Monday, August 03, 2009

Ok, this is getting ridiculous

Now Wanda Halbert wants to run for Mayor. I like Wanda, and there's no risk for her, or anyone else for that matter (at least not for elected officials), but really?

OK, let's go over this, shall we? AC Wharton (7 years as County Mayor, but what has he really accomplished other than not offending anyone), Myron Lowery (I know you've only got 90 days, but you need to slow down, cowboy), Carol Chumney (we know what the problems are, tell us how you will FIX them and get the Council to assist), Thomas Long (great City Court Clerk, is he ready for the big time?) School Board Commissioner Rev. Kenneth Whalum, Jr. (the most interesting entrant in the race, he shoots from the hip but usually has solid logic behind his comments), Halbert (I just don't see this), James Harvey (new and confident, but this seems really soon for this race), Sharon Webb (uh, no), Kemp Conrad (Willingham will get in just to get him beat) and, as Vibinc refers to the Grand Old Man of the Grand Old Party, THE JOHN WILLINGHAM EXPERIENCE.

Of the above group, only three have extensive executive experience (Wharton, Long, Whalum - pastoring one of the largest churches in town is serious executive experience). Myron is trying to get things done to move the city out of the Herenton era, but it lasted 18 years and it's not going away anytime soon.

As for the legislators in the race, I feel compelled to remind them that since we have elected both City and County Mayors, only one legislator has been elected to each office: Councilman Wyeth Chandler as City Mayor in 1971, and Commissioner Jim Rout as County Mayor in 1994.
The fact is, it's tough for a legislator to be elected to an administrative position around her, and vice versa. What the legislators need to do to make their case is to offer SOLUTIONS; as we know what the problems are. That applies to ALL of them, not just Carol, by the way.
I am going to say this and surprise a lot of you: Do not assume I am in the tank for anyone at this point, because I really have not made up my mind yet.

Here are questions I would like answered:
1. Are you for or against consolidation of City and County government? If so, in what form; if not, why not?
2. Right now, the city needs not only a good manager, it needs a real LEADER who can bring diametrically opposite groups of people together for the common good. Tell me how you can do this and show examples if you believe you already have done so.
3. Are you for single-source funding for MCS and SCS, and why or why not?
4. Mayor Herenton did more for Downtown than any Mayor in history, but what do you intend to do to help what Polar Donkey calls THE C? There are more neighborhoods than just Downtown.
5. What will you do to have a good working relationship with the Council, when they sometimes can't agree among themselves?
6. Would you be willing to look outside the Mid-South for potential Division Directors? Tell me why or why not.

Finally, what makes YOU better than these other folks who want this job? WHY do you want it?

I await responses, and will publish them unedited.

2 comments:

RightWingNutJob said...

"The Republicans drove this country into a ditch and now they're complaining about the cost of the tow truck! - Jim Cornette"

While the GOP may well have driven us off into a ditch the Dems are trying to pull us out by driving the tow truck into the same ditch only this time the ditch is full and threatens to wash us all away into a lake with no bottom.

It's difficult to take you too seriously when you wear your partisanship on your sleeve for the whole world to see. My name is a joke, yours is a serious reflection of your ideology methinks...

Also, when do the ills we are plagued by become the property of the party currently in power. At some point you can no longer blame the previous administration for whet we are experiencing in the here and now.

Anyway, back on topic. You pose some very legitimate questions that deserve to be addressed by any serious candidate. Thank you for that and I would be very interested in hearing the responses...

Tom Guleff said...

NutJob,

You are right, anyone who blogs and/or posts comments on a blog is a nutjob. Welcome to the club. Your membership card is in the mail. Don't forget to pay your annual dues. :)