We think we know who the Tennessee legislator of 2010 was – G. A. Hardaway – and we may be on the verge of seeing who will be the winner of the goat award for 2011 – Sara Lewis.
Tennessee Rep. Hardaway has been stalwart in speaking persuasively on behalf of the children of Memphis and in support of a countywide school district that actually deserves to be called “Shelby County” Schools. During the run-up to the heroic vote by Memphis City Schools Board of Commissioners to give Memphians the right to vote about the future of their school district, he’s shown that he’s learned a lot as a member of some important legislative committees in Nashville and put his finance degree from Depaul University to good use.
Because his most visible actions have taken place 210 miles away, his influence on school issues was not widely known until he stepped up to take a prominent place in the local debate over a unified system and vision for our schools.
If that wasn’t reason enough for our kudos, his promise last week to keep a close watch on the Shelby County Election Commission as it violates its ministerial role and Memphians expectation of equal protection under the law.
Waste Deep in the Big Muddy
Election Commission Chairman Bill Giannini regularly tries to be clever rather than simply do what he’s paid to do: put the referendum mandated by Memphis City Schools board’s vote on the ballot so Memphis voters can ultimately make their decision.
Apparently, just to muddy the water as many of his Republican brethren in the suburbs are working hard to do, Mr. Giannini dreamed up the idea that perhaps voters outside Memphis might also have a right to participate in a referendum for a Memphis-only public entity. It defies logic, not to mention common sense, but yet, he said he’s talked to an unnamed lawyer who said it might be so.
Of course, he didn’t disclose the name so we’re unsure why the alleged protectors of local elections would request legal opinions from the Tennessee Attorney General as a result of that. The immediate question was what the Shelby County Attorney’s Office and the attorney assigned to the Election Commission thought about the specious idea.
It’s a case of wishful thinking for the Republican chairman of the Republican controlled Election Commission. Mr. Giannini is saying that suburban voters might have a vote about Memphis City Schools’ future. Strange, but no one’s ever suggested that Memphians should vote for board members of Shelby County Schools. It’s as if somehow the special sense of entitlement granted to suburban voters in the case of city-county consolidation convinces them that they just naturally ought to have a vote on this.
It’s All About Us
For years, on multiple fronts, suburban interests have trumped the needs of the urban core that propels our entire region’s economy and contains a vast majority of its jobs and earnings. Despite that, we have created a sense of delusion outside Memphis to the point that its residents expect disproportionate attention and control over issues here.
It’s ironic, considering that taxpayers in Memphis were the suburbs’ benefactors, paying most of the costs of new roads, new schools, and new libraries while subsidizing the lower tax rates of the county towns, as county politicians genuflected time and time again to developers’ demands. It’s a legacy of the Reagan era: people who make more money somehow deserve to pay lower taxes.
Back to the Election Commission, rumors are flying in Memphis and in Nashville that Mr. Giannini and Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett have hatched a plan to at least delay the referendum by participating in the ruse that more legal opinions are needed by the local Election Commission.
We hope these are merely rumors, but then again, Mr. Hargett’s political teeth were cut in Bartlett politics. He is no stranger to controversy or charges of overstepping his authority, but we’re hoping that rumors implicating him in a conspiracy to deny Memphis voters their right to decide the future of their own school district are just that: rumors.
The Fighter
To ensure this is the case, Rep. Hardaway called for state and federal monitoring of Mr. Giannini and the Election Commission , and we find it impossible to disagree with his comment that the “Election Commission seems to be committed to denying voters and open and fair electoral procedure.”
Better safe than sorry, because there are multiple reasons that Memphis voters should be suspicious of the Election Commission, ranging from repetitive incompetence in making sure all votes are counted to injecting its political opinions into elections as recently as the consolidation referendum.
It’s stunning that while Rep. Hardaway is doing his best to make sure Memphians have the right to vote at referendum, two-day-old school board member Sara Lewis is doing just the opposite. It’s one thing to have a different opinion with the majority of the city school board, but it’s now nothing short of me-first politics to take the position that Memphians don’t have the right to vote.
That unfortunately is the objective of Ms. Lewis, who has announced her ambition to rescind the vote of the Memphis City Schools Board of Commissioners favoring the referendum. During her career as an administrator and as a former member of the board, she developed a reputation for being obstreperous and at times to appear to be fighting just to be fighting.
