Memphis' Newest Baby Daddies

You might think I'm going to go to town on Mayor Herenton for today's revelation that, in his sixties, he's a new father. You'd be wrong. I only have two concerns here: was the mother employed by the City, such that a relationship like this was improper, and was she ever the beneficiary of financial gain from City monies, or political money?

Two television stations are already telling viewers that the woman wasn't a City employee. I hope they follow up with her name to see if there's any money trail to worry about.

Absent that, I don't really care. He mentioned that he "had" a relationship with the woman, indicating something that's over. He's been mentioned recently in connection with Tonia Jackson, the woman who bought a house from him under oddly favorable circumstances. So, I doubt he'll marry the baby's mother. It's unfortunate that a playboy (which he is, though the local media tend to look the other way) made such a mistake, but that's the probability when you're sowing a lot of seeds. Judging by how Herenton's other children have done, I don't think the usual "fatherless African-American child" stereotype will apply.

And that's about the end of my interest.

Same for State Senator John Ford. The Commercial Appeal's reason for running a page one, above the fold, story by Marc Perrusquia is their long-standing animus (vendetta?) against him and all Fords not Harold, Jr. Sensationalist exploitation is the primary motivator for the television news coverage as well.

But there is one thing that came up worth taking a look at. In court testimony, on the record, Ford says he divides his time between the houses of his ex-wife and primary mistress and his residence in Nashville. That means, as some have noted, that he doesn't live in his district.

State law is clear:

§ 10. Qualifications of senators

No person shall be a Senator unless he shall be a citizen of the United States, of the age of thirty years, and shall have resided three years in this State, and one year in the county or district, immediately preceding the election. No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be eligible to any office or place of trust, the appointment to which is vested in the Executive or the General Assembly, except to the office of trustee of a literary institution.

His only real out is to say that, in the year before his last re-election, he lived at the Ford Family funderal home, his official residence. How that affects his child-support case should be fun to watch.

Asked for his legal opinion, State Attorney General Paul Summer basically punted, leaving the Senate to decide this matter. Now, the GOP caucus is going to file a complaint there to have the matter investigated.

That I'm fine with. The rest of the gawking into his sordid personal life I can live without. He's never pretended to be a social role model. It'll be interesting to see how Ford finagles this. Or will a couple of fucktard Republicans in the Senate vote with the Democrat again and give him yet another pass?

INSTANT UPDATE! Grrrrr. Before logging off for the night, I checked a couple of places and lo and behold, at Darrell Phillips' blog I found this:

I believe there is at least one member of every news organization in town who has known about this since last summer. We know her name and Social Security number too. But not one of us would have reported it had the Mayor not called a press conference today.

So why is every station in town calling this a "bombshell?" If they knew, as Darrell alleges, then it's "confirmation."

But it's the fact, once again, that there's one group of people who know things like this and then there's the rest of us. It's conflicting for me, because I'm not sure in what context you can report a story like this without something to precipitate it. Just announcing one day, "The Mayor has a secret he doesn't want you to know. We'll tell you tonight at five." (Ironically, that sounds exactly how it might be teased, doesn't it?) isn't good. Local news isn't in the habit of announcing things like this, a propos of nothing. Thankfully.

It's just that "some know, some don't" differential. It's part of why I started this blog, to even that out some. I don't want to just report rumor for spite's sake ("So and so's a drunk." "Guess which supposedly straight anchor cruises J. Wag's on weekends?") nor for tittilation's sake, as with this story. I'm not sure, if I'd known, that I would have said anything, at least until the Tonia Jackson story came along.

It's late and I'm not thinking clearly enough here to sort this out. It's mostly the closed network of the clued-in that bothers me. Television and print news draw a line; that's right and proper. But I think it would be better for Memphis and Shelby County if that line were redrawn in a more inclusive place.