WKNO TRANSCRIPT
CHRISTOPHER BLANK (Host): On Thursday, Memphis Mayor Paul Young confirmed that the National Guard may very well be coming to Memphis. In a statement, Mayor Young said the city needed more resources to fight crime. With us again to talk about that is political analyst Otis Sanford. Welcome back.
OTIS SANFORD: Thank you, Chris. Thank you for having me.
BLANK: Otis, last week you proposed that Trump would likely not send the guard here based on his pattern of focusing on cities where he could pick fights with Democratic leaders. But, at least according to reporting in the Daily Memphian, state and local officials don't seem too insulted by the idea of troops here. Rather the bigger question seems to be what purpose they would actually serve. So let's suppose the city takes advantage of this, could it help with crime?
SANFORD: I don't see how. Under state laws, the National Guard does not come in to be crime fighters. This is, to me, an example of -- especially where the governor is concerned -- just rolling over to a president who just wants to have a show of force, really, as a photo op to a great degree. And where the mayor is concerned I think he feels like he cannot afford to pick a fight. I still don't see any real tangible reason or purpose for the National Guard to be in Memphis.
BLANK: What do we we know about the conversations, at least between the mayor and the governor? What are they talking about?
SANFORD: I wish I had been a part of the conversation to really tell you directly.
BLANK: I do too!
SANFORD: Well, but based on the kind of vague statements that both of them have made and they've been very vague, they have sort of talked about partnerships with the federal, state and local governments to improve policing. They've touted previous partnerships, but that's not what Trump is talking about. Trump is talking about just bringing in people and letting them stand around so that they can be photo ops, so he can show that he is fighting crime nationwide.
BLANK: When you read between the lines of some of the statements made by both Gov. Lee and Mayor Young, there's this kind of subtle messaging, I think, that says, "Yeah, we want help fighting crime, but we need the right kind of help." Why is that the trickier thing to get from this administration?
BLANK: Trump is not talking about the kind of help that certainly Mayor Young is talking about. Mayor Young wants some more financial resources. But that's not what Trump is looking to do here. Donald Trump is not talking about the kind of crime fighting assistance that certainly Mayor Young is talking about and I don't believe he's talking about what Gov. Lee is talking about, although Gov. Lee is even vaguer.
BLANK: Well, let's talk for a minute about Shelby County government: a couple of notable decisions at the County Commission this week. Mayor Lee Harris has been trying to re-establish what's called the Shelby County Ethics Commission. Calls for stronger ethics policing came after Commissioner Edmund Ford, Jr. was indicted on federal bribery charges, which he says was politically motivated. But the board won't approve any of Harris's new appointees and decided to move a vote to February. Help me understand why this can keeps getting kicked down the road.
SANFORD: Wow, there's so much to unpack here in so little time. It's being kicked down the road because of the politics. There are several members of this commission who, frankly, don't want to get in the crosshairs of Edmund Ford Jr. And then there are others who I just don't understand what they're doing other than maybe they just don't like Mayor Harris. But this is a complete travesty. The facts are that Mayor Harris has been trying for a long time to get a jumpstart to the ethics commission with some new appointees and he's been stalled at every opportunity. This is a shameful example of governing. Edmund Ford has tainted this process and he's bullied a lot of the commissioners into kicking the can down the road.
BLANK: Well, also this week some big plans to move the Shelby County Criminal Justice Complex got derailed. After hearing from residents of the New Chicago neighborhood, commissioners voted to no longer consider the old Firestone site for a future complex. Are we back to square one on this project?
SANFORD: We are absolutely back to square one, Chris. And I don't mind saying that I think it was the right decision to take the New Chicago site off the table. I agree with the residents out there, the majority of whom do not want a jail in their community, and there was no real tangible benefit despite what some had been saying. There are some other places. If we're going to build a new jail, there's some other places. We already have county-owned property out near Shelby Farms, near the correction center. There's a jail out there already. So, there's some places that we could go other than New Chicago. And I applaud those who decided on -- I think it was an 8 to 3 to 1 vote -- to not consider New Chicago.