Card Shark
Ms. Lewis prides herself on her guile in finding parliamentary ways to get what she wants. That’s why the school board wisely held a special meeting to approve the minutes in the event that she planned to use this largely perfunctory function as the way to reopen the entire debate about unifying our two districts.
That isn’t the only card up her sleeve, her allies report, and she plans to make a motion to rescind the action. It’s a clumsy way to run an organization because this parliamentary technique tends to perpetuate conflict and harden ill will. That’s why once legislation has been enacted, it’s normally too late to consider its rescission. (It’s surprising that one of the opponents to the referendum didn’t vote for it so as a member of the prevailing side, that member could call for reconsideration at the next meeting.)
Perhaps, Ms. Lewis thinks this procedure basks her in the glow of superior parliamentary meaneuvering, but in this case, it’s just sad, because it seems like it’s motivated more about getting her own way than giving her fellow citizens the chance to vote on the future of the district.
At this point, if she and some people are so convinced that they are right, they should find it easy to convince their fellow citizens. Short-circuiting the process before then is tantamount to admitting that they are willing to put their personal opinions ahead of the public’s right to express theirs.
>>>no one’s ever suggested that Memphians should vote for board members of Shelby County Schools
Say what? There was a huge kerfuffle at the county commission and a federal lawsuit in the late 90′s about whether Memphis voters could vote in county school elections.
Another thought: I wonder just how many potential allies you lose, on nearly every issue, by continual throwaway lines about how evil Republicans are.
doesn’t matter. all them folk live outside the loop.
It must be human nature. Love the individual, hate the group. I don’t see how Republicans can even love themselves for what they do to obfuscate policy debates.
anon and i/o: do you think non-Memphis voters should be allowed to vote in this matter? If so, on what basis? Thanks.
Anonymous: We’ve written critically about Democrats plenty of times, but in this case, if the shoe fits, the Republicans should wear it. We do generally make the distinction that they are suburban Republicans – although we have previously exempted Mark Norris – and not Memphis Republicans.
As they say, truth is the absolute defense, and in this case, the suburban Republicans’ agenda overall is indeed evil.
Walk like a duck, sound like a duck. You are a duck. And if there is evil in this crazy place, these Tea Party Republicans are it. What I love most is that they are always criticizing Memphis politicians as if they are the example of courageous, ethical leaderhsip. What a joke.
Come to think of it, anonymous, is Lewis Republican? Of course not, so how come you didn’t think this blog was being critical of Democrats.
SCM, you asleep at the switch?
thats theres naughty talkin’, I’m thinking.
regardless of the hilarity of the visuals that brought up.
i/o, couldn’t help it, I did laugh at the visuals on that one.
Great post!
Anon. 7:48 – how wrong you are. Obviously you don’t follow this blog often; if you did, you would see that SCM often rakes the Dems over the coals as much as the Repubs. SCM doesn’t play favorites – they report the facts as they see them and in this case (as with the Nov. vote), the dim-witted burb Republicans have shown that they will stop at nothing to further their own causes – showing their lack of ethics and resorting to outright lies to muddy the waters to get the public on their sides.
I/o:
Sorry about the infantile comments of the mentally impaired. We have a business and it’s hard to keep up with the kindergarten commented. Sorry that you had to read his disgusting comments.
Anon 7:48 here.
Packrat: I’m not a native, and I don’t have the native’s emotional baggage about schools here. Personally, I wouldn’t have county voters vote on whether city schools give up their charter. But state law on consolidation of city-county schools, as opposed to forced marriage by unilateral elimination of one’s charter, does require both a city and a county vote. So you see maybe, just maybe, Giannini is not the second coming of Bull Connor after all. Looks like maybe he does have a valid reason for questioning whether county voters should vote.
Frank and Adrienne: If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know that “racist” is the default label meaning “politically opposed to SCM.” Three months ago, it was racist here to suggest that city schools would be better off consolidating with county schools because that implied that city students couldn’t do well unless they were managed by white folk. Now you’re racist if you think city schools shouldn’t consolidate with county schools.
anon, I have to disagree, and Giannini’s actions are motivated obviously by his obligation to mostly white suburbanites, and not any validity of his position. Clearly, non-Memphis voters don’t have the right to determine whether Memphis operates a school system. Germantown doesn’t operate a school system, so why should Memphis be legally forced to do so?
