Saturday, September 5, 2009
Halbert Defends Mongo, Channel 5, Calls Wharton Complaint "Strange"
Councilwoman says station never changed debate rules....
Posted by Jackson Baker on Sat, Sep 5, 2009 at 12:56 PM
- JB
- Mayoral candidate Halbert passing out campaign T-shirts at her headquarters opening
“This is a democracy, and he’s a candidate, and he had every right to take part in the debate,” Halbert said about Mongo Saturday at the opening of her campaign headquarters at 919 South Highland. The District 4 councilwoman noted also, “He’s my constituent!” Halbert, who sat next to Hodges during the debate, said she had enjoyed meeting the perennial candidate and well-known street character and thought there was “more to him” than his madcap reputation.
She said she was inclined to be impressed by Hodges, who shortly after the debate journeyed to South Africa and later discussed that trip with KWAM radio host and blogger Thaddeus Matthews.
Hodges’ presence in the debate may have been one of the factors that nettled Wharton, who had threatened to back out of last Thursday night ’s debate on that morning, when, as he said, he learned of the full debater list from a WMC-TV newscast.
In a hand-delivered letter that morning to station officials, Wharton said, “…I accepted this invitation based on the good-faith assurance from Mr. [Joe} Birch that this debate would include only ‘serous candidates.’ I learned of the final list of the participating candidates scheduled for tonight’s debate while watching WMC-TV’s newscast this morning. Please be advised that I am considering withdrawal from this debate....”
Ultimately, Wharton did attend the debate, though he pointedly avoided contact with Mongo beforehand. Speaking to reporters at Frayser Park on Saturday, where he took part in an event related to the prevention of infant mortality, Wharton said Channel 5 had changed the rules overnighht about candidate participation.
“I’m a lawyer, and when you set the rules to a game, you follow them: ‘You must have filed, you must have an office, you must have campaigned.’ All those things. It’s not any particular rules. It’s just that the rule of law is the rule of law. That’s offensive to me. Two pages of rules, and then throw them all out the window.”
Wharton said that, as a result of his experience, he was “reassessing” his potential participation in all future debates and would insist on being “consulted and given an opportunity to have some input into the rules.” He said he needed to be serving the citizens “instead of jibber-jabbering in some loose form called a debate.”
This is the portion of Wharton’s remarks Halbert characterized as “strange.” She said, “The rules were exactly as indicated to us beforehand. There was no change.”
Uniquely for a candidate, Halbert owns the South Highland building she is using as a headquarters. “It’s in our family,” she said, adding that various family members had used it as a residence.
Showing 1-13 of 13
It's not "strange" to take the future of Memphis seriously enough to be offended that a self-described "alien" wearing body paint, goggles, and a rubber chicken was allowed to "debate". Sure, Mongo is good for a laugh, but we should take the Mayor's race more seriously. We deserve to have a forum where the few serious candidates have longer than 30 seconds at a time to present their platforms and where serious discussion is not interrupted by jokes from an alien about issuing uzis to everyone. Was A C the only candidate with enough dignity and pride in Memphis to object to this joke on the city?
In light of the fact that, when the citizens of Memphis called on him to run against Mayor Herenton in the last mayoral election, AC Wharton shirked the call to duty and opportunity to have saved our city from the fiasco that the last Herenton administration became; and, in light of the fact that AC Wharton deigns to say who, in a democracy, has the right to speak to the citizens via the debates, I am “reassessing” the support I have given him in the past and will refrain from supporting AC in the future.
Regardless of how he dresses, or how AC feels about him personally, Prince Mongo paid $100 for a petition to run in the election for City of Memphis Mayor and turned in 25 valid signatures, just as did AC. Therefore, Prince Mongo has just as much right as AC or anyone else to be heard in the public debate(s).
Shame on attorney Wharton for his vain attempt to censor the right to free speech
I think AC is just too attached-at-the-hip to Willie Herenton and all of the Herenton cronies for me to be able to vote for him.
There are two years left on Herenton's term, so the new mayor will have that amount of time in his or her first term, after which a new election will be held.
