Tag: Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen vs. Ricky Wilkins Heats Up

Post author By Jackson Baker
Post date June 19, 2014

CREDIT: Jackson Baker

Well, let’s face it: Saturday, June 14th, may go down in contemporary annals as the day that a relatively desultory election season took an uptick, with convincing evidence that the 9th District congressional race between incumbent Democrat Steve Cohen and his primary opponent Ricky Wilkins is the race to watch on the way to August 7th and the one that will drive the vote.

Whatever that turns out to mean for Cohen and Wilkins, it is good news for the other Democratic nominees on the county ballot and for those judicial candidates who are counting on a healthy Democratic turnout to pad their vote totals.

Exhibit #1 on Saturday was Wilkins’ headquarters opening in a Poplar Plaza storefront. The place was jammed, the number of influential attendees was above par, and Wilkins himself gave a standout performance — whether as best actor in the drama or best supporting actor remains to be seen.

(It should be noted that last week Cohen’s organization released the results of an internal campaign poll that gives the incumbent congressman a substantial lead of 73 to 9 percent over Wilkins, findings that correlate, more or less, with those of a Berje Yacoubian poll published in the Flyer last December, showing Cohen at 76 percent and Wilkins a 11 percent. Both polls preceded the actual start of full-scale campaigning.)

Exhibit #2, later on Saturday, was the back-to-back appearance of Wilkins and Cohen at a Shelby County Democrats’ “stump party” in Raleigh/Frayser. Another good crowd gathered in the backyard of party activist Lexie Carter‘s house for an afternoon cookout-cum-speechathon involving numerous candidates for office, but it focused on the cynosure duel of Cohen and Wilkins.

As he had earlier at his headquarters opening, Wilkins took the gloves off and did what a challenger must, took the fight to the champion. Cohen responded with a forceful and proud evocation of his congressional resumé.

In a moment, the rundown on how things went. The specifics, as it were. But first, the upshot: Ricky Wilkins, a mega-lawyer who boasts his local roots, may become the latest casualty of a congressman who has managed to beat his last several primary opponents by running up multiples of their vote — anywhere from 4-to-1 to 8-to-1. But on the evidence of Saturday, Wilkins has more rooted strength, in-depth support, and organizational and financial resources than any of Cohen’s previous challengers — certainly enough to make a fight of it, though it is still hard to find neutral observers who give Wilkins a serious chance of winning.

This is a time of upsets, however, as indicated by the downfall of GOP House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in Virginia and by the distressed predicaments of Senators Thad Cochran in Mississippi and Mitch McConnell in Kentucky.

At his headquarters opening, Wilkins forsook a previous diffidence vis-à-vis his opponent and launched several attacks against Cohen, whom he termed a “career politician.” Some of the charges were indirect, as in Wilkins’ pledge to be a congressman “who’s not going to pander to our community [or] spread around crumbs.” Nor, he said, would he “spend a lot of time doing a lot of international boondoggling travel.”

Other Wilkins barbs were more direct, as in a statement that “my opponent mentioned that his campaign was going to be dirty and vicious, and he’s following through on the promise.” Wilkins provided no examples for that accusation, though in an interview he contended that it was Cohen, not himself, who “interjects race and religion … so as to try to divide the community and marginalize his opponent.”

That was apparently apropos remarks by the Rev. Kenneth Whalum, a Cohen supporter, who, at the congressman’s own headquarters opening earlier this month, spoke of “the red herring that a Jew cannot effectively represent the black community in Memphis,” implying that Wilkins supporters were behind the “mud-slinging … particularly among African-American ministers.”

A parenthesis: Wilkins got some traction last month at a press conference where several African-American ministers announced their support for him.

Prominent among them was the Rev. Keith Norman, pastor of First Baptist Church on Broad and president of the local NAACP. Norman would later stress that he, a former classmate with Wilkins at Carver High School, was speaking only as an individual and not on behalf of his church or the NAACP. He would repeat that assertion before the Wilkins headquarters opening got started on Saturday, but then inaugurated the affair with a lengthy prayer, invoking the Almighty’s blessings upon Wilkins, while draping an arm around the candidate.

Cohen has issued his own list of more than a score of African-American ministers who support him, including such well-known names as Whalum, Dr. James Netters, and Apostle Bill Adkins.

Another line of attack from Wilkins at the headquarters opening was a claim that Cohen had the support of “special interests.” He said, “Just go to opensecrets.org. It’ll show you who his top financial contributors are. Most of them don’t live in Memphis or give a darn about Memphis. … For whom are you really working?”

A cursory search of various sites, including the Federal Election Commission’s (FEC), indicates that Cohen has, along with support from local donors, significant financial support from union and entertainment sources, as well as organizations connected, from different points of view, with the transportation industry. The list of donors seems consistent with Cohen’s political profile and committee memberships (e.g. the House Transportation Committee).

A not insignificant additional fact to be found on the FEC site is that, as of March 31st, Cohen’s reported cash on hand was $943,149, while Wilkins’ was $112,286.

Yet a third line of attack came from Wilkins at Carter’s stump party, where, in remarks preceding Cohen’s, Wilkins declared, “I won’t be a congressman who will sit on his war-chest and watch fellow Democrats lose their races. … We saw what happened in 2010. The congressman you elected at that time sat on his money and allowed Democrats to lose elections.”

That reflected a charge by Cohen’s estranged former district director Randy Wade, now a Wilkins supporter. Wade lost a race for sheriff in 2010 and subsequently complained, before leaving the congressman’s employ, of insufficient help from Cohen, who has responded that he fully supported Wade, both in joint appearances that got free media and in paid advertising, including billboards featuring the two of them together.

In his own remarks at the stump party, Cohen did not respond directly to Wilkins’ charges, though his campaign staff would respond to a Wilkins claim that he had always supported Democrats with copies of a 2006 ad, which appeared in the Flyer and elsewhere, listing Wilkins as a member of Democrats supporting then District Attorney General Bill Gibbons, a Republican, against a Democratic opponent.

Cohen emphasized instead his accomplishments on behalf of the district. Some of the recent ones cited were $15 million for the Main Street to Main Street project on the riverfront, $5 million for processing the county’s backlog of rape kits, and $3 million for summer jobs in Memphis.

Cohen attributed his prowess to his close relationship with President Barack Obama, who has endorsed his reelection bid, and with members of the Republican majority, with whom, he said, he had a “good working relationship.”

He told the crowd, “I’d appreciate your vote for this term and the term after and the term after that. I’m not asking you for one more term; I’m asking you to continue representation that’s honest and effective.”

Wilkins’ own tagline at both events Saturday was one he uses frequently: “If you liked Steve Cohen, you’ll love Ricky Wilkins.”

• More problems for beleaguered Juvenile Court clerk candidate Henri Brooks. On Friday she was charged with misdemeanor assault after an altercation with a driver over a parking lot space at Methodist Hospital Central, where Brooks was working. Witnesses say Brooks uttered racial slurs and attacked the woman who drove the other car.

And on Monday, acting on an apparent discovery by a Channel 24 reporter that Brooks does not live at the Midtown address she has claimed, but at a Cordova address outside her district, the County Commission voted to consider a possible ouster of her from the commission at a special called meeting on June 26th.

One note running counter to a mounting chorus of criticism came Tuesday from veteran Democratic operative David Upton, who contended that he had hand-delivered information to Brooks at her claimed Midtown address some two years ago. Meanwhile, Methodist Hospital announced Tuesday that Brooks had “resigned.”

Tags 9th District Congressional race 2014, Cohen vs. Wilkins in stump speeches, Henri Brooks, Ricky Wilkins, Steve Cohen

News The Fly-By

Fly-By Flashback

Post author By Toby Sells
Post date June 5, 2014

Some things never change. The story former Flyer reporter Paul Gerald wrote in November 1994 about Janis Fullilove getting drunk and fighting with her husband could well have been written yesterday.

But, in some respects, Memphis is a very different place today than it was 25 years ago when the first Flyer rolled off the presses. We’ve scoured through the Fly-By sections (our news section, which used to be called City Reporter) in issues of the Memphis Flyer from the past 25 years to bring you a cross-section of news coverage to demonstrate how things have changed and how they’ve stayed the same. What follows are excerpts from those stories.

February 20, 1992

Riverboat Gambling in Memphis “Dead”

Riverboat gambling in Memphis, at least for now, is “dead,” according to Senator Steve Cohen.

Stillborn may be more like it. A state attorney general’s opinion that a constitutional prohibition on lotteries also applies to slot machines makes the issue moot, says Cohen. The constitution, of course, can be changed, but that takes some doing.

Riverboat gambling has replaced horse racing as the latest gambling fad in Mississippi, Iowa, Illinois, and other states. While Memphis would seem to have a leg up with its riverfront, music tradition, Mud Island, and other downtown tourist attractions, the idea of riverboat gambling hasn’t caught fire here despite support of the city administration and The Commercial Appeal. — John Branston

June 11, 1992

The Naked Truth

If you missed the comic strip “Outland” in Sunday’s Commercial Appeal, it’s because the paper — the same one that brought you editorial cartoons of gay soldiers wearing fishnet hose a couple of weeks ago — refused to run it because they found it offensive.

CA arts and entertainment editor John Sparks explains, “One panel showed a naked man’s rear … and we thought it was inappropriate for our family comic section.” — Richard Banks

August 6, 1992

Fred Smith Thinks Memphis Will Get NFL Team

Stay the course, Memphis. And we might just get a National Football League team when the NFL expands by two teams, possibly in the fall.

That’s the advice and prediction of Federal Express Chairman and President Frederick. W. Smith, who has been involved one way or another in the city’s chase for an NFL team for more than 15 years.

“I think we’re going to get it. I really do,” Smith told the Flyer Monday.

“We’ve got an NFL-quality stadium that’s paid for,” Smith said, adding that it is at least as good as the Tampa Bay Buccanneers’ stadium, which is a model of the Liberty Bowl. — John Branston

August 18, 1994

Grisham’s Empire Grows

With apparently no new worlds left to conquer, novelist John Grisham Jr. has turned publishing magnate. He’s made a substantial investment in the Oxford American, a critically acclaimed but finacially strapped literary magazine based in Grisham’s hometown of Oxford, Mississippi.

Already notable for its ability to persuade the South’s best writers — such as Eudora Welty, Barry Hannah, Roy Blount Jr., and Larry Brown — to contribute material for little or no remunerations, The Oxford American now plans to use its greatly increased resources to evolve into a full-scale national magazine, with bi-monthly publication, a full-time staff, expanded departments, and an advertising budget. Money appears to be no object — especially since Grisham was reportedly paid at least $6 million last week (another industry record) for the movie rights to his first novel, A Time to Kill.

