Just What We Need

The Shelby County Commission has the answer to solving the City/County school funding crisis -- another commission! Somewhere between nine and thirteen appointees will be selected to make the decisions for the County Commission. How convenient! Of course, paying for all those commissioners, their meetings and meals, their travel to study other cities' solutions, their analysts, etc., will be your job.

Supposedly, the commissioners will be "independent" and with "teeth," as County Mayor Wharton puts it. Right. They'll be the usual suspects drawn from the usual pool of suspects. They'll answer to the people who appoint them. I'm sure this incestuous relationship will be free from problems.

Yeah, that's the Memphis way. When faced with difficult decisions, go the Board or Commission route. It lets others make the hard choices and insulates the elected officials from damage when those hard choices go badly. We've got close to a dozen of 'em already, so what's one more?