Memphis Mayoral Scorecard: 7 in, 2 out, 6.5 on the fence
The Commercial Appeal has the story about longtime Herenton “pal” Charles Carpenter entering the race to replace Willie. Maybe Willie will leave after all.
A clear sign that Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton has every intention of retiring at the end of this month arrived in the form of a press release Wednesday afternoon announcing that attorney Charles Carpenter — who managed all five of Herenton’s mayoral campaigns — will run in the city’s special mayoral election.
That brings the announced candidates to up to seven. You can’t tell the players without a scorecard. If you want more details on these guys, I’ve got that over here.
In:
A.C. Wharton. Sitting County Mayor, lame duck due to term limits.
Myron Lowery. Sitting City Council chairman, about to be Mayor Pro-Tem for 90 days.
Carol Chumney. Former City Councilwoman, longtime Hereton foe.
Ken Whalum Jr. A poor mans Willie Herenton. Just as corrupt, without the power.
Charles Carpenter. Herenton’s best buddy. Ran all five of Herentons mayoral campaigns.
Jerry Lawler. Former champion wrestler. Also a published author, and cd recording artist.
Sharon Webb. Memphis City school board member. Received 510 votes last time she ran.
Out: Read more »
Jerry Lawler is in the race. 3 reasons that’s a bad thing.
Jerry Lawler, semi-famous wrestling star and one-time candidate for Mayor of Memphis announced his intent to run in the upcoming special election, providing of course, there IS a special election. He announced it on the morning show on KIX-106, but for some reason they don’t have anything on their site about it. The Commercial Appeal has a brief write-up here.
Here’s what I wrote about him a few days ago:
Jerry Lawler
The former star of the wresting world (It’s still real to me….!) is playing with the idea of running. He first ran in 1999, finishing in 3rd (of 15!) to Willie and Joe Ford.
He might run, but he knows as well as anyone that he’s not going to win. He’s been making the rounds on the local radio shows and I saw him on the 9:00 news on Fox last night. He seems like a nice guy, so it’s hard to fault him for using Herentons cry for attention as a way to get some publicity for himself.
Lawler Odds of winning: 500-1
I don’t know Lawler personally, but he seems like a nice enough guy. If you can ignore the years of wrestling idiocy, he seems like a sharp guy as well. Check out some of these interviews he’s had over the years. He’s not just a meathead wrestler. He seems to really love the City of Memphis and to want what’s best for it. That’s why I’m conflicted over his candidicy.
Three reason Jerry Lawler running for Mayor of Memphis is a bad thing.
1. He’s not a “serious” candidate.
The line that jumps out of the CA story is this:
Lawler said he will not actively raise funds for the race, stressed his “common sense” and pointed to his popularity across racial lines.
If he’s not going to raise money, he has no chance of winning. You can’t buy yard signs with common sense. Popularity across racial lines doesn’t pay for direct mailings.
With the (large) exceptions of Myron Lowery and A.C. Wharton, Lawler will get the most free exposure by the media, but I don’t think that will enough to win. There are only so many people that listen to Young & Elder and Thaddeus Matthews. Read more »
Another second tier candidate thinks they have a shot.
The Commercial Appeal is doing a good job of keeping the front page of their website updated throughout the day with the latest and “greatest” from Willie’s “Look at me” campaign, 2009.
They’ve got a story up announcing that Sharon Webb is adding her name into the mix for the special election for Mayor of our fair city.
Memphis City Schools board member Sharon Webb told The Commercial Appeal that she plans to run in the City of Memphis special mayoral election — if it does indeed happen.
Webb, pastor of Life Changing Word Ministries, ran in 2007 but finished a very distant fifth with 510 of the 165,397 votes vast (0.33 percent of the vote).
Webb had previously run successful underdog campaigns to serve on the Memphis Charter Commission and to unseat Carl Johnson on the school board
I’ll update the big list with her name soon. She’s going to finish near the bottom of the second tier candidates. She’ll get more votes than Prince Mongo and (maybe) Jerry Lawler, but she’ll be stuck in the pack with Charles Carpenter, Ken Whalum, James Harvey and Wanda Halbert. Sorry Sharon.
Betting odds updated
Added Ken Whalum and Jerry Lawler to the original post, along with updating Willie.
Spoiler Alert: Willie’s not going anywhere.