— Debbie Gilbert

August 25, 1994

Conditions at Mud Island Pool Questioned

Visitors to Mud Island River Park could swim in the Gulf of Mexico pool in the early ’90s, but a Flyer investigation found the pool was in operation without chlorine.

The largest swimming pool in the state of Tennessee — which happens to be within sight of city hall — has on at least three occasions this summer been in operation without any detectable chlorine in the water. Additionally, the head lifeguard at Mud Island said systematic neglect has led to a generally unhealthy situation surrounding the pool.

Denise Thomas, 19, in her third season at Mud Island, said she has been aware for most of the summer that the chlorination system was not working properly at the 1.5-million-gallon pool. She said she voiced her concerns to superiors but received no answers.

The Memphis Flyer took water from the pool on August 12th and had the sample tested at Memphis Pool Supply Inc. at 2762 Getwell Road. The sample showed zero amounts of chlorine.

Thomas recalled an incident earlier this month when a 4-year-old boy suddenly dropped his trunks and began urinating in the pool.

“I don’t mean to be gross,” Thomas said, “but all little kids pee in pools.” —Dennis Freeland

September 15, 1994

Tom Lee Park Finally Nearing Completion

After years of planning, several construction delays, and one landslide, Tom Lee Park is starting to take shape. Within a month or so, it should actually look like a park, with trees, walkways, scenic overlooks, sod, a sprinkler system, and a pedestrian bridge over Riverside Drive at Ashburn-Coppock Park.

The final product, which should be pretty much complete by next year’s Memphis In May festival, will give Memphis one of the biggest and prettiest parks on the Mississippi River. — John Branston

November 10, 1994

Hockey Fans Boo Herenton

The Mississippi RiverKings used to be based in Memphis.

Hockey fans solidified their reputation for boorish behavior at the Memphis RiverKings home opener by lustily booing Mayor W. W. Herenton when he was introduced before the game.

Herenton and other guests, including Shelby County Mayor Jim Rout, the RiverKings mascot, and Mid-South Coliseum officials arrived on the ice in a stretch limousine, and the booing came from more than a few of the more than 7,000 fans.

The sad thing is that Herenton was going out of his way to show a little support for the three-year-old Memphis team and a sport, which, understandably, is not exactly close to his heart. —John Branston

November 24, 1994

Trouble Befalls Janis Fullilove

WMC radio talk-show host Janis Fullilove was arrested for drunk driving early Tuesday morning by Memphis police officers. According to the police report, Fullilove, 44, ran four red lights with a police car in pursuit and registered .19 on a breathalyzer test.

The report said Fullilove was “obviously intoxicated” when she got out of her car and was “talkative but crying uncontrollably at times.” She was taken to the Shelby County Jail.

On October 29th, Memphis police answered a domestic violence call at Fullilove’s residence at 3985 Old Getwell. According to a police memo, Fullilove, whose full name is Janis Fullilove Chalmers, was intoxicated when officers arrived at her house. Fullilove’s husband, Vernon Chalmers, told police his wife was “pregnant and highly intoxicated” and upset over his taking her car to work. —Paul Gerald

May 9, 1996

Kenneth Neill

Want A Free Flyer? One Dollar, Please

When it comes to tourists downtown, it’s not that there’s a sucker born every minute, it’s that many of the old suckers have never visited Memphis before.

The large tourist population has given a way for panhandlers to make money on Beale Street and along the Main Street Mall. But forget cleaning car windows with squeegees. That makes you look too pushy. And forget straight begging. That’s too demeaning. Plus you have to get a permit.

Instead, look enterprising by taking stacks of the Memphis Flyer from racks and selling them to tourists who don’t see the word “Free” printed in small letters underneath the publication’s logo until after they’ve given out a dollar or two.

“In a way, we’re flattered to think that people would value our product enough to pay for it,” says Flyer publisher Kenneth Neill, who has been approached himself by panhandlers hoping to sell him copies of his own newspaper. “But we hope by now everyone knows the Flyer is free.” — Phil Campbell

June 12, 1997

Phase One of Riverfront Project to Begin This Fall

The 1997-1998 state budget allocated $7 million to Memphis for riverfront development, which means construction can begin later this year along the Mississippi River downtown. But whether Memphis gets the deluxe version of the limited edition depends on the federal government’s willingness to contribute additional funding.

According to Benny Lendermon, the city’s public works director, it will take about $35 million to construct the entire project envisioned by Mayor W. W. Herenton and other riverfront supporters.

Plans call for a paved, lighted walking/biking path running from Tom Lee Park to the new visitors center just south of The Pyramid; renovation of the historic cobblestones; and a floating boardwalk with boat-rental concessions at the water’s edge. Beale Street would be extended west to connect with the southern tip of Mud Island, closing off that end of the harbor, and a dam a little farther north, near the visitors center, would enclose the space to create a 30-acre lake for public use. — Debbie Gilbert

April 30, 1998

In 1998, Memphis hosted the annual Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN) Convention, a trade event for papers like the Memphis Flyer. While he was here, the editor of the Albuquerque newsweekly was kidnapped.

Editor’s Attackers Are Awaiting Trial

Michael Henningsen can’t forget Amnesia. And Alexius Montgomery and James Gilmore probably won’t either.

At the end of September, Montgomery pleaded guilty to kidnapping and assaulting Henningsen, a senior editor of an Albuquerque newsweekly. The journalist was in Memphis for the annual convention of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies hosted by the Flyer. After getting out of his car in Amnesia’s parking lot on Poplar, Henningsen was attacked by Gilmore and Montgomery, who allegedly struck him in the head with a chunk of asphalt and shoved him into the trunk of his rental car. The men drove him to an ATM, beat him again, and made him take money from his account. The alleged kidnappers then drove to Mississippi where a high-speed chase with police eventually ended in a car wreck in Memphis. Henningsen was in the trunk of the car, but was uninjured in the crash. He was hospitalized briefly for head injuries.

Henningsen has a wry sense of humor about the incident — the 6’4″ editor was quoted in the Flyer as saying that the next time he rents a car it’s going to be a vehicle with a larger trunk. But the crime has taken a toll on him emotionally. — Ashley Fantz

September 3, 1998

Curbside Program Still a Work in Progress

The city of Memphis has launched an advertising blitz urging people to recycle, but at least a few Memphians have complained that their curbside recycling bins aren’t getting emptied.

“It’s discouraging when we hear things like this,” says city recycling coordinator Andy Ashford, who acknowledges the system isn’t perfect yet. “As massive as this change has been, there have been problems.

“For a city this size, we need to be doing about twice what we’re doing now [in the percentage of residents who participate in recycling],” he says.

— Debbie Gilbert

November 19, 1999

Bars, Restaurants Come, Go

Going into just its third week of operation, the Blue Monkey, next door to Molly’s La Casita at 1999 Madison, is a hit with Midtown barflies. Chief among its attractions are the gourmet pizzas and the lovingly restored 100-year-old wood bar. But the Monkey had better enjoy the attention in light of some recent and upcoming changes in the city’s nightlife.

Downtown Memphis will have two new dance clubs in the coming months. Along Cotton Row at 94 S. Front … work is almost done on the Zoo, a five-story nightclub that will feature dining and dancing.

Meanwhile, developers associated with the departed Neon Moon are working on refurbishing the Lonesome Dove, an under-utilized Western-themed party room at 395 S. Second. — Mark Jordan

December 12, 1999

Library Doomed

The Main Library at Peabody and McLean is not long for this world. The city council has decided the building would be too expensive to maintain as a branch library after the new central library opens on Poplar Avenue. Instead, the old building will be torn down and replaced with private housing. — Heather Heilman

May 13, 2002

Prince Mongo’s house on Colonial

By the Book

For anyone wanting to imitate the decor of Prince Mongo’s Colonial Acres home, as initially reported in last week’s Flyer, city officials say it is your choice.

The “palace” of the prince (real name: Robert Hodges), at 925 Colonial, includes such front-yard amenities as animal heads, Halloween decorations, streamers, and a “bean poll” to pick your least-favorite politician.

“Every day, it’s something different,” says Jennifer Tobias, who lives in the neighborhood. “He currently has a collection of white chairs in the yard, and last Saturday, a group of elderly people came and sat in the chairs all day long. I don’t know what he was trying to say with that. We don’t want him to define the neighborhood.”

But Tobias and other residents can complain about Mongo’s antics until they’re blue in the face. According to the Building Department of Code Enforcement, homeowners can decorate their property as they see fit. — Janel Davis

Going Down in Germantown

The national tour of playwright Eve Ensler’s bona fide phenomenon The Vagina Monologues opens at the Germantown Performing Arts Centre on June 25th with Margot Kidder as the star vagina. Although Ensler’s play — and the movement to end violence against women that has grown up around it — is now seven years old and has been produced by over 800 companies worldwide in the past year alone, the surprisingly clinical name still carries a certain amount of shock value. A recent letter to The Commercial Appeal from an angry Germantown woman even declared The Vagina Monologues to be the work of Satan.

“This happens in every town the show goes to,” Ensler says. “How can anybody think of the vagina as Satan? What do vaginas represent? Life. It’s where we come from.” — Chris Davis

July 26, 2002

Last year, the Midtown Stewart Brothers closed its doors for good. They still blamed the Madison trolley line for their demise.

MATA vs. Madison

“Business has picked up some, but we are still down by at least a full 25 percent,” says James Dempsey Sr., owner of Stewart Brothers’ Hardware, which has operated at the corner of Madison and Cleveland since 1937. “I get calls from people every day saying that they were going to come down but they just think it’s too hazardous.”

And just why do people think it’s too hazardous?

Because in spite of efforts to keep Stewart Brothers’ parking lot open to the public, trolley construction has made driving down Madison an “extremely confusing and frustrating situation.” — Chris Davis

January 27, 2005

Marching in Memphis

About 25 people are standing at the northeast corner of Poplar and Highland holding signs that read, “No War” and “Not One Billionaire Left Behind,” waiting for the Mid-South Peace & Justice Center’s inauguration-day protest march to begin. A middle-aged man and two younger women are learning how to make a giant papier-mâché dove — with bedsheet wings — appear to fly, while others are walking around passing out peace bracelets.

“We’re here today to make sure Memphis is aware that there are still people out there who, despite what mandates Bush thinks he has, don’t agree with his policies, and we’re going to actively, nonviolently defy them,” says Jacob Flowers, director of the Mid-South Peace & Justice Center.

— Bianca Phillips

July 26, 2006

Identifying Jane Doe

The Mall of Memphis operated in the Bluff City from 1981 to 2003 and was demolished in 2004.

The building may be demolished, but the Mall of Murder is still living up to its nickname.

After two skeletons were found at the former Mall of Memphis site earlier this month, medical examiner Karen Chancellor was charged with identifying the victims and their causes of death.

