Go Help Mike McWherter Tomorrow

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TO ALL MEDIA OUTLETS

Date:  October 15, 2010               Time: 4:30 p.m.

          On tomorrow, October 16, 2010, Gubernatorial candidate Mike McWherter will be at the SCDP main headquarters located at 4118 South Plaza Drive, Memphis, Tennessee 38116 from 12:00-4:00 phone banking and transporting voters to the polls.  It is well-known that Shelby County is the Democratic base for the state.  If any Democrat expects to win, Shelby County has to show-up and that’s what we are working towards doing.  Let’s roll-up are sleeves and go to work!!!

Contact:

Van Turner, Chair

Shelby County Democratic Party

4118 South Plaza Drive

Memphis, TN 38116

Phone:  901-283-5017

I guess this means I'm against the SCDP

From Shaun Fossett's Tweet:


 

Sad, isn't it. click on it to see it full-size.

WHAT TOM GULEFF SAYS

THIS RIGHT HERE!  it's not about consolidation, it's about our beloved (and hopefully-soon-to-be #Memphis) NEWSCOMA!

Early voting started today, here are my votes

Early voting sites are found here; you have until two weeks from tomorrow.

As they appear on the ballot:

GOVERNOR - Mike McWherter  - Yeah, I haven't been excited about ANY gubernatorial candidate from ANY party since I voted to re-elect his father in 1990.  He's a nice guy when he's not playing to right-wingers who will never vote for him.  He's still better than the Pilot Oil guy, the guy that left Saks Direct abruptly.

THE RIGHT TO HUNT AND FISH AMENDMENT - YES - I was going to vote no, thinking it was a silly and unnecessary amendment until brother Neal provided some interesting reasons to vote yes, so please do so.

US HOUSE -DISTRICT 9 - STEVE COHEN - Like you hadn't figured THAT out a long time ago, right?  If I have to tell you why, then I presume that you just moved here.

TN HOUSE - DISTRICT 93 - MIKE KERNELL - He is second in seniority only to Lois DeBerry and knows the Capitol like few others.  Plus, he's my friend of nearly 30 years.  He is as liberal as I am, usually, but listens to EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE.  That is a good thing.

 REFERENDUM ON CONSOLIDATION - YES - I've already told you why, and that should be enough.  If it isn't, read the damn Charter yourself.  THEN make up your mind.

CITY ORDINANCE NO. 5345 - NO - I understand why Jim Strickland proposed this ordinance that partially reverses City Charter changes we passed in 2007; he believes that City elections will be ignored if forced to be held at the same time as the County and State elections in even-numbered years.  School Board elections give him some evidence on this.  However, people voted for this for a reason: to save money.  This would also repeal staggered terms, but keep the term limits.  I say no, because I like the staggered terms idea and this saves money.

CITY ORDINANCE NO. 5347 - YES - This extends the residency requirements for working for the City of Memphis so that they need only be County residents instead of just City residents.  I believe this is an acceptable compromise, even though I voted for the amendment in 2007 requiring City residence for City workers.  It has proved unworkable, as the pool is just not big enough, despite what Councilors Ware and Halbert would have you believe.  Vote YES.

MCS BOARD AT-LARGE POSITION 2 - REV. KENNETH T. WHALUM, JR. - I don't always agree with him (especially on paddling, that's too 1953 for 2010) but he seems to be the one member of the MCS Board who is willing to question Superintendent Kriner Cash.  He is the best of the three candidates running for the position.

In Races for which I CANNOT vote:

US HOUSE -DISTRICT 7 - GREG RABIDOUX - Look, we know he's up against it facing Blackburn, but he and his Shelby County crew are busting their butts.  Not only that, she may face a looser district in two years because it will have to get LESS GOP in order to make others MORE GOP if the GOP controls re-districting (which we hope does NOT happen).

In the local state House races, our Democratic incumbents facing a GOP opponent are, in addition to Kernell, JOHNNIE TURNER (85), BARBARA COOPER (86), JEANNE RICHARDSON (89), and LOIS DEBERRY (91).  Please vote for your Democratic Representative.

