Tag: Terry Roland

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Opinion Viewpoint

County Commission Moves to Safeguard Independence of County Employees

Two ordinances introduced Monday for a first reading by the Shelby County Commission could be, and have been interpreted as such, measures to curtail the power of Mayor Mark Luttrell and to give the commission a leg up on the mayor.

Regardless of how these measures might affect the principle of checks and balances or the relative balance of power in county government, those are not their primary purposes. What they mean to do, quite simply, is to ensure stability and balance for the county’s workforce.

The first ordinance involves setting guidelines for the interim appointments of senior cabinet-level members in the county administration. It received five yes votes and six abstentions at this week’s commission meeting on Monday. That result, signaling a desire to produce a compromise ordinance before the third and final reading, was in conformity with the commission’s general agreement, during debate, on its merits.

Currently, our rules provide that an interim appointment shall serve in that temporary role for a “reasonable amount” of time.  The intent of the ordinance is to define “reasonable.”  

The probationary period for a new county hire is six months. I believe that the commission and the administration can agree that this is a reasonable time period for an interim tenure, with the possibility of an extension if one is necessary and requested by the administration. That would involve a modest change in the language of the ordinance, which, as originally written, specified a 90-day limit. County CAO Harvey Kennedy indicated on Monday the administration could live with a limit of 180 days.

Van Turner

The proposed ordinance is unrelated, in my mind, to Mayor Mark Luttrell’s recent decision to seat attorney Kathryn Pascover as the interim county attorney.  I will support her ratification as permanent county attorney when a resolution to that effect is presented. Attorney Pascover comes highly recommended from a very reputable firm, and I think she will do well as our county attorney.  

To be sure, there is a need for more diversity among the administration’s senior cabinet positions, particularly in the case of African Americans. Of the nine specific appointive positions directly named in the ordinance, only two are served by African-American men, and there are no African-American women. However, I am convinced that Mayor Luttrell is committed to the principle of diversity, and I have expressed my willingness to work with him going forward to make sure that his senior cabinet fairly reflects the nature of our whole community. 

The second ordinance introduced on Monday originally proposed classifying all attorneys subordinate to the county attorney as civil service employees. On Monday, however, commission debate turned away from reclassifying these lawyers as civil service employees toward the idea of echoing a referendum that will be on the ballot in November. That referendum, if approved, would establish the right of the commission to ratify or deny a decision by the administration to terminate an attorney on the county payroll.  

Currently, the county attorney is selected by the mayor and ratified by the county commission. All subordinate attorneys to the county attorney are hired, fired, and serve at the will and pleasure of the mayor. The goal of the ordinance is to protect the county attorney’s office from the sometimes unpredictable political fallout that may occur based on the opinion of one of the county attorneys.  

The intent is not to protect attorneys who are performing badly. The ordinance simply seeks to ensure that a county attorney’s considered legal advice does not subject the lawyer to the danger of termination, should either the administration or the commission object to the advice.

The point is to allow attorneys in the county attorney’s office to practice their craft without fear of political retribution. The county attorney’s office should serve the entire county — including the administration and commission — without intimidation, fear, or threat of termination based on legal advice.  

As in the case with the ordinance on appointments, this one will return to committee for further discussion and will achieve its final form between now and its third and final reading.

However it finally reads, the ordinance would ensure that attorneys working in the county attorney’s office can practice law without fear of job loss because of how that attorney decides an issue. We want sound legal advice from the county attorney’s office, and we don’t want the politics of the day to affect that advice adversely.

Van Turner is a Democratic member of the Shelby County Commission and a co-author, with Republican Terry Roland, of the two ordinances described above.

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Politics Politics Feature

Shelby County Politics Wrap Up

CREDIT: Jackson Baker

At press time on Tuesday, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) was scheduled to make one more effort, via a unanimous-consent request on the floor of the Senate, to get a vote on the confirmation of Ed Stanton III of Memphis as U.S. District Judge. 

Stanton, now serving as U.S. Attorney for Tennessee’s Western District, was nominated by President Obama in May 2015 to succeed Judge Samuel H. “Hardy” Mays.

Sponsored by 9th District Congressman Steve Cohen of Memphis, a Democrat, and heartily endorsed by Tennessee’s two Republican Senators, Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander, Stanton was expected to be a shoo-in for Senate confirmation long ago, but the same partisan gridlock that has prevented Senate action on Obama’s Supreme Court nomination of Merrick Garland has held up action on Stanton and other judicial nominees.

• The two major political parties have both now established local headquarters for the stretch drive of the presidential race. 

The Republicans went first, opening up a combination HQ for 8th District congressional nominee David Kustoff and the coordinated GOP campaign at 1755 Kirby Parkway on August 31st. The Democrats will open theirs, at 2600 Poplar, with an open house this Saturday. 

At the GOP headquarters opening, Kustoff spoke first, then Shelby County Commissioner Terry Roland, as West Tennessee chairman for Donald Trump. Next up was Lee Mills, interim Shelby GOP chair (he replaced Mary Wagner, who had been nominated for a judgeship). He began recognizing Republican gentry in the room.

When Mills got to David Lenoir, the Shelby trustee who’s certain to oppose Roland for county mayor in 2018, he fumbled with Lenoir’s job title, then somewhat apologetically said, “David, I always want to call you tax collector.” Roland then shouted out delightedly, “I do, too!”

• Given the overwhelmingly Republican nature of voting in the 8th District in recent years, Kustoff’s chances of prevailing are better than good, but for the record, Rickey Hopson of Somerville is the Democratic nominee. Hopson is making the rounds, having spoken at last month’s meeting of the Germantown Democratic Club, one of several local Democratic clubs taking up the slack for the Shelby County Democratic Party, decertified by state Democratic chair Mary Mancini several weeks ago.

Another Democratic underdog challenging the odds is Dwayne Thompson, the party’s candidate for the state House District 96 seat (Cordova, Germantown) now held by the GOP’s Steve McManus. A fund-raiser is scheduled for Thompson next Wednesday, September 28th, at Coletta’s Restaurant on Highway 64.

Memphis lawyer John Ryder, who currently serves as RNC general counsel and who supervised both parties’ rules changes and the RNC’s redistricting strategy after the census of 2010, has been named Republican Lawyer of the Year by the Republican National Lawyers Association and will be honored at a Washington banquet of the RNLA at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington on Tuesday, September 27th. “Special guests” will include Senator Corker and RNC chairman Reince Priebus.

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Politics Politics Feature

Breaking the Lull

The period from mid-August to Labor Day has, in Memphis as elsewhere, traditionally been a lull time, politically, and so it is this year, after the conclusion of the latest vote cycle, the county general election and state and federal primaries of August 4th.

Even in an election year, public attention to politics generally goes on siesta for a few weeks before kicking up again in the stretch run of a fall election, to be held this year on November 8th.

clay maquette of suffrage statue

This is not to say that events of significance don’t happen in the meantime. Here are a few:

A labor of many years will finally be on view in its final form next Friday, August 26th, which has been designated as Women’s Equality Day, with the unveiling in Nashville of sculptor Alan LeQuire’s monument to Tennessee’s role in the ratification of the 19th, or Women’s Suffrage, Amendment.

