TennWatch/Volitics

Bowers' DUI Charge Dropped

Former state senator Kathryn Bowers got some good news for a change: a tox screen came back showing she wasn't drunk or drugged when this happened:

The 63-year-old Bowers was charged after her car swerved across three lanes of I-240 near Hollywood and struck a UPS truck about 4 p.m. Aug. 31.

She told police she had taken the sleep aid Ambien and six other medications she could not name, but that she had not been drinking alcohol.

In addition to not facing a DUI, a failure to exercise due care charge was also dismissed.

So now Bowers only has to worry about the reckless driving charge that was bound over to a grand jury.

And that whole public corruption thing where she (allegedly) accepted $11,500 in bribes from the FBI, of course.

I wonder if she can claim that she was drugged when she took a bribe? Can failure to exercise good judgement while totally fricked up really be a crime? Or would that give far, far too many of our elected servants an out? Senator Kennedy, do you have an opinion on that?

Memphis Police Declare Victory, Homicides Skyrocket

"Memphis January crime down 12%" screams the headline, which most readers never make it past. In case they do keep reading, there's the reassuring sub-headline follow-up, "Aggravated assaults almost 20% below year-ago." Still reading? The article reassuringly starts:

Crime in Memphis dropped dramatically in January compared to a year ago, and a police spokeswoman credits "aggressive policing and tracking the hot spots."

All reported crime was down more than 12 percent from January 2006, and violent crime was down more than 20 percent.

Yes, while rape is marginally down (3.4%), real progress was made in robberies of individuals (28%), residential burglaries (10.6%) and larceny (13.2%). [I don't think they included Shelby County politicians in that last one.]

Whew, good news! Right?

The devil is in the details:

• Robbery of business up 3 percent.
• Car theft up over 7 percent over January 2006.
• Homicide up 27.3 percent.

So while the Auto Cargo Theft Task Force has been effectively busting chop shops, citizens are being gunned down in the streets in increasing numbers.

Not exactly something to crow about, is it?

Discount Flights Coming to Memphis

Frontier Airlines will begin flying out of Memphis International in May. Service will include 2 daily nonstop flights to Denver, with 2 additional flights to be announced at a later date.

Although known for thier discount fares, the planes will be 114-seat Airbus 318s, which include seat-back televisions and pay-per-view channels.

Frontier is the second-largest jet service carrier at Denver International Airport. Its other service in Tennessee is to Nashville, where it offers three flights a day.

Here's hoping one of the additional routes will be to Dallas. If so, I may overcome my intense distaste of dealing with airport security and being shipped like cattle for the opportunity to see my grandchildren more often.

Bartlett Taxes May Rise

Mayor McDonald is talking about raising Bartlett's property tax over 13 percent, from $1.31 per $100 of assessed value to $1.49.

The mayor has to pay for his expansion vision:

• Add 24 police officers in the next four years.
• Add six new paramedics in the next four years.
• Open three parks in the next four years.
• Pay for the fact that Bartlett assumed full costs of operating the Bartlett Branch Library.
• Increasing fuel and utility costs.
• Increasing personnel costs, including health and pension needs.
• Complete the extension of Kirby-Whitten to Old Brownsville Road.
• Increase wastewater treatment capacity by 1 million gallons a day.

With Memphis crime increasingly coming to Bartlett, the cops can't come fast enough. Maybe the paramedics, given last year's annexation.

The rest of it can wait while the city tries to cut spending.

Mayoral Roundup from Cameron

Cameron Harper has some thoughts about the list of candidates for Memphis Mayor.

Dutch Treat

Mike Hollihan made it to the Dutch Treat Luncheon and covers it with his usual insight and flair. Well worth the click.

Some seem genuine in their desire for public service as mayor, however unlikely their chances or dreadful their politics. (Hi Carol!)

Now that's just funny, I don't care who y'are.

[The Dutch Treat Luncheon is a monthly bi-partisan event.]

