Forcing the Hand

Republican mayoral candidate George Flinn's latest round of ads, has finally forced the Commercial Appeal to start talking about who AC Wharton is and what he does for a living.

Before the campaign, the CA would, in stories about Wharton, his clients or local Democratic politics, extol his connections and respected insider status. Now, he's just a guy, minus the connections. It's a disservice to readers to avoid that. Many, Half-Bakered included, believe that Wharton is a stalking horse for City Mayor Dr. Herenton, that Wharton will, during his tenure, advance the general aims of Herenton. Those aims include consolidation, which I think is a good and unavoidable thing, but many deplore. Wharton's waffling and ducking on that issue initially worried many. Wharton's long history of picking high-profile and notorious cases deserves scrutiny. Were the CA to write up Wharton's background as they do Flinn's, voters might be better served.

Look at yesterday's headline: "Flinn ad assault lashes Wharton as pol 'crony'"

"Assault?" "Lashes?" Violence by the Republicans again, I guess.

The paper quotes from the televison ad: "Having one of your cronies as Shelby County mayor: priceless. AC Wharton - he's everything the power brokers and politicians want him to be." That actually pretty much sums up the fears of some voters! And what the story documents, in a limited way, tends to bear that out, especially in mentioning Willie Ann Madison and the Cherokee Children and Family Services scandal. With the Ford connection there, it literally begs deeper investigation!

The story continues, quoting again:

Wharton campaign adviser John Bakke, however, was outraged.

"This fulfills our worst expectations of a sewer campaign. Anyone
associated with Dr. Flinn ought to denounce this garbage," Bakke
said. "It's low-down stuff and it pollutes the political process."

Right.... John Bakke should know, eh?

Unfortunately, Wharton proves that Flinn's tactic works, by denying it does:

Wharton denounced the new
allegations Tuesday as mean-spirited
and cowardly.

"It has backfired tremendously
because we have not been able to
field calls on anything else other than
people calling our office expressing
just downright disgust and outrage,"
he said.

Sounds like it worked to me!

Until next time, that is all.