The statue, which depicts five Tennessee suffragists involved in the effort to gain the vote for women, will be unveiled in Nashville’s Centennial Park. It is the result of years of private fund-raising efforts overseen by the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Monument, Inc., a foundation whose president is Paula Casey, of Memphis. 

Casey, who has long been involved in efforts to memorialize the Tennessee suffrage movement, was editorial coordinator for The Perfect 36, a 1998 commemorative history of the Tennessee suffragist movement co-written by Janann Sherman and the late Carol Lynn Yellin, also of Memphis. 

The unveiling will take place at 11 a.m. Participants will include Mayors Jim Strickland of Memphis, Megan Barry of Nashville, Kim McMillan of Clarksville, and Madeline Rogero of Knoxville.

In addition to the unveiling, the ceremony will include special recognition of three contemporary “Tennessee Trailblazers,” the late state Representative Lois DeBerry, of Memphis, the first woman to be elected Speaker Pro Tempore and the longest-serving member of the House at the time of her death in 2013; the late Jane Eskind, the first woman elected to statewide office; and state Representative Beth Halteman Harwell, the first woman to be elected Speaker of the state House of Representatives.

• The most extended discussion at Monday’s regular meeting of the Shelby County Commission concerned the merits of allowing a new gravel pit to be dug by Standard Construction Company near a neighborhood area in unincorporated Shelby County. That issue was stoutly resisted by residents of the area and was eventually referred back to the commission’s land use, planning, transportation, and codes committee.

But, for the first time in recent memory, the commission managed to elect a new chairman — Melvin Burgess Jr. — by acclamation. Usually these annual transfers of the gavel involve multi-layered power struggles and require multiple ballotings before a winner is decided. Not this trip.

In fact, kumbaya was the order of the day. Outgoing chairman Terry Roland, a Republican, got a standing ovation from his colleagues and a verbal tribute from Walter Bailey, the commission’s longest-serving Democrat. In his turn, Roland, who is given to bear hugs anyway, bestowed a full-fledged embrace on successor Burgess, also a Democrat.

• The executive committee of the Shelby County Democratic Party and state party chair Mary Mancini of Nashville disagree again. The local party committee voted last week to deny former chairman Bryan Carson — accused by some of bad fiscal management, and by others of outright embezzlement — the right to claim bona fides as a Democrat. 

Mancini, who has insisted that the local party accept a modest payback agreement with Carson, countered that the party bona fides can only be lifted if one is a would-be candidate and has failed to vote in three of the five previous party primary elections.

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News News Blog

De-annexation Task Force Has First Meeting

Bill Morrison

The Strategic Footprint Review Task Force, the city-county body assembled to study the impact of de-annexing some Memphis neighborhoods, held its introductory meeting on Thursday afternoon at Memphis City Hall. 

The task force didn’t accomplish much in its brief first meeting. Members introduced themselves, and task force chair/City Councilman Bill Morrison set out some hopes for future meetings. Morrison said he’d like the task force to determine the positive and negative impacts of de-annexation, so the group can take their findings to Nashville and say “we’ve got this. This is what is best for our city and county.”

The task force was created back in April as a way to evaluate the cost of de-annexation, after a state bill was introduced that would have allowed de-annexation referendums in areas annexed since 1998. That bill passed the state House, but it was sent to summer study after it reached the Senate. At the time, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland staunchly opposed the bill, saying de-annexation of certain areas would cost the city $28 million in residential property taxes. Proponents of de-annexation argued that the bill would save Memphis money since it would no longer need to provide city services to those areas.

The task force will meet again next Monday, August 18th at 4 p.m. at Memphis City Hall, in advance of a Senate summer study committee meeting on the de-annexation bill on August 22nd. Memphis Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Doug McGowan and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Brian Collins, who were both in attendance at the task force meeting on Thursday, will be present at the Senate committee meeting.

The Strategic Footprint Review Task Force is made up of Morrison and Memphis City Councilman Patrice Robinson, Shelby County Commissioners Terry Roland and Mark Billingsley, State Representative Larry Miller, Shelby County CAO Harvey Kennedy, Memphis CAO McGowan, Memphis CFO Collins, and Kelly Rayne of the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce.

Early in the meeting, Roland said he’d like the task force to determine how the city and county can compete with surrounding regions. At the conclusion of the meeting, Roland asked task force members if they remembered the old county license plates that had a number one on them. No one responded, but he replied with “That’s what we’re going back to. We’re going to rival Nashville.”

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Cover Feature News

Woke: Was the Protest on the Bridge a Sign of Real Change to Come?

CREDIT: Brandon Dill

Stay Woke.

You may have seen the T-shirt. You may have read the phrase on social media. Those two simple words, a play on “stay awake,” have become a rallying cry for the reawakening civil rights movement that’s swept the country again since the deaths last week of two more African-American men at the hands of law-enforcement officers and the subsequent attack that killed five Dallas police officers.

Memphis got its wake-up call last Sunday night. It began with a small protest at the National Civil Rights Museum, then transitioned into a larger crowd that had gathered in the plaza area in front of FedExForum. Organized via social media by local minister DeVante Hill, the group was joined by members of Black Lives Matter and other groups and individuals, including a few tourists and Beale Street patrons who got caught up in the spirit of things.

The rally evolved into a protest march, and eventually more than 1,000 people headed north through downtown Memphis toward the Hernando de Soto Bridge, where the group managed to block all traffic in both directions on Interstate 40 for several hours.

It was a situation that could have gone wrong in a number of ways, but it didn’t, instead ending peacefully five hours later, with no arrests made and little or no property damage reported.

Interim Police Director Mike Rallings had a possible career-altering night. Early on, he took off his protective vest and engaged with the crowd and speakers repeatedly, assuring them that he understood their frustration and that he — and the city — were open to starting a dialogue toward effecting change. MPD officers were the model of restraint and patience, and peace was maintained despite several potentially tense moments during the five-hour episode.

The question now becomes: Will the protest result in any real change? Or was it just a matter of the city and police artfully allowing people to let off steam before returning to business as usual. Will Memphis “stay woke”?

Monday morning, Mayor Jim Strickland and Rallings held a press conference to assure Memphians that change would happen, or at least that communication would happen, beginning with a meeting Monday at Greater Imani Church between the mayor, the police director, ministers, and members of Black Lives Matter. 

When asked about whether there would be more tangible steps, Rallings said, “I’m here to hear the community, and then we’ll lay out the next, tangible steps.” Strickland said the meeting at Greater Imani would be one of many meetings to come with members of the community.

That first meeting turned out to be combative and chaotic, with some audience members demanding that Strickland hire Rallings as permanent police director immediately. Strickland declined to do so, saying he would allow the hiring process to play out as planned. Another community meeting was planned for July 21st.

Flyer writers reached out to city and county officials, movement leaders, protestors, and others to gauge their reactions to the events of recent days, and where they might lead. Their responses follow.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland: “Memphis set an example for the world — of who we are and how we stand at times like these.”

