Jackson Free Press

The JFP started out the election season in January determined to learn as much as possible about both the character and the specific plans of the candidates for mayor of Jackson. Because of the nature of the job of mayor—part business booster, part labor negotiator, part city planner, part "top cop," part statesman—we think that the labels Republican or Democrat are secondary to the mayor being a trustworthy power-broker, a champion against poverty and for education, a proponent of smarter government, and a progressive when it comes to exploring and promoting creative ideas to fuel the cultural renaissance of a city's urban core.

Our first choice for mayor, incumbent Harvey Johnson, was eliminated in the Democratic primary. His failings have been mulled in the media at lengths, as well as in public discussion areas such as the JFP Web site. Since his loss, in fact, he's gotten great coverage in the Clarion-Ledger opinion pages and elsewhere.

Of the two choices who will face each other June 7, we simply don't know either one enough to offer a clear endorsement. We can say, however, that we have grown more impressed with Republican Rick Whitlow as the campaign has progressed.

What has been least impressive through the entire process, however, has been the coverage offered by the mainstream media in this town. Without a "horserace," there's been almost no public discussion on relative qualifications of the candidates, their programs or their ideas for the city. The media seemscontent, by and large, to work from the assumption that Mr. Melton will be mayor, and there's nothing more to discuss. (And to spend quite a bit of time opining on why Mayor Johnson and Police Chief Robert Moore are getting the boot.) Mr. Melton himself has been mostly absent from public view. And he has once again gone back on his commitment to sit with the JFP for an interview in time for this week's issue.

Mr. Melton should have been convinced by the media and public interest groups to attend at least one debate with Mr. Whitlow, and both should have been given a forum to discuss their ideas and programs. Even if Mr. Melton is destined to an easy victory, he would be better suited to take the reins of the office if he's been asked more detailed questions about his programs and how he plans to implement them, as well as by the challenge of making distinctions between himself and Mr. Whitlow in a public forum.

From the outset, both candidates have struck us as "television mayors." Not only did both men gain their local notoriety in part by their experience in TV news and commentary, both also started their campaigns with largely meaningless sound bites about "leadership" and fighting crime, but without offering specific proposals.

As the campaigns have progressed, Mr. Whitlow has tried to engage voters on specific issues and ideas, even if most of the media seem to not care. He started out talking about "zero tolerance" policing and, when challenged about how well the concept would work locally in Jackson, seemed to really do his homework and address both the strengths and weaknesses of the idea. We were also more impressed from the beginning with his platform, which not only addresses crime—and in a less sensationalistic way than we've routinely heard from Mr. Melton and most of the media—but introduces some fresh new ideas, such as focusing more on racial reconciliation and the physical health of the city's residents. This is encouraging.

For his part, Mr. Melton seems prone to speaking differently to different groups in the city—includi ng disparaging efforts to address lingering race issues when he speaks to white conservative audiences, while "talking the talk" to the hip-hop community, even offering members of the Mississippi Artists and Producers (M.A.P.) coalition an expensive world-class recording studio on Farish Street—if he's elected to office. We think the recording studio is a cool idea, but we've wanted to hear more specific ideas that are going to bring together his diverse groups of supporters after he's elected, not simply promises to get people to the polls.

At the same time, and more interestingly, Mr. Melton's public comments about crime in Jackson have had an interesting timbre since the primary election, with him drawing a contrast between Mr. Whitlow's "zero tolerance" and Melton's own talk of "second chances," like those he makes possible for the kids he adopts and fosters in his home. His ideas deserve more exploration and explanation.

That said, we have been extremely disappointed by Mr. Melton's cavalier (and dishonest) treatment of the JFP and our reporters as we've tried many times to give him a forum for his views. A local weekly newspaper publisher wrote this spring that one of Mayor Johnson's failings was that he didn't stop by the office of that publisher in the same way that Kane Ditto used to. Well, our experience with Mr. Melton is that he won't honor his own commitments to meet with us and discuss issues in a setting of his choice, much less in our own offices. This is certainly a disturbing trend to see in a potential mayor.

Mr. Whitlow, in contrast, has been inviting and forthcoming with everyone from the JFP, welcoming all of our questions and even showing a willingness to allow our questions to spur him to seek out more information about his ideas. Again, that seems more "mayoral" to us.

Although many of us in the JFP offices are likely to pull the lever for Mr. Whitlow, the JFP stops short of endorsing him—largely because of his doggedly partisan punt on vital issues. City Hall is no place for playing party politics. He openly endorses "No Child Left Behind," which, along with Gov. Barbour's assaults on public education funding, is hamstringing efforts to rebuild strong communities right here in Jackson through better education and, ultimately, crime prevention. Mr. Whitlow, as a staunch Republican, seems to find himself defending the policies of Mr. Barbour to a fault, and, unfortunately, many of those policies and programs disproportionately affect Jackson Public Schools and, especially, the poorer wards in Jackson.

However, we hope and pray that whichever man is elected will put aside convenient political allegiances, run an open government, continue the city's economic development projects, respect the U.S. Constitution and do everything possible avoid legal battles for the city that can arise from "tough on crime" measures that get out of control. (Just ask poster-child "tough on crime" mayor Rudy Giuliani, who saw nearly 70,000 lawsuits filed against the New York Police Department during his tenure.)

The big loser in this election has been the electorate—whoever enters the mayor's office this summer will have gotten there with too little discussion of his plans and policies, and too little debate over his ideas. We really won't know what each man's plan is and how he'll execute it—or if he's even got a detailed strategy and the wherewithal to put it into place.

With a little more effort and civic-minded journalism and a little less focus on handicapping the "horserace" of the mayoral contest, our local media could have helped to make the next mayor of Jackson and more qualified and better-understood leader. With less than a week to the election, we call on the media to pull out all the stops and ask these men the hard questions that they should have to answer before getting the city's top job.

Correction appended. Original piece called the M.A.P. "Mississippi Artists and Poets": it should have been "Mississippi Artists and Producers." We apologize for the error.

Previous Comments

ID

70081

Comment

"The big loser in this election has been the electorate" So true! Only time will tell if we have won or not.

Author

tortoise

Date

2005-06-03T07:47:43-06:00

ID

70082

Comment

The Clarion-Ledger today re-endorses Frank Melton, yet not giving any more specific reasons than they did the first time: This newspaper endorsed Melton in the Democratic Primary because he has the potential to offer the dynamic leadership the city needs to move forward. Melton, a successful businessman who was CEO of WLBT-Channel 3 and who served as director of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, has been a high-profile community leader for two decades in Jackson. Jacksonians know that crime is his No. 1 issue and Jacksonians know that must be the No. 1 priority of the next mayor. Melton has the force of personality needed to energize the city in its resolve to fight crime and to stem flight and economic declines caused by it. One does wonder why the candidates would even bother giving specifics to the media, if the media do not demand them from the candidates before endorsing them?

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2005-06-05T11:02:48-06:00