SCM’s comments as far as labeling people racist during the consolidation vote and now this issue aren’t based on their mere opinions. There were many focus groups held throughout the city on the consolidation issue. In many instances, those opposed to consolidation could only spout racist reasons for their opinions. These folks did not beat around the bush – they spewed some of the most hateful, racist stuff you’ve ever heard. To act like the opposition is not rooted in racism is just naive. I have yet to hear one opposing opinion that is backed up by anything other than racism – though they hide this with phrases like “those kids” and “those schools” and “those neighborhoods.”
Before I get on my soapbox, I want to agree that Rep. Hardaway is a good man and a good representative. I’ve talked with him many times and well before he was elected. He’s always respectful even if he disagrees with you. Easy to approach and talk to. Thumbs up for GA Hardaway!
I’ll have to agree with anon 7:48 about the needless republican attacks. I’ve called SCM on it before.
Just look at this article … SCM refers to the republican chair of the republican controlled election commission in the evil conspiracy but fails to mention that Sara Lewis is democrat who is also involved in this evil conspiracy. This is not a demo-repub issue but yet this article hints that it is.
Do the republocrats inside of Memphis want to give non-Memphians a vote in this? Do they support democrat Sara Lewis in this? Probably not … I think most Memphians … repubs or demos support the charter surrender.
I don’t see a lot of democrats in the county jumping up to support MCS giving up its charter. On the other hands, we do see democrats in Memphis like Sara Lewis who oppose the charter surrender.
When I was a regular attendee of the local Sierra Club meetings, I told them the same thing. There are republicans who are members of the SC! Don’t drive them away … look for ways to reach across the table for the common ground.
Same here … Would the article have been any less effective if you had just said … Giannini, chairman of the Election Commission? … Just as you said Sara Lewis without mentioning her party affiliation.
We have a unique opportunity here to kill the leviathan of MCS … let’s not waste it by getting bogged down in unnecessary partisan bickering. Focus on getting both republocrats and dempublicans in Memphis to support the charter surrender.
As we say, truth is the absolute defense, and the party of this cast of characters is relevant because they are interlocking and because they are in the positions to attempt to disrupt or control this process.
All of these people run proudly as Republicans so we don’t know why they should find this offensive. The school board race is nonpartisan, and there’s not a unified party plan like the R’s. See the vote of the school board itself to understand this.
If you don’t see a lot of Democrats jumping up to support charter surrender, you aren’t looking. You can pretend that is the case, but it isn’t and this time around, it won’t be as easy to manipulate city votes with fear and fiction as last time around.
We have the unique opportunity to do something about the mediocrer educational system that is SCS, so we’re not for wasting this golden chance.
Again, the party is relevant when it is clear that there is a partisan agenda afoot. And we have called this often, but as research shows, people these days only remember things that reenforce their preconceived opinions.
I gotta say, THIS story didn’t need the partisan bickering, and maybe no story really NEEDS it, maybe we’d be more effective at routing corruption if we just called it corruption and didn’t try to assign it a party, even if it looks like it may be that way.
We’re having an informal and patently un partisan get together of optional school parents as well as some informed players this Sunday. bnab1 at comcast if you want info.
Scott, good idea. Those who have kids in the optional schools probably need more info on how this will affect them.
SCM … I said that I didn’t see democrats in the county (outside of Memphis) raising their hands to support MCS surrendering the charter. Then I pointed out that there is a split inside of Memphis among democrats.
The fact that the school board races are non-partisan is irrelevant. We know the party affiliation of the members. If you’re going to bash republicans by party then you should bash the democrats opposing the surrender by party as well.
You biting your nose off to spite your face by the needless injection of party labels in an issue that isn’t defined by the parties.
midtown:
We think you are way overestimating a split among Democrats inside Memphis. And I know both Democrats outside Memphis and they are for consolidating schools. Seriously, there was a meeting of Democrats outside Memphis to talk about how they can support the merger.
It’s our nose, so we can bit it all we want.
This issue is defined by political parties, and if you don’t get that, you’re watching a different political dynamic unfold than we are.