If you’re thinking that the headline of this editorial seems a bit
ambiguous, you’re on the same page as we are. We’re not sure which
meaning of the verb “recall” should predominate in our thinking,
either. In fact, the whole direction of
Memphis city government, so vital to the future of all of us in
Shelby County, is in a state of confusion that could take months
— even years — to unravel.
And all of that is the work of one man, Mayor Willie Herenton, whom
we at the Flyer set out last week to recall — in the sense
of “remember” — and whom we now find ourselves wondering about in
the sense of governmental recall, that seldom-used mode by which an
electorate can exercise its collective judgment and remove from office
— exorcise, if you will — an official whose effect on the
public welfare has become deleterious.
We are not alone in so pondering. Should Herenton employ so much as
one more bait-and-switch on his now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t offer to
resign, we predict that a recall movement will surface for real, and
that it should do so. The public business is too important to be placed
on indefinite hold while the head of government insists on sabotaging
the governmental machinery and embarrassing himself and his
constituents in the eyes of the world.
In last week’s Flyer and this week’s, we and the rest of a
spellbound city were treated to Herenton’s awesome self-revelations
resulting from senior editor Jackson Baker’s exclusive sit-down
interview with the mayor. An “exit interview,” we called it —
perhaps prematurely. More of the same is featured in this week’s
Politics column.
Here’s a sample of even more verbiage that didn’t make Baker’s final
cut. Herenton: “Have you ever been to a school board meeting? Do you
think I really wanted to do that?” Inasmuch as the mayor fairly
explicitly said he “wanted to do that” — i.e., resume the
superintendency of Memphis City Schools — at the time of his
first false “resignation” in February 2008, yes, we did think so. So
did most other people.
Herenton continued: “The thought of dealing with school board
members. Do you think I wanted to do that? Hell, no.”
What is more certain is that those school board members didn’t want
to deal with Herenton. With virtual unanimity, they rejected his
potential candidacy and looked elsewhere for a superintendent. That, it
now appears, left Memphians at large with the short straw — the
further mayoralty of a man, once regarded as able and even far-sighted,
who now doesn’t administer government so much as trifles with it.
Enough. We learned with astonishment this week of a sham committee
of diehard Herenton supporters who petitioned him to stay in office
until February. We are not ungrateful for the mayor’s 18 years of
service, during which he performed some outstanding works, but our
response is rather to say, in the words of Emily Post protocol: Thank
you, no.
And, if necessary, we can see ourselves joining another committee of
citizens determined to get the right answer.
