Where are the statesmen and stateswomen?
At what point does personal political ambition become so overpowering that a person is willing to sacrifice the facts and put the community on the back burner?
There are plenty of comments on local media websites from people decrying Memphis politicians for playing to the crowd, for their willingness to traffic in divisiveness for their own benefit and for aiming for the basest emotions in their zeal to be elected or stay in office. Overlooked in this finger-pointing are the same behaviors when they happen outside Memphis, but there, as much as anywhere in our community, the “it’s all about me” politics and fear-mongering as campaign strategy are tools of the trade.
We were reminded of this again this week in the way that Shelby County Schools Chairman David Pickler and his minions pursue special school district status to the detriment of the overall community good and the way that Shelby County Commission John Pellicciotti manages to mangle the facts about consolidation. This type of “means justify the ends” approach to politics is so much of what’s wrong with politics in our entire community.
Truthiness
Sometimes, it seems that their kneejerk opposition to consolidation isn’t as powerful as politicians hoped, so they have to keep whipping up emotions when they could just as easily find out the facts if they got involved with the work of the Metro Charter Commission. But, once they’ve staked their political future on this kind of fear-mongering, they have to stick with it, even when the facts run against them.
Remember when these folks said that the new charter would consolidate schools. Well, it won’t, and there is likely to be language in the charter that only the elected school boards can ever do that. Remember when they said it was all a power grab. Well, the charter commission wants to give people in annexation reserve areas the right to vote on whether they should be annexed. Remember when they said it was all about Memphis dominating the suburbs. Well, the new charter will probably give almost every town its own representative for the first time since Baker v. Carr. Remember when they said the costs of services like libraries would be dumped on the small towns. Well, the charter commission has done just the opposite.
But none of these facts affect people who leverage fear to get elected. As a result, Commissioner Pellicciotti offered up more untruths in yesterday’s email blast, writing, “Much of the tax burden will be spread out from Memphis residents to everyone in the County. Current reports indicate that 14 of 16 proposed divisions would be funded by general service area taxes. This is exactly that kind of tax redistribution that we feared would result from consolidation.”
There’s only one problem: It’s a lie. Not only will the tax burden not be spread out – nor can it really be under the current law – the Charter Commission hasn’t even begun deliberations on that issue yet. Hopefully, a county commissioner would know that.
Knotted Up
Then he tied himself in a rhetorical knot in his excitement to somehow get health reform into his e-newsletter: “The Charter Commission strategy appears to be one of dividing the county areas into various segments and buying them off with little nuggets in much the same manner that Senators bought to support healthcare reform. The latest offer is to give citizens of unincorporated areas the right to vote on being annexed by one of the suburban municipalities. I support the right of self-determination for citizens, but am concerned about it being used as a ruse to get everyone into a bad deal.”
In other words, anything that doesn’t give him the consolidation horse to whip for votes has to be a ploy. We wonder if he’s ever even met the 15 members of the Charter Commission whom he smears with his attack on their integrity. Half are from outside Memphis – including the Millington Mayor who said at a recent Charter Commission meeting that he had no problem with the voters deciding whether they would be annexed — so these non-Memphians must be pawns in this grand conspiracy.
Simply put, the Charter Commission is doing what it’s supposed to do: It’s listening to the people, the people said they wanted the right to vote, the Charter Commission wants to put this into the Charter, and Mr. Pellicciotti attacks them for it. In other words, it’s hard to imagine anything that the Commission could do that would suit him.
Here’s the truth: if the people in the county towns went to sleep tonight and woke up tomorrow and consolidation had taken place, they’d never know it unless someone told them. But we can be sure one thing: Commissioner Pellicciotti would still be saying the sky is falling.
Nothing Special
We apologize for being hard on Commissioner Pellicciotti, but we had hoped for better out of him. We’re long past expecting anything but pandering from his major opponent, Chris Thomas.