The first skeleton, discovered by groundskeepers, is still unidentified at press time, but the second set of remains — discovered by police two days after the first body was found — was identified as 49-year-old Kathy Higginbotham.

Higginbotham was reported missing last November after her daughter dropped her off near Perkins and Knight Arnold. She was never seen alive again. — Bianca Phillips

August 3, 2006

Marijuana, Munchies, and Money

A supreme pizza and a bag of weed can make a pothead’s day. And it’s an even tastier deal when the entire purchase can be made with a debit card.

The Little Caesars on Byhalia Road in Collierville must have seemed like a dream for hourly employee — and alleged marijuana dealer — Steven Barton. But since the Collierville Police Department (CPD) busted Barton in June, the situation has become a nightmare for Little Caesars franchise owner Martin Mathews.

After Barton’s arrest on June 15th, the restaurant’s operating account was placed on hold by Collierville Judge William Hall. That’s because, on at least one occasion, Barton ran a debit card for someone’s marijuana purchase, taking $12 in cash from the Little Caesars cash register. Since funds from Barton’s pot sales were mixed in with the Little Caesars account, almost $240,000 was seized as drug money.

— Bianca Phillips

July 5, 2007

Sign of the Times

In 2004, 15-year-old Westside High School student Tarus Williams wanted to be a member of G-Unit, a small student-led gang. But in order to gain entry, Williams had to fight another member in the school bathroom.

Williams never joined the gang. During the fight, his heart ruptured after he was thrown into a bathroom stall.

Such fights — along with an increase in citywide gang violence — have led to a tougher anti-gang policy for Memphis City Schools (MCS). Starting this fall, students caught wearing gang colors, throwing gang signs, or participating in any type of gang activity will face expulsion. — Bianca Phillips

September 20, 2007

On Camera

In the movies, prison visits often end as visitors and inmates place their palms on either side of a glass panel separating convicts from the public. But as of last month, male inmates at the Shelby County Jail are no longer able to get so close to loved ones.

These days, jail visitors talk to inmates through a computer monitor. Thirty video visitation stations have been installed in housing units at the 201 Poplar facility, and another 31 will be operational soon.

“As opposed to moving inmates a few floors, now they can move a few steps to talk on a computer monitor that connects them instantly to a family member or attorney,” says Steve Shular, a spokesperson for the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office. “Every time you take an inmate out of a cell and move him off the floor, that movement creates a potential safety issue,” Shular says.

— Bianca Phillips

March 25, 2010

Fire Sale

On January 4th, 66-year-old Johnny L. Wicks opened fire outside a Las Vegas courthouse, killing a security guard and wounding a U.S. marshal. His weapon? A Mossberg 500 shotgun confiscated by the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office several years ago.

The sheriff’s office traded the gun, along with about 1,000 other confiscated weapons, to a registered gun dealer in 2005 in exchange for new service weapons, a year before Sheriff Mark Luttrell instituted a policy to destroy all confiscated guns. But a new state law that went into effect March 3rd requires the sheriff’s office to reverse that policy and resale or trade any guns taken from criminals. With the new law, the only weapons that can be destroyed are those that are damaged in some way. — Bianca Phillips

Mario Jackson & Keshun Douglas

July 15, 2010

Great Escape

Memphians Keshun Douglas and Mario Jackson might not know one another, but they have more than a few things in common: They’re both 23 years old, both were charged with felonies, and until last week, the men were being held at jails or prisons in Shelby County. Now both men are on the run.

In separate incidents in two days, Douglas and Jackson managed to break free from guards at the Regional Medical Center of Memphis, commonly known as the Med.

On Wednesday, July 7th, Douglas, who was serving time for property theft at the Shelby County Corrections Center, snuck out of a prison transport van while six other inmates were being unloaded in front of the Med. Douglas was being taken to the hospital’s prison ward for lab work.

The following day, Jackson was in the Med’s prison ward when he overpowered two Shelby County corrections deputies. Jackson, who was arrested on charges of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery, and aggravated burglary, escaped after a trip to the restroom.

Both men remained at large at press time, and both incidents are being investigated. — Bianca Phillips

Tags Bianca Phillips, Blue Monkey, Chris Davis, Commercial Appeal, Debbie Gilbert, Eve Ensler, Janel Davis, Janis Fullilove, john branston, Little Caesars, Princo Mongo, Steve Cohen, Vagina Monologues, ww-herenton

Cover Feature News

25 Who Shaped Memphis: 1989-2014

Post author By Flyer Staff
Post date June 5, 2014

Picking 25 people who had a major impact on the life and times of Memphis over the past 25 years is easy. In fact, you can easily pick 50. Narrowing the list down to 25 is the hard part. We made our final choices keeping in mind several areas of influence: politics, government, entertainment, sports, etc. We tried to pick folks whose contributions have stood the test of time or were responsible for a major shifts in attitude or direction.

It is by no means a perfect list, as these things are by necessity subjective. But it’s our list — and it’s a good one. — BV

Laura Adams

Laura Adams

Adams lives and breathes Shelby Farms Park. She was appointed as the conservancy head in 2010, but long before that, Adams advocated for increased use of the city’s largest urban park through Friends of Shelby Farms Park. Since she’s been in the lead role of the nonprofit conservancy, Adams has overseen the addition of the seven-mile Shelby Farms Greenline, a new foot bridge over the Wolf River, the state-of-the-art Woodland Discovery Playground, and new festivals and attractions, and soon, work will begin on expanding Patriot Lake.

Craig Brewer

Over the past 25 years, Hollywood has come to Memphis to shoot several high-profile movies, including The Firm, 21 Grams, and Walk the Line. But there’s only one local filmmaker who took Memphis to Hollywood: Craig Brewer.

On the strength of his first film, 2000’s The Poor & Hungry, Brewer got Hollywood backing for the movie that put Memphis Indie filmmaking on the map: 2005’s Hustle & Flow. The flick won Sundance, got a major theatrical release, and was nominated for two Academy Awards, winning one for “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” by Three 6 Mafia and Frayser Boy.

Brewer followed it up with another Memphis-made film, Black Snake Moan, and then his biggest yet, a remake of Footloose. Nowadays, Brewer divides his time between Memphis and L.A., but make no mistake: There is no bigger or more powerful advocate for the Bluff City film community.

John Calipari

John Calipari

Let’s get one thing straight: Before John Calipari, there was great Memphis Tigers basketball. He did not make the program — but he did make it relevant again when college basketball was no longer essential for players to make it in the NBA. Calipari arrived in Memphis in 2000, licking his wounds after a failed stint in the professional league. He was greeted by some here as a savior (U of M basketball was on the ropes following the Tic Price scandal) and by some as a slick operator (Calipari’s previous college employer, UMass, had to vacate a Final Four because of NCAA violations while he was in charge). But when Calipari’s teams began winning big here, the coach went from someone Memphians hated to love to someone we loved to love. And, when he left for a job at the University of Kentucky — taking some big-time recruits with him — he turned instant villain, someone we loved to hate. Even now, five years after he’s gone, not many a day goes by where his name isn’t uttered on local sports talk.

Karen Carrier

Karen Carrier

Anybody with taste buds in this town should be grateful that Karen Carrier is the restless type. In 1991, she opened Automatic Slim’s Tonga Club on Second Street across from the Peabody. When not a lot was happening in that area, this restaurant’s cool décor and innovative fare inspired by “sun-drenched” locales offered a chic downtown oasis. In 1996, Carrier proved pioneer again when she converted her own home in Victorian Village to pretty, white-tableclothed Cielo. Later, she dumped that concept and made the space into the fashionable Mollie Fontaine Lounge, and then there’s the Beauty Shop, Do, and Bar DKDC. Basically, Carrier is the pied piper of happening restaurants and one of Memphis’ true culinary pioneers.

Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen

The congressman from Memphis’ 9th Congressional District since his first election in 2006, Cohen is still goin,’ running for a fifth term in 2014. Though his first win was via a plurality against a dozen-plus opponents in the predominantly African-American district, Cohen has since won one-on-one contests against name primary challengers with margins ranging from 4-to-1 to 8-to-1.

Cohen’s political durability, first evinced during a 26-year run as a Tennessee state senator, owes much to hard work and tenacity, both in office and on the campaign trail. His most important legacy as a state legislator was his sponsorship of a state lottery and the Hope Scholarship program, which it funds. He’s a vigorous supporter of women’s rights and programs benefiting health care and the arts. Among his contributions in Congress, where he serves on the House Judiciary Committee, are his successful sponsorship of a resolution formally apologizing for the country’s history of slavery.

Margaret Craddock

Margaret Craddock

When Margaret Craddock took the helm of the Metropolitan Inner-Faith Association (MIFA), she not only held the organization on course but also led it into new waters.

Craddock began working at MIFA part-time in 1982 and then full-time in 1988. Spurred by her experiences there, she earned degrees in urban anthropology and law from the University of Memphis. Craddock was entrenched at MIFA and continued to rise to prominence there.

As associate director, she was instrumental in developing one of MIFA’s most noted programs. The agency decided to build five three-bedroom homes for emergency housing in 1989. Now, that program, implemented in MIFA’s Estival Place communities — gives homeless families a place to live for two years while they take life-skills classes.

In 1997, Craddock became the first woman to hold MIFA’s top job. At one time, she oversaw an $11 million budget, 160 employees, and more than 4,000 volunteers, and she actively worked to forge outside community partnerships.

Craddock focused MIFA’s mission, built on the agency’s inner-faith heritage by including more clergy on its board of directors, developed more community partners, and improved and modernized MIFA’s inner workings. Craddock retired in 2011.

DJ Paul & Juicy J

DJ Paul and Juicy J

DJ Paul and Juicy J collectively helped globalize the Memphis rap scene when they formed the label Hypnotize Minds in the early 1990s. Under the duo’s leadership, local acts, including Three 6 Mafia, Project Pat, and a magnitude of other artists were introduced to the world. Several Gold and Platinum records have been won by the label, and the first Memphis-based rap movie, Choices, was filmed under their auspices.

In 2006, they became the first hip-hop artists to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song, “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp,” and were showcased on the MTV reality sitcom “Adventures In Hollyhood.”

Although they’ve taken a hiatus as a collective, both artists continue to prosper. Juicy J is enjoying the spoils of a fruitful solo career while DJ Paul has reestablished Three 6 Mafia as Da Mafia 6ix.

John Elkington

John Elkington

To understand the impact John Elkington has had on downtown Memphis, consider Beale Street before he began to manage it in 1983: blocks of abandoned and boarded-up buildings, trash littering otherwise empty streets.

As the developer and manager of modern Beale Street, Elkington transformed it into Memphis’ premier entertainment district and one of the top tourist destinations in the U.S.