Strickland said he didn’t walk onto the Hernando de Soto Bridge Sunday, because Memphis Police Department (MPD) interim director Michael Rallings had asked him to stay away. Instead, he gathered his senior leadership team at Memphis City Hall and stayed in “constant communication” with MPD and other emergency management agencies.

“To those who protested last night — we hear you,” Strickland said during a news conference Monday, “and we want to continue to hear you.” He said he’d initiated a set of public meetings around Memphis to hear from the community, and he praised Memphis Police Department interim director Michael Rallings, noting, “I hope people see why I asked him to apply for the job.” 

Brandon Dill

Michael Rallings with crowd

Memphis Police Department interim director Michael Rallings: “We have seen enough death; I’m sick of death,” Rallings said. “I don’t care where you’re from. I don’t care if you’re black or white, if you’re a Vice Lord, or a Crip, or a Gangster Disciple. We just have to bring about a change in this city. That’s what I’ve said from day one.

“Everybody has a place in and a part to play in this struggle, and it is indeed a struggle.” On Monday, Rallings called for 30 days of “no killing” in Memphis. 

Rallings described the protest as “probably the most tense situation of my 26 years in law enforcement” and that keeping the protest peaceful and ensuring the protestors’ safety was like “juggling 500 hand grenades.”

“I don’t think God put me in that situation for this to end in violence. So, I invited those young people and said, ‘let’s have a forum, let’s lay out a plan’. We can all talk about each other and yell at each other. We can ball our fist and threaten to do bodily harm. We all know how to do that. We all learn how to do that as a child, as a baby. But I’m not a baby. I’m not going to throw a temper tantrum. I’m going to try to speak peace and calm to the city and to the situation.” 

Shelby County Commission chairman Terry Roland: “I was glad to see that things ended peacefully, and I’m proud we didn’t have any violence. That’s a testament to our community. I have to hand it to our local black leaders, Pastor Norman, the police chief, and others. They did a lot to keep things from getting out of hand.

“I can understand the frustration of the marchers. Something that bothers me, though, is that a lot of those people weren’t even from Memphis. That, and they shouldn’t have blocked the roads, especially a federal highway.

“I think we just need to take a step back, take a breath. We need to quit elaborating on our differences and emphasize our similarities, show each other how much we mean to each other.”

Ninth District Congressman Steve Cohen: “Director Rallings was the star of the evening, the way he handled things. He showed a sure hand and understanding, as did many of the demonstrators. One of them, who was arm-in-arm with the director, was DeVante Hill, an intern in my office this summer. I was proud of him. The police have to use perseverance and restraint, and they did that quite well last night. We avoided injuries or other difficulties, and it ended peacefully.  

“I’ve been calling for reforms and action on the justice front for decades. We need to look seriously at reviewing policies and priorities relating to arrests and incarceration, the rate of which has been disproportionate for African Americans and negative in its impact on their community. There’s a real need to move actively toward more community policing.”

Brandon Dill

Shira Torrech, 19, protestor: “I found out about the protest on Facebook. I decided to go because I’m passionate about unity between all humans. When I got there, I saw hundreds of people gathering together — whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asians. I started choking up and had to wipe away a few tears. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I was in front of the police officers on I-40 the entire night. I got the chance to speak to the people of Memphis and even the police officers of Memphis. People were singing and crying together, and chanting as one. The protest was simply to allow our voices to be heard.

“The media is saying that people were acting like hoodlums because they were standing on an 18-wheeler, but in fact those people got permission to climb on top because the driver was in support of the protest. No one got hurt. No fights. We let some cars get by because of emergencies. It was the most peaceful protest.” 

Shelby County Commissioner and longtime civil rights activist Walter Bailey: “I commend those participants who were committed and sensitive to the issue of overbearing acts by police throughout the country. I was ecstatic to see that kind of commitment from this younger generation, showing their discontent with prevailing conditions.

“As a lawyer,  I’ve handled a number of shootings and other misconduct problems, but that march was more than just about the mishandling of black suspects by police officers. At its core, it was about the social fabric of racism and the frustration and discontent of those who want to struggle and see social change.  

“One important matter is black-on-black crime. We have one of the highest homicide rates in the coutry. Concern about that is widespread, almost ubiquitous among blacks. I hope this demonstration will help start an effort by community leaders — business, corporate, religious, and governmental — to pay attention and to move forward and embrace all those various concerns. The first act, it seems to me, would be to put some sort of commission in place.” 

Michael Pope, chairman of the Shelby County Democratic Party: “I’m just glad it turned out peacefully. Their point was well taken. It was good that Director Rallings made such a point of acknowledging their grievances.

We need to seize the moment, engage in this process by giving these young African Americans, Latinos, and others some input. They need to become active at election time. That would be a logical continuation of what they set in motion last night. If they want change, they need to be part of the voting process.”

Brandon Dill

Executive Director of the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center Bradley Watkins: “The question not being asked: Why are we so accustomed to a punitive, force-driven law enforcement that Director Rallings’ actions took us so off guard? What happened [Sunday] night should be the norm, but it took us all by surprise. And it happened without the benefit of coordination between law enforcement and protesters. It happened without highly trained professional organizers.

“In Memphis, we kind of have a backwards mentality towards civil disobedience and nonviolent direct action, in spite of our history. We think peaceful protest can never be confrontational and to be peaceful there can never be disruption. The same people who go to the civil rights museum and praise Dr. King want to chastise these young people for doing exactly the types of things he would have done.

“These people came out [Sunday] because of the economy, because of jobs, because of public transit, and housing. They’re not being listened to. Their grievances aren’t being addressed. And so many things could be enacted right now with the stroke of a pen. We could initiate racial and cultural sensitivity training for officers. The Steven Askew case could be reopened. There are a number of transparency issues, and I’m just barely scratching the surface.

“When people doubt the tactics of nonviolent direct action, remember these protesters got a meeting with the mayor and the police director. Whatever positive thing comes forward, it’s because of their disruption. I am cautiously optimistic.”

Executive Director of Just City, Josh Spickler: “This isn’t a conversation that just started. It’s a conversation that has finally gotten attention. I’m very excited about police director Rallings’ actions. I think video of him stepping out in front of those officers with their batons and shields should be shown to all the new cadets at the police training academy. Because that’s exactly what it takes. If everyone policed the way he did last night, we wouldn’t need more officers — which Mayor Strickland is still calling for.

“His response was proportional. His response was based on relationships that he made very quickly. He de-escalated based on human contact and human connection. We should be very proud, as the mayor said. But we have to translate that kind of discretion into how we handle driving offenses, which largely criminalize poverty. And into how we manage minor drug offenses, which disproportionately criminalize African Americans.

“[The police could] say to the state of Tennessee, ‘We’re not going to be the frontline in your department of safety’s war on poor people. We’re not going to do it, because our courts are overrun, because we’re suspending way too many licenses, and people have to get around. You need to come up with a new system that can self-fund. Don’t count on us to write tickets.’ Dialogue is good, but it’s time to act. These folks are right. They are excluded from the economy. They are treated differently in the criminal justice system.”

State Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris: “I’m up here in Lexington, Kentucky, at the annual meeting of the Southern Leadership Conference. A lot of the people I’m here with, legislators from 15 Southern states, have first-hand knowedge of Memphis, and we all saw the Black Lives Matter protest on television together and on Facebook, as well. I think everybody paid attention to it. There were people here from Louisiana and Texas, which were trouble spots just last week. I might have gotten a better perspective here that I would have at home.

“My basic perspective is one of pride in how the situation was handled and at least temporarily resolved. There are many steps to be taken, though, a lot of work to be done. I serve on the Crime Commission with both mayors and others, Director Rallings, Sheriff Oldham, and others, and I have been talking a lot with [Pastor] Keith Norman about how to do things differently. Keith and I raised the subject at a recent meeting of Crime Commission. We need to shift our focus from crunching numbers to the issue of what must be done for the community, in the way of showing sensitivity.”

Marti Tippens Murphy, executive director of Facing History and Ourselves: “I was heartened by what looked to be a peaceful protest and an opening for a conversation and dialogue with civic leaders and the police director. I think that is part of what Facing History has had the ability to do, to convene people in the community who may be coming at things from very different points of view and providing common ground for solving problems.

“It seems like there is a real groundswell building. My hope is that if it is a watershed moment, we have the leadership in place to be able to move from awareness to conversations to action — to really think about what it means to create a more just and inclusive community.”

Brandon Dill

Angie Ash, coordinating committee member for Black Lives Matter: “It was amazing to have that turnout from the city [Sunday]. I’ve never seen this city so unified or a turnout like that. We support any organization protesting under the banner of Black Lives Matter or any work moving us toward black liberation. Getting the attention of city officials was a success, but it doesn’t end there.

“I wasn’t able to make it to Monday night’s meeting, but I heard things got heated and the mayor wasn’t speaking to anyone directly. So there’s still a lot of work to do, and we won’t stop protesting and holding them accountable. Inter-community violence could be solved if people had their basic needs met.”

Reporting by Bianca Phillips, Chris Davis, Toby Sells, Joshua Cannon, and Jackson Baker.

Categories
Politics Politics Beat Blog

It Took a Collaborative Effort, but Shelby County Passed a Budget

CREDIT: JB

JB

Administration figures Luttrell, Kennedy, and Swift huddle as the bargaining gets intense.

On Wednesday, the Shelby County Commission met for seven hours —nonstop except for brief “recesses” — and finally voted for a solution to the county’s budget dilemma that could probably have been arrived at within the first several minutes.

But the longer time period was doubtless necessary to iron out wrinkles and wear down some stubbornness and misgivings among the principals, both on the Commission and within the administration. The only given, as the day started, was that the persistent issue of school funding would be resolved via a $3.5 million add-on allocation to Shelby County Schools. (SCS’s total allocation is $22 million, and the county’s municipal-district schools will receive a pro-rated $6.2 millionl.)

The school-funding increase was one matter that Chairman Terry Roland (and most other participants) was insistent about. Every other possible increase was a variable in what turned out to be a $1.4 billion operating budget.

At roughly 3 p.m., the Commission resorted to a procedure that the administration of Mayor Mark Luttrell had persistently warned against and voted resoundingly to tap the county’s fund balance for $5 million to round out a budget deal that included some $13.5 million of add-on expenditures.

At various times in the proceedings, which began with committee meetings at 8 a.m. and continued with a special full-commission meeting that started at 11 a.m., Luttrell and two aides — CAO Harvey Kennedy and CFO Mike Swift — had seemingly convinced the Commission to pare down or eliminate some of the add-ons, which were earmarked for a variety of county departments, but in the end only a pair of add-on allocations were modestly trimmed.

The beneficiaries of the Commission’s largesse were Shelby County Schools ($3.5 million); the Sheriff’s Department ($3.1 million, with another $1.3 million possible down the road); Juvenile Court ($1 million); Shelby County Department of Corrections ($1 million); Regional One Health ($1 million) the District Attorney General’s office ($1,300,000); the Shelby County Election Commission ($8,216); General Sessions Criminal Court ($228,238); General Sessions Enviro
JB

Commissioner Eddie Jones

nmental Court ($8,233); $169,000 for JIFF (Juvenile Intervention & Faith-based Fellowship); and $64,590 for the Commission’s own budget.

To offset these increases, the Commission availed itself of several cost-cutting remedies, some suggested by Kennedy for the administration, some of its own devising.

Among the former were a cap on life insurance payouts for county retirees, for a savings of $2 million; the inclusion of an estimated $1 million windfall addition to the county wheel tax, which will be routed exclusively to the schools for fiscal 2016-17; and a pledge from Kennedy to “find” another $1.2 million in random funds. Among the latter were a re-allocation to the fiscal 2016-17 budget of surplus Sheriff’s Department budget funds from fiscal 2015-16, and the aforementioned $5 million transfer from the fund balance.
Before the final budget formula was reached, various other alternatives were considered and discarded, including a proposal by David Reaves to eliminate blight-reduction funding so as to shift funds elsewhere; and a comprehensive amendment by Steve Basar that would have freed up several millions by re-classifying a number of pay-as-you-go capital-construction projects as debt-incurring cases.
Acceptance of Basar’s amendment, which was rejected after a recess, would have funded all the intended projects but would have left the county budget out of balance, with a need for the Commission to make later revisions in either the budget, which had to be passed by July 1, or the county tax rate, which got the second of three readings Wednesday, remaining at $4.37 per $100 of assessed value. The tax rate, which as of now balances with the budget, will get its third and final reading on July 27.

Although several of the votes along the way of Wednesday’s elongated bargaining sessions were contested, the margins of acceptance seemed to grow as the day wore on, with several commissioners accepting procedures they had earlier balked at (e.g., David Reaves on several expenditure increases he eventually accepted, or at least tolerated; and Reginald Milton on the retirees’ insurance caps).

The administration’s acceptance of the Commission’s tapping the county balance was passive and grudging, at best, with Kennedy acknowledging, “We didn’t like it, but we couldn’t stop it, and at least we managed to mitigate it.” As Heidi Shafer noted, the delving into the fund balance may have reduced the intensiveness of the county’s debt-retirement policy somewhat, but it still left it in acceptable order.

Implicit in Wednesday’s bargaining was the continuation of a power struggle
JB

Commissioners Walter Bailey and David Reaves

 between the Commission and the administration on matters of governance. Shafer voiced the issue during the day’s deliberations as a matter of whether the Commission’s responsibility was limited to approving a tax rate to cover the administration’s budget allocations or involved a more active license to collaborate on determining those allocations.

By definition, Wednesday’s negotiations, as well as the final outcome, resolved the issue in favor of a broader interpretation of the Commission’s mission.

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Pre-Summer Heat in Memphis Politics

CREDIT: Jackson Baker

UPDATED AND REVISED


On Saturday, a day in which the afternoon temperature soared into the 90s, the annual “community picnic” sponsored by longtime political broker and former Shelby County Commissioner Sidney Chism took place, as usual, on the grounds of the Horn Lake Road Learning Center in South Memphis. 

