Shelby County School Board races

We’re all entitled to a brain freeze once in a while. Who among us has not suffered one in an embarrassing public moment? But Carnita Atwater, a Memphian and a declared candidate for governor of Tennessee, went for gold with one on the night of Tuesday, July 12th.

The first comment Atwater made from the stage of the Little Theater in the Alma C. Hanson Student Center at LeMoyne-Owen College was in response to a lead-off question that moderator Jasmine Boyd addressed to all three candidates for the Democratic nomination — the others being Nashville physician Jason Martin and Memphis Councilman JB Smiley.

Atwater, an activist for the New Chicago neighborhood and a former nurse, would say the following:

“Thank you for that question. As the next incoming governor, I will have a plan that affords all Tennesseeans to have a seat at the table of prosperity. I will go and do questionnaires across the 95 counties to identify and assess the needs of each county. Most counties are different. Most counties have different needs. So I want to dictate to the community. I want to meet their needs. So that’s why I’ll do a questionnaire, do the accessibility, and then draw up my plan.”

Quote unquote.

Martin was next, delivering a well-considered statement stressing, among other things, the need to shore up public education, vo-tech and otherwise; to renew the matter, so far rejected by the Republican legislative supermajority, of accepting federal funds for Medicaid expansion; and to bring broadband to all corners of the state.

In his turn, Smiley — who is equal parts demonstrative and reserved and who would consistently feature some aspect of himself to answer to all questions — noted that he lived only three blocks away from the site of the forum in an underserved community and made a pitch for instituting a living wage and for workforce development programs because “the jobs are coming, the global city is here.”

At this point, Atwater had a question of her own, addressing it to Boyd: “I want to make sure I understand the rules. Do we have 90 seconds to respond? Because I noticed that others are getting one minute and 30 seconds. So I want to make sure we follow the rules.”

Very politely and without missing a beat, Boyd explained: “Yes, ma’am, one minute and 30 seconds is the equivalent of 90 seconds.”

And the forum went on from there, Atwater’s first questionnaire having gotten an answer of sorts. (More on the forum and the Democratic gubernatorial primary will be featured online at memphisflyer.com.)

• In addition to the state, federal, county, and judicial races covered in the July 14th issue of the Flyer (in this space and in that week’s cover story), several other races on the August 4th ballot, listed below, deserve attention. Only contested races are included for the categories indicated. Incumbent’s names are italicized.

Memphis Term Limits Referendum — One of the most widely anticipated measures on the August 4th ballot is a referendum for Memphis voters that would alter the current limit of two terms for mayor and City Council members, extending that limit to three terms. Interest in the referendum has been enhanced by a declaration from current Mayor Jim Strickland that he would seek a third term in 2023 if it should pass.

City of Memphis Special Election — Municipal Court Judge, Division 1: Kenya Hooks, Carolyn S. Watkins.

Shelby County School Board races — District 1: Chris Caldwell, Michelle McKissack, Rachael Goodwin Spriggs; District 6: Charles Everett, Timothy Green Jr., Kenny Lee, David Page, Tiffani Perry, Keith Williams; District 9: Joyce Dorse-Coleman, Rebecca Jane Edwards.

Arlington Municipal Election — Alderman, Position 4: Oscar L. Brooks, Jordan D. Hinders; Alderman, Position 5: Harry McKee, Steven Smith. School Board, Position 3: Jonathan Dunn, Hugh Lamar; School Board, Position 5: Dale A. Viox, Cathy Wilson.

For all the ballyhoo, emailed appeals for more cash, and intensified public rhetoric of recent days, the known world will exist in more or less its usual form after the electon results of this week are digested.

There are more election matters to be decided, for one thing: Someone will have to succeed the late state Representative Ron Lollar as the Republican nominee for state House District 99 on the November ballot. Lollar’s death occurred after the ballot was irrevocably composed, but on August 6th, a GOP caucus will meet to name a successor to run in November against Democratic nominee David Cambron.

The caucus will be made up of the members of the Shelby County Republican Committee who represent District 99. Those are current GOP chair Lee Mills, Mills’ wife Amber Mills, Becky Parsons, and Kenny Crenshaw. Among those interested in becoming the District 99 nominee are chairman Mills himself; Bartlett alderman David Parsons (husband of Becky Parsons); Lakeland Mayor Wyatt Bunker; and County Commissioner David Reaves.

For obvious arithmetical reasons, Lee Mills would seem to have an edge. The chairman has already cleared a prospective leave of absence with FedEx, for whom he is a pilot.

• Still unresolved, too, is the matter of whether residents of three City Council districts in Memphis will have a chance to vote on replacing any of three council members who may have been elected to county positions this week. The three are Bill Morrison of District 1, candidate for Probate Court Clerk; Edmund Ford Jr. of District 6, candidate for the County Commission; and Janis Fullilove of Super District 8, Position 2, candidate for Juvenile Court Clerk.

There had been, as of this week, no definitive answer as to when any of the three, if victorious in their county races, would formally resign their council positions. They could resign immediately upon election to their new posts, but the county charter allows them to retain their current position for as long as 90 days. If they should stay on the council for the entirety of their allotted time, there would be no opportunity to schedule a special election on the November ballot.

Jackson Baker

Janis Fullilove advocating for IRV.

What several local activists fear is that the dominant council faction, which has close ties to the city’s business elite and whose members tend to vote as a bloc, would relish the opportunity to skirt the election process and appoint the successors to any or all of the vacated positions.

Uncertainty on the point has been whetted by the claim of council Chairman Berlin Boyd, a member of the dominant faction, that the city charter does not allow for a replacement election on a November ballot. Council attorney Allan Wade apparently backs Boyd on the issue.The activist group cites charter language specifically licensing a potential November election for the purpose, and the matter is further complicated by ambivalence as to the post-election intentions on the part of the three council members whose seats would be in question.

While continuing to keep her own counsel on the resignation matter, candidate Fullilove did choose, weekend before last, to make a public break from her council mates on another matter — the referendum scheduled by the council for November that, if successful, would repudiate an earlier 2008 referendum enabling Ranked Choice Voting (aka Instant Runoff Voting), a process that Election Administrator Linda Phillips had scheduled for the 2019 city election.

Fullilove’s statement: “Back in 2008, as a charter commission member, I voted to support Instant Runoff Voting. I also supported it during the 2008 referendum Campaign, when 71 percent of Memphians voted for it. That was a good idea then, and it’s a good idea now. Last fall, I deferred to some of my colleagues on the city council who expressed concerns about IRV. But I have rethought my position. The people have already voted for this. We ought to give it a try. So I am … announcing my support for instant runoff voting and my opposition to any attempt at repeal. I call on my council colleagues to take both IRV referenda off the November ballot. Thank you.”

So far, there have been no takers on Fullilove’s request, and the referendum still stands. But chalk up at least a partial victory for the activist group, Save IRV Memphis, many of whose members have doubled up on the lobby process concerning the resignation matter.