Tag: us-rep-steve-cohen

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Bloomberg Gets Key Boosts from Local Political Figures

CREDIT: JB

A weekend meet-and-greet in Memphis on behalf of the presidential campaign of Mike Bloomberg made obvious the all-purpose appeal of the former New York mayor as a focus of anti-Trump political sentiment, and boasted at least two major endorsements of Bloomberg by local political figures.
JB

U.S. Rep. Cohen

Attendees filled to capacity the Midtown law office of Mike Working in Cooper-Young on Saturday. They heard 9th District Congressman Steve Cohen extol Bloomberg’s efforts as a candidate willing to lend his efforts and his financial support to a campaign to defeat the re-election of President Donald Trump. While praising Bloomberg, Cohen said he was maintaining his option to support whatever presidential nominee the Democratic Party should ultimately produce.

On hand for the affair was Greg Fischer, mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, national chairman of Bloomberg’s presidential campaign, who repeated to the crowd what had been assurances of support for Bloomberg’s candidacy made the day before by Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland. Fischer said Strickland could not be present on Saturday because of his need to attend two funerals.

Another outright endorser was present, however, and willing to explain his reasons to the crowd. This was newly elected City Councilman Jeff Warren, a physician who explained his reasoning this way:

“… It’s really very simple. I’ve been listening to try to see who is going to come up with the best possible solution for the health care that we need in our country. And I walked across the parking lot from my office and heard Mayor Bloomberg announce his strategy for how to do that. It makes perfect sense. You know, in red states, where we haven’t advanced the Affordable Care Act for our poorest people, he wants to federalize that, and that makes perfect sense to me….

“ Medicare takes four cents on the dollar to administrate compared to most private insurances taking 30 to 40 cents on your health care dollar to do administration. If I could pay my money for my office and get Medicare for my employees, I would like to have that as an option as a businessman in this country. I think that’s a brilliant idea.

“And if we can do that, and then work on lowering the violence that we have in our urban community and stop our young people from killing each other, which Bloomberg has developed ways to do and has done successfully in New York, we can see a blossoming of our urban communities. And I think he’s the man to do that. So I endorse him wholeheartedly, and I really think his healthcare plan is the best thing we can see in our country …”

JB

Councilman Warren

In his own remarks, Fischer extolled Bloomberg Philanthropies, “operated over 500 cities, over 100 countries, where Mike is taking on issues that basically are getting in the way of people leaving living longer, healthier lives.”

On matters like “health care, gun safety, immigration, women’s rights,” said Fischer, Bloomberg has “not only talked about it and funded it, he’s done it.” And the Louisville Mayor pointed out the one aspect of the Bloomberg campaign most likely to appeal to Democrats at large.

“He’s running, but at the same time, he’s running 100 million dollars a day in the battleground states to make the case against Trump, not for Mike Bloomberg, for whomever the Democratic nominee is going to be. He’s got $20 million to work in those states to increase voter registration, not for Mike Bloomberg. And he said I’m going to keep all my offices open across this country, regardless if I’m the candidate or not, because we gotta beat Donald Trump.

The Bloomberg campaign, in other words, exists for its own sake, but, also and ultimately, as a de facto auxiliary to the campaign of every other Democrat running for President, and, in particular, on behalf of the party’s nominee, whoever that happens to be, right up to election day. It’s an offer that’s hard to refuse.”

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Politics Politics Beat Blog

Cohen, Lowery Hit Council Anti-IRV Ad Campaign as “Deceptive”

Lowery (l), Cohen

Two public officials backing the local opposition to Memphis City Council-backed referenda on the election ballot have charged that “the ‘public education’ campaign” endowed by the city council with $40,000 in taxpayer funds “is actually a one-sided advocacy campaign designed to influence rather than educate.”

In a press release, U.S. Representative Steve Cohen of the Memphis-based 9th Congressional district and former council chair Myron Lowery joined with the Save IRV Memphis campaign to contend that a series of ads advocating the repeal of Instant Runoff Voting (also known as Ranked Choice Voting) purport to be originated by a private PAC but are actually the products of the Carter Malone Group, a local advertising and PR agency the council has contracted with.

“They shouldn’t be using our tax dollars to fund a Vote Yes campaign in the first place, but if they do, they should disclose on every ad, email, and piece of literature that tax dollars are paying for it,” said Congressman Steve Cohen. “And they certainly shouldn’t imply that it’s all coming from a private group.”

