Free Republic

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...

Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division president and CEO Joseph Lee III and general counsel Odell Horton Jr. will resign effective Friday, Mayor Willie Herenton announced this morning. Herenton said he was accepting their resignations because the city-owned utility had developed a "public relations problem." He said he made the moves in order to allow MLGW to move forward. "Ratepayers deserve calm," said a solemn Herenton. The mayor earlier had rejected Lee’s offer to resign, but he was now accepting it because he had come to a "different point of view." MLGW, the mayor’s office and the City Council have...