Free Republic

The former mayor backed out of a debate scheduled for July 11 to be aired live on WREG-TV Channel 3 because he said two panelists were biased and would be unfair to him. He called Norm Brewer, a WREG commentator, and Otis L. Sanford, editor for opinion and editorials at The Commercial Appeal, “two of the most biased individuals in the media that I've been involved with in over 30 years of public service." snip “That allows the challenger to determine that Norman Brewer and Otis Sanford – two of the most respected journalists in the city of Memphis –...

While Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton was preparing to call for a 17 percent hike in city property taxes, he had a little tax problem of his own: unpaid city and county property taxes. This morning, Herenton paid $5,768 in Shelby County property taxes on his home at 5281 Horn Lake. They were due Feb . 29. The amount paid this morning included $168.02 in interest and penalties. City taxes on a property owned by Herenton Investment Co. at 270 Dubois, located in the Banneker Estates subdivision that Herenton is developing and where he lives, were paid yesterday. As of Wednesday,...

As first reported by WREC's Mike Fleming, Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton is stepping down on July 31. Sources suggest that he plans to campaign for superintendent of Memphis City Schools. ... Herenton was re-elected last fall and has served as mayor for 16 years. Recently a federal grand jury exploring Herenton’s ties to a city contractor has served subpoenas at the Memphis Area Transit Authority offices.

Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton, who for more than a decade has advocated for the consolidation of Memphis and Shelby County governments, would like to eliminate a major obstacle in his way: the veto power of suburban voters. In his annual state of the city address delivered Wednesday, Herenton said he plans to seek legislation that would eliminate the requirement that suburban voters separately ratify city-county consolidation, thus making a merger of the two governments more likely. Such a proposal could require a change to Tennessee's Constitution. Not surprisingly, suburban mayors did not respond favorably. "It's just a bad idea," Arlington...

MEMPHIS — The FBI is investigating a computer programmer’s claim that a city subcontractor owes him $79,440 for work he did for the city. Bala Karri said he’s been unable to get Reginald French — a close friend of Mayor Willie Herenton — to pay him for software work he performed on city computers. French, who owns a technology firm, denies the allegation. After months of wrangling behind the scenes, Karri took the dispute public with an e-mailed plea to members of the City Council, and now the FBI is asking questions. Agents have asked about Karri’s e-mails in recent...

Willie Herenton's "My Way"

Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton has already declared he doesn’t have a "punk bone" in his body. Come September he will prove it in a huge way when the 65-year-old climbs into the ring with former world heavyweight boxing champion Smokin Joe Frazier, who is 62. The three-round boxing match will be held at The Peabody as a fund-raiser to help Herenton’s financially struggling alma mater, LeMoyne-Owen College, said Herenton’s spokeswoman Gale Jones Carson. LeMoyne-Owen faces a debt of more than $6 million. — Yolanda Jones Copyright 2006, commercialappeal.com - Memphis, TN. All Rights Reserved.

Eddie Neal voted for Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton four times, but now says enough is enough. Neal was one of about 50 people who gathered at an East Memphis Marriott Wednesday night to discuss plans to force a recall of Herenton, who has been in office for 14 years and is halfway through his fourth term. The group, organized by Memphian Thaddeus Matthews, needs to get about 70,000 signatures on a petition to place a recall measure on the ballot. "I tell you what did it for me -- any time the mayor can say to people that pay his...

Yes, others can do job, officials tell Herenton By Tom Bailey Jr. Contact January 3, 2004 Despite Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton's opinion that he alone is qualified to be mayor, there's plenty of political talent around town, other local officials said Friday. Many people, both on the City Council and elsewhere, have shown they have the ability to run the government, state Sen. Roscoe Dixon said. "I think A C (Wharton Jr.) has done a great job in the short time he's been county mayor. . . . I think there's just an ample number of people who are qualified...

Mayor slashes salary requests Citing 'inequity,' he asks 3 percent raises for aides By Blake Fontenay fontenay@gomemphis.com May 28, 2002 Mayor Willie Herenton has scaled back his proposal to give big raises to his chief administrative officer and city division directors. In a memo sent Friday, Herenton instead suggested 3 percent salary increases for Chief Administrative Officer Rick Masson and the division directors. Four days earlier, Herenton had surprised the City Council with a proposal to raise Masson's salary from $114,344 to $170,000 - a 49 percent increase. A 3 percent increase would bring Masson's salary to $117,774.32. Herenton had...