I think it's time for Mongo to come in, flush the toilet of all the turds now occupying the divisions of Memphis city government and then we can elect a new mayor who dresses nice. In the meantime, HELL, YES! MONGO FOR MAYOR!!!
Miss Ruby, are you on a weekend furlough from somewhere?
AC Wharton for Mayor.
A vote for AC is a vote for more of the same in a better dressed more presentable package. The man has been a Mayor here for 7 yrs! Now all of sudden its about Memphis?? He had his shot when we needed him but he had to wait for Willie to pass the baton...no thanks!
Yes, B, i am on a weekend furlough from the practice of law and have taken advantage of the "down time" to study and compare the statements and positions of the candidates for Mayor.
I spent 5 hours listening to a recording of the interview that Thaddeus Matthews did with Prince Mongo this past Thursday and realized that, when you hear him on the radio and can't actually see him, Prince Mongo sounds like the "sanest" of all the candidates. Not at all crazy and never afraid to back down or offer a "pc" solution to a problem facing Memphis.
To anyone who hasn't heard that radio interview, i urge you to listen to it in its entirety.
http://55-40.blogspot.com/
I believe any rational person who listens with an open mind and has the ability to put aside their preconceived notions will come away thinking there's only one person running who truly might be able and willing to do what it's going to take to turn Memphis around, and that person is the alein, Prince Mongo
Miss Ruby,
I listened. He did sound relatively sane, even though he really didn't say much beyond that he'd fire everybody and that the solution to everything is better education. Duh.
Go to www.princemongoformayor.com and read his platform there. Is that really what you want for our city?
Mayor Wharton never singled out any one candidate as a reason to not participate in the debate. Ms. Halbert has spoken in error by assuming Mayor Wharton was only talking about Prince Mongo. For any sane person, it was clear that he wasn't the only candidate up there that shouldn't be taken serious. Several people have run in presedintial elections but not all candidates are considered to debate. MEMPHIS wake up. This is a critical moment in time and everyone should approach this special election as such.
Actually, DuhB, I had rather a candidate propose and do what Mongo has on his website than what Willie Herenton and his band of theives have done over the past two decades.
One thing I've not heard AC say is that he will rat out and fire all the Herenton cronies who have been living large (and probably illegally) at the public trough.
Will AC do this? I dont know. I think....THINK....AC is a good man, but I know he's also a colleague and friend of many of the people who need to be gone.
Tell us, AC, will you do what Mongo has promised and "flush the turds"?
I am sure that AC is a good man but deep-down at his core he is a lawyer/politician - a lawyer/politician that has walked silently along side Willie Herenton for too many years. He knows this man and decides, only after Willie resigns, to take on the corruptness and cronyism that pervades City Hall - and has for the last 18 years! We, the public, all knew this but it seems, only now, is anyone in a position of power willing to experience an epiphany and to admit the obvious and raise the banner to clean up City Hall! Adding insult to injury, as we rid ourselves of these public leeches, we will have to support them, after they are kicked out, because the city voters/Council have let them sit on their unqualified butts and accumulate years of retirement pay at our expense! The best thing I ever did was decide to buy a home in Bartlett and divorce myself from the stress and drama that pervades the entire corrupt political machine called Memphis. I can only hope and pray that Memphians will come to their senses and elect a dynamic, HONEST, transparent leader who will work to redeem Memphis in the eyes of its residents and the rest of the nation. We have been a joke for too long!
For AC to say he wouldn't participate in future without being able to essentially make rules himself was very presumtuous. It was a very high handed statment and did not reflect the mindset of someone who was asking for a chance to serve the voters. In fact it alludes to another "King Willie" in the making. With a field of 28 candidates the debate should not be limited to 3or 4 participants as AC might have wished. It was more of a question and answer session than a debate and Mongo had every right to take part. What you aren't told here is that it took an act of the FCC to get him in the so called debate. I bet that ignorant Webb woman who couldn't answer the simplest of questions did not have to go through all that.
THIS WEEK'S ISSUE
Comments (13) RSS