Memphis-Class Brazenness

I'm surprised no one here in Memphis has tried this yet:

Ronald Wayne Blankenship, a candidate in the runoff for the Democratic nomination for Jefferson County sheriff, says it's coincidence that a man with a criminal past shares his name and birthdate.

It's strange but true, he says, that both he and a man who faked his own death in 1990 are married to women named Judy Ruth Green Stonecipher Blankenship....

Vestavia Hills police Lt. Rick Miller said he's surprised Blankenship is running for public office because he knows Blankenship is the man he arrested in 1990.

"I will be happy to meet him at the county jail and take his fingerprints and compare them," Miller said. "I want to get to the bottom of it, too. If Mr. Blankenship says that's not him, that way we'll know once and for all." ...

In an interview last week, Blankenship was shown the news clippings, one of which bore his picture. He said it was the first he'd heard of the story. "It looks like me in a way, but all Blankenships get to looking alike," he said. He also gave his birthdate, then said it was a different date. He had earlier given a third birthdate.

His wife, Judy Ruth Green Stonecipher Blankenship, was in the shoe shop during the interview. Blankenship said she's disabled because of a brain stem injury.

According to Jefferson County jail records, Ronald Blankenship, who listed his occupation as shoe repair, was booked into the jail on June 2, 1987, on a bad check charge, and released that day. On Feb. 8, 1989, he was jailed on a second-degree assault charge and bonded out the same day.

Oh and that's not even the half of it. There's lots more.

I've met people who will stand there and lie to your face with complete sincerity even when the evidence is also right there. It's almost like a form of psychopathy. But this guy really takes the cake.

A lot of Memphis politicians could certainly take a lesson or two from this guy.

Hat tip to the always-entertaining, if overworked right now, Possumblog for linking the story.