And, as usual, the event attracted active politicians, candidates for political office, and a politically oriented crowd, though attendance seemed somewhat down this year, whether because of the excessive heat or by the relative scarcity of blue-ribbon political contests to come — at least among Democrats, who are normally predominant at these events.

Even so, there were several such pairings to be glimpsed. District 85 District Johnnie Turner was there, for example, as was one of her primary opponents, pastor Keith Williams. General Sessions Clerk Ed Stanton Jr. was there with a sizeable support group, and one idependent opponent, William Chism, was also there — though not Republican challenger Richard Morton.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, his stock buoyed by a recent poll made an appearance, as did former Mayor Willie Herenton, who made a point of praising Shelby County Commission Chairman Terry Roland for supporting the former mayor’s proposal on behalf of two proposed model youth detention facilities in Frayser and Millington.

(Though the proposal was approved 8-2 in a commission vote last Monday, Roland came in for criticism and accusations of “bullying” from a minority of his fellow Republican members who either voted against the proposition or abstained.)

• On the eve of what could well turn out to be a long, hot summer, and with all the crises, ongoing and potential, affecting Memphis, how is the approval rating of Mayor Strickland holding up?

Rather well — or so would a fresh new poll taken on the mayor’s behalf seem to suggest.

A new sampling of public opinion by Public Opinion Strategies, the firm relied on for the Strickland campaign during the 2015 mayoral race, shows the mayor’s approval rating, as of May, 2016, to be 68 percent, with only 15 percent of those polled disapproving.

The sampling is broken down three ways:

*By gender, with 66 percent of men approving and 15 percent disapproving, and with 70 percent of women approving, against 14 percent who disapprove.

*By political party, with 89 percent of Republicans expressing approval and a statistical sample small enough to register as zero disapproving; 65 percent of approval from Democrats, with 17 percent disapproving; and 63 percent of independents approving, as against 19 percent disapproving.

*By race, with whites approving at a rate of 80 percent with only 5 percent disapproval, and with an approval rate of 62 percent among African Americans, 20 percent disapproving.

*And, rather oddly, the poll offers figures for “Northern Districts” (73 percent approval, 13 percent disapproval) and “Southern Districts” (61 percent approval, 17 percent disapproval).

According to Steven Reid, the consultant whose Sutton-Reid firm represented Strickland during his successful 2015 mayoral race, the poll, with a margin of error estimated at 4.9 percent, was conducted with “likely voters” by telephone from May 15th to May 17th, with 25 percent of those sampled contacted by cell phone.  

 

• The office of State Representative Andy Holt (R-Dresden), in an email addressed to the Tennessee media, claimed to have received “death threats” from a Memphis telephone number in the 487 exchange.

According to Holt assistant Michael Lotfi, whose voice is heard along with that of the caller in an MP3 audio sent along with the email, the caller was first heard from at about 5 p.m. on Monday on Holt’s Nashville office telephone and phoned repeatedly thereafter.

In an audio portion of one of the calls, the caller is asked by Lofti whether he owns guns. The caller says he has several, though he does not directly threaten either Holt or Lotfi with them. He does say he intends to be in Nashville on Tuesday morning to “beat [the] ass” of Lotfi, whom he addresses as “bitch.”

The caller does not seem to make a specific death threat, nor does he profess to be a “Democrat,” although Lotfi’s email attempts to brand the caller that way.

A voice similar to that heard on the recording answered when the Flyer called the number listed in the email as the source of the phone calls from Memphis. The person on the line declined to identify himself or to comment on the several alleged conversations with Lotfi, but an online number-tracing service appeared to lead to an individual whose Facebook page is replete not with threats to anyone but with numerous anti-gun postings, including some directly relating to Holt.

The bizarre conversation with Lotfi, the only one of the several allegedly received by Holt’s Nashville office from which a recording was offered, took place in the aftermath of Holt’s announced plan to give away an AR-15 at a forthcoming fund-raiser of his, a pledge Holt (literally) doubled down on a day after the weekend massacre at an Orlando, Florida, gay nightclub that resulted in some 100 casualties, including 50 deaths. An AR-15 was the assassin’s weapon of choice.

In response to the atrocity, Holt promised to give away two such automatic assault weapons for self-defense purposes along with other firearms, as de facto door prizes for attendees at his fund-raiser, entitled “Hogfest.”

As frequently chronicled by the Flyer‘s “Fly on the Wall” columnist, Chris Davis, Holt, a pig farmer, has become something of a cynosure for media attention, much of it negative. In 2015 he was threatened with a $177,000 fine by the Environmental Protection Agency for illegally dumping 860,000 gallons of hog waste into a public stream.

The EPA dropped the fine, conditional upon Holt’s acceptance of a consent decree requiring him to close two lagoons from which the waste had been emptied. The agency reserves the right to re-institute the fine if the agreement is breached.

As Davis noted in an online post on Monday, “Holt, who’s introduced his share of faith-based anti-gay legislation, burned his traffic tickets on YouTube, and showed support for antics perpetrated by the Bundy Ranch militia,” has also made virulent attacks on Ninth District Congressman Steve Cohen (D-Memphis), who, in the wake of the Orlando tragedy, called for legislation banning “all assault weapons and high capacity magazines.”

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Jackson Baker’s Politics column, “Is Terry Roland a Bully?” …

There’s a certain mental framework that comes from growing up watching too much wrestling on television. Maybe that’s Roland’s issue here. Ritual exaggerated violence for entertainment encourages a certain bombast and swagger that substitutes for developing the subtler skills of rhetorical debate more commonly expected from politicians.

Physical violence is beyond the pale. If you are expecting mealy-mouthed political correctness from Roland or a number of our other local representatives, you will be waiting a long time. That’s what their supporters and constituents want and expect. Maybe Willie Herenton had it right: It’s all bullshit.

Thoughtful

About Eileen Townsend’s cover story, “A Night at the Ditch” …

I currently live just outside of Austin, Texas, but I grew up going to the races at Riverside Speedway. Your article was very well-written and really touched my heart. My mother tells me that the first time she ever felt me move in the womb was at Riverside. I now work as a PA announcer in Texas with a travelling sprint car series and edit racing videos for a streaming service called Race on Texas.

Thank you for a touching look through an outsider’s eyes. I hope you enjoyed your evening at the races. You should go again sometime!

Nick Robbins

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s Letter From the Editor, “Orange is the New Black” …

“There are 300 million genies out of the bottle in America. Thanks to the NRA and their friends in our government, guns are everywhere and easy to get. No legislation can make a dent in that number in our lifetimes.”

This is a discouraging point of view and basically a summation of my own thoughts. The full picture is even more discouraging. The Second Amendment is our country’s fundamental design flaw. The NRA and gun culture as a whole are symptoms, not the disease. We can’t even pass sensible legislation on firearms in the United States or make serious efforts to reduce or eliminate the number of firearms in circulation because of that damned Second Amendment.

This is what we’re stuck with in the absence of massive systemic change — change that no one is truly pushing seriously. While I’ll never actively discourage someone from taking steps to try to reduce gun violence, I believe the fight is ultimately hopeless. I hate that it is.