Mayor Herenton: Are you kidding me?
Willie Herenton isn’t going anywhere. There go my July 10th Memphis Independance Day party plans.
Myron Lowery and Herenton are having a “bigger desk” contest and the city of Memphis is the one who suffers for it.
Herenton has said repetedly he “wants to go out on his own terms”. He had a chance to do that. He just won an election he didn’t want to run in, for an office he doesn’t want to hold, for a city that doesn’t want him as Mayor. He decided to resign to allow enough time to prepare for his upcoming defeat by Steve Cohen. I didn’t make him resign. The city council wasn’t going to force him to resign. Now the city council may try and force him to abide by his original resignation date of July 10th.
Willie loves a fight and now he’s got one. The city council may give him a pass on this one, but when he tries to extend it AGAIN, past July 31st, I expect Lowery and the other non-cronies on the council to come out swinging.
2 more possible candidates for Memphis Mayor
In my post yesterday I laid out the 11 candidates for Memphis Mayor and their odds of winning the office. I missed two potential candidates.
Prince Mongo.
His mom calls him Robert Hodges, but he calls himself “Prince Mongo, the ambassador of the planet Zambodia.” He has been a local, uh, “eccentric” around town for years. His most notable contribution to the history of Memphis was his campaign for City Mayor in 1991. Mongo recieved almost 3,000 votes allowing Willie Herenton to beat incumbent Mayor Dick Hackett by 142 votes. He’s been laying low lately, but he may throw his hat in the ring as well. Thanks to VitreousHumor on Twitter for the Mongo reminder.
Mongo Odds of winning: 1000-1
Willie Herenton
Mayor. Currently. His resignation is the reason we’re even talking about the special election, but according to this article on the Commercial Appeal, Herenton has considered resigning and then running in the special election, “depending on how many candidates get in the race, to keep it from getting crazy.” Yeah, because that wouldn’t be crazy.
He’s already filed for his pension and several of his cronies and lapdogs have already resigned as well. Those actions, combined with Willies’ newfound hatred for Steve Cohen and desire for his seat in Congress point to him finally going away this time. However, if he resigns and runs in the special election just to be a pain, he’ll win easily. He’s about as doubleminded and unstable as the good Mr. Mongo.
If he resigns and runs, he’ll win. 5-1 he’ll pull that garbage on the city.
Herenton Odds of winning: 5-1
Memphis is America’s 11th sweatiest city. Seriously.
The Memphis Business Journal has a blurb about Memphis being the 11th sweatiest city in the country. You can see the full Top 20 list over here or after the jump. Number One on the list? Phoenix, Arizona.
The list was put together by the people at Old Spice, but their methodology is flawed from the start.
The Sweatiest Cities rankings are based on computer simulations of the amount of sweat a person of average height and weight would produce walking around for an hour in the average temperatures during the summer months, based on historical weather data during June, July and August from 2001-2008 for each city.
I’m not saying Phoenix isn’t hot, but it’s the definition of “dry heat”. Most mornings in August around here I’ll start sweating walking from my front door to my car at 7:00 in the morning.
Memphis: Humidity lives here.
Who will be the next Mayor of Memphis? Wanna bet? Here’s your odds.
The CA had a story on Sunday about about the Mayoral hopefuls “considering the odds”. I’ve got your odds right here.
Updated July 7th, 2009. Willie just “unresigned”. I don’t think he’s going anywhere.
Willie Herenton
Mayor. Currently. His resignation is the reason we’re even talking about the special election, but according to this article on the Commercial Appeal, Herenton has considered resigning and then running in the special election, “depending on how many candidates get in the race, to keep it from getting crazy.” Yeah, because that wouldn’t be crazy.
He’s already filed for his pension and several of his cronies and lapdogs have already resigned as well. Those actions, combined with Willies’ newfound hatred for Steve Cohen and desire for his seat in Congress point to him finally going away this time. However, if he resigns and runs in the special election just to be a pain, he’ll win easily. He’s about as doubleminded and unstable as the good Mr. Mongo.
If he resigns and runs, he’ll win. 5-1 he’ll pull that garbage on the city.
Update: Herenton just “unresigned” until July 31st. Yeah, right. He’s not going anywhere. It’s even money whether he’ll stay or go now.