The relationship between Elkington and city government ended in 2010. Following the announcement, Memphis mayor A C Wharton said, “Pioneers always get bloodied. [Elkington] went in when others did not go in, and this community owes him a debt of gratitude.”

Despite the public break-up, Elkington will leave one very important fingerprint on the future of the street he helped create. A 2011 study of Beale Street said thanks to Elkington “the district’s uniqueness and special personality have been largely protected and maintained.”

Harold Ford Sr. / Harold Ford Jr.

Harold Ford Sr. /Harold Ford Jr.

This father/son combination held the Memphis congressional district (first designated Tennessee’s 8th, later the 9th) from 1974 until 2006, beginning when Democrat Ford Sr., then a state representative, won in an upset over the Republican incumbent, becoming the state’s first elected black Congress member.

A member of an upwardly mobile black family invested in the funeral home business, Harold Ford Sr. became the patriarch of an extended-family political dynasty, which has consistently held positions in state and local government ever since. Wielder of the “Ford ballot,” an endorsement list of candidates in each successive election, Ford Sr. became influential in Congress as well but was ensnared in a Reagan-era Department of Justice prosecution for alleged bank fraud that, after one mistrial, would end with Ford’s exoneration in a 1993 retrial.

In 1996, the senior Ford stepped aside, backing his son Harold Ford Jr., who won election that year and four more times. Uninterested in the kind of local political organization overseen by his father, and more conservative politically, Ford Jr. directed his ambitions toward national power instead and was widely considered a prospect to become the nation’s first African-American major-party nominee for president. Beaten to the U.S. Senate by Illinois’ Barack Obama in 2004, Democrat Ford made his own try for the Senate in 2006, narrowly losing to Republican Bob Corker. He subsequently married and moved to New York, where he works on Wall Street. He is still considered to be a political prospect, with a rumored Senate run in the Empire State.

Larry Godwin

Larry Godwin

The former Memphis Police Department (MPD) chief spent 37 years tenured with the MPD. Beginning as an undercover narcotics officer in 1973, Godwin later was a homicide investigator and commander of the crime response/bomb unit before being named police director in 2004.

Godwin helped restructure the department’s method of operation, adding new crime prevention programs, such as Blue CRUSH; established a $3.5 million technology hub, Real Time Crime Center; and increased the number of police on the streets. Under his leadership, the percentage of violent crimes dropped significantly, and numerous undercover investigations targeting narcotics sales were successfully executed.

Following his retirement in 2011, Godwin became the deputy commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security.

Pat Halloran

Pat Halloran

Halloran moved to the city in 1969 and was elected to the Memphis City Council within five years. With the Memphis Development Foundation (MDF), he saved the Orpheum from the wrecking ball. The theater reopened in 1984 and has set records for booking touring Broadway shows. Halloran has earned three Tony Awards, notably for the musical Memphis. In March 2014, the MDF began construction on the The Orpheum Centre for Performing Arts & Education, a 40,000-square-foot facility featuring theater space, classrooms, an audio-visuals arts lab, and event rental space. Without Halloran’s ongoing vision for the Orpheum through the years, Memphis would be an infinitely less interesting city.

Michael Heisley

Michael Heisley

For decades, Memphis had pursued an NFL team, but the city’s hopes were dashed in 1993, when the league opted against awarding Memphis a team. The NFL settled in Nashville, leaving a bitter taste in Memphians’ mouths. It seemed a pro sports team would never move here. That changed in 2001, when Michael Heisley, billionaire owner of the NBA’s Vancouver Grizzlies, decided to relocate his team to Memphis. It was a shocking move at the time and is still shocking in retrospect. Local power players were crucial in making the city attractive to Heisley, securing financing for FedExForum, but it was Heisley’s call. His decision radically affected downtown Memphis, the entertainment industry, sports business, sports talk, and even the city’s psyche.

The outspoken owner had his ups and downs in the public eye over the years, but he did right by Memphis. He eventually sold the team in 2012 and passed away earlier this year. Never forget: Before there was grit and grind, there was Michael Heisley.

Willie Herenton

Willie Herenton

Herenton was born to a single mother on Memphis’ south side. She lived to see her son become the city’s first African-American school superintendent and later witnessed his five separate inaugurations as Memphis’ mayor, after becoming the first black person ever elected to that position, in 1991.

A Booker T. Washington High School graduate, Herenton was an amateur boxing champion as a youth. Pursuing education as a career, he earned a Ph.D. and worked his way up rapidly in the Memphis City Schools system, becoming its superintendent in 1978. An educational innovator with magnet schools and other new options, he resigned reluctantly in the wake of negative publicity about a sexual liaison with a teacher and a modest administrative scandal.

He landed on his feet, becoming almost instantly a consensus black candidate for mayor in 1991. Considered a strong chief executive, he eventually lost interest in the job and resigned in 2009. He made an unsuccessful challenge to incumbent 9th District Congressman Steve Cohen in 2010 and has spent the time since attempting to develop a chain of local charter schools. He now runs a charter school program.

Benjamin L. Hooks

Rev. Benjamin L. Hooks

A native Memphian, Hooks was largely known as a seminal civil rights activist. A Baptist minister and attorney, he was the first African-American Criminal Court judge in the South since the Reconstruction Era, and the first African-American appointee for the Federal Communications Commission.

During the civil rights movement, Hooks helped orchestrate protests and sit-ins, and promoted the importance of education. He led the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for 15 years.

Hooks was a strong advocate for racial, social, and economic justice. The civil rights icon died in 2010, but his legacy lives on through the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change, Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library, and the Benjamin L. Hooks Job Corps Center.

Carissa Hussong

Carissa Hussong

That cool Greely Myatt piece you have on your wall, the one that looks like nails…that is art with a capital “A.” It does not match your couch. Other than family and friends, about half-a-million Memphians will never see that piece. But all of us can check out Myatt’s Quiltsurround, a metalwork quilt used to cover up City Hall’s air units. That work and nearly every piece of Memphis’ public art created in the past 17 years — from the murals in Soulsville and Binghampton to the menagerie of art at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library — traces its lineage to the UrbanArt Commission and its founding executive director, Carissa Hussong.

Hussong left the commission to become the executive director of the Metal Museum in 2008. Under her lead, the museum has introduced its “Tributaries” series, featuring the work of emerging metal artists.

J.R. “Pitt” Hyde

Hyde grew up watching his grandfather and father turn Malone & Hyde into one of the country’s largest food wholesalers.

“They took risks that many people considered unwise — and succeeded, despite the odds,” Hyde says. “I believe my exposure to this type of ‘pioneering’ mindset gave me the drive to try new, unproven ventures.”

Those ventures include being the founder of auto parts giant AutoZone, chair of biopharmaceutical startup GTx Inc., co-founder of the private equity firm MB Ventures, the impetus (along with his wife, Barbara) behind the $69 million Hyde Family Foundation, and scion of several other highly placed and deep-pocketed endeavors rooted in Memphis — most notably the National Civil Rights Museum and Ballet Memphis.

Hyde was instrumental in the founding of the Memphis Bioworks Foundation, Memphis Tomorrow, and the National Civil Rights Museum. He is a minority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies and helped bring the NBA team to Memphis.

Robert Lipscomb

Robert Lipscomb

For years, Lipscomb has been significantly involved in the restructuring of public housing in Memphis, as well as the redevelopment of its downtown and inner city communities. In 2009, he was appointed executive director of the Memphis Housing Authority and director of the city’s Division of Housing and Community Development.

Motivated by the desire to improve the city’s underprivileged living conditions, Lipscomb developed Memphis’ first strategic housing plan. Under his guidance, numerous run-down and crime-plagued housing projects have been replaced with modern developments.

Lipscomb is spearheading the $190 million project to redevelop The Pyramid into a Bass Pro Shops retail center. He’s also involved in the planned redevelopment of the Mid-South Fairgrounds.

A native Memphian, Lipscomb created the Down Payment Assistance Program, the Housing Trust Fund, the Housing Resource Center, and other housing initiatives.

Jackie Nichols

Jackie Nichols

Playhouse on the Square’s founding executive producer doesn’t just make theater. He makes community. And he makes sense. Loeb Properties may have ponied up the money to bring back Overton Square, but it was Jackie Nichols who literally set the stage for the area’s incredible turnaround. Nichols was still a teenage tap dancer when he realized that Memphis needed producers more than it needed performers.

In 1969, he launched Circuit Players. In 1975 he expanded, opening Playhouse on the Square on Madison Avenue. In 2010, Nichols, also instrumental in the founding of TheatreWorks, moved his operations from the old Memphian Theatre into a $12.5 million, custom-built performing arts facility at Cooper and Union. When Overton Square developer Robert Loeb asked Nichols what it would take to make Overton Square work as a theater district, Nichols answered, “More theaters,” paving the way for Ekundayo Bandele’s Hattiloo, which opens to the public in July.

The new Playhouse on the Square has allowed for collaborations with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and created a Midtown home for arts institutions like Ballet Memphis and Opera Memphis. But Nichols’ legacy is best represented by Memphis’ thriving independent theater scene, made possible by the space, equipment, and support he’s created. His greatest contribution to the city may be in showing us that the arts really can be a sound investment.

David Pickler

David Pickler

Once considered the “president-for-life” of the old county-only Shelby County Schools (SCS) board, to which he was first elected in 1998 and led until that version of the board ceased to be with the SCS-Memphis City Schools (MCS) merger of 2011-13, Pickler continued to represent Germantown/Collierville on the first post-merger SCS board, pending the creation of new suburban school districts.

Many blame the surrender of the MCS charter and subsequent forced merger on Pickler’s decades-long vow to seek special-school-district status for the original SCS system, which was publicly renewed when a Republican majority — presumed to be suburb-friendly — took over the legislature in 2010. Pickler contends that then-MCS Board Chairman Martavius Jones, a prime mover in the charter surrender, already harbored merger plans.

In any case, Pickler, a lawyer who also operates Pickler Wealth Advisers, an investment/estate-management firm, continues his involvement with education matters as president of the National School Boards Association and is thought to harbor political ambitions.

Beverly Robertson

Beverly Robertson

Robertson has headed up the Civil Rights Museum since 1997, but perhaps her greatest achievement has been overseeing the museum’s recent $27.5 million renovation. The old Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot in 1968, and the adjoining building have been remodeled with interactive touch-screen exhibits, a slave ship where visitors can crawl into the tiny space where slaves were held, and the recreated courtroom from Brown vs. Board of Education. Since Robertson took the helm, the museum has been identified as one of the nation’s top 10 attractions by National Geographic’s Young Explorers and as a “national treasure” by USA Today. Though she’s led the museum for 16 of its 22 years, Robertson has announced that she will retire next month.

