Monday, August 3, 2009
Confusion Reigns in Political Ranks In Wake of Herenton Withdrawal
Posted by Jackson Baker on Mon, Aug 3, 2009 at 10:33 AM
The mayoral succession to Willie Herenton, the dominant figure in Memphis city politics for the better part of two decades, is now beginning to resemble the situation in Yugoslavia in the early ‘90s after the death of that country’s long-time dictator, Marshal Tito.
Not only did rivals of every sort begin staking their claims to power, but the country itself broke up into fragments — Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, etc., etc., and the process is continuing even today. Nobody expects that kind of Balkanization to occur in Memphis. The city is the city and will remain so.
But the power struggle is something else. For years, ever since it became obvious that Herenton wanted to take leave of the mayor’s office before his term expired, Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton has been reckoned the odds-on favorite to succeed him. Even now, the major challenge to that assumption has come from Wharton’s own expression of concern about the size of the prospective October 27th special election field two weeks ago.
Wharton worried out loud that a plethora of niche candidates could create a “fluke” situation with an unexpected victor. And a day after he had formally left office, leaving city council chairman Myron Lowery in charge as “mayor pro tem,” Herenton, too, advanced the notion that the special election would be a “crapshoot,” one which “anybody can win.”
The “anybody” in question at the time was a relatively smallish field consisting of Wharton, Lowery, former city council member Carol Chumney, lawyer and Herenton intimate Charles Carpenter, WWE wrestler/commentator Jerry Lawler, maverick school board member the Rev. Kenneth Whalum Jr., and businessman/Shelby County Commissioner James Harvey. Lawyer Jim Strickland, who had been considered a strong contender, had decided against running after commissioning and digesting a poll.
Lowery, whose early wish to have an orderly transition and head up an activist interim government had been quashed by Herenton, was reeling anew this week after his post-swearing-in effort to fire city attorney Elbert Jefferson had angered fellow council members and been blocked, at least temporarily, by a judicial injunction.
Coincidentally or not, that imbroglio coincided with a second wave of mayoral candidates — including, it would seem, city court clerk Thomas Long, city council member Wanda Halbert, and former city council member Edmund Ford Sr. Nor, with ample time left before the September 17th filing date for candidacies, is there reason to believe that the parade of new hopefuls is over.
Clearly, there is a power vacuum in Memphis at the moment, and the fact that nature abhors a vacuum is a bona fide physical law, one that applies to politics as well. The present confusion in the city’s political ranks is a case in point.
Comments (12)
Showing 1-12 of 12
Memphis needs a candidate that's a vibrant young upstart, has a forward-thinking attitude and looks good in Armani. Are you ready, John Willingham?
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what boggles my mind is that - after a nearly two decades dynastic mayoral reign - ANYONE would feign surprise that legititmate candidates (read citizens of voting age who live in Memphis) have the audacity to challenge the county mayor's claim to succession.
ROTFLMBO
thank you.
DR. KENNETH T. WHALUM, JR.
What will be a suprise is who ekes out a win after the vote is split eleventy-billion ways.
We may wish we had Willie back.
Split it, baby, split it. We will NEVER wish we had Willie back. My Magic 8 Ball says "AC" when I ask it who will be the next mayor of the City of Memphis.
What we need is someone who believes there is a magic wish granting fairy in the sky. Hmmmm. I wonder if one will come forward.
IF WHARTON FEELS LIKE ITS TOO MANY CANDIDATES WHY DON"T HE DROP OUT AND RUN WHEN HIS TERM AS COUNTY MAYOR IS ALMOST OVER.HOW SELFISH IS MAYOR WHARTON
we need a run off election....it's lunacy when a "strong" candidate is one who 7 out of 10 voters won't support.
Myron is on the correct course for getting things done. Sometimes change causes problems. His attempt at changing the guard is good for Memphis. He is making an attempt to place educated, qualified, honest, decent, respected people in positions of importance to this city.
A wide and diverse field is good in an election, and if a run-off is necessary than so be it. Let the "front runners" be scared of their competition. Maybe if they actually have to work for it, they will come up with some good plans for this city instead of running on their race or religious affiliation.
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