Jersyko

You wear orange, and the soulless gang kids say, “Oh, gee, we gotta quit the endless cycle of violence.” Sure. Or, you wear orange and create a consciousness that we need to have some form of re-education for young men considered likely to shoot/get shot. That would be great. Am I missing a step here?

Danzo

About Mark Akin’s column, “Tackling Time” …

Muscle mass, endurance, and agility can all be addressed via an ancient exercise program known as the martial arts. I could never motivate myself enough to engage in mindless exercise like running, bicycling, or whatever for the simple goal of physical fitness. Karate has the added benefits of mental challenge and social interaction that are equally important to good health.

Some people think karate is for the young, but with a good instructor who can tailor his or her program to the physical abilities of every student, karate has tremendous benefits that you just can’t get working out in a gym. Toss in self-defense training, and you’ve got yourself a pretty well-rounded health regimen.

Jeff

About Toby Sells’ post, “West Memphis Plans for Big River Crossing” …

That land across the street from the entrance in West Memphis is vacant. Put stores, restaurants — something that will garner an interest when they get to West Memphis! Other cities have grown. It’s time West Memphis does the same.

Lucia Johnson

Re-open the Plantation Inn, have Willie Mitchell’s band play regular gigs, and consistently serve underage drinkers.

Packrat

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Is Terry Roland a Bully?

Tempers flared during Monday’s regular meeting of the Shelby County Commission. Big time.

And the surface turbulence led to the uncovering of a behind-the-scenes matter involving a claim by several other commissioners that commission chairman Terry Roland has engaged in threatening behavior toward them.

The precipitating issue was the commission’s consideration of a proposal from former Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton to build two educational residence facilities for convicted juvenile offenders in Frayser and in Millington.

The commission voted 8-2 to endorse the project, a sort of combination charter school/incarceration model that would locate juveniles in a dormitory situation close to their families. Called the NewPath Restorative Campuses, the proposed facilities would be run by a nonprofit group and would be privately funded, for the most part, requiring no outlay of county money.

The project would be boosted by an allocation of state funding — some $17.5 million that is now going to the Wilder detention facility in Fayette County — and that fact was cited by Roland as a reason for his support.

“He’s not asking us for any money,” Roland noted about Herenton, a former school superintendent who is now executive director of the W.E.B. DuBois Consortium of Charter Schools and who would direct the facilities’ educational operations. “They’d be spending $47 million for each facility,” said Roland, and would be generating 600 jobs for his own community of Millington.

The commission’s vote of approval indicates that most commissioners bought into that reasoning. Commissioner Walter Bailey was one who did not, however.

Though he praised Herenton as an individual and a professional, Bailey demurred, citing what he said was incomplete information about the project, as well as his aversion to what was basically a privatization of functions that were traditionally public.

Herenton became visibly angry, criticizing Bailey for having “the audacity to pontificate” and telling the commissioner, an African American like himself, that 85 percent of the juveniles to be housed “look like you and me,” and would be the beneficiaries of superior educational and wraparound services currently unavailable to them.

Still steaming after the vote, Herenton was heard to mutter the word “bullshit” in regard to Bailey’s objection.

Other commissioners had misgivings, as well. Mark Billingsley, who joined Bailey in abstaining on the vote, and George Chism and David Reaves, both of whom voted no, all cited what they said was a lack of specific information about the project.

After the vote, Reaves became involved in a disagreement with Roland that resulted in an actual physical altercation. It took place off the main commission chamber in a back room that is often used for conferences.

Roland and Reaves differ in their accounts of what happened. According to Roland, Reaves approached him and “put his finger on my nose.” The commission chairman said that Reaves then accused him of “selling out my race” by supporting the Herenton proposal.

Both commissioners agree on what came next. Roland shoved Reaves.

“All I did was get him out of my face,” Roland said. “I was clearly in the right. The dude came up on me.”

“I never touched the man,” said Reaves, who further denies mentioning the word “race” in the context claimed by Roland. “I told Terry he was selling out his constituents,” said Reaves, who added that he was confident that, based on the political history of Memphis and Shelby County, people in Millington, like those in Bartlett, would object to giving former Mayor Herenton an unconditional approval for his project.

He said that if he mentioned the word “race,” it was probably to suggest that Roland, an announced candidate for county mayor in 2018, was using his support for the project to play politics on behalf of his political race.

Commissioner Heidi Shafer, who was in the back room conferring on a matter with Kim Hackney, assistant CAO for the county administration, became aware of the fracas and rushed out to locate a deputy sheriff serving as bailiff, returning with him to find the disturbance apparently over.

“I couldn’t really tell who did what to whom,” Shafer said. About Roland, she said, “Terry’s definitely not a turn-the-other-cheek kind.”

Reaves later identified Billingsley and Chism as other commissioners toward whom Roland had displayed “bullying” and threatening behavior. Both confirmed having had such experiences.

Said Billingsley: “Terry has threatened to beat me up in front of several county staffers in the hallway. He consistently displays bullying behavior. Anybody who disagrees with him about anything is met with great hostility. That’s unbelievably unprofessional. There’s no place for it in government, and it sets a very poor example for a community that already has too much hostility on its hands.”

Chism had a similar account: “Terry once lost his temper with me. He was very aggressive, and there were people in the office that heard it. It was all over a resolution that I wouldn’t co-sponsor, but he insisted he wanted my name on it.” Chism said Roland was “way over the line,” but that he “immediately apologized.”

These new claims of belligerent behavior on Roland’s part are reminders of previous circumstances involving the Millington commissioner and his colleagues. Former Commissioner Steve Mulroy said back in 2011 that Roland had cornered him in the commission library and said, “You and I are never going to agree. There’s only one way to settle things. We’re going downstairs, and I’m going to whip your ass!”

At the time, Roland said, “Aw, heck, I was just kidding with him,” and, though Mulroy still insists he believes Roland was serious in his threat, the two commissioners would ultimately let the matter subside with jocular references to a potential boxing match for charity.

In 2012, Roland was the featured speaker at a meeting of the Collierville Republican Club when several fellow GOP Commissioners, who favored another approach, began heckling him.

Interpreting a muttered phrase from then-Commissioner Chris Thomas as a disrespectful jibe about his late father (Thomas denied saying anything of the sort), Roland threatened to “knock you out of that chair.” Then-Commissioner Wyatt Bunker called the Collierville police, who arrived after the meeting was over but found nothing amiss.

On that occasion, Roland insisted he was the one being bullied, and he had similar words for his disagreement with Reaves Monday. “I’m not going to let politics get in the way of making a good decision to help our people,” he said. “I’m not going to be bullied. I’m trying to do what’s good for everybody.”

And Roland reciprocated Reaves’ charges of political motivation by accusing Reaves, Billingsley, and Chism of being partisans of Roland’s potential mayoral opponent, current county Trustee David Lenoir. He said the three also were supporters of former U.S. Attorney David Kustoff in the 8th Congressional District GOP primary and that he, by contrast, intended to remain neutral.

