The Main Street Journal’s 2006 Meet the Press/Meet the Voter Mixer for all Shelby County Candidates was held Tuesday night at the Butcher Shop in Cordova. Dozens of County Candidates were on hand to take questions from voters and news reporters. Below are a few photos of the event.

Commercial Appeal reporter Michael Erskine and Shelby County Mayor A.C. Wharton

Sheriff’s Capt. Bennie Cobb, candidate for Shelby County Sheriff

Paul Boyd and Evan Nahmias, General Sessions Civil Court Div. 5 candidate

County Commission District 1 Position 1 candidate Charles Fineberg

Fineberg and Bartlett Express reporter Drew Harris

Kevin Gallagher, Criminal Court Clerk candidate

District Attorney General Bill Gibbons and blogger Mike Hollihan

Shelby County Trustee Bob Patterson, Commissioner John Willingham (candidate for Shelby County Mayor), Shelby County Mayor candidate Jeffery Woodard and County Commission District 5 candidate Sherman Kilimanjaro

Jim Lammey, Criminal Court Judge Div. 5 candidate

County Commission Dist. 1 Pos. 1 candidate Mike Rude and County Commission Dist. 4 Pos. 2 candidate Jim Bomprezzi

County Commission Dist. 5 candidate Steve Mulroy

Shelby County Republican Party First Vice-Chairman Paula Sedgwick, Willingham and Woodard

Tyrone Paylor, General Sessions Criminal Judge Div. 7 candidate

County Clerk candidate Debbie Stamson, [unknown] and Shelby County Mayor candidate Brent Todd

Tonya Saafir, Criminal Court Judge Div. 1 candidate

County Commission Dist. 1 Pos. 3 candidate Karla Willingham Templeton and her husband Clay Templeton

County Commission Dist. 5 candidate Joe Townsend

Criminal Court Judge Div. 9 candidate Mark Ward and Criminal Court Judge Div. 6 candidate W. Fred Axley

U.S. House Dist. 9 candidate Mark White and Tony Gunn

Willingham and Main Street Journal editor Jonathan Lindberg

By Lang Wiseman

The members of the State Senate Committee who voted to void the Special Election in District 29 carefully and painstakingly sifted through mountains of paper and evidence over the course of the past 7 months and came to the obvious conclusion that the election should be overturned. Frankly, though, it was not surprising based on the overwhelming evidence of irregularities. It was inevitable.

This was not some Republican power grab, nor was it about Terry Roland or Ophelia Ford. Nor was it about race. It was about justice, fundamental fairness, and the integrity of the election process. Notably, two leading Senate Democrats on the Committee (who also happen to be attorneys) joined in favor of voiding the election after initially expressing much skepticism about the election challenge. Bottom-line: the vote was a bipartisan result and it is a monumental victory for the voters of District 29.

Unfortunately, Ms. Ford and her attorneys seem to be the only people who can’t step back and see the forest instead of the trees. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that this election was tainted at its core.

We are pleased that the federal court saw through the divisive racial rhetoric offered up by Ms. Ford’s attorneys. This matter is now rightfully back before the full Senate so that each Senator can exercise his or her constitutional duty to carefully consider this matter and vote their
conscience.

At some point, we hope that Ms. Ford will do the right thing and simply step aside and abandon her legal challenges. This has been a long, time-consuming, costly, and disruptive effort. Her repeated attempts to delay through legal maneuvers the Senate’s consideration of this matter is a monumental waste of valuable tax dollars that could be better spent on things like education and health care. Further, by dragging individual Senators and County officials into her legal battles, she is wasting the valuable time of public servants who undoubtedly have better and more productive uses of their time in service to their constituents.

Lang Wiseman is a legal representative of candidate Terry Roland and partner of Wiseman Biggs Bray PLLC. He graduated with honors from the Harvard Law School after attending the University of Tennessee on a full basketball scholarship. He graduated with a perfect 4.0 GPA from UT while a starter and co-captain on the Vols basketball team.