastern precincts. Billboards are an uncommon medium for a district race, and these are many miles away from Boyd’s District 7 bailiwick. Perhaps Boyd, one of the financially better endowed council candidates, figures he can afford it, and he — or his advisers at Caissa Public Strategies — believe in using all the means at one’s disposal. Another Caissa runoff candidate, District 1 incumbent Sherman Greer, who is opposed by Rhonda Logan, is also using large billboard signs.
But what’s the idea behind another, odder advertising stratagem that’s been linked to Boyd? Here’s how it was described in a Facebook post on last Friday by Jeffrey Lichtenstein of the AFL-CIO:
I was just got a really concerning automated phone call.
It first seemed like a live poll, but eventually it was clear I was talking to a sophisticated recording. This is the number that called: (901) 245-4604.
It said “Hi this is Becky Spray, calling from Memphis Brighter Future Political Action Committee. Can I ask you about the city council election? This will take 90 seconds.
Do you plan on voting in the upcoming city council election?
If the election was today, would you vote for Anthony Anderson, Berlin Boyd, or unsure?
Do you need a ride to the polls?”
This is push polling. It seems clearly designed to confuse people and discourage us from voting for Michalyn Easter-Thomas. This kind of shady political game is shocking.
When I called back, it said “extension 370 is not available. Leave a message.”
Moments later, the same number called my friend Thomas Wayne Walker, and it was the same call. We were able to record it. I’ll try and figure out how to post that….
As a reminder, Anthony Anderson was Boyd’s runoff opponent in the 2015 City Council race, but was not a candidate for the District 7 position this year. Lichtenstein seems convinced that the robocall is intended to “confuse” and “discourage” potential voters for Michalyn Easter-Thomas, the runoff opponent to incumbent Councilman Berlin Boyd in District 7.
The robocall is obviously confusing and it definitely does Easter-Thomas no favor by leaving her out of the question.
But, on the discouragement front, the robocall — and publicity given it — could have a boomerang effect. Anderson, for example, has responded to the robocall and its use of his name by posting an online endorsement of Easter-Thomas.
Nathan Bedford Forrest Boyhood Home/Facebook 
Tyler Merbler | Wikimedia | Creative Commons 
Jackson Baker 