My Mayor Sucks

The mayor of Memphis has just won the “The Worst Mayor in the World” award. The ceremony has a date that has yet to be announced.

W.W. Herenton, aka “Taterhead”, King Willie, Slick Willy, and sometimes just plain “W”, has just put together a team to find out if it is a good idea for him to run for Congress. The team will look at the demographics, liklihood, strategies, as well as popularity factors, and decide if Mayor Herenton should run for Congress, against the current congressman, Steve Cohen.

Cohen, who has been called a token by some, due to the fact that he is white, and representing a majority African American district, as well as once trying to become part of the Black Congressional Caucus; this kinda gave him CooKoo status here in Memphis. Cohen realizes the strengths that Herenton has due to his popularity in Memphis as the city’s first African American Mayor, as well as being the longest acting Mayor in Memphis history. Cohen also knows that the Memphis populace has a history of voting along racial lines, and voting for an African American on race alone, regardless of the quality or experience of the candidate. It is truly a “By Any Means Necessary” approach, that most believe has ruined Memphis politics.

The environment in Memphis stinks of cronyism. Memphis has been plagued by scandals and trials of corrupt politicians, most being over petty amounts of money. The Tennessee Waltz sting by the Federal Government brought down several politicians here in Memphis, as well as the rest of the state. The sting was initiated by the Memphis newspaper, the Commercial Appeal, doing it’s own investigation. It was immediately called a racial witch hunt due to the overwhelming amount of African American politicians involved. The African American population in Memphis seemed to overlook the fact that all of the evidence was video and audio.  The overwhelming consensus in the majority black city, was that it amounted to entrapment or just general “picking on, or singling out of black politicians.” This reinforces the reverse racism and denial of wrongdoing simply because the politician was black. This is the everyday theme in the politics of Memphis. Facts and blatant evidence of wrongdoing seem to take a backseat to the color of the person’s skin. This is a mood and tone that has allowed Memphis to not progress in race relations.

Herenton has been an arrogant, divisive, racial antagonist, since stepping in to office almost 20 years ago. He has divided a beautiful, productive, and historical city by way of race, and an unwillingness to move forward. His remarks have offended the most liberal in the city. Herenton has single handedly set a tone in the city of  Memphis that screams “Black Power”. The tone is entitlement, for the sake of race. Herenton has placed his own cronies in jobs that they were not qualified for. He appointed his former bodyguards to jobs that they were in no way qualified for. These were not just your ordinary jobs. These were all jobs that paid just below and above the 100k mark. In my opinion, these were jobs to people who knew the real dirt on Mayor Herenton. These appointments all coming as the Feds were investigating Herenton for corruption. It appeared that Herenton was awarding these jobs to his inner circle so that they would not tell of the very confidential information that a bodyguard would be privy to.

Once, as Herenton toured the libraries in Memphis, he made the statement that, “Everybody looked the same. They obviously don’t respect diversity in the library system.” Herenton was obviously referring to the overwhelming number of white employees. Shortly after this, Herenton sent a black woman to receive a national award in place of the white woman that was the sole reason for the Memphis Library System receiving the award. This was another example of “Keeping the Pimp Hand Strong.” Needless to say, Herenton let the word out that the lady over the library system,  Judith Drescher, would not have her contract renewed, instead appointing a black lady to her position. Drescher then resigned.  The lady that was appointed did not even meet the state qualifications to hold the position. Herenton also appointed the Deputy Director of the library system to a lady from his administration, she too not having a Library Science degree. No nationwide search, no board to approve such an important decision, just plain cronyism.  That is ok with Herenton, because these two unqualified ladies are black, and diversity needs to be respected.

Herenton’s latest debacle is far more serious. His latest is that of a criminal nature, and rightfully so. He has profited over $90,000 from a deal that involves the influence of his position as mayor, with the proceeds being delivered by another key character, Elvin Moon. Moon is the contractor that was in the middle of a land swap with Herenton where land was sold to Moon for 50k, by Herenton, and then quit claimed back to Herenton for $10. Moon is now the guy who was instrumental in picking up and delivering the 91k to Herenton for the Greyhound deal, in which Herenton is being investigated for using his office to profit.

Moon’s status at the Hospital for the Federally Investigated has been upgraded from Critical, to a Cooperating witness.

Herenton has proven in his own words and actions that he does not possess the character, morals, ethics, or simple necessary qualities that our Congress requires. He is a crony, a race bater, a Man of Ill Fortitude. To allow our Congress to be soiled with the likes of W.W. Herenton, would be a slap in the face of America. Whereas, other parts of America may not know of the Mayor from Memphis, Tn., they will soon know, when and if he decides to run for Congess.

I personally think that he needs to abandon the idea of raising campaign funds and possibly turn his attention to raising a hefty retainer for a “Dream Team.”  In my opinion, Mayor Herenton is doing this as a front to give off the impression that he is not worried about the Federal Investigation concerning the Greyhound bus station, the Elvin Moon land deal, the Christmas party funds, or the…..well you get picture, all the cronyism and corruption that Memphis has had to deal with since Hiz Honna has come to Powwa.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 at 7:32 pm and is filed under Arizona, Louisiana, Mayors by State, Tennessee. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.