The ads — in both audio and video format — are embedded in an email sent out from “bmalone@cmgpr.com,” the Carter Malone Group’s email address, and, as the press release notes, “explicitly push a ‘Vote yes’ message in clear advocacy, without neutral public education.” Deidre Malone, who heads the Carter Malone agency, recently confirmed that the council had asked her to handle the council’s paid publicity campaign on behalf of three ballot referenda, including the one that would repeal IRV.

In the wake of Chancellor Jim Kyle’s decision last week not to issue an injunction against the use of public funding for a one-sided advocacy campaign, Council Attorney Allan Wade used the terms “influence” and “educate” interchangeably in discussing the Council’s plans with reporters.

In the required disclaimer as to the source of their funding, the ads list “Diversity PAC,” a private political action committee — a contention that Cohen, Lowery, and the Save IRV Campaign Memphis committee all insist is purposely misleading. “The voters deserve to know when they’re being lobbied by their own money,” Lowery said. “Anything less than full disclosure is downright deceptive.”

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Despite Report, Cohen Not Ready to Endorse

CREDIT: JB

JB

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (second from right) at Saturday fish fry event for Super District 9, Position 2 Council candidate Paul Shaffer (second from left). Others are Jeff Sullivan and Carol Risher.

Candidates trying to get into public office no doubt envy those who are already there. But being an office-holder has its special quandaries.

Take 9th District congressman Steve Cohen, for example. He’s been in public life for so long and in so many different guises — County Commissioner, state Senator, and even, briefly, General Sessions Judge — that he’s accumulated an expectedly large number of friends and political allies. And he, like everybody else, has his ideological preferences.

At election time, understandably, several of the aforementioned friends and allies crave special attention from the Congressman.

Specifically, they’d like his endorsement — a commodity that, both in theory and in proven practice, is a help in getting elected.

The problem is that often there are several friends and allies all seeking the same position, and that puts the Congressman — and other officials in a similar situation (think Wharton, Luttrell, Haslam, etc., etc.) — in a bit of a bind.

The bottom line: Reports to the contrary notwithstanding, Cohen has not endorsed anybody for anything yet in the Memphis city election, as he made clear on Saturday, when he stopped by a fish fry at the IBEW building on Madison, in honor of his longtime friend and ally, Paul Shaffer, a candidate for the City Council, District 9, Position 2 seat.

“I may do something close to the [July 16] filing deadline,” Cohen said, “but I’m not endorsing as of yet.”

Shaffer is certainly a prime candidate for a Cohen endorsement; so are several candidates in other races.

Take Council District 5, for example: At least three candidates in the multi-candidate field are close to Cohen, either personally or politically of both. They are John Marek, Mary Wilder, and Charles “Chooch” Pickard. (One or two others in that field he finds potentially attractive, as well.)

Cohen posted some flattering remarks on his Facebook page this past week about Marek (his former campaign manager in two recent reelection efforts), and he’s certainly very fond of Marek and very impressed by him and encouraging of Marek’s political ambitions.

“But I have other friends in that race, too,” he clarified Saturday, indicating that he could speak highly of them, as well.

At least one published report stated flatly, though, that Marek had Cohen’s “endorsement,” and, to repeat, the Congressman insists that is not literally the case, as the word “endorsement” is commonly understood in the case of a political race.

All of this will work out in the wash, and it may well be — but it’s not guaranteed — that Marek will get a formal endorsement at some point. Meanwhile, friends of Wilder and Pickard — are perhaps those candidates as well — are bending Cohen’s ear.

As indicated, he is likely to confer an endorsement either just before or just after the filing deadline — if for no other reason than he is aware that three candidates vying for the same essential constituency (call it “progressive” or Democratically-inclined or what-have-you) could split the district vote in such a way as to leave them all outside the frame of a runoff election.

It is known, in fact, that Cohen counseled with at least one candidate, and perhaps more, about that prospect some weeks ago, before the field expanded.

Anyhow, if nothing else, the current confusion has made Cohen’s ultimate decision — about District 5 and other races — something of a suspense factor in a city election season getting ready to dispense with training wheels and pick up speed.

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Early Poll Indicates Big Cohen Lead Over Challenger Wilkins

CREDIT: JB

Cohen (l); Wilkins

  • JB
  • Cohen (l); Wilkins

Yacoubian Research, an established Memphis polling firm, has conducted what it said to be an independent poll of likely voters regarding a Democratic primary contest in the 9th Congressional District between incumbent congressman Steve Cohen and his potential challenger, lawyer Ricky Wilkins.

The poll, involving some 204 respondents in the 9th District, found Cohen prevailing by a margin of 76 percent to 11 percent, with 13 percent expressing themselves as unsure.

