- FAST FACTS:
- Herenton picks up petition to run for mayor
- Needs 25 signatures of registered voters
- Must be turned in by September 5th
(MEMPHIS, TN) 8/13/09 -- Movie script writers would toss this scenario in the trash. Not believable. No way this would happen. But it's true. Only 2 weeks after retiring from office, former Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton has picked up a petition for the special election for Mayor of Memphis.
He was a master of mystery, Willie Herenton was. Early in the morning, the former Mayor went to the Shelby County Elections Commission offices downtown. He told a clerk to speed up the process before reporters were tipped off. And then he was gone. Back into the world of private citizen Herenton land.
His friends were shocked. "You could knock me over with a feather," said Herenton's attorney Robert Spence, when he was told about what happened. Close personal friend, and former campaign manager Sidney Chism was also surprised. "I had no idea this happened. Once I heard, I tried to get in touch with him but I've been unsuccessful." Chism said he and Herenton had talked about the possibility of retiring from office and running again before, but he didn't think it would happen. "A good friend of mine called and said he was confused by what the Mayor did," Chism said. "I said to him,"How do you think they're reacting in Orange Mound?' He said they were probably cheering. That's the issue."
It's not the only issue. There's that little thing about paying for special election for Mayor. "A million dollars is a lot of money," says Shelby County Elections Commission Chairman Bill Giannini. "We could have avoided this whole thing if he stayed in office." Giannini says the Tennessee General Assembly should look at legislation which would prohibit any politician from retiring from office, and changing their minds. "We ought to have a limit of at least a few years before they can run again," Giannini said.
A few items of interest. If Willie Herenton decides to run, his pension will be frozen if he wins the election. He'll collect the Mayors salary, but won't collect anything on his pension. There's no double dipping. He would fall under tem limits if he wins the special election. If Herenton stayed in office, he would have been able to avoid the term limits issue, as he was already in office when they were approved by the voters.