Meanwhile, Shelby County Schools is almost giddy about the prospects for its legislation to open the door for it to become a special school district. As usual, the county school board is motivated by their short-term gratification at the expense of the long-term best interests of the entire community, and as usual, there is a racial context to the board’s decisions and agenda that is nothing short of abhorrent.
The State of Tennessee halted the number of special districts at 14 in 1982. Memphis City Schools is a hybrid of a special school district created in 1869. Shelby County Schools believes that if it becomes a special district, its boundaries will be frozen as they are today.
In other words, no one will benefit more from this legislation than lawyers, because it’s hard to imagine how Shelby County Schools can in effect trump the private act for Memphis City Schools that calls for the school district boundaries to be the same as Memphis. Someone should begin now to select the judge to hear that lawsuit.
Conversion
According to the Tennessee General Assembly Fiscal Review Committee, the amendment to the legislation would authorize special school districts. If approved, the amendment would be followed by a private act to create the special district for Shelby County Schools, to fix the permanent boundary and give it authority to impose a property tax, according to county lawyers.
County school officials said that they will put it up at referendum for the public to decide, and we’re always for the people getting to vote on the structure of their government. However, every county taxpayer should get to vote on this issue, including those who happen to live in Memphis (or perhaps we can have a dual referenda like the one that is such a favorite of county politicos and it would have to pass inside Memphis and outside Memphis in separate votes). In the end, despite lots of rhetoric about accountability, the county district is hoping for the autonomy that would remove it even the occasional uncomfortable question from county government.
Lost in this discussion is a report jointly commissioned by the city and county school districts in late 2007 about the impact of the special school district; however, when the draft conclusions were distributed, one thing was incontrovertible: There would be no upside to Memphis City Schools if the county district became a special school district and there would be considerable downside, not to mention operational nightmares, confusing responsibilities and a tax disparity that would give rise to a federal court hearing.
At that point, the plug was pulled on the report by Mr. Pickler, we are told.
Just as he did a few months ago when he nailed state government for its lack of commitment to The Med, Shelby County Commissioner Mike Ritz said it perfectly when he wrote Shelby County legislators in opposition to the special school district legislation. Methodically, he dealt with accountability, property taxes, school system growth, school system funding and Memphis City Schools vs. Memphis City Council, and debunks each justification for the special district.
It’s exactly that kind of logic and rational thinking that Shelby County Schools wants to avoid in the first place.
So let’s get this straight. If you are for consolidation, you are free to voice your support for it and are free to tout what the charter commission will “likely” do, even though nothing has been written and there is no real way of knowing what they will do. You can also freely make statements that are pure speculation (or hokum more like it) like when, in a recent email, Rebuilding Government referred to consolidation as something that will “make our government more ethical.” You can also freely draw comparisons to consolidations in other cities while not acknowledging that since our consolidation plan is not written, there is no way to draw such comparisons honestly. But, if you are an opponent of consolidation, you really ought to wait to see the details before you criticize because to make general arguments in opposition to an unwritten plan would just be wrong.
We adhere to the old Baruch saying: Every one has the right to his opinion; nobody has the right to be wrong on the facts.
We don’t care what position Mr. Pellicciotti takes if he can get the facts right. He didn’t and that’s why we wrote about it. The inability by consolidation-obsessive people to get the facts straight was the theme of this post (we thought).
Let us repeat our position:
1) Doing nothing is not an option because our community – including all those folks outside Memphis – are destined to be on the low rungs of cities in the U.S. and we will slowly sink under our own weight.
2) We believe that a better platform for government would shake up that trajectory, save money, and increase productivity because it has in other places. Based on the massive duplication of jobs and responsibilities here, we think eliminating one government is better than having two, and the results in other cities sure makes the case that it’s the best platform for success.
3) We support consolidation in theory, but we won’t know if we will vote for it until we see the final charter written by the Charter Commission. They’ve already done more than we ever expected, but we’ll know how we’ll vote in July/August.