Gayle Rose

Gayle S. Rose

We’ll bet that no other University of Northern Iowa (UNI) music student has ever been named by Business Tennessee magazine as one of our state’s “100 Most Powerful People.” But then, Gayle Rose isn’t like most people. After earning degrees in music and business from UNI, the accomplished clarinetist graduated from Harvard with a master’s in public administration. Rose spearheaded self-help guru Deepak Chopra’s international publishing and TV ventures.

She co-founded 10,000 Women for Herenton (later 10,000 Women for Change), co-founded the Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis, founded the Rose Family Foundation, and earned the national “Changing the Face of Philanthropy Award.” She also formed Max’s Team, a volunteer organization that honors the memory of her late son.

Rose is the principal owner and CEO of Electronic Vaulting Services (EVS) Corporation, a data protection company, headquartered in Memphis. Prior to joining EVS, Rose served as managing director of Heritage Capital Advisors, LLC, a private equity, corporate advisory, and asset firm with offices in Atlanta and Memphis.

Rose is perhaps best-known for leading the NBA “Pursuit Team,” which eventually attracted the Vancouver Grizzlies to Memphis in 2000.

Maxine Smith

Maxine Smith

In 1957, Memphis State University refused to admit Maxine Smith because she was black, and that inspired her to take on the South’s racist attitudes and fight for civil rights. Smith headed up the local NAACP and became one of few women leaders in the male-dominated local civil rights movement. She and her husband, Vasco Smith, protested segregation at the Memphis Zoo and the Memphis Public Library, and she fought to reorganize the city school board to allow black candidates a chance at winning city elections. Smith was elected to one of those school board seats in 1971, and afterward, she became a huge proponent for court-ordered busing, which she saw as a way to overcome city leaders’ attempts at only integrating a few schools for show. Smith sat on the board of the National Civil Rights Museum and received the museum’s National Freedom Award, along with former President Bill Clinton, in 2003.

Pat Kerr Tigrett

Pat Kerr Tigrett

This Memphis-based fashion designer got her start designing Vogue-worthy gowns for her paper dolls when she was just a kid living in Savannah, Tennessee. She later moved to Memphis for college, won Miss Tennessee Universe, and then bought the Tennessee Miss Universe franchise.

As a beauty queen, Kerr Tigrett got a taste of philanthropy with fashion charity shows. She went on to launch the Memphis Charitable Foundation, host of the annual Blues Ball, which, since 1994, has raised loads of money for Porter-Leath Children’s Center, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center, Madonna Learning Center, and other local nonprofits. Kerr Tigrett is the widow of entrepreneur John Tigrett.

Henry Turley

Henry Turley

Some developers leave behind a footprint on their community. Behind Henry Turley will be an entire Memphis landscape. Turley’s brilliance was in recognizing — and acting upon — what now seems obvious: The most valuable real estate in the world is next to water. With downtown Memphis perched alongside the mightiest stream in North America, a breathtaking neighborhood (or more) awaited birth.

With Jack Belz, Turley, developed the upscale Harbor Town residential and commercial center on Mud Island, the low-income and middle-income Uptown residential development north of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and South Bluffs, where he lives.

Stroll through Harbor Town or South Bluffs today, and you’d think the mighty homes and river views have been there a century when, in fact, most are barely 20 years old, the realization of Turley’s vision for making downtown more than a business center.

Turley is a board member of Contemporary Media, the parent company of Memphis magazine and the Memphis Flyer. A native of Memphis and graduate of the University of Tennessee, Turley is known for his plainspoken good humor, creativity, and unfailing belief in downtown and the restoration of public spaces in older neighborhoods.

AC Wharton

A C Wharton

A native of Middle Tennessee who grew up on country music and both graduated from and taught at the Ole Miss Law School, Wharton is the epitome of crossover and conciliation, and either of those “c” words could be his non-existent middle name. (“A” doesn’t stand for a name either.)

Wharton’s major contribution was to restore calm and a sense of unified purpose to the city after the contentious last years of his mayoral predecessor Willie Herenton’s lengthy tenure. Hard-working, eloquent, and good-natured, Wharton was Shelby County’s Public Defender for many years, then easily won two four-year terms as county mayor before winning a special election to succeed Herenton, who had resigned, in 2009. Reelected in 2011, he has had to grapple with dwindling revenue, a never-ending budget crisis, and attendant crises in public services.

Sherman Willmott

Sherman Willmott

The irascible Willmott has worked like a Tahiti-shirted puppet-master, shaping a lot of cool and important Memphis stuff over the past 25 years. In 1988, he and Eric Freidl opened Shangri-La Records on Madison Avenue, which became a center for the burgeoning alt-music scene. Soon they were mixed up in independent record distribution and releasing records by the Grifters that earned national accolades and a big record deal. Willmott kept the Stax flame lit during the dark ages and was instrumental in curating the Stax Museum. His work with master archivist Ron Hall formed the basis for the acclaimed wrestling movie, Memphis Heat, which is a great film and a better document of how hilariously weird Memphis really is.

Tags AC Wharton, Benjamin Hooks, Craig Brewer, Harold Ford, Harold Ford Jr., Jackie Nichols, Karen Carrier, Michael Heisley, Pitt Hyde, Robert Lipscomb, Steve Cohen, Willie Herenton

Politics Politics Feature

Ready to Rumble

Post author By Jackson Baker
Post date February 13, 2014

CREDIT: JB

Judge Joe Brown makes his pitch at IBEW.

I’ll say this for Shelby County’s Democrats: If in the county elections of 2014 they should go down to another defeat like that of 2010, when the rival Republicans, representing a minority of the county’s voters, swept all the contested races, it won’t be for any lack of intensity.

There was more than enough of that to go around last Thursday night, when a lengthy list of candidates — declared, undeclared, likely, and unlikely — had a chance to address the local Democratic Party’s executive committee at the IBEW Union Hall on Madison Avenue.

In a way, Thursday night’s decidedly hurly-burly affair was a kind of segue from a previous party event.

Last month, when the Democrats had what appeared to be a successful Kennedy Day fund-raiser at the Bridges building downtown, a once and maybe future party politician rose up to interrupt what had been, up until then, serial recitations of the usual boilerplate and talking points and sounded a late note that was both jarring and curiously rousing.

It was Carol Chumney, a former state representative and Memphis Council member who felt that, in her last race two years ago for district attorney general, she had been deprived of the kind of party solidarity that might have given her a chance to win against incumbent Republican Amy Weirich.

“Let’s stick together!” she demanded of her assembled party mates. But she didn’t restrict herself to mere exhortations. She went so far as to call out one of the party’s main men, 9th District Congressman Steve Cohen, who not only was in attendance but had played a major role at the fund-raising dinner, arranging the appearance of its keynoter, U.S. Representative Barbara Lee, a House colleague of Cohen’s from California.

Cohen had introduced Lee, who responded to his flattering characterization of her with some kind words of her own, citing Cohen for his “tremendous leadership in Congress” and going on to say: “We know that he is a true champion for economic and social justice. And we know, all of us, we know in the House that we can count on Steve to be with us on behalf of what is just and what is fair and what is right and on behalf of his constituents. … I can’t think of a more loyal or stronger or smarter ally than Steve.”

That was not how Chumney saw it. To her, Cohen was most remarkable for “Republi-Democrat” sentiments, by virtue of his having declined to endorse her candidacy against Weirich. “I think that very few people would say I was not qualified to be district attorney, but somehow one of our congressmen seemed to think that. He said he ‘birthed’ me, Congresswoman Lee!”

In deciding two years ago not to endorse her in the race for D.A., Cohen had indeed claimed, in what may have been an awkward attempt at a conciliatory grace note, to have midwifed Chumney’s entry into public office. (Anybody who covered Chumney’s successful 1990 race for state representative can attest to his daily omnipresence on her behalf in a crowded and contentious field.)

Between 1990 and 2012, clearly, the relationship had changed. And, in the immediate aftermath of Chumney’s remarks, another Democrat, state Representative G.A. Hardaway — whose 2012 primary opponent, fellow state Representative Mike Kernell, a longtime Cohen ally, had won the congressman’s endorsement — offered some payback of his own, referring in an email broadside to “treacherous political deeds” by Cohen and imputing to the congressman, routinely regarded as the most liberal Democrat in Tennessee, a previously unsuspected hand-in-glove relationship with Republicans.

Though most of that sound and fury had been, strictly speaking, more personal than political, the theme of party solidarity at all costs and outrage over potential apostasies carried over into last week’s executive committee meeting.

Speaker after speaker trumpeted the theme, and several, like Coleman Thompson, once again a candidate for Shelby County register, an office that eluded him in 2010, stoked the lingering belief that the party’s electoral wipe-out by the Republicans in 2010 had not been an honest result. “We caught them stealing,” he insisted.

Nowhere was this alleged GOP perfidy more prominent than in a lengthy and impassioned philippic against local Republican-dom delivered by Judge Joe Brown, whose title derives both from his former service as a bona fide elected criminal court judge and his long run as a reality show judge adjudicating domestic disputes on television.

It was the latter experience more than the former that had whetted his talent for tough talk, and Brown dished out lots of it, naming names and speaking of “secret accounts,” “differential vote counts,” stolen elections, “extortion,” sneaking privatization of public business, even a conspiracy to undermine traffic safety on the A.W. Willis bridge. Brown’s charges prompted voices in his audience to cry out, “Teach!”

Brown’s bottom line, reinforced by the fact that his TV show has been discontinued: He has “not quite made up [his] mind” about running for D.A., to end what he had characterized as a reign of error and terror.

Chumney, who had widely been rumored to be eyeing another race for D.A. herself, but who had as of yet given no public indication of it, was on hand again, with a retooled version of her Kennedy Day speech, again calling for Democrats to be “united for the team” and this time citing city council members Jim Strickland and Shea Flinn as Democrats who had abandoned her in 2012 and supported her Republican opponent.

Cohen, who had made a point to greet Chumney cordially, was there to address the committee and was all high road, noting that he had become a ranking member (meaning lead Democrat) on the Constitution and Civil Justice subcommittee of the House Judiciary, recounting his efforts on behalf of voting rights and immigration legislation, and making a special appeal to President Obama to ameliorate unfair sentencing procedures for drug offenses.

The congressman was applauded, but so was the next speaker, attorney Ricky Wilkins, his announced opponent in this year’s Democratic primary. Wilkins boasted of his South Memphis background and his 20 years of effort on behalf of improving public housing in Memphis, promising to bring the same degree of “compassion, energy, and fire” to Congress that he’d evinced in his law career, and making a point of pledging his loyalty in advance to this year’s Democratic nominees.

