Our Daily CA

In an editorial today, the Commercial Appeal rightly takes Mayor Herenton to task for not clearing up the matter of allegations that he accepted up to $12,000 illegally from associates of Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell.

But I wouldn't be mentioning this unless there were a couple of oddities that caught my eye. First is the opening paragraph:

Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton sometimes gets criticized for saying too much. Last Friday, he said too little.

"Saying too much?" When? He's famously tight-lipped and sarcastic. I think the author was struggling for some kind of device to open the editorial. I'd say he failed.

Then, in the closing:

Although Herenton didn't get into the specifics of the case during a news conference last month, he was very emphatic in asserting that Memphis city government was free from corruption.

He also specifically said he'd address those charges after the trial. We're still waiting. For some reason, the CA leaves that out.

Maybe because he wasn't called to testify, whatever it was he thought he was going to say should best be left unsaid? Maybe he doesn't want to give potential prosecutors something to hang an investigation on?