“Shock waves” is too strong a term for the reaction, but a fair number of eyebrows have been raised by the surprise action of state Democratic Party chair Hendrell Remus in removing from power local Shelby County party chair Lexie Carter.
The action took place Thursday following a Zoom call between Carter, Remus, and others. Invoking what the state chair said was the absolute authority of the state party over local parties, Remus said Carter had not measured up to the needs of a coordinated Democratic campaign for the fall election.
He mentioned specifically the campaigns for District 97 state representative of Jesse Huseth, who opposes Republican incumbent John Gillespie, and that of Gloria Johnson of Knoxville against GOP U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn.
Remus said he had sent a questionnaire to Carter asking for details of the local party’s readiness for election activity and received insufficient information in response.
Carter professed to be taken by surprise by her removal, having just, as she maintained, presided over the local party’s annual Kennedy Day banquet on September 5th and grossed upwards of $40,000 for party coffers.
She alleged that a number of disagreements and confrontations had occurred between herself and Remus at the recently concluded Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Remus had apparently been considering the removal action well in advance, having discussed the possibility with potential ad hoc successors to Carter the previous week.
He said he would appoint four temporary co-chairs to guide the Shelby County Democratic Party (SCDP) until December, when a local party election would be held. The Flyer has learned that two of those invited to serve in that capacity are outgoing state Rep. Dwayne Thompson and City Council Chair JB Smiley.
Former local party chair and ex-County Commissioner Van Turner, who had assisted Carter in answering Remus’ questionnaire, raised concerns about due process in Carter’s removal and likened his action to the state Republican Party supermajority’s attempt to dominate over the actions of local government.
The new developments recalled the situation of 2016 when then-state Democratic chair Mary Mancini disbanded the Shelby County party following years of local controversy, including charges of embezzlement.
The local party was reconstituted in 2017 with Corey Strong as chair. So far, no names have surfaced as potential local candidates for the permanent chairmanship of SCDP.
As it happens, Remus will be giving up his own chairmanship in January, when his elected term ends. So far the only known candidate to succeed him is Rachel Campbell, chair of the Hamilton County (Chattanooga) Democratic Party and vice chair of the state party.
• Sarah Wilkerson Freeman, the Democratic nominee for the 8th District congressional seat, confirms that Susan Boujnah, a videographer who accompanied her to last month’s Democratic National Convention, is hard at work on an official campaign video, which will be released (presumably via social media) within the month.
Though Freeman has issued no formal debate challenge to Republican incumbent David Kustoff, Freeman observed that the NAACP will be holding an open forum for area candidates in Collierville on October 8th and that Kustoff is among those invited to participate.
Freeman, a resident of Germantown, likes to say she lives “within spitting distance” of her opponent.
• Former U.S. Senator Jim Sasser died at his North Carolina home last week. Sasser represented Tennessee in the Senate from 1977 to 1995 and later served as ambassador to Japan.
Citing a new poll conducted last week by the Change Research firm, the People for Justice and Fairness (PJF), an activist group supporting Van Turner for mayor contends that “when Memphians learn about Van Turner, he surges to the top of the mayoral race.”
What that translates into is that Turner led, with a final figure of 23 percent, in a final tabulation of multi-stage polling. In that version, percentages for other leading candidates were: Floyd Bonner, 21; Paul Young, 21; Willie Herenton, 14.
Turner rose to the top once the poll results (a) included the category of “leaning” and (b) included a brief bio of the top candidates (the three aforementioned).
Some observers would call that a “push poll.” As defined in a previous article in this space about another candidate’s self-released poll: “Anyone familiar with political polling would be inclined to associate that procedure with what is called a ‘push poll’ — one which builds a desired outcome into the very form of the questioning. The idea is simple: The better the ‘biography,’ the better the poll numbers. And the skimpier or less positive the bio, the lower would be the numbers.”
Anecdotal evidence would also suggest that Turner’s campaign has made serious advances since gaining several recent prestige endorsements — from Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, Congressman Steve Cohen, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy, and state Representative Justin J. Pearson. (Pearson has also made substantial financial contributions to Turner through a Political Action Committee.)
As indicated, the initial stage of the questionnaire totaled answers from respondents who had already made their final picks, and Paul Young led, with the previously mentioned 21 percent.
The numbers shifted when results from those respondents undecided but leaning toward specific candidates were added. Results were: Young, 22 percent; Bonner, 17 percent; Herenton, 16 percent; and Turner, 12 percent.
After the further addition of the bios, Turner ended up ahead, with the previously indicated lead of 23 percent.
The bios added for this third stage of polling were as follows below. (Readers can judge for themselves whether the bios, which seem to be posed fairy neutrally would tend to tilt the voting to a particular candidate.):
“Van Turner, esteemed attorney, Memphis NAACP president, and former Shelby County Commissioner, has a rich background in leadership and civil rights advocacy. He knows that to increase public safety we must fight crime at its roots with improved housing, bolstered education jobs, reliable infrastructure, and economic opportunity. Turner has the proven track record we need to keep Memphis safe.
“Paul Young, President and CEO of the Downtown Memphis Commission, seeks the mayoral office with a vision of improving public safety, bolstering the economy, and revitalizing neighborhoods. Young will use his business background to stimulate job creation, foster local entrepreneurship, and invest in youth. His mayoral agenda also emphasizes tackling blight and enhancing Memphis’s vibrant culture. Young aims to make Memphis a better place to live for all.
“Floyd Bonner, Shelby County Sheriff, will make fighting crime his #1 priority as Mayor of Memphis. Bonner plans to aggressively recruit more police officers, expand data and community policing, and hold accountable the people who threaten our community. Committed to making safety the backbone of prosperity, Bonner is ready to tackle the challenges facing Memphis.
“Now that you’ve read some more, if the general election for the Mayor were held today and the candidates were the following, who would you vote for?“
Factoring into the selection of those to be polled — according to the press release from PFJ, along with Stand for Children, and Movement for Justice — were aspects of “age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, region, and [preference in] the 2020 presidential vote.” The following rundown applies to that last aspect, the respondents’ presidential vote in 2020:
69% Joe Biden, the Democrat 22% Donald Trump, the Republican 1% Jo Jorgensen, the Libertarian 0% Not registered/Too young/Ineligible 8% Did not vote
It should be noted that, of all the mayoral candidates, Turner, a former chairman of the Shelby County Democratic Party, has identified himself most strongly with the Democratic Party and its goals.
