Jackson Free Press

Full JFP Melton/Blog Archive Here

In an interview in City Hall today, Mayor Frank Melton broke the news to the Jackson Free Press that he is going to run for re-election as mayor of Jackson. "Yes," he replied when asked if he is running for a second term.

"I really want to stay close to the people," he added. Melton said that it took him three years to figure out what the job of mayor is about and that he's learned from his mistakes. "Now, I have to do it the right way; I have to clean the culture up to make sure it's done right." On Tuesday, a federal judge declared a mistrial in the civil rights case against Melton and former bodyguard Michael Recio.

More comments from Melton about his re-election posted here shortly.

Previous Comments

ID

144141

Comment

68 days until Melton is defeated in the primaries.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2009-02-26T18:17:51-06:00

ID

144144

Comment

im gonna say it... but if this sob is reelected... im moving to madison...

Author

Concerned in Jacktown

Date

2009-02-26T18:46:26-06:00

ID

144145

Comment

The way things are going I am almost willing to bet that Melton will win the primaries if the Feds don't retry him again. Only in Jackson can this happen!!!

Author

Tony Davis

Date

2009-02-26T19:15:50-06:00

ID

144147

Comment

Knew this was coming. I can't wait to see the ads that the competition will put out.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2009-02-26T20:51:39-06:00

ID

144155

Comment

I continue to say that frank melton can do anything he wants to "certain" blacks. This case was all about poor blacks in a black area with a black man and a team of black youngsters and black officers with the exception of Recio. The same thing happened with Maple Street Apts. The owner was black and all of the people who were uprooted were black. Now this man (melton) is talking about negotiating a deal with him because he has these investors from Texas who are willing to put up the money to ...and the BS goes on and on. This was the same kind of talk melton did as he convienced far too many that he was a stronger and better candidate than Former Mayor Harvey Johnson. This City traded an excellent man with great skills, a love for the City and its citizens, and one who had planted so many seeds that have come to fruition for a CRIMINAL, a CLOWN, a DUMMY and greatest of all, a man who has a total disrespect and disregard for black folks. This has been his history in Jackson and until enough well thinking folks come to the front line, it will continue. frank's shoes do not hurt whites; however, they have have a crippling effect on blacks who are our poor, our young and our elderly.

Author

justjess

Date

2009-02-27T10:06:45-06:00

ID

144160

Comment

Don't blame me... I voted for Melton.

Author

jbreland

Date

2009-02-27T11:09:20-06:00

ID

144163

Comment

WHY!!!

Author

dd39203

Date

2009-02-27T11:52:03-06:00

ID

144165

Comment

frank's shoes do not hurt whites WRONG. Melton is terrible and is a roadblock to development in the city. Saying his actions don't affect whites negatively is ridiculous.

Author

QB

Date

2009-02-27T12:01:48-06:00

ID

144167

Comment

Fat Harry, it all depends on who you ask about development in the City of Jackso. melton has been an Ace Card in the deck for certain White Developers. What is "rediculous" is the fact that you know that melton would have been run out of Jackson on a rail if he attempted to do any causian or his/her home or their community the way he did the Ridgeway home,Evan Welch, a vulnerable adult and paranoid schizophrenic. So please, don't humor me with that one. Every organization in the State who serve as watch-dogs and guardians would have been on his case, but, not for Evan Welch or for this particular landlord.

Author

justjess

Date

2009-02-27T13:13:26-06:00

ID

144169

Comment

Think about it: Charlotte Reeves, the ower of the Pallet Company on Mill St. stopped him dead in his tracks. To date he has not torn her property down. He also stopped messing with the Adult Clubs that are owned by Whites. He has a restraining order prohibiting him from messing with "them" unless "they" call him.

Author

justjess

Date

2009-02-27T13:28:01-06:00

ID

144181

Comment

Frank need to realize that he will be confronted for the acts he took against certain people who he claimed were his friends. Who will he get to help him get re-elected? If I was him the first thing I would do I distant myself from Blunston, Tillman. Stephanie Parker Weaver, Carolyn Redd, Sarah O'Reilly Evans and others. Maybe if he correct his wrongs and admit that he did these people wrong he might have a chance. If not winning the election but for personal redemption. If not then you wll face more demons that you have created.

Author

Tony Davis

Date

2009-02-27T18:48:05-06:00

ID

144189

Comment

Right on schedule, The Clarion-Ledger reports today that Melton is re-running. It's as if they are in perpetual delay mode.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2009-03-01T10:44:48-06:00

ID

144190

Comment

I was gone from Mississippi by the time Mr. Melton was elected mayor, but I do remember his Ward Connerly colored editorials on WLBT years earlier. He was going after the Black folks and that suited certain folks just fine. If you grew up in Mississippi like I did, then you know what I mean. Jackson, please find yourselves a new mayor. We have an out of work Governor here in Illinois that you can have. He could hardly be worse..

Author

El Canario

Date

2009-03-01T11:24:16-06:00

ID

144191

Comment

Agreed, El. And it's especially sad that Melton has also managed to pit black people against black people. But no thanks on your governor!

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2009-03-01T11:33:31-06:00

ID

144193

Comment

Frank Melton needs to realize that I will be one of the peopleout their speaking against him in his re-election bid for Mayor. I thought Frank was going to work to help children but he used them to break the law, I thought he cared about the poor people and all he has done is to destroy any hope that they will be treated fairly. He has aligned himself with people that have used him and made a fool out of him but also they have made a fool out of the City of Jackson. Unlike alot of the people you know and as you have stated to me and others, I do have the balls to stand up and speak out against you and your clique. Blunston,Tillman,Stephanie Parker Weaver, Sarah O'Reilly Evans,Robert Walker, Vernon Hughes and others.

