Jackson Free Press

Here we go again. When the Jackson Free Press started 10 years ago, the City Council members from Ward 1 (Ben Allen) and Ward 3 (Kenneth Stokes) were constantly at each other's throats. It wasn't an intellectual disagreement with occasional laughs; they made the city look like a laughing stock with their constant insults of each other.

Now both men are gone—but are replaced by surrogates, so to speak. The Ward 1 councilman is now Quentin Whitwell, a lobbyist Allen supported in his bid for the seat. And Stokes' wife, LaRita Cooper-Stokes, has taken his place.

Many people had feared that Cooper-Stokes would be a repeat of her husband—not showing up for work sessions, mouthing off about fellow council members, and spending valuable council time renaming bridges and roads (not a bad thing, as long as other city work is getting done as well). We did not endorse her—she wouldn't even return calls for her campaign Q&A—but we did hope that she might show up and prove herself to be the better half of the duo.

Instead, she immediately brought drama to council, complaining about the chair placement on her first day (click to Jacob Fuller's report, "Cooper-Stokes Making Waves").

And as if it's 2002 all over again, the Ward 1 councilman has jumped out front as another Stokes' most vocal (and insulting) critic. In her first week, the two have traded embarrassing barbs—and even probably given some residents in each ward more reasons to feel divided from the people in the other one.

This isn't helpful, and we cannot afford such petty games in Jackson. It's one thing to disagree, and another to sound like it's a scuffle at recess.

And while we agree with some of Whitwell's concerns—like that of any elected official, Stokes should actually attend the work sessions—it's not like he doesn't have skeletons in his own closet. As a lobbyist, Whitwell has supported payday lenders in their efforts to keep making massive money off many of our poorest communities, such as parts of Councilwoman Cooper-Stokes' ward.

That is, it's not like Whitwell needs to be throwing stones from his own glass house, even if it is a local sport for people in his ward to belittle a Stokes.

Enough already. We need an adult City Council going forward—which includes members who come to all the meetings and take the process seriously. We urge Cooper-Stokes to show us a new level of representation for Ward 3 and urge Whitwell to re-examine his friendly stance beliefs toward enterprises that bring serious problems that plague Cooper-Stokes' district.