The press release states, “With strong union backing and an undeniable momentum growing day by day, this people-powered campaign is poised to shape the future of Memphis to one that is bright for all.”
August 30, 2023: Memphis, TN - Van Turner, 52, stands for a portrait in a conference room at the law office where he practices, Turner Feild Law.
Photo by Andrea Morales for MLK50
Much of Van Turner’s past work and position have led to him being critical of policing in Memphis. The 48-year-old lawyer, Memphis NAACP chapter president, and former county commissioner has marched in support of unarmed Black people killed by police, including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Tyre Nichols.
So it’s not surprising that as he runs to be mayor, he says he’s been asked several times how he can now lead a police force.
During an interview about public safety with the Memphis Flyer and MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, Turner says those experiences are exactly why he should be mayor.
“As I’ve said, I’ve gone against bad policing, but I’ve always supported good policing in the community. And there’s a difference,” he said. “And so I think I can bring credibility to the mayor’s office.
“I’ve been the one who’s been out there in the trenches with the community. When I go and I enact the plan for reform and the comprehensive strategy for better public safety in the community, I think the community will trust what I have to say better than anyone else, because I’ve been there with them in those trenches fighting.”
The following Q&A has been edited for brevity and clarity. This interview was conducted on Aug. 30, 2023.
The killing of Tyre Nichols at the hands of the Memphis Police Department has very obviously damaged the community’s trust in the police. What steps would you take to rebuild trust in the police?
I think we first have to have a top-down reform of the Memphis Police Department. We have to look at what the Department of Justice says. Not only will they review the case of Tyre Nichols, they’ll look five years back to see if there was a pattern in practice of these sorts of cases occurring and they were not addressed. Then, I think, we will have to make sure that the training and the leadership is appropriately in place to ensure this does not occur again. And then, finally, I think we need to get back to some of the community policing that we used to have when I was growing up in Whitehaven.
We knew our officers. They were at our schools. They were at the community centers. They were at the football games and track meets. We saw them in church. You had a relationship where if we saw something, we said something, and we were not afraid to contact the authorities or law enforcement in order to address issues. Now that you see this rift between the community and law enforcement, that doesn’t occur like it occurred when I was younger. And so, in order to truly look at resolving public safety of this community, the relationship between the community and law enforcement has to be healed.
How would you describe Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis’ performance as police chief?
I thought she was good as far as being transparent on the release of the Tyre Nichols tape and the reprimand and termination of those five officers. I think perhaps there’s some room for growth and accountability as it relates to the use of this tactical squad being used for just a mere traffic stop and not for something that it was probably organized to do: to take down maybe a drug operation, to go after the heavily armed bad guys that were going to have AR-15 rifles and shoot back. Tyre Nichols was innocent. He had no weapons. He was not speeding. His tags cleared — and he was beat to death. And this tactical unit was responsible for his death. To deploy a team like the team that was deployed in the death of Tyre Nichols was a failure of leadership.
She should be held accountable for this even occurring, pre-beating death of Tyre Nichols. Everything that she’s done post that death, I think, was good. But were there better steps that should have been taken prior to the murder of Nichols? That’s what we still have to analyze.
Do you think you would’ve hired her?
I respect the fact that she’s the first woman and the first Black woman to be in that role. But as I sit here today, I probably would’ve preferred someone local, someone that was homegrown, someone that came through the ranks and perhaps knew the Memphis community a little better, starting out day one.
August 30, 2023: Memphis, TN – Van Turner, 52, sits for an interview in a conference room at the law office where he practices, Turner Feild Law. Photo by Andrea Morales for MLK50
MPD currently has about 1,900 officers and says it needs 2,500 officers. Do you agree that 2,500 is the right number? If not, why not?
I think 2,500 first responders is the right answer. I don’t know if they necessarily all have to be rank-and-file police officers. What we’re learning is that for traffic stops, for mental health cases, for medical emergencies, for unruly students, perhaps first responders who are not rank-and-file officers could be deployed. I think we do the community and ourselves a disservice when you send in an armed rank-and-file officer to handle some of these situations and perhaps exacerbate the situation.
I do think we need a full complement of first responders, but I would suggest that perhaps 200 to 250 of those first responders should be comprised of specialty units and of specialty officers who can emphasize de-escalation, address mental health issues, address nonviolent, non-threatening traffic stops, and address some of the domestic [violence] issues that we see. We really have to look at a comprehensive strategy to resolve crime more effectively in the community.
Where would you look for additional officers?
We should have a hybrid approach. The council voted to not hire outside of the city limits. The state overturned the council’s prerogative and said we could hire outside of city, county, and state. We have to navigate the law as it’s written. If we are hiring from outside, we are competing with everyone else. We just increased our pay for officers in the $800 million budget to incentivize officers to come. So did some of the surrounding suburbs. So you can make equal or almost the same in Germantown, but have half the headache. And so you’re competing against those kinds of challenges. And those challenges are gonna remain.
Maybe we should look at diversifying what we consider a first responder in law enforcement. And perhaps they could yield better success in retention and hiring those individuals. But I just think we keep doing what we’re doing, keep recruiting, keep going into our high schools and junior colleges and saying, ‘Hey, you can make a career out of this.’ I think we just have to keep working at it.
Currently, nearly 40 percent of Memphis’ total budget goes to policing. Should residents expect that, under your administration, that share would go up or go down? Or would it stay the same?
My budget would likely be the same if you look at the whole spectrum of public safety. But I would like to increase the budget as it relates to prevention and investments in disinvested communities, disinvested youth, disinvested community centers. I think that’s where we really have to pour a robust allocation of our investments into, because what we’re doing now is not working.
My plan would not be to lock more people up and to keep locking them up month after month after month, and that’s the solution. We are going to get the bad guys off the streets. We are going to make sure that the most hardened criminals are locked away and hopefully rehabilitated. I’ll be tough on those who we need to be tough on. But then I will be equally as balanced as it relates to trying to prevent this pipeline from school to prisons, from Black and brown communities to prison. We have to address that.
