WKNO TRANSCRIPT
CHRISTOPHER BLANK (Host): Gov. Bill Lee's deployment of the National Guard in Memphis could be unlawful. That was a Chancery Court ruling this week in Nashville. Though the state has appealed the decision, local officials are claiming victory for now. With us to talk about that is political analyst Otis Sanford. Welcome back.
OTIS SANFORD: Thank you, Chris. Good to be with you.
BLANK: Well, first of all, Otis, this started when a group of seven Memphis politicians, including Lee Harris and JB Smiley, filed suit against Gov. Lee and the state. They say troops should not be part of the task force. What did the judge have to say about that? SANFORD: Well, this was Davidson County Chancery Court Judge Patricia Head Moskal. And she ruled that in order for the guard to be deployed, you have to have a "grave disaster" or an emergency. And she ruled that that does not apply to an ongoing criminal problem in a certain city. She did stay her ruling until an appeal can be had, and of course, we know that the governor has said he will appeal.
BLANK: Right and that stay means that the guard will be active while the suit goes through the courts. And in the meantime it's been reported that the number of guardspeople here has risen from less than 200 last week to more than 800. Do we know what role they're playing here beyond walking street corners and why would Gov. Lee fight to keep them active?
SANFORD: That is what we see them doing. They're also escorting or accompanying local police, but as far as why the governor would keep them here, and fight to keep them here, because the President of the United States wants them here as a show of political force, if nothing else. And of course, the two US senators from Tennessee want them to stay here. And the governor has shown in this whole issue that he's willing to do what the president and the senators want to have done here. Remember, he said that the guard was not necessary back in, I think it was early September, and he did an about-face on that. So, he's doing the bidding of the president here.
BLANK: On another issue, as you know, some members of the Memphis-Shelby County Schools Board are none too happy that all nine of their seats could be up for grabs next year. And this is because the county commission used a new state law allowing for school board elections to be synced up. But this means five members will have their four-year terms cut in half, and so this week they started looking into a lawsuit. Will that go anywhere?
SANFORD: I think that the affected school board members are bound and determined to fight this out in court. They ran for four years. And, you know, they are not being allowed to serve four years, which is akin to disenfranchising their voters. I expected that there will be a lawsuit. I've said that before, but we're running up on some time constraints here because if these candidates are going to be on the ballot, they're going to have to be on the ballot in the May primary and they'll have to petition to run in February.
BLANK: You know, none of this may have happened if the school board hadn't fired its superintendent in a way that many saw as unscrupulous. And this week, that former superintendent, Marie Feagins, has entered the race for county mayor. I think there's still a lawsuit where she's trying to get her schools' job back. Is she a serious contender for mayor?
SANFORD: I don't know if I would call her a serious contender right now. I would call her announcement that she intends to run a buzz in the community. You know, she's gotten a lot of name recognition over the last year, and this prospect has created a lot of buzz around her potential campaign. But the buzz at the initial announcement and running a campaign and putting yourself out there being scrutinized, being exposed to the news media, which she has not shown the propensity to do -- it's hard to say right now where she stands in this race. Plus, she hasn't been here but a little over less than 2 years, and she can always run as an independent. So, we'll just have to wait and see how that happens, but she's getting buzz. I'm just not sure that she is a major major candidate at this point.
BLANK: And you bring up one other thing that these next school board elections will be partisan elections. Why did they do that in a largely Democratic school district and is there a chance for a Republican to be elected here?
BLANK: Well, when it comes to the Memphis-Shelby County Schools, I don't see much of a chance for many Republicans to get elected, just because of the makeup of the districts and the makeup of our population. I mean, there's no Democratic way or Republican way to run schools. And I just think it was wrongheaded for this to even pass in the first place. We need to have non-partisan school board members because the issue is not about Democrats and Republicans, it's about creating an environment that educates kids.