By the way, we’re glad you mentioned ethics. The Charter Commission is putting ethics into the charter, and currently, ethics rules are not in either the city or county charter, so we think that’s a start. These rules will never work as long as they are ordinances or resolutions which can be changed by the people they are purportedly applying to. We do think the Charter Commission needs to beef up its ethics rules, and we’ll make sure that we tell them so. Will you?
Finally, we base our opinions on what we think the charter commission will likely do by listening to its meetings online and talking to some of its members, so we feel our opinion is sound (or we wouldn’t have stated it).
Thanks for the comments.
I don’t know. I just don’t see Memphis’ problem as being its form of government(s), and I don’t see Memphis’ problems as being solved by changing governments. Education? How does consolidation fix it? Crime? What can be done about crime post consolidation that can’t be done now? Talent Retention? What company was coming here but didn’t because of our form of government or because of some disagreement between county and city re how or whether to court them? What problems does Memphis have that simply can’t be solved by better leaders, and what in the world will consolidation do to give us better leaders? I am not necessarily against this thing, but I can’t really fall for the arguments for it either right now, which seem to me to fall in the “get rich quick” category. The city has taken, and in some ways continues to take, a 20 year holiday from leadership. I don’t see how consolidation fixes that, given that all the old faves will just run for their old jobs in the new government and have the same old arguments in a bigger room. I understand the urge to reboot, but I am skeptical that rebooting will fix the problems. It will, however, lower taxes in the city and likely raise them in the county, so there is that.
Anonymous:
There is beauty in centralized functions. What is we had a Real Time Crime Center for the whole county? Now only the cops stop at borders, not the criminals. Also, 9-1-1 is fragmented and ungangly, and there are costs in IT, management systems, training, that are duplicative and not consistent. We think that centralized law enforcement can create seamless law enforcement and if written into the charter right, it can also create more professionalism.
What’s lost often in the discussion now is that Memphis and Shelby County have tried almost every kind of approach to increase efficiency, accountability and responsiveness – outsourcing some functions, functional consolidation (more than almost any place we know except Charlotte), intergovernment agreements, shared funding, etc., but as Mayor Wharton said, it’s still like flying a jet with ice on the wings. It doesn’t matter how much you try, it’s still too hard to succeed.
Talent retention is an important plus, as far as we’re concerned and we work in this area, as you may know. Memphis’ image among young professionals and creative workers is nil and negative. A new government shakes things up and positions us as a progressive, energetic place open to new ideas. There’s no reason we should cede talent to Nashville without a fight, and that’s what is happening now. Most talented 25-34 year-old workers make their decision on where to live before they decide where to work, and they make these decisions on postcard information on many, many occasions. Buzz matters, national positioning works, and positive imagine works.
Also, if we consolidate, our community becomes the 11th largest in the country, and it automatically hits more economic development lists and attracts more attention in the marketplace.
We operate under the misapprehension that our leaders are worse than any other place, when in truth, this isn’t the case. But as long as we have a we versus they attitude, as long as every one is fighting for crumbs from the table, and as long as we don’t talk with one voice, leadership doesn’t really matter. We have the wrong business model and the wrong platform. Also, the other cities that have consolidated ushered in a whole new generation and group of leaders, because campaigns were more affordable and change always attracts change makers. Government structure matters.
Here’s the thing: if we don’t like things as they are, we are lost if we keep nibbling around the edges and thinking things will change by themselves. The thing that attracted us a lot to consolidation is the fact that new leadership came into the system and transformed things. That’s what happened in Louisville and we think it can happen here. One thing we know – left alone, we’ll have the same old crew until they die.
I don’t mind you being hard on me, but occasionally, I’d appreciate the benefit of the doubt, or at least an inquisitive e-mail prior to attempting to drive over me with a bus. You obviously have my e-mail address if you have my e-mail. When stating something as fact, I typically have supporting documentation.
As for the facts-
1. You are correct that my statement about the 14 of 16 divisions/departments was factually incorrect. In my defense, so was the Memphis News article from which I pulled the information. I’ve spoken with Ms. Ellis, as well as others who have corrected the bad information. I will issue a correction in my next e-mail.
