Suburban politicians, Chambers of Commerce and anti-consolidation firebrands are like the pyromaniac who starts a fire and then shows up later to say that we all need to work together to put it out. After years of pursuing...
Read MoreThis post was previously published in the November issue of Memphis magazine as its City Journal feature: No lawyer in Memphis has racked up more hours of legal work in the past year than Julie Ellis. And, none of it was...
Read MoreIt’s common in a dysfunctional family for people to gang up on the family member who wants to make things better. That’s probably how the Metro Charter Commission and Rebuild Government feel these days. In return for suggesting...
Read MoreWin, lose or drawn-out (depending on federal court), the consolidation campaign has been good for Memphis and Shelby County. Yes, there’s been an abundance of hyperbole, posturing and fiction, but it’s hard to remember a time in...
Read MoreIt seems like so many of the people in the consolidation debate have simply defaulted to their kneejerk settings. That said, the unholy alliance between the suburban town mayors and urban Democratic Party members is surprising...
Read MoreWe’re as appalled as the next person by the fact that former Collierville Mayor Linda Kerley was kicked out of a meeting by anti-consolidation forces in a Shelby County elementary school, but while the news media concentrated on...
Read MoreJust when it’s hard to imagine the Shelby County Democratic Party being more out-of-touch, it manages to do something else to top itself. It’s hard not to conclude that the Republican sweep of Shelby County elected offices in...
Read MoreThere’s one favorite response by “county” voters opposing a new government for our community We don’t want Memphis coming out here. It’s a glimpse into how complete the denial is about the interlocking relationship between the...
Read MoreMemphis City Schools Commissioner Kenneth Whalum has been asking the same questions about consolidation for weeks, and since no one seems to have answered him, we’ll see if we can. We know that he relishes his role as an...
Read MoreWhen the topic of city-county government consolidation comes up, it’s hard to figure out if the small town mayors have more in common with Pavlov or Edgar Cayce. On one hand, like the dogs in the Russian scientist’s famous...
Read MoreWe wonder which Joe Ford is running to become county mayor – the one wrestling with the English language in debates or the writer of statements after the fact trying to explain what he really was saying. In his recent debate...
Read MoreWhere are the statesmen and stateswomen? At what point does personal political ambition become so overpowering that a person is willing to sacrifice the facts and put the community on the back burner? There are plenty of...
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by Bill Day. Memphian Bill Day is two-time winner of the RFK Journalism Award in Cartooning. His cartoons are syndicated internationally by Cagle Cartoons. Cartoons Archive →