I think the community spoke loudly in the election of DA [Steve] Mulroy, as opposed to [former DA Amy] Weirich. They want a comprehensive strategy. They want to focus on intervention and prevention. And I’ll continue that as mayor, I’ll work with DA Mulroy, I’ll work with Juvenile Court Judge (Tarik) Sugarmon to make sure that we have a comprehensive approach to tackling this main issue. So, I will likely increase the funding as it relates to prevention and intervention.
The MPD is currently under a civil rights investigation by the Department of Justice. How do you plan to ensure that the MPD treats all of Memphis’ citizens fairly?
As leadership, top down, we have to make sure that we have a strong transition team. We hear from the community, we go to each community — and I mean each and every community — and we listen. The transition team takes that in, we report out, and then we see if it is the correct way forward to keep the leadership there, or to move away and get new leadership. We focus on training, and we make sure that our most senior officers are being utilized more than perhaps what they’re being utilized now. There were no senior officers [there] the night of the murder of Tyre Nichols. That was a misstep and a problem.
What do you mean? There was nobody on duty or …
All those officers were young on the force, five to seven years. Had there been a 10-year, 12-year, 15-year veteran out there, I’m hopeful that we would’ve had a different result. The senior leadership would’ve kicked in and calmed those young guys down. There were just several issues which we saw that perhaps could have been addressed or remediated with more leadership on the ground. And so that is the second point. And third, we have to focus on recruitment and recruiting the right individuals with the correct temperament, the right mind to serve and protect.
Other than police, name three measures you would take to increase public safety.
I would attempt to hire and retain other first responders besides rank-and-file police officers to address emergency situations. I will focus on intervention. If you look at Craigmont High School, there’s a Boys and Girls Club in the high school, which has a 100 percent graduation rate, as opposed to [the school’s] 70 percent graduation rate. We need to put that type of program in all of our challenged high schools and middle schools. I was just in a meeting with First Eight this morning. They work with pre-K literacy, and they work with actually making sure that there’s affordable childcare. I think that’s the other factor. Intervention is what the Boys and Girls Club is doing. And then prevention is focusing in on affordable childcare, focusing in on making sure the literacy rates are where they need to be. And that’s the city’s issue. It is a school board issue, but it becomes a city issue as well because when these young people drop out of school, they become the issue of the city to handle.
July 22, 2023: Memphis, TN – Van Turner during the mayoral forum hosted at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church. The event was organized by the Black Clergy Collaborative of Memphis, 100 Black Men of Memphis, and the National Bar Association. Photo by Andrea Morales for MLK50
What public safety solutions have you seen work in other cities that you would seek to implement here?
The crisis unit, as far as going in and addressing mental health issues without a rank-and-file officer with a gun. That’s something that I’ve seen that’s better. Utilizing technology is something that I’ve seen in other cities, which can be used and deployed. Returning back to, again, community policing — making sure that the officers are in the community as much as possible, building relationships with the young people and with the community.
Some cities have tried to respond to mental health crises with first responders who aren’t police officers. You’ve already said that this is something that you would like to explore. Can you talk about that a little further?
I think that there’s a role for individuals who have that type of expertise to be used by law enforcement and by fire. Oftentimes, EMTs are first on the scene, and there are issues that they have to address which concern mental illness. And they’re not equipped to do so. If it’s a heart attack or a stroke, obviously they’re an emergency medical technician, that’s what they do. But if it’s a mental illness breakdown or something along those lines, neither police nor fire are equipped to do it. And so we need a unit that will do it, that will travel with fire and police and make sure that mental health issues don’t result in death.
We should have someone down at Division 14 of General Sessions [Court]. That’s where one would typically go, or at least on that same floor to get an order of protection because of domestic violence. And we need a follow-up. We need that to be given to a caseworker, a first responder for mental illness issues and domestic violence issues. They need to follow up, monitor that situation, make sure that it doesn’t turn into something that’s more violent. And I think that would be something that could be used here like we’ve seen in other cities.
Would you be willing to redirect any funds from policing to address mental health?
I think we have to. Mental health, addiction to drugs, those are not crimes. Those are individuals who need assistance. They don’t need to be killed, and some of them don’t need to be incarcerated. But they do need treatment. If you know anything about our courts, you know that we have all kinds of specialty courts in General Sessions Criminal. We have an environmental court, we have a veterans court, we have a drug court, and we have a domestic violence court. Really bringing together those individuals within those courts and, you know, within the juvenile court system coming together, the school system coming together to try to have a comprehensive strategy, is something that’s missing. I’ve oftentimes said we need to triage and treat this issue of violence in our community like we did the pandemic. We got a report every morning. Everybody was meeting on the subject. We were transparent. We have to take that same comprehensive approach — not point fingers, but work together and be transparent. Give the community a plan to fix it. Lay out the metrics, and then you hold us accountable, and we improve. We do this as partners with the community and all these other organizations.
How do you plan to engage young people and help them avoid gangs and criminal activity?
A kid that joins a gang is looking for love, looking for acceptance, looking for protection, looking for a community. And they find that in the gang because it’s not at home, it’s not at church, it’s not on the football team. You really have to disrupt that pattern of the gangs preying on these vulnerable youth because once they get ahold of them, it’s hard for them to let go, and it’s hard for that young person to get out of it. So we have to step in before the gangs get to them and provide that positive community for them. That’s why [I like] the Boys and Girls Club. It’s a positive community. There’s true advocacy for that young man or woman. That’s why the Boys and Girls Club is effective. And that’s why we need to really scale and expand those kinds of operations within our schools. As a county commissioner, I funded Heal the Hood every year with my grant funding. Heal the Hood is run by Dale Beaver, and he has a gang intervention program and he’s doing great work. We need that in all the communities, and it works.
Memphis always ranks poorly in its number of roadway deaths every year. How would you help make our streets safer without relying solely on increased MPD enforcement?
Perhaps the answer is figuring out some way to say if there are too many infractions, there are too many red lights that have been run through the accidents, that you have a mandatory check-in to reinforce your driving skills. And should you fail again, then you perhaps don’t need your license for an amount of time. I think we’re going to have to get tough on these kinds of issues because you should not be in fear of just going to get groceries, and someone just runs you over and t-bones you.
I do think we have to enact smarter and better measures outside of law enforcement to get a handle on the reckless driving. Driving is a privilege. You don’t have the right to act a fool and kill people because you want to have a little fun.
