Jackson Jambalaya

Well, over at The Jackson Free Press, a rhetorical question was posed by its editor:

"Also, I wonder if we could ever find a Ledger editorial saying that Johnson was "on the right track" even after some of his largest victories? It strikes me that the part I quoted is nicer toward Melton—an abject failure as mayor, to put it kindly—than anything that paper ever said about Johnson, even as crime was falling, and he was piling one economic-development victory on top of another?" http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/comments.php?id=14182_0_67_0_C

She has made similar comments on her website as well. In her mind, the CL was always against Harvey and rarely said anything nice about him. However, here is what the CL had to say about Mayor Johnson in its editorial endorsing him for Mayor in 2001:

"Jackson mayor
Johnson qualified, if he would act.
Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. is probably one of the most qualified people to ever hold the office of mayor in the capital city. He is an urban planner with a military background and strong record of professional achievement and civic work.

He knows government and public policy planning.Yet, with all of his know-how, Johnson's past four years have been less than extraordinary. In fact, they have been a disappointment.

It is not so much the "projects" that have or have not been achieved; projects come and go. After all, much of a city official's work is caught up in the mundane projects of streets, sewerage and water.
But the opportunities to set a tone of leadership and optimism that guide a city to greatness are things that make a city alive and vibrant. That leadership makes not only the projects but also the dreams come alive.

Johnson has been missing those opportunities.As stated, Johnson is eminently qualified to be mayor.

His opponent in this race, C. Daryl Neely, a 29-year-old city councilman,does not have the background or experience to take on such a position at this time in his career. Having said that, Neely possesses political and personal skills showing great potential for leadership. His campaign has been conducted in a sophisticated and dignified manner that has attempted to reach across political and racial boundaries. He deserves praise for his bridge-building efforts. However, the problems of Jackson are deep and are deepening. Neely is not prepared for those tasks at this time.

Johnson is - if he will act on his abilities and his best instincts.We must acknowledge that Johnson, as the city's first African-American mayor, has faced difficult challenges that the transition of political power to a black voting majority brings. He entered office with overly high expectations by black voters and overly critical judgments by many white voters who didn't support him.

Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. should be reelected, but must make more progress in the next four years.Johnson's accomplishments:
Johnson has done well in many areas of city administration. Johnson has:
Emphasized recruiting professionals to his departments.
Crafted responsible and effective city budgets.
Promoted tourism by reorganizing the Convention and Visitor's Bureau.
Removed some of the politics from such city services as street paving,making services flow to the needs and not the politics.
Been successful in getting a much-needed bond issue approved for key city projects.
Promoted development projects, such as refurbishing downtown, Farish Street redevelopment, the telecommunications conference center and a convention center.

Johnson's failures:
He has not been successful in two critical areas:
Crime. Johnson's program on crime with the Maple-Linder study has been a measured and valid approach, but as with former mayors, he has failed in securing effective leadership for the police department. The department's problems must be resolved. He must hire a police chief with the skills and fortitude to bring professionalism, discipline and order to the department that is sorely lacking.
Race relations. Johnson's background has shown his progressiveness and intentions in the area of building bridges in race relations. He ran on his ability to do that. His record as mayor, however, has not continued that work effectively. The new census figures show white flight has increased.The city has the danger of being surrounded by white suburban cities with a black urban core. This would be detrimental to the entire metro area and the state. While Johnson certainly is not responsible for such changes, it is essential that Johnson bring people to the same table to work on those issues. It is essential that the black political leadership and the white business leadership work for the same goals of growth and prosperity. And it is essential that Jackson work effectively with other cities and the state to enhance its potential. That is not happening now.

Harvey Johnson's first four years might be considered a success during normal times, but these are not normal times for Jackson. There must be extraordinary leadership. Harvey Johnson possesses the abilities to provide that leadership, but he must act more decisively.

Johnson should be reelected mayor and must use that position to consistently pursue his "Best of the New South" vision for the city. Jackson can't wait another four years to see some of that vision become reality.

EDITORIAL POLICY
The Clarion-Ledger's editorials represent the newspaper's opinions and not necessarily opinion
s of individual employees. The editorial policy is set by the newspaper's Editorial Board. Members include: William W. Hunsberger,president and publisher; Shawn McIntosh, executive editor; David Hampton,editorial director; Jim Ewing, editorial writer; Marshall Ramsey, editorial cartoonist; Eric Stringfellow, public editor; and Evola Bates of Jackson,Gloria Johnson of Madison and John Arledge of Brandon, community members. If you have a question or comment, please contact David Hampton at (601)961-7240 or by fax at (601) 961-7211."

The Clarion-Ledger also endorsed Mr. Johnson in the 1997 race against Republican Charlotte Reeves although it did endorse Mayor Ditto in the Democratic Primary. This is a pretty balanced assessment of Mayor Johnson. It gives Mr. Johnson credit for his strengths: fixing the infrastructure, planning, obtaining grants for Jackson, and other areas. It criticizes him in an area where he deserved criticism: crime. He fired Chief Johnson in a manner that was insulting and demeaning (the employees at JPD were not even allowed to have a going away party for him on his last day as reported in the newspaper.). He hired Bracey Coleman and when he had to go, let the position sit open for nearly a year. During his first term, his actions and comments belied an attitude towards crime that could be described as lackadaisical. However, in his second term, crime did improve with the implementation of Comstat (kudos to JFP for its reporting on this tool), community policing, and other tactics which did see a reduction in the crime rate.

However, the theme at the JFP has been that the CL has a bias against Mayor Johnson and while mayor, rarely if ever praised him. I think this editorial shows that it gave Mayor Johnson credit for his accomplishments. Its also hard to see why the CL has a bias against Mayor Johnson when it is repeatedly endorsing him for Mayor (although it did endorse Melton in the 2005 election).