Herenton Odds of “winning”: Even Money. Not taking bets.
Announced Candidates
A.C. Wharton
County Mayor. The favorite to win the race due to his already high visibility and his reported $100,000 “war chest” left over from his last county mayoral race. Some have accused him of striking a deal with Herenton before the 2007 mayoral election to keep Wharton out of the race in return for Herentons promise to step down before his term was up. Herenton has denied that.
Wharton Odds of winning: 3-2
Myron Lowery
Current city councilman, soon to be Interim Mayor. He will be the third black mayor of Memphis, following J. O. Patterson Jr. and Willie Herenton. It looks like he’s going to take a lot of action in the three-ish months he’ll have the interim job. He’s already expressed his desire to get rid of as many Herenton cronies as possible. Most people would call that a successful career even if that’s all he does while he’s in charge.
Lowery Odds of winning: 3-1
Carol Chumney.
Former city concilwoman, longtime Herenton foe. Chumney was one of the two candidates (the other being Herman Morris) in 2007 that split the anti-Herenton vote, allowing Herenton to keep the job by default. Hereton “won” the race with roughly 40% of the votes. Chumney had about 35% and Morris had 20% (John Willingham and write-ins took the rest). Also, we used to go to the same 24-Hour Fitness. She might still go there, I have no idea.
Chumney Odds of winning: 10-1
Ken Whalum Jr.
Member of the Memphis city school board. I don’t know the guy personally, but I do read my newspaper. And judging from the info in the recent Commercial Appeal article, Whalum is a poor man’s Willie Herenton. Racially Divisive? Check! Uses his current city job as a stepping stone to a bigger job? Check! Doesn’t show up for work when he’s needed? Check! Refers to his abrasive, caustic, toxic personality as “passion”? Check! He’s got everything he needs to replace Willie except for 18 years of media exposure and name recognition. Even Thaddeus Matthews thinks this guy is a tool.
Whalum Odds of winning: 250-1
Possible Candidates
Kemp Conrad
City Councilman, elected in 2007 and former head of the Shelby County Republican party. He’ll get the votes of the hard core republicans, but I don’t know how much further his reach will go. He will be able to pull in money and that will give him an edge over the other candidates not name Wharton or Lowery. Some people don’t realize that a city mayor can’t change the laws about abortion or gay marraige any more than a city garbageman. Kemp, you MUST update your website. Please.
Kemp Odds of winning: 10-1 Read more »
Real Estate agents sue for $6 Mil after CSI portrays them as pervs.
From today’s LA Times.
When married real estate agents Scott and Melinda Tamkin read about an episode of the hit crime drama “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” that featured dirty-dealing, S&M-loving real estate agents named Scott and Melinda Tamkin, they didn’t need to consult a forensic expert for an explanation.
A house sale involving the Tamkins and a “CSI” producer had fallen apart four years before, and the producer was listed, in the same online description, as the co-writer of the episode.
On Friday the Tamkins filed a $6-million defamation and invasion of privacy suit against the producer, Sarah Goldfinger, saying she humiliated them and cost them potential business “by creating from whole cloth characters engaged in a reckless lifestyle of sexual bondage, pornography, drunkenness, marital discord, depression, financial straits and possibly even murder.”
The end of the article says the powers that be at CSI changed the name of the pervy couple from “Tamkin” to “Tucker” at the last minute, but the spoiler sites had already posted episode descriptions including their name. So “Tamkin” wasn’t used on the show, but if you were to google their names, you’d get lots of naughty stuff instead of their website.
Before you go watch the whole episode, here are a couple problems with this whole thing. Read more »
About Will Hicks
Will Hicks is an affiliate real estate broker licensed in the State of Tennessee. Prior to his career transition into real estate, Hicks was a SCUBA Instructor with the International ALERT Academy of Big Sandy, Texas and the National Academy of Police Diving, based in Miami, Florida.
Hicks says he’s been asked many times about the odd transition from SCUBA Instructor to Real Estate Agent. “Teaching people how to SCUBA dive was the most fun 10 years of my life. But you can’t eat fun.” You can’t pay the rent with it either.
You can reach Will Hicks in Memphis at (901) 758-5670 or (901) 828-9200 or on Twitter at TheWillHicks.
To subscribe to Will’s Featured Commercial Property of the week, Click Here.