MEMPHIS, TN – August 12, 2023: Memphis mayoral candidates Van Turner, right, and Paul Young look on during the 2023 Memphis People’s Convention at the Memphis Sports and Events Center.
Photo by Brandon Dill for MLK50
As mayor, what measures would you take to help get guns off the street?
Obviously, talking to the Tennessee General Assembly won’t work. When the states have failed us in the past, we’ve turned to the federal government. As a civil rights attorney, that’s what I’ll do. I will support litigation to make sure that we at least put all the issues on the table.
I will seek an injunction in federal court, and I know what would likely happen. But the important thing is that we will create a record. We will have experts who will have testimony. We’ll get all those folks on the stand who’ve been ill-affected by gun violence. And then we’ll take that record to the U.S. Congress, and we’ll ask for the United States Congress and for the president to give us relief. We’ve had a ban on assault weapons before. It can happen again. We should not give up on this issue.
Let me drill down on this just a little bit, please, because you are an attorney. I’m going to state my understanding of what you just said. You tell me how I’m wrong. So the city council or the county commission could pass an ordinance that says you have to have a permit to carry a handgun, you can’t have assault rifles in Shelby County, or in the city limits, or whatever. Let’s say we were able to do that, which is not outside of the realm of possibility, right?
Right.
But then the state, the general assembly is going to void those laws. So that’s what you believe would happen in that case.
Right. Then we’d end up in state court, or we could remove it to federal court, depending on what type of litigation, especially if the firearms cross state lines. Then you can use the law, which says if it involves two or more states, you can go to federal court.
As mayor, what is a measure that you, or measures that you could take to reduce car break-ins and theft?
Part of addressing the issues is to not only require a permit to have the gun on your person, but require permits to have guns in your cars. Many times, they’re looking for guns and other valuables. And so if we enact the law to do what we are saying, that will hopefully reduce some of the break-ins. The uptick occurred when we allowed guns in cars without a permit, and every law enforcement person in the state was against what the assembly was doing.
I think, too, you disrupt how they make money off of what they’re doing. You really tackle, and you use good detective work, good policing to break up the chop shops, to break up the shops where they can get the drive-out tags and not have licenses which can be traced. And then I think you, you lean into, ‘Hey, young man or woman, once we catch you, we just can’t let you back out without any parameters or any way of correcting your behavior.’ That’s something that I think the city mayor and Judge Tara Sugarman should get together on and check how we are following through and see what improvements can be made there. Because a lot of these young people are repeat offenders, and they’re young. I think those are measures that can be utilized and things that can be done in order to make sure we are addressing the root cause of the problem.
You want to change the incentives.
Yeah. We want to make it more difficult to make money off the crime. It’s an economic crime. They make money from the chop shop. They make money from what they can find in your car. So, we have to address economics. People who can earn income and provide for themselves and have affordable housing don’t break in cars.
The disinvestment in these communities is also an issue. Poverty that we’ve allowed to fester and grow and be unaddressed. And now we see the result of it. My plan is to make robust investments back into the community, to bring hope, to bring light, to bring investment back into these disinvested communities. We’ll see the change. And that’s what the city hasn’t done.
What are your thoughts about maintaining a curfew on young Memphians?
Yeah, I think that’s, again, an outgrowth of there are not enough activities for young people to engage in which are positive and which can keep them away from the negative behavior. We need 24-hour community centers. We used to have something called Run and Shoot Midnight Basketball. There were other things that just worked. And for the life of me, I don’t know why we stopped doing things that worked. Extended community center hours, which would provide wraparound services, a safe haven, warm meals, the whole community of family and structure that they need. I think those are things that can be done. Obviously, we may have to start out addressing the issue head-on.
You have to meet the emergency need where it is. It’s a crime wave. You have to meet that wave at its height, but then a wave normally drops, and we have to make it drop by bringing down the root causes of why we’re seeing what we’re seeing. And I think once we lean into these extended community center hours, more programming, you know, addressing more activities for our young people, especially over the summer months, we’ll start seeing a change.
MEMPHIS, TN - July 26, 2023: Ten of the nineteen candidates currently running for Memphis Mayor attended the Memphis Mayoral Forum hosted by the City of Memphis Office of Youth Services, Memphis Youth City Council, and Memphis Ambassadors Program at Christian Brothers University. (Photo: Brad Vest for MLK50)
As we approach one of the most momentous mayoral elections in Memphis’ history, MLK50: Justice Through Journalism and the Memphis Flyer have partnered on a unique experiment. With public safety on the minds of the voters, we polled our readers to find out what questions they would ask the mayoral candidates, if they had a chance.
We received more than 130 responses, which our editorial teams boiled down into a set of common questions. Then, we chose the four leading candidates, based on a combination of polling and fundraising data.
Below are some highlights from Floyd Bonner, Willie Herenton, Van Turner, and Paul Young’s responses to your questions.
If you would like to see the candidates’ complete answers, the expanded interviews, edited for length and clarity, can be found on both memphisflyer.com and MLK50.com.
The killing of Tyre Nichols at the hands of Memphis police officers damaged the community’s trust in police. What steps would you take to rebuild that trust?
BONNER: It’s about being out in the community, talking with the public, getting them to understand what happened, how it happened, and how we can work collectively to keep it from happening again.
Floyd Bonner (Photo: Andrea Morales for MLK50)
HERENTON: I’m going to bring back Blue CRUSH. … You’ve got to have specialized police units, but they’ve got to be well-trained. They’ve got to be appropriately selected. And you gotta have accountability. … What happened in the Tyre Nichols situation? They had a group of officers that didn’t have extensive tenure as police officers, and they lacked supervision. I would have an organizational structure with a chain of command providing appropriate oversight.
Willie Herenton (Photo: Andrea Morales for MLK50)
TURNER: We will have to make sure that the training and the leadership is appropriately in place to ensure this does not occur again. We need to get back to some of the community policing that we used to have when I was growing up in Whitehaven. … We had a relationship where, if we saw something, we said something, and we were not afraid to contact the authorities or law enforcement.
Van Turner (Photo: Brandon Dill for MLK50)
YOUNG: I think that the ordinances that were passed at City Council were a step in the right direction.