There were other speakers — Adrienne Pakis-Gillon, for example, on the need to oppose anti-abortion legislation in Nashville, and Councilman Lee Harris on putting an end to the lockout of employees at Kellogg. But it was the evidence of intense intra-party rivalries in this year’s primaries, coupled with the near-paradoxical demand for party unity (party chairman Bryan Carson announced that disloyalty would “not be tolerated”), which animated the evening and bespoke the revved-up nature of local Democratic ambitions this year.

Nowhere was this more obvious than in the party’s hopes of recapturing the office of Shelby County mayor from Republican incumbent Mark Luttrell.

The Democrats’ committee meeting had begun with statements from four mayoral hopefuls, all with established names and ambitions.

Shelby County Commission Chairman James Harvey offered “leadership at another level” and promised “stability.” Former commissioner and previous mayoral candidate Deidre Malone — making, as she proudly noted, her second try — rejoiced that “we have a Democratic primary.”

County Commissioner Steve Mulroy touted his “core set of principles” and said, “I’m a real Democrat, and I can win.” And well-known minister and former school board member Kenneth Whalum Jr. brandished some stirring populist oratory, boasted his role in defeating the last sales- tax referendum, and asked the audience to help him decide whether or not to run.

Whatever happens in the May 6th countywide primaries (for which next week’s February 20th filing deadline is imminent) or on August 7th, date of the county general election as well as state and federal primaries, or on November 4th, election day for state and federal offices, last week’s Democratic meeting provided ample energy and abundant foreshadowing.

Discord and harmony, rowdiness and composure, affection and displeasure, logic and libido — all were present in equal and co-existent measure. The only given in the mix was that Shelby County Democrats aren’t likely to sit this one out.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this column had indicated that Deidre Malone had made two previous runs for county mayor. She has only made one to date; her current race is her second effort.

Tags Carol Chumney, Judge Joe Brown, Shelby County Democratic Party, Steve Cohen, Steve Mulroy

Politics Politics Feature

Getting Started

Post author By Jackson Baker
Post date January 9, 2014

CREDIT: Jackson Baker

“Dear Friends,” began the open-letter email from District Attorney General Amy Weirich, “As one year ends and another begins, we naturally reflect and look forward. As your D.A. (and a wife and mother) I have been doing my fair share of that in the last few days.”

The “reflection” that followed amounted to a quick recitation of figures (“217 jury trials and 777 days in trial”) designed to show that the D.A. had succeeded in her “mission to pursue the guilty and protect the innocent.”

After closing out the communication a couple of paragraphs later, Weirich thought to add a postscript: “P.S. This new year is also a big election year, which means that I have to run for the full eight-year term as our D.A. Don’t forget to tell your friends and neighbors about the great work we are doing in the office!”

And, just in case that message somehow missed its mark, Weirich had scheduled an attention-getting extravaganza for this week. She enlisted some unusual helpers. As the headline of her second major email of the week put it, “HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS PARTNER WITH DISTRICT ATTORNEY GENERAL TO BRING THE SLAM DUNK AGAINST BULLIES IN MEMPHIS.”

The Harlem Globetrotters?

As the email explained, the reigning clown princes of basketball — renowned for decades for their rare mixture of athletic ability and comedic talent — would be appearing with the D.A. at the Ed Rice Community Center in Frayser to help her dissertate on the “ABCs of Bullying Prevention.”

Alas, the lesson was not to take place, at least not on the appointed evening, Monday night of this week. The gods of weather had a perverse prank of their own — in the form of two days’ worth of bone-chilling near-zero temperatures, coupled with the possibility of precipitation, which forced Weirich’s office to issue yet another email, this one bearing a sad but candid message in the subject line: “Photo Op with Globetrotters and Attorney General cancelled.”

Even so, General Weirich surely deserved some points for the uniqueness of her aborted op. The Globetrotters!

Like any number of other incumbents, Shelby County’s Republican D.A. — anticipating a challenge from a Democratic opponent yet to be named, in a primary on May 6th — will be doing her best, all the way up to the countywide general election on August 7th, to find every means to maximize her visibility and to advertise her accomplishments.

Once again, it’s an election year, a big-ballot election year at that, with local, state, and federal offices up for grabs, including the full panoply of state judgeships, which — like the D.A.’s office — are only at risk every eight years.

Not coincidentally, other incumbents were also doing their best to be front and center as the New Year began.

Shelby County mayor Mark Luttrell, another GOP office-holder sure to face a Democratic opponent this year, also had an occasion scheduled, but, luckily for him, his was scheduled for next week, beyond the reach, it would seem, of bad weather.

The Luttrell event is to be a continuation, as an email from the county mayor’s office put it, of “his one-on-one meetings with citizens … to listen to their comments and suggestions,” a little less dramatic than Weirich’s evening of roundball but designed for similar effect. As Luttrell, all duty, wrote, “These visits give me the opportunity to speak personally with people about what’s important to them and how their ideas might improve our community.”

For the record, the next such opportunity is on Tuesday, from 1 to 4 p.m. in the mayor’s office in the Vasco A. Smith Jr. Administration Building downtown.

And there was 9th District Congressman Steve Cohen, a Democrat, who had an event scheduled — a “district issues meeting” — on Monday morning of the current week and went ahead with it, cold weather or no.

Afterward, he would say, in language similar to that of Weirich and Luttrell, and, like them, via an all-points email, “Hearing what my constituents have to say about the issues is very important to me.”

Luttrell and Cohen, along with two more incumbents, Memphis mayor A C Wharton and city councilman Myron Lowery, had gotten a head start of sorts in communicating with their constituencies, starting last Wednesday at Lowery’s annual prayer breakfast at the Memphis Airport Hotel and Conference Center.

All four, addressing an audience rife with office-holders, candidates, and activists, reached beyond their specific bases with appeals for wider unity. (Unlike Cohen and Luttrell, Wharton and Lowery won’t face the voters until 2015.) Luttrell made a pitch for “civility,” Lowery cited a need for “trust,” and Wharton tried to bridge the current divide between himself and the council with the declaration, “I’m through with whose fault it is.” Cohen, with calls for increasing the minimum wage and extolling the Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare”), and conscious that his audience included declared likely primary opponent Ricky Wilkins, seemed a mite more agenda-minded, but he, too, cited a need to look beyond narrow partisanship.

Even the congressman’s endorsement of host Lowery’s resolution of “No Confidence” for current GOP election administrator Rich Holden, the counterpart of a resolution passed last month by the Shelby County Commission, was couched in relatively bipartisan terms.

In any case, the New Year, with its full raft of election contests, is upon us, and there will soon be enough conflict and crossfire — locally, at least — to satisfy the most rabid partisans and pol-watchers.

• Statewide, an element of drama will be lacking. The declaration by Memphis Democrat Sara Kyle, hard upon the New Year, that she won’t take on Republican governor Bill Haslam virtually ended Democrats’ hopes for something more than a pro forma challenge — if even that — to the GOP’s political hegemony in Tennessee.

Kyle, a former member of the Tennessee Regulatory Authority and the wife of state Senate Democratic leader Jim Kyle (D-Memphis), had been regarded as her party’s last chance. Nor, apparently, is there a serious Democrat to take on the other ranking Republican on the state ballot this year, U.S. senator Lamar Alexander, whose concerns, such as they are, are with state representative Joe Carr (R-Lascassas), his Tea Party opponent in the GOP primary.

The chief contests statewide this year will be regarding three Constitutional amendments on the November ballot — one that would abrogate any abortion rights in Tennessee that go beyond federal law; another that would make a state income tax unconstitutional; and a third that would make explicit the governor’s right (which has been contested) to make appointments to state appellate courts.

All three amendments are favored to pass.

• A corollary to the continuing decline of Democrats’ clout in Tennessee is the fact of hotly contested Republican primaries, where more and more the real decisions are being made. In Middle Tennessee, U.S. representative Scott DesJarlais (R-4th) has his hands full with a challenge from state senator Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville), who is supported by the GOP establishment.

And there is the case of state senator Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville), whose views are widely regarded as madcap and extremist (or at least inconvenient) within his own party ranks and is expected to be opposed in the GOP primary by Richard Briggs, a Knox County commissioner, and perhaps by other Republicans.

Campfield, who won national notoriety for numerous bills, including one to forbid the mention of homosexuality in elementary classrooms and another that would withdraw state financial aid from the households of failing students, received a dubious honor as the year got underway.

The website Wonkette bestowed its inaugural “S***muffin of the Year Award” to Campfield “for outstanding achievement in the field of trying to make life miserable for the people of State Tennessee.”

Tags Amy Weirich, Mark Luttrell, Shelby County candidates, stacey campfield, Steve Cohen

Opinion Viewpoint

Kardashian Politics

Post author By Rick Maynard
Post date August 1, 2013

There once was an America that cared about great things, important things that affected people’s lives. We once believed that selling arms to a hostile nation so as to funnel money to Central American death squads was at least as important as whether or not a president lied about an affair.

Once upon a time, there had to be some actual wrongdoing before we declared something to be a scandal. Some moral or ethical lapse, some illegal behavior. Maybe even a victim, if it wasn’t asking too much. That was before our taste for scandal grew so insatiable that we started seeing scandals that weren’t even there.

Is it scandalous that Anthony “Carlos Danger” Weiner seems incapable of replying to a text message without sticking the phone in his pants at some point? Yes, by any definition. There are victims of his behavior. Not every woman he has sent pictures to consented to receive them, making him the high-tech version of the creepy guy wearing a trench coat in the park on a warm, sunny day.

The woman in the most recent scandal has said that she always thought of Weiner as one of her heroes. Did this inspire him to redeem himself and become the man, the leader that she deserved? No, he asked if she wanted a picture of his penis. On a side note, I’ve never been so glad not to be on someone’s Christmas card list. I can’t imagine what the holiday tidings would look like.

Mayor Bob Filner of San Diego is a fast worker. Despite only having become mayor in January, he has managed to sexually harass three women to the point that they are suing him, and four more have come forward to say that he harassed them during his tenure in Congress. They tell stories of unwanted advances, involuntary kisses, groped bottoms and breasts. But it’s all okay, because he plans on getting two weeks of therapy — two whole weeks — that he believes will make him a changed man worthy of the office he refuses to resign from.

Filner lives in a fantasy world where women see groping and sexual advances as just a routine day in the office. It’s all in good fun. They come back to work every day not because they need to earn a living but because he’s just such a charming guy. That is a scandal.

No less than Gail Collins of The New York Times dropped the recent events in the life of our own Representative Steve Cohen into her July 20th column about sex scandals, even while admitting it wasn’t much of a scandal.