Meanwhile, Billingsley revealed that in April he had queried then-County Attorney (now appellate Judge-designate) Ross Dyer, as follows: “It is unfortunate I have to inquire for a county attorney opinion, but I have no other choice. If a Shelby County commissioner contacts another Shelby County commissioner … and threatens their ability to put items on the… Commission agenda, threatens lack of funding, and threatens their ability to serve in their [elected] capacity, based on their personal animosity [toward] that individual, would this be considered official misconduct? Additionally, is there a process for reporting?”

Dyer, whose investiture as a Judge in the Court of Criminal Appeals will take place this Thursday, promised at the time that an answer would be forthcoming at some point from himself or from his staff.

Categories
Cover Feature News

Can Wild Card Roland Trump the Opposition?

Terry Roland, the second-term member of the Shelby County Commission from Millington, became the first declared candidate for county mayor on Saturday before a packed house at the city’s Old Timers Restaurant.

He told the crowd, which included public officials, old friends, and active supporters, that Memphis and its suburbs depend on each other, because “other cities and states are eating our lunch.”

He lamented the county’s dependence on ad valorem taxation (sales taxes plus property taxes) and local government’s reliance on PILOT agreements to attract industry, and he discoursed at large on what Shelby County needed to do to catch up with its neighbors. 

As he would put it later on in an interview with the Flyer at his commission office, “I’m tired of Nashville looking down their nose at us. I want to bring Memphis and Shelby County back to prominence. There’s no reason we can’t rival Nashville.”

As he told the crowd at Old Timers: “We need to start getting along. The good Lord ain’t going to have us roped off. Basptists, Methodists, black folks, white folks, we’re going to be all-together folks, at the end of the day.”

Roland’s opening was an impressive performance, all things considered. He was folksy, ingratiating, benevolent, and expansive — all of which things he can be. He can also be volatile and abusive at times — something he admits to and says he’s trying to repair and making progress on.

“I might not have much book sense, but I’ve got a whole lot of common sense,” he declared in the Flyer interview. In that conversation he would reveal some surprising and previously unkown details about himself: He was, for example, from the age of 14 until the end of his 20s, a professionally competing rodeo cowboy.

“I was all over the United States and Canada, everywhere from the Calgary Stampede to Cheyenne Frontier Days, bull dogging, calf roping, and barebacking on broncs. I got my share of trophies and belt buckles.” He got his share of broken bones, too, and was once saved from what could have been a fatal stomping from a bull by Lecile Harris, a renowned rodeo competitor who managed to free him from the harness he was trapped in.

Having finally “got too old” to continue with that life, Roland returned to Shelby County, managing the family service station and store in Millington, attending the University of Memphis, and getting married. He had a brief career as a rock-and-roll singer and can play the piano well, having taken piano lessons for 12 years.

Roland came to public notice quickly, once he was elected to the County Commission as a Republican in 2010. He famously (and vociferously) advocated various causes dear to suburbanites and conservatives — notably the creation of suburban municipal schools after the city/county school merger brought about by the Memphis City Schools board’s surrender of its charter, only weeks after he began his service on the commission.

When he was chairman of the commission’s legislative affairs committee, Roland journeyed often to Nashville, where he lobbied hard for the municipal systems. “We’re going to bomb your Hiroshima,” he once declared to commissioners whose loyalty was to a unified Shelby County Schools system.

Elected chairman in a second term by a commission he much prefers to the one that existed in his first term, Roland has moved steadily from what appeared to be the hard right to a more centrist position. He was the major force galvanizing the commission to call for passage in Nashville of Governor Bill Haslam’s Insure Tennessee proposal, and, while he lobbied the General Assembly for the recently proposed de-annexation act, which was relegated to “summer study,” he did so on the grounds that a modest downsizing would improve Memphis’ finances. He opposed the bill in the more comprehensive form it was originally introduced in.

He is currently concerned with moving away from the use of PILOTs (payment-in-lieu-of-taxes) to attract industry and with paring down the OPEB (other post-employment benefits) associated with the demise of the city schools inherited by the county school system. He advocates TIF (tax incremental financing), a more pay-as-you-go method, rather than PILOTs to develop the inner city.
There are still vestiges, though, of the unruly Roland who, being mercilessly heckled by other GOP Commissioners at a meeting of the Collierville Republican Club in 2012 for his advocacy of single-district reapportionment, threatened to knock one of them, Chris Thomas, “out of your chair” and had the cops called on him. That’s one of the things he was asked about in the Flyer interview, which took place on Monday in Roland’s commission office:

Roland: That was all part of my maturity process. The debate was actually about the suburbs being underserved and how single-member districts would provide better representation. What was really going on was the Republican Party in East Memphis was not wanting to lose a commissioner. I was actually fighting my own party! This term, we don’t fuss and fight any more, with 13 single-member districts. 

You’ve got to be able to navigate and negotiate with people. You’ve got to be able to turn a corner. Let me put it this way: If Eddie Jones is successful in his district, we’re all successful. I’m not an ‘I and me’ guy. It’s always ‘us and we.'”

Jones, an inner-city Democrat, had initially voted for Roland’s fellow Republican Steve Basar for chairman last September. Basar, as vice chairman the year before, 2014, had expected to be elected chairman then, but, to his surprise, suffered a defection by several fellow Republicans. In the end, Democrat Justin Ford had been elected chair for 2014-15; in the wash, Ford became in effect a member of the GOP coalition, while Basar began acting in common cause with Democrats.

This past September, Basar tried again, seemingly winning the Commission’s nod by a single vote and holding the office of chairman-elect for roughly an hour until Jones, after conferring with Roland in the back room of the chamber,, asked for a surprise vote of reconsideration of the chairmanship vote — permissible under the rules, since he was on the prevailing side. In the process of the new balloting, Jones transferred his vote to Roland, who then became chairman. Roland was asked about widespread reports that he had secured Jones’ vote by offering to secure backpacks for children in Jones’ district.

Roland: Naw, I just told Eddie, ‘I’m not going to hold it against you.’ He did that [decided to ask for reconsideration] on his own. As for the backpacks, we were going to do that anyways, We did that in my district and other districts, did it before. And after.

Reminded that Basar had been chairman just long enough to call his wife and tell her the good news, Roland unloosed a chuckle that bordered on a guffaw — something he routinely did when reminded of some “bad boy” maneuver that he had pulled off.

Roland was asked about the volatility of his relationship with University of Memphis assistant law dean Steve Mulroy, a liberal Democrat who left the commission in September after serving his two terms and making an unsuccessful run for mayor.

Roland: Mulroy always wanted to play party politics. I’m not going to begrudge him about that. Everything down here ain’t always Republican and Democrat, though. He always wanted it to be that way. Now, he’s probably a good lawyer and a great teacher. That last commission, there was always something: Mulroy, or Henri Brooks always stirring something up, or Ritz.

The reference was to Mike Ritz, an influential Republican member from 2008 to 2014, who, like Mike Carpenter, a GOP member before him, and Basar afterward, had incurred resentment among Republican members for making common cause with Democrats. In the case of Ritz, most of that came from his resistance to the formation of independent suburban school districts after the Memphis City Schools board surrendered its charter.

