Let's Get BAck To Work

et's consider the stated reason for the current County Commission boycott: judicial primaries. The Shelby County Republican Party Steering Committee wants them because they believe that most of the 39 judgeships on the ballot next year will be won by candidates with an "R" next to their names. They contend, too, that a party label might best tell what kind of judge that candidate will be.

The Shelby County Democratic Party, including all of the commission's African-American members, are opposed, contending that most if not all African-American candidates running countywide for judgeships as Democrats will lose. There are other, more altruistic reasons given for opposing judicial primaries, but the electoral bottom line is the most important one when it comes to understanding the boycott.

As a practicing lawyer, I have always thought that electing judges is a poor way of getting the best judges. Partisan elections, in my view, are even worse.

I voted in favor of a resolution that would have banned judicial primaries in Shelby County. Requiring a two-thirds vote in order to pass, it failed by one vote. One other Republican joined me and all six of the African-American commissioners in that vote. In other words, the vote did not break on party or racial lines. People of good will can and did disagree on this issue, and we should abide by the vote.

Under our rules, however, any vote can be reconsidered before the minutes of the meeting are approved -- as a practical matter, at the next meeting. All six of the African-American commissioners refused to attend the next meeting, however. They knew that one of the seven Republican commissioners was going to be out of the country and that by failing to attend the meeting they could prevent a seven-member quorum and keep the commission from meeting at all.

The tactic worked. We couldn't meet. Our chairman, Mark Norris, scheduled the next meeting one month later, when all seven Republicans would be present.

During the interim, Republican Commissioner Pete Sisson publicly stated that he would change his prior vote if the parties refused to "phase in" primaries. Since the Republican steering committee had given strong indications that they would decline to do so, Sisson's promise essentially meant that Shelby County would not have judicial primaries.

Although an opponent of primaries, I did not think Commissioner Sisson should change his vote in response to what I consider to be a precedent-setting pressure tactic. I thought (and still think) that other proposals, such as a countywide referendum on judicial primaries, put the issue where it belongs: in the hands of the people. But most of Sisson's GOP colleagues were willing to go along with him to get this issue behind us.

Unfortunately, the boycotting commissioners, according to published reports, had agreed not to come back unless all of them came back. This essentially gave veto power over a compromise to one boycotting commissioner.

In my opinion, the judicial primary issue can no longer be considered the reason, or even a major reason for this boycott. There are other, vaguely defined issues cited by some of the African-American commissioners -- some of them already voted on, with the six boycotting commissioners having prevailed. In some instances, such as the annexation law change, the commission has no authority. In every case, these other issues can be dealt with without the posturing associated with a boycott.

It's easier to talk tough on political issues than it is to act responsibly as a public official. The boycotting commissioners ought to return to work, even if one or two hard-liners want to score political points. I ask my colleagues to keep in mind that the "white Republicans" did not vote in lockstep, and to keep in mind that this issue was essentially resolved, only to be derailed by your collective decision to stay away.

It is often said that in a strike no one wins. We should all keep that in mind the next time we disagree on an iss.e that has racial overtones, because it will happen again. In the meantime, let's tone down the rhetoric and get back to business.

(Buck Wellford is a Republican member of the Shelby County Commission.)