Paul Young (Photo: Brandon Dill for MLK50)
How would you describe Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis’ performance as police chief?
YOUNG: I think she’s done a good job. Obviously the incident with Tyre Nichols and the SCORPION unit and what appears to be a lack of oversight is something that she has to own. I think she has owned the mistakes and tried to do the things necessary to right the course, and that’s what leadership is about. … The visceral hate that we’re seeing in our community between residents and officers is something that only goes away when you build relationships, and the chief has to be the tip of the spear when it comes to making that happen.
BONNER: I’ve been asked many times, would I let her go if I was elected? I don’t think that’s fair. All city directors will be evaluated in my administration, and decisions will be made accordingly.
HERENTON: In all probability, she would not have been my choice. … From what I’ve read in the press and from what I’ve heard, there were some troubling issues in her past that I probably would have had to carefully weigh. If I could have identified an individual that had the competency level that I could trust with that leadership role, I would have selected from within.
TURNER: I thought she was good as far as being transparent on the release of the Tyre Nichols tape, and the reprimand and termination of those five officers. I think perhaps there’s some room for growth and accountability as it relates to the use of this tactical squad being used for just a mere traffic stop and not for something that it was organized to do: to take down maybe a drug operation, to go after the heavily armed bad guys that were going to have AR-15 rifles and shoot back. … To deploy a team like the team that was deployed in the death of Tyre Nichols was a failure of leadership. She should be held accountable for this even occurring.
MPD has about 1,900 officers, but says it needs 2,500. Do you agree 2,500 is the right number? If not, why not? If so, how would you look to help?
HERENTON: It’s going to be very difficult reaching that 2,500 goal because I will implement the highest standards. I think they’ve lowered the standards, which is troubling to me.
TURNER: I think 2,500 first responders is the right answer. I don’t know if they necessarily all have to be rank-and-file police officers. … We need a full complement of first responders, but I would suggest that perhaps 200 to 250 of those first responders should be comprised of specialty units and of specialty officers who can emphasize de-escalation, address mental health issues, address nonviolent, nonthreatening traffic stops, and address some of the domestic [violence] issues that we see. We really have to look at a comprehensive strategy to resolve crime more effectively in the community.
YOUNG: I agree. I don’t know that many people would disagree. … Just like we have training programs in high schools for the trades, we could introduce them to public safety careers. I think we obviously should continue to recruit from other cities. I want our officers to be the highest paid officers in the region. I want them to feel like the big dog: When you work in Memphis, you’re on the premier force. You’re going to have the most resources, you’re going to have the best equipment, and you’re going to have all the support that you need.
BONNER: It’s going to take two to three years to get to where the staffing levels need to be right now. We can’t wait that long. … How would I go about doing our desk-to-duty plan? It’s taking some officers out of precincts, out of the public information office, and getting those officers back out on the streets. We have officers doing tasks that civilians could be doing — for instance, fixing the SkyCop cameras.
Currently, nearly 40 percent of the city of Memphis’ budget goes to police. Should residents expect that, under your administration, that share would go up, down, or stay the same?
TURNER: My budget would likely be the same if you look at the whole spectrum of public safety. But I would like to increase the budget as it relates to prevention and investments in disinvested communities, disinvested youth, disinvested community centers. I think that’s where we really have to pour a robust allocation of our investments into because what we’re doing now is not working.
BONNER: Right now, even with the budget the way it is, our police need more cars. … So there’s some things in the police department that we need to fix. … I can’t say that the budget would increase, but it’s certainly nice to stay where it’s at.
YOUNG: You would see incremental increases as a result of increasing the number of staff, but I don’t see it going up significantly or going down significantly. In order to truly make our community safe, we have to find ways to make additional investments in public safety that’s not necessarily MPD.
MPD is currently under a civil rights investigation by the Department of Justice. How do you plan to ensure that the Memphis Police Department treats all citizens fairly?
HERENTON: It is clear to me that we need to fix the culture of MPD. I’m committed to doing that. I know exactly how to get the culture straightened out and to make sure that we have transparency. We’ll have accountability, and we’ll have constitutional policing.
TURNER: We go to each community — and I mean each and every community — and we listen. … We focus on training and we make sure that our most senior officers are being utilized more than what they’re being utilized now. There were no senior officers [there] the night of the murder of Tyre Nichols, that was a misstep and a problem. … Third, we have to focus on recruiting the right individuals with the correct temperament, the right mind to serve and protect.
What public safety solutions have you seen work in other cities that you would seek to implement here?
YOUNG: Pittsburgh re-trained their officers on how to engage on police stops. They talk about the weather and make small talk to disarm. They do that to reduce the likelihood of a negative encounter. In Omaha, they put together a coalition of people from different agencies focused on holistic public safety. They’re using data to identify the young people that need other interventions, and they have a host of programs that are able to engage those young people when they’ve been identified.
Some cities have tried to respond to mental health crises with first responders who aren’t police officers. Is that a solution you’re interested in exploring for Memphis?
HERENTON: A lot of individuals out here have all kinds of mental disabilities that the policemen, if they’re not well trained, don’t know how to recognize. You have to broaden the training because they are running into some mental health issues that need to be addressed.
TURNER: I think that there’s a role for individuals who have that type of expertise to be used by law enforcement and by fire. Oftentimes, EMTs are first on the scene and there are issues that they have to address which concern mental illness. And they’re not equipped to do so. … We need a unit that will do it, that will travel with fire and police and make sure that mental health issues don’t result in death.
YOUNG: I’ve talked to people that have done it. The challenge you find is that when you have individuals responding to an intense scene or somebody’s having a mental health episode, with the proliferation of guns in our community, you still need a trained officer. Can we send mental health workers out with officers? Yes. Sending them out alone? No, I don’t think that’s wise.
How do you plan to engage with young people, to help them avoid gangs and criminal activity?
BONNER: It’s all about intervention and prevention. At the sheriff’s office, we have a Crime Prevention Unit that offers over 40 different programs for our youth. … We can’t sit in the office and let parents or kids come to us. We’ve got to get out in the neighborhoods to find out what we can do to help these kids be successful.
