It’s the season of the pointless government gesture and it’s apparent that it knows no party lines.  There is however one silver lining although it’s likely to be brief.

On one hand, Tennessee Senator Mark Norris announced himself as the arbiter of the local school controversy, pledging to delay legislation for a year that would make Shelby County Schools a special school district, but only as long as “all efforts to consolidate the two systems” come to an end.

It’s an audacious condition considering that Memphis City Schools – if it votes to begin the process to surrender its charter – seems to hold the cards.  Yes, Memphis City Schools.  Not someone in Nashville.  Not someone in Shelby County Schools. Memphis City Schools.

Grand Gestures

It was just a week or so ago that Mr. Norris could not resist taking a shot at Memphis City Schools.  The city district wants a “mega system,” he said.  “The more territory they take in, the more power they can have over more people.”  He didn’t produce a shred of evidence for his rhetoric, but said he wouldn’t do anything to hurt Memphis City Schools.

That’s cold comfort, but it’s more than a little disingenuous since a main motivation for the county schools’ interest in a special school district is for it to be guaranteed more territory (by freezing present boundaries)and its constant preoccupation with its own pursuit of power (by staying a larger district with taxing authority).

As a result, it was a largely gratuitous gesture by Mr. Norris to call this week for “everyone to stand down.” In reality, he has little juice in the current political debate and his sudden calls for compromise ring hollow.  We can’t remember any similar call whenever suburban interests threatened Memphis City Schools.

Expected Praise

What a shock.  Shelby County Schools Chairman David Pickler – the boy who kicked the hornet’s nest – praised Mr. Norris for laying down an olive branch so that “stakeholders” can work together “to achieve a great result.”   We’re hard-pressed to imagine why compromise should be the name of the game for Memphis City Schools. They have every right to consider every legal option and to have the paramount priority of protecting their district.

We’re never opposed to substantive meetings, but based on the track record of the county schools generally and Mr. Pickler specifically, we think city schools (as we wrote in our last post) should go ahead and vote for the possibility of charter surrender to keep the pressure on Shelby County Schools.

We admit to a fair degree of cynicism about the motivations of suburban politicians, but we think Memphis City Schools should take action to keep its options open while meeting with the county district to determine if there is common ground where both districts can benefit.  We hope that all of this suburban political choreography is not simply aimed at taking the pressure off and letting some time pass while Shelby County Schools regroups and plans another assault for special school district.

Caveat emptor.

Finding Meaning

At the same time, Shelby County Commissioner Steve Mulroy is pursuing a non-binding resolution supporting consolidation.  In truth, it has little meaning and leaves us wondering why this much energy and emotion should be invested in a purely symbolic gesture.

We’ve made no secret that we are strongly in favor of consolidation of Memphis and Shelby County Governments, and we are hoping that a federal lawsuit will ultimately bring reason to the dual referenda requirement.  Regardless, it won’t too long that Democratic voters will balance Republican voters, so it could be just a matter of time with or without a favorable ruling on the lawsuit.  That said, as President Obama once liked to say, election have consequences.

So do referenda, and before people chase their favorite ideas on consolidation, the community needs to continue the conversation about better government to flush out the suburban politicians who said they really do want to find ways to make government more efficient, less costly, and more effective.  It’s time to make them once and for all fish or cut bait.

We know that Commissioner Mulroy is right that many city residents were opposed to this specific charter, not consolidation, but while we think many of the people expressing these opinions would never support consolidation for their own personal political reasons, it makes them sound reasonable in the wake of the charter’s defeat.  Also, much of what people say they don’t like was a requirement of state law, not a decision of the charter commission.

Politics or Promises

Some people question the fact that one person – Mayor A C Wharton – made all the appointment, others say that the process wasn’t transparent, others say too much was given to the ‘burbs, and others say that the commission didn’t have enough “economic diversity.” All of these have simple answers that don’t always correspond to the revisionist history that is being written by many people in the wake of consolidation’s electoral rebuke.

As for us, we hope that the network of advocates and workers for consolidation will morph into a powerful movement for better government and a force for change.

We hope it does, because one of the first stands that Rebuild Government should be taking is to support Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell’s planned veto of the board of commissioners’ resolution opposing a centralized information technology department that would save $3-5 million a year in costly duplication and waste.

It seemed a no-brainer, at least until political interests trumped reason as the commissioners voted 7-4 in favor of new Commissioner Heidi Shafer’s resolution.  Justifying our innate cynicism, she and some others who profess to saving taxpayers’ money during their campaigns instead rewarded the political fiefdoms that populate county government’s archaic governmental structure.

A Veto in Favor of Reason

Despite experts from the University of Memphis recommending centralized information technology, county experts’ opinions, and Mayor Luttrell’s request for approval, the board of commissioners – none with experience or expertise in technology (as far as we know) – voted down a common sense idea.

The arguments by some of the people defending the current inefficient, wasteful system are getting lamer and lamer, as evidenced by Shelby County Register Tom Leatherwood’s wishful interpretation of the laws governing county “fee offices.”

At any rate, it’s highly possible that the Shelby County Board of Commissioners will extend our week of irrationality by overturning Mayor Luttrell’s completely justified veto.  We’re hoping that all of this sleep-walking is a result of too much tryptophan and that soon it will be stopped cold turkey.