Voters likely to forgive, forget -- Herenton will be OK, say experts

Memphis Commercial Appeal ^ | 5/6/7 | Halimah Abdullah

[SmithL]

Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton has weathered acrimonious political feuds, tongue-wagging over fathering a child out of wedlock, an overhyped bout with an aging heavyweight, a tremendous dip in polls and a concerted effort among some of the region's political power brokers to replace him.

So it should come as little surprise if the turmoil surrounding Herenton appointee Joseph Lee's actions while head of Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division rolls off the mayor like grease off Teflon.

"A day in politics is like a light year," said Susan Adler Thorp, a political analyst and former political columnist for The Commercial Appeal. "Today's news has a way of blending into the background five or six months from now."

Earlier this year the politically embattled mayor found himself squarely in the midst of yet another controversy when The CA reported that MLGW granted more than a dozen powerful politicians access to a special program that may have protected their utility services from ever being disconnected.

Most of the politicos were unaware that their names were on the preferential treatment list.

Later, the utility company, mayor's office and City Council became part of a three-way saga involving an FBI inquiry into the MLGW accounts of Councilman Edmund Ford.

The politician accumulated more than $16,000 in debt on three accounts while serving as chairman of the committee that oversees MLGW's spending and budget.

Ford has since paid off the debt.

Lee, who personally helped prevent the cutoff of Ford's utilities, has appeared before a federal grand jury along with several current and former utility employees. However, the mayor's staunch defense of Lee and his initial refusal to accept the executive's resignation raised the ire of some elected officials and voters.

This week, Herenton, who is seeking a fifth term as city mayor, took a different position.

"There have been a series of events that caused an erosion in confidence at MLGW that I don't believe Joseph Lee can overcome," Herenton said.

But it is unlikely that Lee's failure to "overcome" will greatly impact Herenton's re-election bid.

"I doubt it will be pivotal," said Marcus Pohlmann, a political science professor at Rhodes and author of ''Racial Politics at the Crossroads.'' "People have short political memories. Issues rise that seem significant, then other things surface that grab the headlines."

Opponents looking to remind voters of the MLGW fallout will likewise have to tread carefully. Herman Morris, Lee's predecessor and a mayoral contender, also maintained a list of customers he felt warranted special attention.

"(Morris) has been able to stay off the radar screen," Pohlmann said. "MLGW could bite Morris as much as it could bite Herenton."

Likewise, Council member and mayoral candidate Carol Chumney "missed an opportunity" to parlay criticism over Herenton's support of Lee into something that might benefit her campaign, Pohlmann said. Last month, a council resolution to officially request Lee's resignation failed in a 6-6 vote. Chumney, a vocal Herenton critic, abstained.

"I think Council Lady Chumney may have single-handedly saved (Lee's) career tonight," Councilman Jack Sammons said just after the highly charged vote. "I think the public is going to be angry."

Then again, maybe not.

"Herenton certainly has enough going against him this time around, but this won't sink him," Pohlmann said. "In October those utility bills won't be mounting up."

[SmithL]

Walkin' in Memphis

[SmithL]

Why wouldn’t a city that keeps electing Fords also keep electing Herenton?

[river rat]

Cities like Memphis, New Orleans, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Detroit,Boston, Baltimore, Washington, etc,..etc......make Baghdad look positively clean and righteous by comparison...

[fieldmarshaldj]

Herenton has always done a good job of keeping the White vote in his camp. He has exploited their fears with the brilliance of the old time segs. He knows they may not always be happy with him, but the options were always either him or the Ford family’s total control.

[Coldwater Creek]

Or, one could move north or east out of Shelby county!

[GailA]

You hit the nail on the head.

[Reaganesque]

I have always found it amusing to see the lengths to which the media will go to not identify the political affiliation of Liberal Democrats when said Democrat is accused of wrong-doing. I’m from MA and I saw this all the time. There really is little a Democrat can do that will get the media or their voters to turn on them apart from agreeing with a Republican. In MA, they’ve had politicians who were either indicted or convicted of serious crimes who would still run for re-election with full confidence that they could win. Talk about a culture of corruption.

[MNJohnnie]

Isn’t interesting to compare and contrast how our “Objective Media” covers a Republican “scandal” and a Democrat “scandal”?

Republican Scandal: US “news Media” reports every accusation, rumor or half truth as “fact” and hypes it as positively worst political crime ever over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over......

Democrat Scandal: US “News Media” white washes the whole thing, claims it makes no difference to the voters and goes all out to destroy the life of the accusers.

So are our modern “Journalists” this arrogantly stupid that they think this sort of transparent partisanship is actually “Objectivity” or do they simply assume the American people are so willfully blind that they can be as rabidly partisan as they want what and suffer no professional consequences ever?