TURNER: A kid that joins a gang is looking for love, looking for acceptance, looking for protection, looking for a community. They find that in the gang because it’s not at home, it’s not at church, it’s not on the football team. You really have to disrupt that pattern of the gangs preying on these vulnerable youth because once they get ahold of them, it’s hard for them to let go, and it’s hard for that young person to get out of it. So we have to step in before the gangs get to them and provide that positive community for them. That’s why [I like] the Boys & Girls Club; it’s a positive community.
Memphis always ranks poorly in the number of roadway deaths. How would you help make our streets safer without relying solely on increased MPD enforcement?
YOUNG: We need drivers to be informed that the public right of way isn’t just for cars. It’s for people. People walk, they bike, and they drive cars. We need public service announcements that remind people that they have to share the roads. We also should be exploring design solutions.
BONNER: You increase traffic enforcement, attention to red lights, and things like that. We’re gonna have to take a long hard look at traffic patterns.
HERENTON: I’ve never seen the level of reckless driving, inappropriate driving behavior, as I’m seeing on the expressway and streets. I’m so happy to see the increased level of Highway Patrol in our city. I will support that 100 percent — to increase the presence of highway patrolmen. They do it right.
As mayor, what is a measure you would take to reduce car break-ins and theft?
TURNER: Part of addressing the issues is to not only require a permit to have a gun on your person, but require permits to have guns in your cars. Many times, they’re looking for guns and other valuables. … The uptick occurred when we allowed guns in cars without a permit, and every law enforcement person in the state was against what the assembly was doing. … You disrupt how they make money off of what they’re doing. You use good detective work, good policing to break up the chop shops.
BONNER: My wife and I’ve raised two sons in this community. We were responsible for their actions and where they were, but these young people that are out there that are breaking in cars, we’ve got to get down to the root problem of that. That could be a food issue; it could be a homeless issue. We’ve got to find out what those issues are, and then change the trajectory of those kids.
YOUNG: I had an opportunity to sit on a town hall panel with NLE Choppa a few months ago, and there was a young person who said he liked stealing cars. I asked why. He said, “I’m bored and I need some money.” Those are things we should be solving for! We have to find ways to engage youth, have them earn money, and have fun.
HERENTON: There’s some brands of cars that are [more] susceptible to car thieves than others. In fact, I think I read that our current mayor was joining with some other mayors who’re talking about suing automakers who make cars so easy to be stolen.
As mayor, what is a measure you would take to help get guns off the street?
BONNER: Aggressive policing, first of all. We’ve got to hold people accountable. But also, we’ve got to change the mindset whereby we don’t have conflict resolution anymore in the schools or anywhere. I’m encouraged by what I’ve seen with the churches and pastors, community organizations that are willing to step up now and really get the message out as to how serious this is in our city. Because a lot of time our youth don’t understand the consequences of pulling the trigger on a weapon. So when you talk about trying to get those guns out of their hands, we’ve got to find a way to talk to them and get them to understand that violence is never the answer to anything, but also holding them, again, responsible and accountable for their actions.
HERENTON: I think that the legislative body in Tennessee is going to have to exercise more accountability and responsibility as we look at gun violence and gun control. So I’m for a lot of the reform measures, but within the powers of the executive branch, which the mayor is in. We just have to operate within the confines of the Constitution and state legislature.
TURNER: Obviously, talking to the Tennessee General Assembly won’t work. When the states have failed us in the past, we’ve turned to the federal government. As a civil rights attorney, that’s what I’ll do. I will support litigation to make sure that we at least put all the issues on the table. … I will seek an injunction in federal court, and I know what would likely happen. But the important thing is that we will create a record. We will have experts who will have testimony. We’ll get all those folks on the stand who’ve been ill-affected by gun violence. And then we’ll take that record to the U.S. Congress and we’ll ask for the United States Congress and for the president to give us relief. We’ve had a ban on assault weapons before. It can happen again. We should not give up on this issue.
YOUNG: Gun buyback programs — making sure people are turning those things in. And making sure we address illegal guns. When people commit crimes with those types of weapons, we should make sure there’s a higher penalty.
Backing Van Turner on Friday were DA Steve Mulroy, state Rep. Justin Pearson, and County Mayor Lee Harris (Stand for Children)
Mayoral candidate Van Turner, who, according to polls, is in a tight race with other leading candidates, needed a boost. Over the last several days, he has gotten more than a few — mostly from major figures in the Democratic Party, which he once headed.
On Friday, Turner was the subject of two endorsement ceremonies — the first, in front of City Hall, led by State Representative Justin Pearson (who had already announced his support for Turner) and included D.A. Steve Mulroy and Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris.
In part, Pearson said, “This is one of the most important elections that will happen in a generation. And the support that Van Turner has received from leaders like D.A. Steve Mulroy, Congressman Steve Cohen, and so many others in our community prove that we need a leader who prioritizes the poor, the oppressed, those who have been pushed to the periphery of our society. We need a mayor who cares about all of them …
“We need a mayor who focuses on and is committed to not just building corporations well in downtown, which is part of my district, but he’s also invested in building a more just community. We need a mayor who’s a civil rights attorney, a father, a son, a leader of the NAACP, a vital ally for working-class people, reunions, a fighter for the poor, who is guided in order to make sure that Memphis is ahead of the individual.”
Later Friday morning, Turner was again the beneficiary of endorsements from important party figures. In a ceremony held at the home of Congressman Cohen, Harris, Assessor Melvin Burgess, and other leading Democrats weighed in on Turner’s behalf.
Van Turner with friends, including County Mayor Lee Harris and Congressman Steve Cohen (front row), and County Assessor Melvin Burgess, and former County Commissioner Reginald Milton. (courtesy of Rick Maynard)
Van Turner speaks at his
weekend HQ opening. (Photo: Jackson Baker)
We have reached a point in the mayoral contest that, if not yet the stretch drive itself, is about to get there.
The candidates with money are beginning to spend it on TV ads (Floyd Bonner, Paul Young, Van Turner, and J.W. Gibson all had fresh spots running last week) and yard signs (certain well-traveled thruways — think South Parkway and Walnut Grove, as two examples — are sprouting them like mushrooms). And, be advised, slickly printed mail-outs, in which the aspirants view themselves with pride and unlucky opponents with alarm, will soon be filling up your mailbox.
They’ve already gotten busy doing what, in athletic contexts, is called trash-talking. They’ve all done their calculations and have determined who among their adversaries can safely be ignored and who needs to be cut down to size.