Here’s the summary of events, in Reader’s Digest form: Cohen’s former girlfriend tells her daughter that Cohen is her biological father. The former girlfriend then tells Cohen the same thing. Cohen bonds with the young woman in question and is “caught” sending her messages from the State of the Union address via Twitter. The man who always believed he was her father does not know about Cohen, so Cohen has to wait a few days to tell the whole story, during which time he is portrayed in the media as a dirty old man, usually while a slideshow of the young woman in a bikini played in the background.

Cohen announces what he believes to be true at the time, that he is her father. The media runs the story. (And reruns the bikini pictures.) A recent DNA test says that he is not the young woman’s father after all. The media runs the story (along with the bikini pictures) again.

If you’re looking for a victim in this and not finding one, you are not alone. A private family drama was unfortunately played out in the public eye. It is not scandalous. It is sad. There is neither victim nor villain nor vice in this story. Collins even points this out in the Times, writing, “Now, Representative Cohen’s constituents in Memphis no doubt had a lot to discuss over the dinner table. Otherwise, their lives went on exactly the same as they did before.”

There is no impropriety, no illegal behavior, and no victim. Which begs the question: Did Collins just add it to pad her word count? Would that this nation had so few real problems and real scandals that a gossip item like the Cohen saga could be worthy of the attention it has already received.

Have we Kardashianed our politics enough for this year?

Rick Maynard is a political consultant and communications specialist.

Tags Anthony Weiner, Carlos Danger, Steve Cohen

Politics Politics Beat Blog

Carson Elected New Local Party Chairman by Democrats

Post author By Jackson Baker
Post date April 6, 2013

CREDIT: JB

New Democratic chairman Bryan Carson with state Representative G.A. Hardaway and asst. city attorney Regina Morrison Newman at post-convention reception.

JB
New Democratic chairman Bryan Carson with state Representative G.A. Hardaway and asst. city attorney Regina Morrison Newman at post-convention reception.

The Shelby County Democrati9c Party, fully mindful of the weakness of their party statewide but determinedly optimistic about local election prospects in 2014, held their biennial party convention Saturday at Airways Middle School and emerged with a new executive committee and a new chairman, Bryan Carson.

Two other candidates, Terry Spicer and Jennings Bernard, did some head-counting during the course of the morning and, realizing they couldn’t win, deferred to Carson when it came time for nominations.

Carson, the son of longtime party eminence Gale Jones Carson and lead supervisor of an epidemiology work section at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, was then elected by acclamation. He would hail his rivals’ actions as presenting an opportunity for unity.

Before caucusing and voting by state House district got under way, the crowd was warmed up by 9th District congressman Steve Cohen, who emphasized what he said were the opportunities for Democrats in next year’s elections and advised the delegates to stand by the party’s principles.

Scorning the idea of “reaching out” too much in efforts to compromise with Republicans, Cohen got off a zinger: “Neville Chamberlain reached out to Hitler. It doesn’t work!”

Outgoing chairman Van Turner received a plaque of appreciation for his efforts during four years at the party helm.

[slideshow-1]

Tags Bryan Carson, Shelby County Democratic Party, Steve Cohen

Opinion

Reactions to Cohen’s Revelation Generally Mild

Post author By John Branston
Post date February 15, 2013

While the public waits to see if more details of Steve Cohen’s fatherhood come out, reaction so far to the surprise announcement ranges from bored to bemused, more like the frothy musical “Mama Mia” about a bride and three prospective fathers-of-the-bride than the snarky “baby daddy” jabs at professional athletes and other politicians.

Most notably, there is little of the over-the-top outrage that greeted another unmarried man, former mayor Willie Herenton, when he made a surprise announcement of fathering a child in 2005 with an unmarried woman. It is not known yet whether Cohen’s lady friend of 24 years ago, Cynthia White Sinatra, was married or not at the time or who helped raise the child. Ms. Sinatra has apparently been divorced more than once, and she and Cohen were reportedly out of contact for some 20 years.

On Cohen and his daughter Victoria Brink and her mother:

The Memphis Flyer: “There is more to tell about this tale, and we’ll tell it when it becomes possible. Meanwhile, we congratulate the proud papa (who intends to spend some joyous and out-in-the-open time with his daughter), and we say “shame on you” to those who, for political reasons, tried to escalate this story, an inspirational one if it’s anything at all, into a scandal. ….. Could there have been a better Valentine’s Day story than this?”

Wendi Thomas of The Commercial Appeal: “There is but one thing that troubles me about the news that U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, a confirmed bachelor, has a 24-year-old daughter. He doesn’t know how to tweet. Cohen, 63, was forced Thursday to tell the world that three years ago, he learned he is a parent — which is really no one’s business — only because he sent a message into the Twitterverse that he intended only for his daughter.”

Cohen spokesman Michael Pagan, the day before the announcement made this statement inoperative: “She is the daughter of a longtime friend and they’re pretty much like family. He’s known her pretty much her whole life. He has a longtime girlfriend in Memphis.”

Van Turner, Chairman of the Shelby County Democratic Party, to WMC-TV: “It’s surprising. I think it’s wonderful news, parenthood changes you. I’m here with my daughter, so I think you look at issues a little differently. It really makes you a well rounded elected public servant.”

Compare this to Commercial Appeal investigative reporter Marc Perrusquia’s look-back on Herenton and Claudine Marsh in 2009, the year before Herenton challenged Cohen in a congressional race. In January 2005, when his son Michael was 4 months old, Herenton called a press conference to announce that he had fathered the child, whom he has supported financially.

“Even as years of controversy roiled into a near operatic drama, few of the developments affecting fourth-term Mayor Willie Wilbert Herenton resonated like that of the birth of his son, Michael . . . In the birth of his out-of-wedlock son, Herenton’s critics found a trifecta of flaws: poor judgment, recklessness and a brazen penchant for secrecy.”

Like Cohen, Herenton asked the media and public to respect his privacy.

“I respectfully request that the media respect the privacy of all of the individuals involved. This matter has nothing to do with my public duty as the mayor.”

The CA was having none of it, even in 2009.

“Yet as Herenton tried to douse yet another fire, questions flowed. Could the mayor, with his record for controversy, realistically expect the media to leave this matter alone? Did his private life really not affect his public duties? And what kind of example was he setting for the city’s youth?”

Tags Cynthia White Sinatra, Memphis Commercial Appeal, Steve Cohen, Victoria Brink, Willie Herenton

Cover Feature News

How Do We Change Memphis?

Post author By Louis Goggans
Post date November 15, 2012

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

If given the opportunity to permanently change some of the things that negatively impact Memphis, what would you do and why?

We asked 10 influential Memphians to share their thoughts with the Flyer on that subject. Each highlighted problems they believed took away from Memphis’ prosperity and prospects for the future and what they would do to help rectify them.

The Memphis City Schools system, Delta flight fares, limited facilities and opportunities for youth, poverty, and the perception that the city is an undesirable place to live were among the issues pinpointed.

Some responses were similar, but all centered on making the city better for current residents and building opportunities for those who will live here in the future.

Memphis mayor A C Wharton Jr.

One thing I would change centers around a subject that essentially influences and impacts the issues of schools, crime, and economic development. This issue is early childhood education. My wish would be that every child receives a quality pre-K education. Over and over again, studies have confirmed how truly invaluable an investment it is in the short term and long term.

I would also add resources that allow us to more fully provide training to citizens for the jobs and career opportunities of today and tomorrow. This training can be as innovative as preparing workers to operate new technology at local businesses or as traditional as giving teachers the tools they need in the classroom. I am definitely of the mindset that if we build it, they will come. By this, I mean if we build a better, more educated, more technologically savvy workforce, then the jobs will come.

Lastly, Memphis is a great city with an amazing legacy. The world has been made brighter through the gifts of our music, our innovation, our compassion, and our soul. I have heard any number of compliments from visitors to our city who are amazed by our world-class attractions and the richness of our story.

What pains me, however, is to hear those who overlook the totality of our history, our progress, and our people and define Memphis solely based on the challenges that we face. We are no less great a city because of our challenges. In fact, part of what makes us great are the legions of individuals and organizations united in the purpose of working to improve the conditions of our community.

Ninth District congressman Steve Cohen

I think consolidation of government would be an important tool for planning and attracting industry — to have one voice. It would also provide simplicity for businesses dealing with local government.

I think making the city more friendly to young African-Americans is very important. There should be some office in the city — maybe a part of the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau — that focuses on, improves, and publicizes opportunities for people — particularly African-Americans — to have an outlet for entertainment and culture. I think we’ve done some of that through the Brooks [Museum of Art] and Hattiloo Theatre, but we need more of it, so people will feel good about Memphis, rather than Atlanta [or other areas], as a place to live.

It’s important that the University of Memphis gets its own regency or some self-rule without losing funding from Nashville. Its funding has been tied up in rules and a lot of decision-making by the board of regents statewide. The university should have its own local board in charge of hiring, employment decisions, and planning. This would improve the university’s ability to raise funds.

It would be great if we could have another domestic carrier come in and give some lower airfares to Memphis, so local residents wouldn’t have to go to Little Rock or Nashville to get cheaper fares. Delta’s fares are outrageously high. [Through doing this], businesses and conventions would more likely be attracted to the city.

Superintendent of Memphis City Schools Kriner Cash

Although Memphis consistently ranks as one of the most generous cities in the United States, thousands of people in Memphis seem unconcerned that we have neighbors living in poverty, without educational opportunities, or really much hope for a future that is different from their current situation. One of my actionable leadership mantras is that “Teamwork makes the dream work.” The only way a dream of justice in our community can work is for all of us to work as a team to provide all children the very best educational opportunities.

Reversing the path to corrections: Like many jurisdictions, Memphis is quick to condemn juvenile offenders to a life of criminal behavior with a hair-trigger approach toward what I call “arrest and suppress.” Working together with Judge [Curtis] Person, we have made great strides to change the corrections culture, but much more work remains to be done before jail cells are rejected as an appropriate place for young people, especially young African-American males.

A permanent change that would totally transform Memphis into a city of choice would be to instill the love of reading into every member of the community. It simultaneously broke and warmed my heart to see juvenile offenders locked up as a direct result of their illiteracy, imploring me to do more to help them learn how to read. Literacy excellence breaks down barriers and opens unlimited worlds of opportunities.

Finally, I would permanently change our community’s approach to health and wellness. The health-care claims we see in Memphis City Schools for employees dealing with the resulting impacts of diabetes and high blood pressure boggle the mind and strain our budgets. Memphis food is delicious, but it is a recipe for the health problems that choke our hospitals and clinics. For each minute we spend on the cell phone each day, we should commit equal time to walking, riding bicycles, exercising, and spending quality face time with our children, family, and friends.