2. I haven’t smeared any of the Charter Commission members, nor will I. They are a group of concerned citizens trying to do what is asked of them. I believe that you should attack the ideas, not the people. My belief that they are good people will not stop me from speaking out against what I believe to be a bad idea.
3. The goal of the Charter Commission is to produce a document that everyone can get behind. I am skeptical of the high profile release of tidbits that appeal to those of us outside the Memphis city limits. If it turns out that these are simply a sample of good things to come, great, but if they are merely crumbs given to appease us then I will continue to be a vocal skeptic of the proposed consolidation. It will take more than one or two items to make me change my mind.
As recent headlines indicate, I am not satisfied with the status quo. I am tired of politicians who get their sense of self from a political career. We need public servants who identify themselves more with the communities they represent than the positions they hold. I will unabashedly hold people accountable for as long as I hold office. I also welcome the idea of ethics regulations with penalties. The lack of accountability is something that frustrates me.
The Charter Commission will produce good ideas that need to be considered. I don’t think that they have to be implemented through consolidation. I am committed to championing the ones that I think benefit the whole county.
Lest we get back into a point-counterpoint conversation, I will summarize. I pulled bad information from the media. I admit the mistake and will issue a correction. I will continue to be skeptical of consolidation, but will both listen and contribute ideas to the process. I will not engage in personal attacks of any person serving on the charter commission. If you’d like to debate the issue of consolidation, I am happy to, but ask that we keep it to the myriad of issues that must be addressed. I assume that everyone involved wants the best for our community and that we all just have differing ideas of how to get there.
As always, I enjoy reading your thoughts.
Actually the one point the concerns me the most in Commissioner’s post is that he apparently used the media as a source of information either to redistribute or on which decisions and positions will be based. It was a mistake, and we all make them. However, where such a touchy issue is concerned I would hope our representatives and leaders would at least double check to ensure the legitimacy of the information. I would hate to think that decisions are being made based simply on reports in the Memphis News, WMC, the CA, etc… Once the statement is out there, the information is difficult to retract . Each of the recipients will have read the information and formed an opinion and I bet more than a few then passed that information on to a third party. Hopefully these individuals will make an effort to address the mistake as well even though it is doubtful.
Commissioner Pellicciotti is simply in a pandering competition with Chris Thomas. Due to name recognition, Thomas is favored and Pellicciotti has to show that he not one of those secret proponents of even a little bit of consolidation for his suburban and affluent constituency.
Maybe if SCM bad mouths him more, he will have a better chance.
How does it work out in the suburbs? They seem to always have the option of picking the lesser of two kooks.
First:
Anonymous: We know kooks when we see them. There is one in this race, but not the one we were writing about.
Commissioner:
Thanks for commenting. The problem wasn’t in your math about the number of divisions: the problem was in the syllogism. If you question the motives of the Charter Commission in making its decisions, it sure seems like you are questioning their integrity. The Charter Commission has a schedule (which we hope you have) and it shows decisions to be made. By the nature of the hundreds of decisions to be made, they can’t be all done at the same time and their decisions seem hardly like crumbs at this point.
But more to the point, we appreciate your comments, our shared concern about the status quo and what it will produce. There are good ideas, as you say, that can be implemented now to improve government, but in the end, it’s still just tweaking a fundamentally bad business model.
We appreciate your willingness to champion the good ideas passed by the Charter Commission that will benefit the entire county. That is the goal that all of us should have.
Thanks again for taking the time to comment.
From what I’ve seen from the new charter, they’re doing a great job, better than anyone before the by a thousand miles. I think that’s what people are afraid of. Things will change and the pocket filling crew will have to get jobs or get out of town. I hope they run for the hills now and just get the heck out of the way.
Memphis has around twice as many employees as any peer city and they do the worst job of all of them by a long shot too.
If consolidation doesn’t get a grip on that, nothing will.
If we don’t get rid of the old bags, we won’t have to worry about busines as usual for long, we’ll have to worry about bulldozers.