In the State Senate races, only OPHELIA FORD (29) is opposed among our Democrats, and her opponent, Robert Hill, is having legal problems of his own.  Yes, I want to re-elect the Senator.

Ivon Faulkner is challenging Senator Brian Kelsey (R) in Senate 31, but it is an uphill battle. There is so much I would like to say here, but suffice it to say that I would prefer that you vote for Faulkner in this race.

That's it, everything else is up to YOU, so go vote, even if you don't feel like it.  Don't like your choices in a given race? WRITE SOMEONE IN. I do it more often that you might think.

I no longer have a candidate in the 8th Congressional District

What? Why?  Well, since you asked, it seems that Roy Herron has said he would NOT vote for Nancy Pelosi for Speaker, or John Boehner either.  This is a false choice, and seeks to undermine our best Speaker since Tip O'Neill.  If you aren't going to support Pelosi, then I have no further use for you, and I'm not putting your notices up here any more.

The Jackson Sun article notes the following:

Herron said he would be more middle of the road politically than Fincher.  Herron also said he would not vote for Democrat Nancy Pelosi or John Boehner, R-Ohio, as speaker of the house. "I think both of them are too extreme," Herron said.

One out of two isn't bad, I suppose.  The fact of the matter is that this won't matter TO ANYONE, no one is going to believe him, and he has just told what few liberals are left in his district that they don't matter.  Too bad the Conservatives won't vote for him, either, so he just finished his own campaign.

No, I don't live in TN-08.  If I did, I would have a new message: SEND MABEL TO CONGRESS INSTEAD!

UPDATE: Could THIS be why Roy did what he did?  Has the DCCC cut him off as a lost cause? That would explain a lot of things.

This Is NOT The Sort of Mistake The SCDP Needs To Make

First, full disclosure: I served with Cherry Davis on the SCDP, I like her and respect her, and if I lived in District 6, I would vote for her for School Board over Sara Lewis.

That having been said, Sara Lewis has EVERY RIGHT to be pissed off at the SCDP this morning for what is apparently a back-door endorsement of Cherry Davis, after the SCDP had indicated that they would NOT endorse in any non-partisan races this year.  Jackson Baker has the full details here.

When I served on the ExecCom, I also served on the Elections Committee, who interviewed candidates that sought our endorsement.  At the very least, ALL candidates for the position for which we would endorse were invited to come before the committee to make their case.  We asked all candidates for a given position the same questions relative to that position in order to make a fair recommendation to the full ExecCom.  This was NOT the procedure used in this race, per Van Turner:

Lewis’s objections to the SCDP endorsement in District 6 aren’t limited to her contention that the Party is violating its own official policy. She wonders why the Party executive committee chose to endorse in District 6 and not in the At Large, Position 2 race, which is also contested.

“They endorsed her because she asked them. But no one else was even informed that an endorsement was coming and was even invited to address the committee,” Lewis said.

Shelby County Democratic chairman Van Turner said Tuesday he was well aware of candidate Lewis’ discontent and had taken steps to address it.

“It’s true that generally we don’t endorse in contested non-partisan races involving more than one Democrat, but there is a precedent.” He cited the committee’s endorsement of School Board member Freda Williams in a previous election in which Williams, a party executive committee member, had opposition by another Democrat.

Turner noted that in both Williams' case and that of Davis, who is the Shelby County Democratic Party’s vice chair, the person endorsed had a prominent active role in the local party. He said the move to endorse Davis was made from the floor by member Howard Richardson at last Thursday night’s monthly meeting of the party executive committee and was approved unanimously.

As for Lewis’ other objection, that no move to endorse was made in the At Large, Position 2 race, involving incumbent K.T. Whalum Jr., Bob Morgan, and Richard Fields, Turner observed that no motion to do so had come from the floor.

 Ok, that's just screwed up, and Lewis should scream long and loud about this and make it an issue in this campaign, because NONE of those people, excepting maybe Turner, are rookies.  They KNOW proper procedure and they IGNORED it.  It makes the SCDP look cheap, petty and stupid, NONE of which they need in the middle of a general election season.

