Mayor Frank Melton submitted a memorandum to council members (PDF, 118 KB) requesting that they withdraw Jackson Public School Board Vice President Jonathan Larkin's name for re-appointment to the board. The memorandum, signed yesterday by Melton, comes two weeks after council members claimed Chief of Staff Marcus Ward told Larkin that the mayor would not re-submit his name for a seat on the board if Larkin did not vote in favor of a certain contractor for management of the recently passed $150 million JPS bond.
Council members told the Jackson Free press last month that Ward made clear to Larkin that Melton wanted Larkin to vote for Integrated Management Services to be program manager for the bond proposal.
Ward denied that he had threatened Larkin's appointment.
"No, no, no and no," Ward said. "We talked about the mayor's agenda and his vision for doing business with the city of Jackson."
Larkin voted in favor of IMS competitors Jacobs Engineering, which is based in California, and Preferred Management of Jackson. Larkin was the critical third vote in a 3-2 board decision granting the contract to Jacobs Engineering and Preferred Management.
Larkin neither confirmed nor denied Ward's threat last month, but he told the JFP today that he believes the mayor's memorandum and his April 23 vote were strongly linked.
"Yes, I think the two are connected," Larkin said. "I'm very disappointed at (Melton's) actions, but I'm not surprised."
Larkin would not say if he was consulting with an attorney. "I shouldn't comment on what's going to happen next," Larkin said.
Ward 2 Councilman Leslie Burl McLemore said he was confident that the Ward conversation and the memorandum were connected.
"The mayor had Larkin's name on the list prior to his felony trial. ... This is a name that the administration itself put out there, and now he's withdrawing it. He must not have been too wary of Larkin's abilities or he would not have first submitted it, and now he pulls it when Larkin doesn't agree with him," McLemore said.
Allen said he was puzzled by the memorandum for a number of reasons.
"I'm confused because I thought (Melton) said clearly on my radio show this morning that he was going to bring both of these school board appointees forward. I thought he clearly said that," Allen said. "Another thing, it's not up to the council to withdraw Larkin's name. That's up to the mayor's administration, and I don't know why the memorandum is addressed to council members."
"This vindictiveness really bothers me," McLemore said. "There is something awry here relative to the mayor's behavior. This is not normal behavior. Why are we seeing this kind of behavior out of the mayor of the largest city in Mississippi?"
Melton did not immediately return calls for comment.
See our earlier story, "'Major Extortion'?" here.
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