Examples: Two weeks ago, when businessman Gibson opened his campaign headquarters, he not only boasted his own native-son credentials but was the beneficiary of a question voiced out loud by a key supporter, Reverend LaSimba Gray: “Mr. Gibson, you didn’t have to move to Memphis to run for mayor, did you?”
Gibson himself may or may not have been in on that one, but he certainly beamed to hear it said. The jibe was clearly aimed at two Gibson opponents, Bonner and Turner, both recently residents of the outer county, who had to weather a short-lived mandate from the Election Commission which, before being struck down in court, required of mayoral candidates a long-term presence within the city limits.
And on more than one occasion of late, candidate Michelle McKissack has called attention to the matter of what she — and various others — consider an undue number of inmate deaths in the county jail on Sheriff Bonner’s watch. The issue seems likely to keep on bedeviling Bonner, who, coincidentally or not, is widely considered a frontrunner in the race.
Candidate Turner, who until recently headed the local NAACP and is a former Democratic Party chair, has been making the most of his ideological convictions, and, at his weekend headquarters opening, publicly lamented what he saw as the apostasy of fellow Democrats Paul Young, the Downtown Memphis Commission CEO, and Bonner, both high-odds contenders with plenty of late-campaign cash.
“How you vote and what you’ve done in the past makes a difference,” said Turner. “We have one candidate who voted Republican at a time when we needed everybody in this country to support Hillary [Clinton]. Because we did not support Hillary we have a renegade Supreme Court. … I appreciate what Mr. Young has done in the city, but he was wrong on that. You have to be committed to this call and not work the other side and compromise.”
Turner’s reference was to Young’s past decision to vote in three Republican primaries, including the 2016 GOP presidential primary.
And Turner continued: “Another candidate, Mr. Floyd Bonner, has been supported by the Republican Party.” He likely was referencing the 2022 county election when Bonner, the Democratic nominee, was unopposed by the GOP and endorsed by key local Republicans.
The upshot, according to Turner: “We cannot allow this opportunity to take Memphis forward to take us back. We need progressives working for this city and working to make the city better.” “… And working to help me win,” was the unspoken quiet part.
Reverend Earle Fisher with mayoral candidates Van Turner and Paul Young at the People’s Convention (Photo: Facebook | People’s Convention)
As the recent nonstop turbulent weather subsided somewhat, last weekend saw the culmination of candidate endorsements by the People’s Convention, a citizens movement of some years’ standing, with roots in the inner city and among progressives. That turned out to be a mano a mano between NAACP president Van Turner, the early favorite of Democrats and progressives, and Paul Young, the Downtown Memphis Commission CEO who has undeniable momentum (and cash reserves) feeding his goal of across-the-board support.
Despite a stem-winding address to the 300 or so attendees by Turner in which the candidate recounted his many services in his NAACP work, as a county commissioner, as a Democrat, and as a prime mover in the removal of Confederate memorabilia Downtown, the win went to Young, the election season’s most unstinting mayoral aspirant, who focused his remarks on his past services as a workhorse in city and county government, which, he said, had garnered support for such community additives as the Memphis Sports and Events Center at Liberty Park itself, where the People’s Convention was being held this year under the direction of the Reverend Earle Fisher.
Fisher has in recent years revived the convention, which had first been held in 1991 and had been a force that year in the election of Willie Herenton as the city’s first Black mayor. Ironically, Fisher on last Saturday would chastise both Herenton, a mayoral candidate again, and Sheriff Floyd Bonner, another aspirant, for their no-shows this year at the People’s Convention.
Bonner had opted instead for a well-attended forum on women’s issues, being held simultaneously at the IBEW building on Madison under the auspices of the Democratic Women of Shelby County. Eight other mayoral contenders also participated in that event.
The mayoral-preference vote at the People’s Convention last Saturday was 224 for Young and 116 for Turner, and owed much to the disproportionate sizes of the supportive claque each brought with him.
Other Convention preferences were for Jerri Green in council District 2; Pearl Walker in District 3; Meggan Kiel in District 5; Michalyn Easter-Thomas in District 7; JB Smiley Jr. in Super District 8, Position 1; Janika White in Super District 8, Position 2; Jerred Price in Super District 8, Position 3; and Benji Smith in Super District 9, Position 1.
• Later last Saturday night (actually early Sunday morning), a massive and unruly crowd materialized in Downtown Memphis, resulting in shots being fired. Eight victims were injured, and an MPD officer was roughed up by out-of-control youths.
The event illuminated the issue of crime as a dominant motif in this year’s election. Mayoral candidates Bonner and Herenton especially have emphasized the importance of the issue and their determination to deal with it.
Fisher would also weigh in on the matter, condemning the violence but calling for long-term community-based alternatives to repressive-suppressive techniques for crime control. (Of note to Flyer readers: This week’s cover story by Chris McCoy also considers such alternatives.)
As a kind of footnote to things, the Shelby County Commission last Monday considered, but deferred for two weeks, action on proposals for restrictions on preemptive traffic stops and use of specialized units by the Sheriff’s Department.
Similar curbs were recently imposed on the MPD by the city council.
Floyd Bonner, here receiving Sheriff of the Year award last week from Tennessee Sheriffs’
Association, is one of several mayoral candidates hopeful of getting GOP votes in October. (Photo: Courtesy Floyd Bonner)
UPDATED: As is generally known, Memphis city elections are not subject to partisan voting. There are no primaries allowing our local Republicans and Democrats to nominate a candidate to carry the party banner.
Nor, in the case of citywide office (mayor or council super districts 8 and 9), does there exist machinery for a runoff election when no candidate for those offices commands a majority of the general election vote.
There are runoff circumstances for districts 1 through 7, each of them a single district contributing to the pastiche of city government, by electing, in effect, a council member to serve a smaller geographical area or neighborhood.
The aforementioned super districts encompass the entire city. Each of them, in theory, represents a half of the city’s population — the western half being predominantly Black, as of 1991, when the first super-district lines were drawn, the eastern half being largely white. (Though population has meanwhile shifted, those distinctions are still more or less accurate.)
