Archive for the ‘Politics/Politics Beat’ Category
December 24th, 2009
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Author: Edith Moore wins commission seat; Justin Ford loses, but it ain’t over yet.
by Jackson Baker
Much has been made of the fact that there is suddenly to be a gap in the consecutive service on the Shelby County Commission of members surnamed Ford. Certainly that was the immediate consequence of Monday’s vote on a successor to Joe Ford, who was sworn in as interim county mayor earlier this month. The surprise victory of the unheralded Edith Moore on the sixth ballot over interim mayor Ford’s son Justin Ford broke a connection that had existed since…
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Democrats’ control locally is in contrast to their crumbling position statewide.
by Jackson Baker
[image-1]One of the ironies of the current political situation for locals is that Democrats are plainly gaining hegemony in Memphis and Shelby County, while, statewide, the momentum is altogether the other way. County government is heading toward another test of Democratic suzerainty, when Shelby County commissioners have to decide during the next month whom to appoint as the successor to Democrat Matt Kuhn, who resigned his District 4, Position 3 commission seat this week to become a policy adviser to…
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Kuhn’s marriage proposal highlights an otherwise contentious week.
by Jackson Baker
As erstwhile county commissioner Joe Ford prepares to take the oath this week as interim Shelby County mayor, the legislative body he leaves behind seems to be every bit as riven with schism as it was when supporters of Ford barely broke a stalemate to elect him over fellow commissioner J.W. Gibson. For one thing, the commission finds itself factionally divided once again, as it prepares for a scheduled December 21st vote to determine Ford’s successor on the commission. Sentiment…
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From A C’s “Town Meeting” to filling vacancies to hot-button issues, here we go again.
by Jackson Baker
Haven’t we seen this movie before? A newly installed city mayor comes in and forthwith holds an open public meeting at which he and various members of his administration, most of them inherited from his predecessor, do a little show-and-tell, answering questions and otherwise dealing with issues brought by the public. We saw interim Memphis mayor Myron Lowery do it with City Hall “open house” events in August and October. And now A C Wharton, elected in October to fill…
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Voters decide on vacancies in the state Senate and state House.
by Jackson Baker
[image-1]Within the week covered by this print issue — on Tuesday, December 1st, to be exact — voters in state Senate District 31, a sprawling area which overrlaps much of Germantown, Cordova, Bartlett, and East Memphis, will have decided on someone to succeed Republican Paul Stanley, who resigned last spring after his public involvement in a sex-and-blackmail scandal. The contestants are GOP nominee Brian Kelsey and Democratic nominee Adrienne Pakis-Gillon, and, as the special election race drew to a close,…
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Voters decide on vacancies in the state Senate and state House.
by Jackson Baker
[image-1]Within the week covered by this print issue — on Tuesday, December 1st, to be exact — voters in state Senate District 31, a sprawling area which overrlaps much of Germantown, Cordova, Bartlett, and East Memphis, will have decided on someone to succeed Republican Paul Stanley, who resigned last spring after his public involvement in a sex-and-blackmail scandal. The contestants are GOP nominee Brian Kelsey and Democratic nominee Adrienne Pakis-Gillon, and, as the special election race drew to a close,…
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The race between gubernatorial candidates becomes a numbers game.
by Jackson Baker
As the year 2009 nears its end, and the 2010 election year beckons, two sets of numbers become even more important. One set, of course, is the amount of money raised by candidates for this or that office. Another set relates to poll figures. And both sets have the capacity to affect each other. Recently mentioned in this space was a poll commissioned by the gubernatorial campaign of Democrat Mike McWherter. At least one recipient of a phone call from…
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Like I keep trying to tell you …
by Jackson Baker
Space in this issue doesn’t permit anything like the full compass of what it’s been like to cover the politics of this locality, and — many times more than tangentially — of the state and nation, courtesy of the Memphis Flyer, for lo, these last 20 years. In fact, no space in any issue could. Frankly, I’ve had to struggle to find some shorthand means of summing it up. One way might be a few of the quotes that, interesting…
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Shelby County Republicans consider ditching their countywide partisan primary.
by Jackson Baker
[image-1] Say this for Lang Wiseman, the Shelby County Republican chairman. He can count. Which is to say, he knows the demographics of Shelby County have turned against the GOP and now favor the Democrats in countywide elections. In a candid talk last week at Germantown’s Pickering Center to members of the East Shelby Republican Club, the largest assemblage of his partymates in the county, Wiseman characterized the elections of 2008, when Barack Obama won Shelby County big and Democrats…
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A C Wharton looks over a candidate list, and so do the two major parties.
by Jackson Baker
[image-1] So who will mayor-elect A C Wharton bring with him to City Hall? So far Wharton is playing it very close to the vest. Mayoral assistants Bobby White and Kelly Rayne, among others, are almost certain to go there in some or another role. Dottie Jones, who was cityside once and came over to county, may head back the other way. Elder statesman Bobby Lanier will be close by the new mayor’s elbow, whether officially or unofficially. County CAO…
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