University of Memphis president Shirley Raines

First, I would permanently change the opportunities for Memphis students to attend college. College and other educational opportunities exist when there are resources from families, communities, or employers providing sufficient scholarships for every capable person desiring to go to college, whether beginning freshmen, transfers from Southwest Tennessee Community College, nontraditional or mid-career individuals. In addition, the students would have the educational backgrounds, motivation, and persistence to achieve a college degree. [By doing this], we could change the future of thousands of families, our economy, and our society.

Second, I would permanently change people’s perceptions of the abilities of Memphis students, including those at the University of Memphis. While we have the largest honors program in the state of Tennessee, the city and the university are not perceived as having this caliber of student, yet the perceptions of us from outside of Memphis, and even globally, are very strong.

Third, I would permanently change people’s knowledge and attitudes about Memphis as a place to live and enjoy life. From the wide variety of music to the athletics, from the best barbecue to the finest dining, from the local theaters to the next touring troupe of Broadway plays, from the local artists’ festivals to the world-class art exhibits in our museums, there is much to enjoy about Memphis.

Tom Jones of Smart City Consulting, a firm that focuses on public policy and communications

Pay now rather than pay later. There’s always the political will to pay more for jails and cells. There is no resistance to spending $24,000 a year to keep an inmate in prison, but there’s never been the political coalition willing to spend one-fourth of that for the interventions that give at-risk children fair starts in life and better options for their futures.

Balanced budgets: It’s not about balancing revenues and expenditures but about taking a balanced approach to Memphis services. Collecting every dollar of property taxes and sales taxes still leaves the city about $8 million short when it comes to funding the budgets of police and fire. The same attention given to public safety is needed when it comes to the conditions and quality of libraries, community centers, and parks and to quality-of-life investments that create neighborhoods of choice.

If I could, I would wage an all-out war on Memphis’ most malignant problem: poverty. Memphis has more people living in poverty than the population of Knoxville, and 65,000 of them are children. Poverty erodes our competitiveness, takes money out of our cash registers, and reduces the most important capital a city can have in today’s economy — human capital.

I would also fix the crisis at Memphis International Airport. At a time when cities’ success comes from easy connectivity to the global economy, our businesses have to clear the hurdle of the nation’s highest airfares, draining about $1 billion a year out of our community, when compared to our peer cities.

Memphis city councilman Lee Harris

If I had omnipotent powers, I would transport every Memphian to another big city, where they can witness the potholes, persistent crime, high fees, bad traffic, and political bickering. They would come back changed, and we might put an end to some of the bad-mouthing that goes on. They would know that Memphis is a great city, our streets are fine, taxes are coming down, and our politicians are (in most cases) good folks trying to move the city forward.

I’d like to see city government get serious about Memphians. We need to figure out a way to spend our tax dollars and our time on things that make a difference in the lives of Memphians. Our community centers, senior centers, parks, and pools should be open and ready for business. These are things that people will notice, but sometimes these issues barely rate in the government and media.

Finally, the in-fighting between Memphis and its sister cities is short-sighted. Right now, we’re trying to out-maneuver some of the suburban municipalities on the sales tax, and we’re suing them to try to stop the inevitable formation of suburban school districts. The litigation between the Memphis City Council (a body that, mind you, has no formal role in schools whatsoever), the Shelby County Commission, and the suburban municipalities involves more than 20 lawyers and will easily cost more than $2 million. If I had my druthers, I’d put a stop to that.

Richard Thompson, founder of the online media publication Mediaverse.com

If I could change anything, I would change our worldview on poverty. It is a significant and sizable issue here, considering that 25.7 percent [of residents] live at or below the poverty level. However, we tend to forget that we enabled the degradation of some communities when we didn’t fill the gaps left by businesses and other institutions that abandoned these markets over time. We wrongly assume that the impoverished are inherent criminals and have no morals. We tend to argue that the impoverished exist because of their own desire to live on government entitlements and so forth. We also tend to assign blame to them when we inanely refer to ourselves as the “poorest city in America.” In many instances, the poor work. They just don’t earn enough. They fall prey to the criminal justice system and don’t have the resources to break its cycle.

The dominant media narratives are crime, government, sports, and education. Yes, each is important, but their dominance skews what’s real about Memphis. If I could change anything, it would be allocation of resources to provide more in-depth and nuanced coverage of the daily lives of Memphians.

Lastly, there are a number of programs that exist to incorporate youths into the lifeblood of the city. If I could change anything, I would give these groups more exposure so we can take a greater communal responsibility in the development of [our] future generation of leaders.

Mike Conley, starting point guard for the Memphis Grizzlies

One thing I would like to change is crime, because I know it’s heavy in this city.

I also think trying to get better education throughout the city of Memphis and all of the schools and ensuring everyone has an equal opportunity [is important].

Homelessness would be the third thing I would change. People not having jobs, people not having the opportunity to support their families and support themselves, however we can do that, I would like to see that changed.

Skewby, a Memphis-based hip-hop artist and producer

One thing I would like to see change in Memphis is the amount of segregation. Growing up as a mixed kid, it was very clear to me that invisible lines were drawn in the city. No matter your race, you can still walk into sections of Memphis and feel uncomfortable based on the color of your skin. You can walk into churches, schools, malls, and events and literally see the divide.

I want to see more things for young people to do in Memphis. Places like Liberty Land, Celebration Station, and Discovery Zone are long gone. Guns, gangs, sex, and violence are already a reality for most kids. Throw mass boredom into the equation and it definitely doesn’t help.

The school system: I served my 12 years in the prison also known as Memphis City Schools. Okay, maybe I’m going overboard, but it was definitely not a pleasant experience. I mention prisons because of the amount of security, the fear that the administration had of us, and the lack of care that was shown. I can count on one hand every teacher that cared about my future, had patience with me, and were sincerely concerned about my education. I know that the school system’s troubles are deeper than bad teachers, financial woes, and bad programs. I’m just speaking from a student’s standpoint and also as a person who wants to raise a child in Memphis.

When someone hears the word “Memphis,” they automatically think of good food and good music. I would love to see more of a music industry in Memphis. There aren’t many record labels, blogs, or magazines covering what’s happening in our music scene. There’s so much talent here, and it amazes me that there still isn’t anything that connects it all. You have people who play instruments, singers, rappers, engineers, promoters, and it’s all just scattered around. People have always complained about the amount of talent that leaves. It’s up to us to keep it here.

Brad Watkins, organizing director for the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center

I would really like to see some serious reforms of our local criminal justice system. This would start with ending our morally dubious practice of allowing bank-hired process servers to perform home evictions due to foreclosure. Currently, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department only performs about one-third of the home evictions in our community. Bank-hired security agents arrive at people’s homes, dressed in garb that can be confused for law enforcement uniforms, and remove people and their property from their homes with little accountability or community oversight for their behavior or conduct during these proceedings.

We also need to establish local minimum standards of staff training, professional ethics, and living conditions, including a timetable for compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act in our homeless shelters, and stricter standards of professional conduct of the many private nonprofit residential detention centers for juvenile offenders. Neither of these industries has anything in the way of real community oversight or accountability in instances of abuse and sexual harassment of residents.

Creating a jobs-growth fund and mandating that a set percentage of all publicly funded construction and demolition contracts have set-aside jobs for those experiencing homelessness, graduates of the Shelby County Drug Court, and ex-offenders. This would be paired with counseling and life-skill training to help these individuals set up bank accounts, find housing, and reconnect them with their families to handle contentious child-support issues in a process of mediation.

Tags AC Wharton, Mike Conley, Shirley Raines, Skewby, Steve Cohen, The Future of Memphis

Opinion

Good Debaters? Names Might Surprise You

Post author By John Branston
Post date October 5, 2012

What America needs is one more commentary on the debate. Eleven million Tweets is not enough.

And my earthshaking thought is . . . debating is hard. Few people are good at it, and Barack Obama is not one of them. He’s lucky Sarah Palin was on the GOP ticket in 2008. And Mitt Romney, celebrated by Republicans today who scorned him a month ago, is more actor than debater, and, gets the benefit of looking presidential.

It’s been widely reported that Obama was a real tiger on the campaign trail the day after the debate, which only highlighted his shortcomings the night before. Debating is not the same as making a speech, with or without a teleprompter, before a friendly audience or even a hostile one. It is not making a witty comment in a roundtable discussion on a television talk show. It certainly isn’t like writing commentaries or blogging to a computer screen.

And it isn’t reciting deficit numbers or Simpson-Bowles and Dodd-Frank Act to a nation coping with unemployment, pissed off at banks, Wall Street, and each other, and partisans hungry for blood and red meat. In journalism we call that inside baseball, or casting your remarks for insiders and advisers instead of viewers and readers at large. Both Obama and Romney played inside baseball.

My nominations for best Memphis debaters are school board members David Pickler and Martavius Jones. They squared off dozens of times before and after the consolidation vote, sometimes in the suburbs, sometimes in the inner city, and many times in public meetings when the television cameras were on, the stakes were high, and the comments of their fellow school board members competed for attention.

Pickler and Jones stayed on point, knew their stuff, stuck to their guns, did not personally insult each other, and kept coming back for more. Repeated practice made them better, which is something that hurt Obama, as Dana Milbank of the Washington Post noted.

Tomeka Hart is a good debater too, but she didn’t make her case well when she ran against Steve Cohen for Congress. Cohen is a bulldog of a debater, loves a scrap, has encyclopedic political knowledge, and swamped her.

On the Memphis City Council, Shea Flinn and Myron Lowery get my top marks. Lowery has gotten better with age and benefits from his television journalism background. Flinn is a natural with a background in acting. Both use their skills with the knowledge that seven votes carries the day on the council, and, while they’re capable of it, pandering to the crowd is done better by others on the council.

On the Shelby County Commission I like Walter Bailey’s elder statesman appearance and the way he picks his spots. Nobody says more in fewer words or uses the long pause better. Often a maverick, Bailey was on the commission, off the commission, and on again. He has heard and seen it all. Steve Mulroy, also an attorney, is an eager and articulate combatant but spreads himself thin. Terry Roland has aw-shucks appeal when not tossing insults. Good debaters are often not likable but they keep some decorum.

Courtroom lawyers can be good debaters but rarely venture into politics. They play to the jury, and their foes are hostile witnesses and opposing counsel, but that is different than a debate format where each person has two minutes at a time. Former federal prosecutor Tim DiScenza, who did the Tennessee Waltz cases, would have made a terrific debater — plain-spoken, go-for-the-jugular, versed in the facts, and about half mean.

One of the disappointments of the ongoing schools case is the likely lack of a full-blown debate by top lawyers of the underlying issues in school consolidation and resegregation.

That would be worth a ticket.

Tags David Pickler, Martavius Jones, Myron Lowery, Shea Flinn, Steve Cohen, Steve Mulroy, Walter Bailey