WKNO TRANSCRIPT
CHRISTOPHER BLANK (Host): The problems at Shelby County's criminal justice complex, also known as 201 Poplar, keep getting worse, but fixing them is a complicated problem. With us again to talk about some new ideas and other issues is political analyst Otis Sanford. Welcome back.
OTIS SANFORD: Thank you, Chris. Good to be here.
BLANK: Otis, the Shelby County Commission saw some potential plans this week to relocate the entire criminal justice system including the courts, the jail, juvenile justice, even the county corrections division to the old Firestone property in North Memphis. So, to start with, why are officials looking at moving the whole shebang to one location?
SANFORD: A lot of people believe it would be more efficient to have it all in one place. But, Chris, this is a major, major undertaking here. And we're talking about even the possibility of bringing the federal courts along with this. I agree with something that Henri Brooks said: we're going a little bit too fast here. We need to slow down and make sure that we are being deliberate with all of this.
BLANK: Right, and there is some criticism with this deal, at least this plan. Former city council member Kemp Conrad is a principal in the real estate company that presented this idea. And in this version, his company would actually own the land and then lease it. What concerns does this raise about this particular proposal?
SANFORD: Well, I think there's several concerns. I'm not sure that we even have time to talk about all of them. Shante Avant raised one when she said the county already owns a lot of land itself. Why would we be leasing from a private company in some kind of lease-to-own operation that would go years into the future? That's almost tantamount to having a private prison. Obviously, I think Kemp Conrad is just doing his job in the private sector here. But we're talking about over billion dollars here. And you have to question, you know, who stands to make money out of this?
BLANK: Well, let's look for a minute at state news. U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn has announced she is running for Tennessee governor. Why does she want this job?
SANFORD: Well, I'm going to be a little cynical here, Christopher, which is not my nature.
BLANK: Not at all!
SANFORD: But I'm going to do it anyway. I see Sen. Blackburn looking down the road and seeing that the influence of not just herself but Republicans in Congress are starting to wane a bit primarily because of the somewhat disastrous nature that the current Trump Administration finds itself in. And so I think she's looking for an off-ramp from Congress, and she likely has has found one if she wants to run for governor. Because I think she'll be the frontrunner in a ruby red state. Again, that's a cynical look at this, but I think that she sees an opportunity here to continue the Trump policies at the state level, because if the Republicans lose their majority, she has no power in Washington.
BLANK: At the moment her competition in the Republican primary is U.S. Rep. John Rose from Cookeville. As you were saying, even with those Epstein allegations that seem to be dogging Trump, both Blackburn and Rose are still big Trump supporters, and Blackburn has said she wants state government here in Tennessee to follow his lead. What does that exactly mean here?
SANFORD: Where Blackburn is concerned that [means] she's going to continue to have a heavy hand on immigration, education issues, anti-human rights issues, and crime to a great degree. So, if it comes down to a choice between Rose and Blackburn where Trump is concerned, I think you will see him supporting Blackburn.
BLANK: Well, finally, former Memphis-Shelby County Schools Superintendent Marie Feagins threatened the Daily Memphian with a defamation lawsuit this week. The outlet contends that nothing they reported was inaccurate. But the move emphasizes, at least to me, that so much of this ongoing schools issue is less about policy or test scores or budgets and more about public opinion. And that includes efforts by state lawmakers trying to convince us that we need a state takeover. Even the interim superintendent Roderick Richmond is touting a new reorganization of the district. Do you feel we're making progress here, or just seeing politicians pushing different agendas?
SANFORD: I think the latter is absolutely true here. And let me say at the outset here, Chris, former Superintendent Feagins' lawsuit against the Daily Memphian is nothing but a joke. That news organization had a perfect right to publish a legitimate public document and that was public information. So that's a joke. But to your larger point, yes, I just see a lot of disparate agendas at play here. And let me just say: where former Superintendent Feagins is concerned, [with] the lawsuit and some of the other things, she's losing her support gradually in this community. You know, a lot of people were supporting her at the beginning of the year. I think with antics like this, she's going to lose some of that support.