Runoffs are prohibited in the super districts as well as in mayoral elections in the city at large because, in the Solomonic judgment of the late U.S. District Judge Jerome Turner, who devised this electoral system in response to citizen litigation, that’s how things should be divided in order to recognize demographic realities while at the same time discouraging efforts to exploit them.
Each citizen of Memphis gets to vote for four council members, one representing the single district of their residence, the other three representing the half of the city in which their race is predominant. Runoffs are permitted in the smaller single districts, where racial factors do not loom either divisive or decisive, while they are prohibited in the larger areas, where, in theory, voters of one race could rather easily league together to elect one of their own (as whites commonly did in the historic past).
Mayoral elections are winner-takes-all, and Willie Herenton’s victory in 1991 as the first elected Black mayor is regarded as having been a vindication of the system.
Got all that?
Yes, it’s a hodgepodge, but it’s what we’ve still got, even though Blacks, a minority then, are a majority now. And, in fact, race is irrelevant in the 2023 mayor’s race, there being no white candidate still participating with even a ghost of a chance of winning.
Political party is the major remaining “it” factor, and the failure of either party to call for primary voting in city elections has more or less nullified it as a direct determinant of the outcome.
But, with the withdrawal last week from the mayoral race of white Republican candidates Frank Colvett and George Flinn, speculation has become rampant as to who, among the nominal Democrats still in the race, might inherit the vote of the city’s Republicans.
Sheriff Floyd Bonner, whose law-and-order posture is expected to appeal to the city’s conservatives?
Downtown Memphis Commission CEO Paul Young, who has several prior Republican primary votes on his record in non-city elections?
Businessman J.W. Gibson, who once was a member of the local Republican steering committee?
Only NAACP president Van Turner and former Mayor Herenton, among serious candidates, are exempt from such speculation, both regarded as being dyed-in-the-wool Democrats.
In a close election, the disposition of the Republican vote, estimated to be 24 percent of the total, could be crucial.
In a formally nonpartisan mayoral race that has so far not summoned up much overt political ideology, one candidate has opted to make a direct appeal to a partisan segment of the electorate.
Van Turner, head of the local NAACP and a former chairman of the Shelby County Commission, made a bare-bones tweet on Wednesday: “It is a nonpartisan election, but I will never run from being a Progressive or a Democrat. I might be a little to the left, but I’m on the right side of the issues.”
Turner’s political predilections have never been a secret, but his timing is significant.
The candidate’s tweet was dispatched at a point in the mayor’s race that is picking up steam and sees a multitude of candidates hoping to get a lion’s share of the turnout from specific voter groups.
As last year’s Shelby County general election indicated, the local electorate is heavily Democratic, and Democrats essentially swept all contested positions last August.
Democrats are even more clearly a majority of the city vote, though the percentage of those voters who would specifically call themselves “progressive” is more limited — probably ranging only slightly upward of 10 percent. But in an election in which multiple candidates are making appeals to a variety of demographic groups, the voting of specific blocs is likely to be highly fragmented.
Turner has done well in such polling as been done so far, sharing the lead with Sheriff Floyd Bonner and former Mayor Willie Herenton. Other candidates hope to do well with those voters who lean Democratic, including fundraising leader Paul Young, the CEO of the Downtown Memphis Commission, School Board member Michelle McKissack, and businessman J.W. Gibson.
By making a direct pitch to the city’s Democrats and to the highly activist sub-group of declared progressives, whom he can target with fundraising appeals, Turner clearly hopes to edge ahead by setting himself apart from candidates whose focus is to a more generalized constituency.
Mayoral candidate
J.W. Gibson at last weekend’s Sidney Chism picnic (Photo: Jackson Baker)
Businessman J.W. Gibson is reportedly getting ready to retool his mayoral campaign with help from veteran political consultant Susan Adler Thorp. Polls indicate that Gibson’s campaign has never really gotten off the ground. Nor has his initial slogan suggesting that Memphis needs a “new tune.”
And the professional respect Gibson enjoys as a result of his long-term philanthropic and developmental activities has not been general enough to have earned him much name recognition with the public. Despite a distinguished and vaguely mayoral appearance, he has also struggled to stand out at the many collective forums and meet-and-greets he has been a presence at.
With just under four months left before election day, Gibson, who has abundant private resources, could still make an impact, but only if he finds a viable message and can popularize it. Almost uniquely in the crowded mayoral field, he has expressed openness to the idea of a possible property tax increase.
• Among observers who are closely following the mayoral race, there is a difference of opinion as to whether there are three main contenders so far — Sheriff Floyd Bonner, Downtown Memphis Commission CEO Paul Young, and NAACP president and former County Commissioner Van Turner — or four —those three, plus former longtime Mayor Willie Herenton.
Everyone acknowledges that Herenton, who has led at least one unofficial poll, has a dependable voting bloc, based on his long mayoral tenure and, especially, his precedent-establishing 1991 victory as the city’s first elected Black chief executive. Some wonder if his budget, expected to be minimal, will allow for a serious stretch run.
Bonner and Young won’t have such worries. Both have cash-on-hand holdings in the vicinity of half a million dollars. And Turner, whose purse at this point is roughly a third of that amount, has a long-established base of dependable supporters.
• As has long been expected, former City Councilman Berlin Boyd has pulled a petition to run for the open Super District 8, Position 3, seat held for the past two terms by Council Chairman Martavius Jones, who is term-limited.
Boyd’s name had also turned up on the petition list for Super District 8, Position 1 — something the once and possibly future councilman attributes to an error by one of his staff members. Boyd says he never had any intention of running against the 8-1 incumbent, JB Smiley, a friend, and he has done the paperwork to nullify that prospect. (He also denies a previously published report that he might take another crack at District 7, currently occupied by Michalyn Easter-Thomas, who in 2019 ousted then-incumbent Boyd in a runoff.)
Boyd has, however, considered the “back-up” idea of running for Super District 8, Position 2, a seat being eyed by several others, who take seriously a rumor that incumbent Cheyenne Johnson will not end up being a candidate for re-election. But, he says, “I’m 99 percent sure I’ll be running for Position 3.” Eight other people have so far pulled petitions for Position 3.
• The aforementioned Smiley is one of four current holders of super district seats who, as of early this week, did not yet have declared opposition. The other fortunate ones were Chase Carlisle in Super District 9, Position 1, Ford Canale in 9-2, and Jeff Warren in 9-3.