Tamara Mitchell-Ford Arrested . . . Again

Tamara Mitchell-Ford spent the night in a Collierville jail last Tuesday:

The officer used the squad car's camera system to video the Jaguar as it swerved while traveling 20 mph in a 45 mph zone, the police report states.

After stopping the car, the officer reported smelling a strong odor of alcohol coming from Ford, hearing her slurred speech, having to support her during a field sobriety test, and finding a mostly empty bottle of vodka.

Mitchell-Ford refused to submit to a breath analysis, and act for which she was charged in addition to DUI, reckless driving and driving with an open container.

Mitchell-Ford is former state senator John Ford's ex-wife (John Ford is currently under indictment on charges stemming from the FBI's Tennessee Waltz sting), and aunt to Harold Ford, Jr.

This is not Mitchell-Ford's first brush with the law.

• In 2001, she rammed her car into the Collierville home of Connie Matthews, John Ford's long-time girlfriend. John Ford was living with both women at the time, spending some nights each week with Mitchell-Ford and her 3 children, other nights with Matthews and her 2 children. All five children are John Ford's.
• In 2004, she spent for 3 months in jail for traffic offenses and violating probation.
• In 2006, she spent another weekend in jail for violating probation.

She was released on Wednesday afternoon on $500 bond, but failed to report the incident to her parole officer so a warrant was issued for her arrest. She was arrested at her home Wednesday evening by Shelby County Sheriff's deputies for violating the terms of her parole.

Anyone see a pattern here?

Ford Family Tree

Newton (N.J.) and Vera Ford begat 15 children. Among them:

• Harold Ford, Sr., former federal representative. First Ford to enter the world of politics since the 1880s and now living in a mansion on an exclusive Florida beach. He was indicted in a federal bank fraud case, having written 388 bad checks totaling $552,447 at House bank between 1988 and 1991, but was acquitted in 1993 when a probe found "no criminal wrongdoing" on his part (even though he was one of the worst abusers). He decided not to run again in '96.
• John Ford, state Senator, currently under indictment on charges of bribery and extortion in the FBI’s Tennessee Waltz. Past brushes with the law include allegedly shooting at a trucker on I-40 (covered up by the TBI) and waving a gun at utility workers trying to fix damage from an ice storm in front of his house.
• Ophelia Ford, current state Senator whose first election was voided by the Senate when is was proven that a number of illegal votes were cast, including those of dead people. She had "won" by a margin of 13 votes.
• Emmitt Ford, former state representative, convicted of insurance fraud in 1981 and sentenced to 21 months in prison for tax evasion in 2000.
• Edmund Ford, currently chairman of the Memphis City Council.
• Dr. James Ford, now deceased. He was elected to the Memphis city council and the Shelby county commission.
• Joe Ford, currently serving on the County Commission. He was elected to the city council when brother James left to fill his seat on the county commission. Joe was appointed to the County Commission brother James died in 2001, and won "re-election" in 2002.

Harold Ford (Sr.) begat three sons:

• Harold Ford, Jr., who served as US Representative for the same district that his father served. He was raised in Washington, attended prep schools, and claimed his grandmother Vera was white during his failed run for Senate. [Note: she wasn't, but saying so sure pissed off the black community.]
• (Newton) Jake Ford, who recently tried to enter politics by running as an independent in the Steve Cohen/Mark White race for the seat brother Harold had vacated to run for Senate. His arrest record includes assault against his father in 1991, a subsequent bench warrant when he failed to appear in court, a 1993 charge of marijuana possession and a DUI in 1994. None of these cases went to trail and there is no felony record for the man.
• Sir Isaac, currently studying to be a doctor, has unsuccessfully run for Memphis City Council and Shelby County mayor. He voted in the voided victory of his aunt Ophelia because he claimed to live at the funeral home which is in the district, even though he really lives in a home he owns with his father in east Memphis. He served as campaign treasurer for brother Jake's unsuccessful run.