I may not be a fan of Sara Lewis, but fair is fair, and she got hosed.

I've Made My Consolidation Decision

I just realized that no matter what I do, I'm going to piss a lot of people off, so I may as well get at it.  If you DON'T live in Shelby County (of which Memphis is nearly 70%), feel free to go look at the cute bunnies.

Shelby Countians, are we alone now?  Good.

There is a hell of a lot I DON'T like about this Charter, and Tom Guleff and Ron Williams raised a good point when they said it was as if the wealthy elites got together to write this Charter.  I sure as hell don't like the 13-single-member-12-multi-member districts.  I don't like the fact that this Charter transfers a lot of power from the legislative branch to the executive branch. I don't like the condescending way Charter Commission Chair Julie Ellis responded to a letter advising against voting yes.   It smacks of elitism at most levels.  It doesn't even touch the schools, which MUST be merged someday.

Yet, even with the numerous flaws, ask yourself this question, residents of Shelby County: is what we have now REALLY better than this flawed charter?  Well, if you ran to the suburbs to avoid paying your fair share of social costs, you may well think so.  But for those of us in the city who are tired of subsidizing you, it's not.  Even WITH passage, you still get off the hook for three years, since taxes are frozen!

I was ready to vote no, but something the misnamed Save Shelby County kept saying stayed in the back of my head, nagging at me: "Memphis has to fix its OWN problems".  First, the idiocy of that is evident, since without a strong and vital Memphis, there is NO Shelby County, and no strong metropolitan area.  It's the same as telling a quadriplegic that there is surgery to cure him, but that he will have to perform it himself.

I am voting YES on Consolidation, because if it fails to pass Memphis will die, and so will Shelby County, and the other counties in our SMSA.  You really think that without a vital Memphis, you'll continue to exist?  You don't care, you say?  You're just trying to make it to retirement so you can leave?

I have two words for you, then: LEAVE NOW.  I'm serious, quit your job and quit leeching off the rest of us, and leave the area (Again, I'm only speaking to Shelby Countians).  This is no time for the weak-willed, and if you're not willing to help, take a hike.  It's come to that here.

Some of you folks piss and moan because you don't like certain members of the City Council.  Have you failed to notice that most of the ones you DON'T like oppose the new Charter as well?  Why do you think that is?  Because they know that under the new Charter, most of them will likely be out on their asses.  That's ANOTHER reason why I am voting yes.

Note to the SCDP: if you think you're showing leadership by opposing the new Charter, that leadership was recognized by the electorate in the August elections.  Good work, eh?  At this rate, we would have captured the County by 2038.  I'm just sayin'......

I'm going to catch hell from the right, because they didn't want to pay their fair share of the social costs and have the wrong view of government.  I'll be accused of discrediting the left (inside joke, sorry) and being a sellout whore to the MAN.  It wouldn't be the first time in either event, just spell my name right after each epithet!

Note to the Charter Commission: you are damned lucky I am voting for this.  If it weren't for Brian Stephens, Bonny Kinney, my friend and brother Steve Ross, and the original namesake of this blog, I wouldn't have re-read the damned thing enough times to make me realize it's the only chance we've got to save the city, the County, the region and, frankly, all of West Tennessee.

It's not perfect, but it's better than what we have now, and it is a good first step.  We either step forward now, or step into the grave soon afterwards.

Lincoln Davis goes GANGSTA on Scott DesJarlais in TN-04

Hat tip to the Dean via Kleinheider:

Southern Beale is right

This IS the best GOTV video ever.

The DEFENDING STANLEY CUP CHAMPION CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS open tonight

In keeping with the theme that Kevin over at LeanLeft started, I hereby remind you that THE DEFENDING STANLEY CUP CHAMPION CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS open their season tonight at 9 PM CDT, on Versus (cable 224, HD 852 on Comcast Digital).

Maybe some day, Predators fans, maybe some day.

Today is NEWSCOMA'S Birthday

And she knows what she would like from each of you.  Please go over there to find out!