Author

Tony Davis

Date

2009-03-01T13:17:51-06:00

ID

144195

Comment

Donna, I'm afraid that many of the black folks in Jackson,, (for the record, Im black too) will succumb to the same illness that plagued Washington, DC during the Marion Barry years.. They are going to vote against their city's best interest and for Melton simply because he is black. Finally, and we were so proud of the fact that the President comes from Illinois. Only to have Gov. Blagojevich and Sen. Burris muck it all up.. Please Jackson, spare yourselves, don't do it!

Author

El Canario

Date

2009-03-01T21:36:49-06:00

ID

144197

Comment

El Canario, I don't think that the vote from some will be for melton only bacause he is black. If that were the case, there are at least 13 other blacks to choose from. The vote will be for him because far too many see him as a person who has been able to beat the system. Grant it, the "system" has been unfail, unjust, unequal and discriminatory to most of us at one time or the other. melton has become bigger than the law in his mind: He just doesn't realize that it is simply because his victims are ALL black and there has not been a real need for the "powers that be" to remove him. There are people who take issue with this comment: I would like to hear just ONE other rationale. Tony Davis, my hat goes off to you because this is the mind set and the actions that must be taken if melton is to be defeated and also to ensure that a melton type is not elected.

Author

justjess

Date

2009-03-02T09:35:35-06:00

ID

144198

Comment

El Canario, I believe most, if not all, of the people running for mayor of Jackson are black. How in the world does Melton get to be "The Black Candidate"? My experience tells me that Jackson's majority population is embarrassed by Melton and just want him gone! Those folks who vote for Melton just have a fear of success. He will continue to drag us down and enjoy doing it. Money and jobs will dry up. Four more years of this trash is unthinkable.

Author

Razor

Date

2009-03-02T09:36:45-06:00

ID

144200

Comment

Educated Guess: Melton will not get enough votes to survive the primary. He will then throw his support behind his hand-picked flunky (I'm not sure yet who that person is), and then there will be a nasty, viscious, bitter name-calling, dog fight in the run-offs. Melton will be able to destroy the 1 or 2 good candidates left in the primary, and his flunky will win, and we will be in for 4 more years of incompetence and ignorance. In the meantime, I would like to have a forum for Ward 6 Council candidates - I don't know any of these people and I refuse to walk in the voting booth blind on May 5. It's too crucial and important for South Jackson.

Author

lanier77

Date

2009-03-02T10:04:15-06:00

ID

144202

Comment

melton was given wide media coverage with his message post mistrial to the citizens of Jackson that the City has a surplus of funds and that we are better now than the City has ever been. He also stated that he is in touch with some developers out of Houston, TX who will develop the Maple St. Apt. and.....There are people who eat this crap up and already I have begun to hear rumblings of the + things he has done for the City. When I ask them to name me just one, it all goes back to seeds planted during the Johnson Adm. One guy said to me, "The one I give the credit to is the one who cut the ribbon." Folks, we have some serious work to do and I me SERIOUS!

Author

justjess

Date

2009-03-02T10:22:06-06:00

ID

144203

Comment

Lanier, don't know if you can attend during the day but JxnPro has been having Our soul food forums every Wednesday at Peaches 11:30am. We're giving everyone a chance to vet ALL the candidates in an informal, intimate setting. We had Jason D. Wells from Ward 6 last week as a matter of fact, this week Stacey Webb from Ward 2, and next week Joe Lewis from 6. Von Anderson who is also running in 6 is coming up the next week. So if you can, try to come by. These elections are too important to not ask questions of everyone. Whether you support them or not or whether they are in your ward or not

Author

Kamikaze

Date

2009-03-02T11:09:22-06:00

ID

144208

Comment

I heard a guy on Othor Cain's show yesterday on 97.7 call in and say that Harvey Johnson wrecked this city. Where was this guy the last four years? Our streets are piss-poor, crime is up, there is no accountability and Melton has brought no real organized economic development opportunity here. All we've heard are promises in which he hasn't delivered on. 64 days until Melton is defeated in the May 5 primary!

Author

golden eagle

Date

2009-03-02T12:26:13-06:00

ID

144211

Comment

othor cain show is starting to be real good, i think if he keeps it real his show will the most listened to show in jackson on sundays. i liked the show yesterday it showed me that jacksonians are wising up.

Author

NewJackson

Date

2009-03-02T13:11:52-06:00

ID

144212

Comment

...and golden eagle these are the sound bites that gave power to melton and will also cause his re-election or the election of someone that the "powers that be" can control. frank started the lie that Johnson was building a mansion in Madison and that he had already built a home there in Madison for his daughter. I asked a million times, are people this vulnerable. Could anyone just go down to the Circuit Clerk's office and stop relying on this mis-information, better known as lies?. There are also people who will say that Johnson did absolutely "nothing" but, thank God for records and some good folks with good memories who can show and tell and prove differently.

Author

justjess

Date

2009-03-02T13:16:21-06:00

ID

144228

Comment

Anything new about a possible retrial yet?

Author

golden eagle

Date

2009-03-02T16:03:11-06:00

ID

144249

Comment

The conference call to discuss if/when/where is scheduled to take place on Thursday re the melton/Recio trial. This is interesting because the last day to qualify as a mayoral candidate is Friday, March 27, 2009. Very, Very, Very interesting.

Author

justjess

Date

2009-03-03T10:01:34-06:00