Roland: I mean, no sooner did we have our feet on the ground [in September 2010] when we had Electrolux and Mitsubishi one week and surrendering the school charter the next week. Everything was very adversarial. I’ll be honest with you. I made mistakes. I still make mistakes. But I’ve matured a whole lot.

He mentioned Walter Bailey, a senior inner-city Democrat.

Roland: Walter is somebody I really confide in. He kind of reminded me of my Daddy some. If I’m wrong, he’ll tell me.

Back to Mulroy. There had been a notorious incident in which, Mulroy said at the time, Roland had accosted him in the commission library and challenged him to “go outside,” where they would settle their differences with fisticuffs.

Roland: Naw. I had this set of boxing gloves that somebody gave me. Steve comes through and says, ‘You wanna box?’ I said, ‘Sure, we can do it for charity and use the money to pay down the debt.’ Why would I jump on somebody like that? But listen, if I’m wrong, I’ll apologize, and I’ll tell you I’m wrong. I’ve learned you’ve got to have thick skin to be in office.

Mulroy disputes Roland’s version, saying that the “boxing gloves” episode was a good-natured tension-relieving sequel to what had been a bona fide in-your-face challenge from a Roland irate over a difference of opinion on the Commission.)

One thing that Roland and Mulroy consistently differed on was issues relating to the LGBT community, starting with Mulroy’s sponsorship of an anti-discrimination resolution in 2009. Roland’s aversion to legislating on behalf of gays has continued to the present, with his vote earlier this year against a grant to a local LGBT organization for a program to assist the homeless.

Terry Roland pulled a diverse crowd of public officials, old friends, active supporters, and curiosity seekers at Old Timers Restaurant, where he announced his candidacy for Shelby County mayor.

Roland: I think that was money supposedly for [gay] kids that their parents kicked out. I’m not one on social issues. I’ve got family that’s gay. I don’t judge anybody. I just don’t want people to use us to push their agendas. I don’t discriminate with anybody over anything. When they say what they’re going through is what African Americans went through, that bothers me, because it’s not the same.

Another thing me and Steve differed on was Planned Parenthood versus Christ Community Health Center.

The issue, in 2011, was whether Planned Parenthood, the traditional recipient, should be awarded another contract to deal with Federal Title X pass-through funds, or whether CCHC should receive them. The commission’s conservatives, like the Republican administration in Nashville, was opposed to Planned Parenthood as recipient, because of the organization’s identification with abortion services, although the Title X grant was for other health-related services, not abortion.

CCHC got the grant, with Mulroy, on grounds that he was satisfied that CCHC would provide their clients with information on where abortion services could be had, being a late convert. Roland was reminded of Mulroy’s change of  mind.

Roland: That’s because I called his priest. He came down in smoke. [Whence came a cascade of guffaws from Roland.] There’s more ways to skin a cat than one. 

(Mulroy disputes this account, saying he was impressed by CCHC’s multiple office facilities and had accepted CCHC’s assurances, which later he found to have been misleading.)

Although Roland was first out of the gate for the county mayor’s race in 2018, it is generally supposed that County Trustee David Lenoir will be a serious rival for the Republican mayoral nomination. Roland’s comment on that was succinct.

Roland: Lenoir will have establishment connections, that’s for sure. But, up until eight years ago, David did nothing for the Republican Party. I go back 30 years with the party. This is blue collar against blue blood. He’s a banker, he comes from banker family. I come from a service station.

One of Roland’s activities this year is his local chairmanship of the Trump for President campaign. He was asked how his involvement came about.

Roland: I just got sick of both sides, Democrat and Republican, doing nothing. I sent papers in to be a delegate for Trump. The secretary of state said, ‘You already turned in papers for [Marco] Rubio. Zach Wamp [a Rubio backer whom Roland had supported for governor in 2010] took it for granted I was for Rubio. I said, just wait a minute, now! I just think this country needs a huge change. I don’t agree with anybody 100 percent. In Trump’s case, that’s some of the tone. I don’t think on all of the issues, he’s well versed. Does that make sense?

At Roland’s Saturday opening in Millington, a backer shouted out at one point in his praise a slogan that sounded like a perfect bumper sticker: “The best of Trump and none of the worst!” Roland beamed when reminded of that. And he went on to dilate on things he did and did not have in common with the New York developer who is clinging to a lead in the GOP race for the presidential nomination.

Roland: I’m not against Hispanics. But, I’ll tell you, there’ve been five cases in the last two months of Hispanics hitting people in traffic. They don’t have driver’s licenses or insurance. They can go to DeSoto County [Mississippi] and get a tag with just two letters, a light bill, or something else. That’s why all the illegal Hispanics over here are driving with DeSoto County tags. The police won’t take them to jail as long as you’ve got uninsured motorist on your insurance. With everything else, we’re losing revenue from them going down there to get their tags.

I’m all for immigration, but I know people working for years trying to get naturalized, and they’re bypassed by the illegals. And Syria. That country’s in an uproar. We’ve got to vet those people [seeking asylum] before we let them in.

I’m for bringing jobs back to the U.S. There are all these shell corporations offshore. You get on the phone to a help desk and get somebody from Thailand.

And there are so many people over here out of work who need jobs! We’ve got hungry and homeless people here. The Bible says charity shall start at home. We need to make sure all our people are taken care of.

One thing people don’t know about me is that for 20 years I’ve been on the board of Professional Care Services. That’s a mental health provider. One reason why a lot of our jails are full is that the country doesn’t do nearly enough for the mentally ill. We can pay for their treatment, or we can pay for jailing them, one or the other.

One of Roland’s duties as Trump’s man in Shelby County has been to vet people wanting to fill at-large positions as Trump delegates to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this July. There had been allegations from the local Trump camp that the party establishment had filled some of the blanks with people of no long-term loyalty to Trump. One of these was the party’s national committeeman, lawyer John Ryder from Memphis, who doubles as the RNC’s general counsel.

Roland: Oh, he’s alright. Anyhow, I can also keep him from being on the rules committee. So he better play fair.

All of that was a different world from the commission, where, he argued, things should be as non-partisan as possible.

Roland: I’m against partisan primaries. I wish we could do away with them. Think of how much money it would save us.
I’m a realist. To get along in this world you’ve got to be willing to make concessions and work with people, not like what’s happening in Washington now. I couldn’t care less what party people are. I have a lot of Democratic friends who want to vote for me.
I admit to being something of a character. And I don’t use the best of grammar sometimes. It’s from being a people person, and I sometimes use it [the vernacular] for effect. It has to do with my roots. Folks don’t want to know how smart you are.

He spoke of growing up in Tipton County, just over the line from Millington, where his family eventually moved.

Roland: I was the only white kid. I grew up with the Sneeds, the Nathniels, and the Masons [names of black families, some of whose members attended his Millington opening]. Make sure you have me say this: There’s nothing like the love I have for this county and this city and the people in this county and this city.

And then: But if you rattle my chain …

He let the sentence lapse and let go with one of his extended guffaws.