Legislation for Government Transparency

State Sen. Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro) and Rep. Tom DuBois (R-Columbia) have introduced legislation that expands the right of citizens to inspect government records to include the general assembly, committees, subcommittees and ad hoc committees. In other words, the workings of our legislature would be open to the public for the first time.

Believe it or not, this is not currently the case. Section 10-7-503 Inspection by citizens; confidentiality; law enforcement personnel records reads:

Except as provided in § 10-7-504(f), all state, county and municipal records and all records maintained by the Tennessee performing arts center management corporation, except any public documents authorized to be destroyed by the county public records commission in accordance with § 10-7-404, shall at all times, during business hours, be open for personal inspection by any citizen of Tennessee, and those in charge of such records shall not refuse such right of inspection to any citizen, unless otherwise provided by state law.

If approved, the new legislation (SB0222 and HB0437) retains the above text by moving it to subsection (1) but adds this explicit verbiage as subsection (2):

Except as provided in § 10-7-504(f) and in title 3, all records of the general assembly or a committee, subcommittee or ad hoc committee thereof shall at all times, during business hours, be open for personal inspection by any citizen of Tennessee, and those in charge of such records shall not refuse such right of inspection to any citizen, unless otherwise provided by state law.

This is what is commonly referred to as "a good start".

Hat tip to Bill Hobbs, who correctly observes:

The legislation has a chance to pass in the Republican-lead Senate, which is more open to openness these days than the House, where House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh generally fights such things.

Note that the exception in Section 10-7-504(f) covers unpublished telephone numbers, Social Security numbers, and driver's license information of public employees or his immediate family member, reasonable exemptions all. For a more complete list of things hidden from the public eye, click here.

Cohen Drops National Lottery Idea

As state Senator, Democrat Steve Cohen helped the state of Tennessee become a giant casino, and took that idea with him to Washington when he became a congressman. But he has decided against the idea of a National lottery.

Not because it isn't the government's job to run gambling games, but because it might take away money from the Tennessee lottery:

“I decided I’d be competing against myself,” he said in Washington on Tuesday.

Competing against himself? Is he the owner of the Tennessee lottery?

Bringing Toyota to the Region

The Memphis Flyer rightly berates the Memphis Regional Chamber of Commerce for not helping Marion, Arkansas to secure a billion dollar Toyota plant. While Nashville and Gov. Bredesen try to woo Toyota into Eastern Tennessee, our city should be doing everything possible to help bring this job-generating, revenue pumping facility to a location just 10 miles away, even if it is across the river.

Memphis has been getting whipsawed by Mississippi and Arkansas for years. Those states and their bedroom suburbs attract Memphis residents, teachers, professionals, buildings, and businesses with an above-board campaign touting supposedly lower taxes and bigger incentives, and a whisper campaign driven by fears of race and crime.

True, except for the fact that the "whisper campaign driven by fears of race and crime" is more like a full blown rock opera complete with super-powered amplifiers and a laser light show.

Yet revenue will even help alleviate our crime problems; with revenue comes employment, with employment and integration into society comes the rule of law. It is estimated that the 2,000 jobs at the Toyota facility could generate as many as an additional 10,000 jobs in the surrounding communities.

The Mid-South is the epicenter of “the new Detroit,” as New York Times reporter Michelin Maynard has written. Kentucky, Alabama, Middle Tennessee, and Mississippi have landed huge plants from General Motors, Mercedes, Nissan, and others. Drive south 180 miles from Memphis on Interstate 55 and you will see the sprawling Nissan plant in Madison, Mississippi, just north of Jackson. That’s an economic magnet and industrial powerhouse that runs 365 days a year and pays good wages to thousands of ordinary people, not a handful of professional athletes.

Well said.

Update: According to one financial expert, Marion looks like the more likely pick:

Michael Randle, editor and publisher of Southern Business and Development magazine in Birmingham, Alabama, said he has correctly predicted most auto assembly plant sites, starting with BMW in South Carolina in 1992.

He is not ruling out Chattanooga, but he guesses Toyota will pick Marion, Arkansas, this time.