A second question was asked of both 9th District voters and a sample of 414 Shelby County voters at large: “If Congressman Steve Cohen were to endorse a Democrat for Shelby County Mayor against Republican Mark Luttrell, would this make you more likely or less likely to vote for him?”

Within the 9trh District, 51 percent pronounced themselves “more likely,” as against 10 percent who said “less likely” and 39 percent who said there would be no difference. Percentages for the larger county sample were: 35 percent “more likely;” 26 percent “less likely”; and 39 percent, no difference.

Cohen led Wilkins in all age, race, gender, and geographic groupings, with his greatest strength among African-American males (83 percent) and white females (88 percent). Wilkins is African-American.

In only one category, an infinitesimally small sample of Republicans intending to vote in the Democratic Primary, did Wilkins lead Cohen. The vote there was 2 to 0,

Yacoubian’s conclusion: “In sum, Congressman Steve Cohen continues to be the overwhelming favorite in the August 2014 Democratic Primary for 9th district congress.”

The poll results can be accessed in more detail here: Yacoubian_Poll_Results__1_.pdf

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Cohen Challenges Cordovan’s Endorsement of Flinn as “Conflict of Interest”

Gene Bryan

  • Gene Bryan

The latest effort on Republican challenger George Flinn’s behalf in the 9th District congressional race is an appeal to Cordova residents that incumbent Democratic congressman Steve Cohen regards as a “conflict of interest.”

Dated October 25 and received in some households as late as this past weekend, it’s a letter from Gene Bryan, who identifies himself as “your neighbor and President of the Cordova Leadership Council.” The Council is the organization that for several years has functioned as a civic club and lobbying group on behalf of the sprawling East Memphis/suburban community of Cordova.

Early on, the letter tells recipients, “If we support a congressional candidate that supports Cordova, we can protect our community.” It continues, in caps, ‘THIS IS WHY I AM ASKING YOU TO VOTE FOR GEORGE FLINN FOR CONGRESS.”

Bryan says further, “When Dr. Flinn represented us on the Shelby County Commission he stood with us. He voted to protect Germantown Parkway and not let it turn into another Winchester Road, where all the businesses packed up and left.He also voted for the County-wide Adult Entertainment Ordinance, protecting us against Steve Cooper.” (Strip-club owner Cooper is the owner of Stella Marris, and on again/off again Cordova dining and dancing establishment whose zoning approval was hotly resisted by the Cordova Leadership Council and whose status is still being monitored by Council members.)

In bold letters, Bryan says, “We, members of the Cordova Community, now need to stand with Dr. Flinn.”

The letter is critical of Cohen, saying, “Congressman Cohen, when told he would be representing Cordova talked about how far out Cordova was and that he would not be representing a lot of ‘Tea Party people.’ Has he been out to our community, is he even in touch with Cordova is he thinks we are all just ‘Tea Partiers?’…”

Asked how Cohen had responded to appeals from the Cordova Leadership Council, Bryan acknowledged, “We haven’t really reached out to him that much.” And he further said that he was speaking as an individual in the letter not as a representative of the Council.

Bryan said that Cordova Leadership Council itself does not endorse candidates., insisting that he spoke for himself and that his reminder in the letter of his Council affiliation did not differ in kind from a similar statement of affiliation by Roby Williams, president of the Black Business Association in his public endorser of Cohen.

In suggesting a conflict of interest on Bryan’s part, Cohen noted that Bryan is listed on his Facebook page as “Director of Research and Planning at Caissa Public Strategies. That is the public relations firm that is assisting Flinn in his campaign, and Bryan confirmed that he is an employee of the firm, which is run by Bryan Stephens, his colleague for many years in the Cordova Leadership Council.

Said Cohen in a statement: “I am shocked that Gene Bryan, President of the Cordova Leadership Council would write to Cordova residents urging support for George Flinn and not let them know that the company he works for, Caissa Public Strategy, is making hundreds of thousands from Flinn.
“George Flinn has tried to buy this election with over $2 million of his own money. The 9th District is not for sale.

“Gene Bryan, who works for a public relations firm, should know it is a violation of public trust to not disclose that the company he works for is getting hundreds of thousands from Flinn.

“Cordova is not for sale either.”

Cohen said he expected to get a fair share of the votes in Cordova, the sprawling area, generally regarded as politically conservative, which occupies much of east Memphis and extends into unincorporated Shelby County.

The area, formerly a part of the 8th Congressional District, became part of the 9th after GOP-controlled reapportionment following the 2010 Census.

the Bryant letter

  • the Bryant letter