The Promus Sell-Out We learned this week that Promus Corporation (which was all that Memphis had left over from prior Holiday Inns and Harrah's incarnations) is about to engage in what looks suspiciously like a bug-out. In announcing its sale to Hilton Hotels for $4 billion in cash and stock, company officials promised that Promus/Hilton would keep significant operations in town. We doubt it. Headquarters for the newly merged high-gloss corporation will be in Beverly Hills, and Promus' credibility is already in tatters. Ever since its ill-fated 1997 merger with Doubletree Corporation, one official pronouncement after another has proven to be misleading and inaccurate. Meanwhile, current and former executives of Promus have been rewarded with millions in bonuses and severance pay for engineering a bad marriage, then selling out the company. In its 1997 annual report, Promus boasted that the merger with Doubletree was "the deal of the year" and a "remarkably smooth transition." Within a year it had been shown to be anything but. There was upheaval on the board of directors, executive resignations, and the hiring of a new chief executive, Norman Blake. Shortly after being hired in December 1998, Blake stated that he had no plans to sell the company, that he was "not here to do anything but to build the company to be the very best player in the industry." Right. Six months later Promus reported lower than expected earnings and continuing problems and expenses associated with the Doubletree merger. The stock plunged from the mid-$30s to the mid-$20s, making it more attractive to Hilton. For his 10 months' work at Promus, Blake gets a base salary of $700,000 plus a bonus of $420,000 to $700,000. But he gets three times his salary, or $2.1 million, if the company is sold. In previous mergers, Promus handed out more than $15 million in severance pay, bonuses, and accrued benefits to four executives. Nice work if you can get (rid of) it. Maybe it's sour grapes, but it sure leaves a bad taste in our mouth. Issues, Not Altercations To say that we were dismayed last week by the now-notorious nocturnal showdown between rival Ford-Herenton forces on Lauderdale Street is an understatement. To be sure, we confess that we indulged in a certain vicarious fascination when we first heard of the incident, which involved a dispute over sign-switching and ended with a mayoral bodyguard displaying a weapon (purely as a warning and only for self-protection, he insisted). But that little voyeuristic thrill turned guilty in no time at all -- and not just because the encounter was potentially dangerous and had ominous overtones both for the future of Memphis politics and for the rivalries which currently underlie it. All that was reason enough to be alarmed, but we are saddened, too, by this renewed evidence that power and gamesmanship have so largely displaced the consideration of issues as the predominant motif in local politics. This is not to say that issues have altogether been ignored. Attitudes toward consolidation, proposals to end urban litter, reorganization of city government: all this and more was discussed by the candidates at a Rotary Club mayoral forum this week, as at several previous forums. But all it takes is one incident like that on Lauderdale Street to drown out the dialogue, which is the real reason for holding elections in the first place.