Jackson Jambalaya

Councilwoman Larita Cooper-Stokes stormed out of a meeting of the Rules Committee of the Jackson City Council (see 10:28 in the second video) last Thursday. The committee met to discuss revoking the contract awarded to Derrick Johnson of DL Consultants, LLC for redistricting. Quentin Whitwell chaired the meeting. Mr. Johnson has generated some controversy after it became known he had not signed the contract despite having it for months. Mr. Johnson signed the contract on April 23, the day several councilmen threatened to revoke the contract. Several council members expressed concern about redistricting after attempts to contact Mr. Johnson failed.

Councilwoman Stokes repeatedly challenged the right of Mr. Whitwell to hold the meeting. She said there were no problems with Mr. Johnson and there had been none with Hinds County, citing her husband as a source. Mr. Whitwell mentioned a Northside Sun article but Chokwe Lamumba said he did not consider that newspaper a "credible source." The Justice Department notified Hinds County a year ago its redistricting submission was incomplete. Earlier post with copy of letter. Hinds County elections were held under the old lines last year.  Mr. Johnson did not submit the information until two weeks ago, one year after it was requested by the Justice Department. The federal government has not yet approved the new plan. Mr. Johnson has a $40,000 contract with Hinds County but has not yet been paid.

Mr. Johnson finally signed the contract the week prior to the meeting but did not appear. Councilman Chokwe Lamumba said he was giving a speech at Tougaloo College. The committee debated for an hour revoking his contract. Four committee members, Whitwell, Tillman, Yarber, and Bluntson, wanted to terminate the $20,000 contract but disagreed on who should replace Mr. Johnson. The members disagreed over hiring either Central Mississippi Planning & Development District and Arc, a Washington DC firm. CMPDD did the Jackson and Hinds County redistricting ten years ago. An associate of Mr. Johnson, Hollis Watkins spoke to the board but repeatedly said he could not answer any questions for Mr. Johnson.

Mrs. Stokes got up and left when Mr. Whitwell called CMPDD representatives to the podium. CMPDD representatives said they were ready to begin work immediately as they had the software and the data from ten years ago. It was revealed at the meeting CMPDD and DL Consultants jointly did redistricting in 2001. No vote was taken on terminating the contract or replacing DL Consultants. Mr. Whitwell said the city had a contract with a vendor and the city would move forward with DL Consultants.



Mr. Whitwell said there was no consensus and he was trying to achieve one. Mr. Bluntson told Whitwell "I think what happened was Councilwoman Stokes shook you up and you are trying too hard." Mr. Whitwell said the only person that shook him up was "Elvis" and they were not able to achieve consensus. Mr. Yarber told Mr. Whitwell "You did good.... oh well" in a sarcastic manner. Mr. Bluntson at one point made fun of Councilwoman Stokes as he said he wasn't happy and got up to leave, then started laughing.





Stokes storms out of the meeting at 10:28




Editorial comment: That was the news, now for the opinion. This meeting only reinforces my view that Derrick Johnson is a con artist. He travels around the state promoting himself as a redistricting specialists. Now it turns out that the Jackson redistricting he brags he did ten years ago was actually a joint project with CMPDD. Anyone want to bet CMPDD did the work while he claimed a check as a "minority vendor"? This was the same Derrick Johnson who according to several Supervisors, told the board he was an attorney when in fact he is not licensed in any state. Video of Hinds County redistricting public hearing. Worth watching again.

The problems with Wilkinson, Hinds, and Jackson show the same thing: refusal to return phone calls, sloppy work when it is actually done, and redistricting plans not even submitted to the Justice Department. Mr. Johnson's action or I should say lack of action, appear to be someone who is in over his head, does not know what to do, and hides. Mr. Johnson appeared at a public hearing last year for Hinds County redistricting with no maps and no data. At the time I thought he was just plain arrogant and trying to pull something shady, now I wonder if the man had no maps because he frankly didn't know what he was doing. He then claimed he had to correct the maps he made because he used the wrong census data, blaming someone else of course.

The contracts for Hinds and Jackson alone are $60,000. It is unknown what the contract is for Wilkinson County. Mr. Johnson saw green and got mean but when it came time to do the work, he is nowhere to be seen. the city should terminate the contract with DL Consultants and move forward with CMPDD since it has already done the work and can have it done in a matter of weeks.

Note: This correspondent filed a complaint with the auditor's office this year about Mr. Johnson's contract with Hinds County. The newspaper published a pretty good story on this issue this morning. I posted some excerpts below but the entire story is worth reading as Mr. Eason is producing some pretty good coverage of the city council.


The Clarion-Ledger reported on more problems with Derrick Johnson this morning.  Brian Eeson wrote:

"Three council members last week said they had serious concerns over D.L. Johnson Consultants' ability to draw maps that would withstand U.S. Department of Justice scrutiny, citing a pattern of unresponsiveness to them and problems in other places the firm has worked. But the firm, led by state NAACP president Derrick Johnson, remains the city's pick, in part because the council is too divided to pick anyone else.

In Wilkinson County, lines Johnson drew there still have not been submitted to the Justice Department, though the board of supervisors approved the maps in April 2011. Supervisors decided recently to seek a replacement firm, according to an attorney brought in by the board for assistance.

Also, the new lines Johnson drew for Hinds County still have not received pre-clearance from the Justice Department more than a year after the board of supervisors approved them. Justice Department approval is required to change any voting district in Mississippi under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act..."

Mr. Eeson then provides more details about Mr. Johnson's lack of detail:

In Wilkinson County, the board of supervisors narrowly approved Johnson's maps, but their relationship soured in the months that followed. The Clarion-Ledger attempted to contact supervisors there, but calls were referred to Cory Wilson, a Jackson-based attorney brought in to challenge the maps had they been submitted to the Justice Department.

Wilson, formerly the deputy secretary of state under Delbert Hosemann, said there were several irregularities with the plan.

"The work was so slipshod that they shifted the lines and literally accidentally threw out a voting precinct from one of the districts," Wilson said. "In Wilkinson, there's not that many precincts, so that's kind of a relevant consideration to say the least."

The issue with the voting precinct was first pointed out by the local newspaper, the Woodville Republican.

"They withdrew that map," said Andy Lewis, the paper's publisher. As debates dragged on, "finally, the board president said we're not going to make the 2011 elections," Lewis recalled.

"Derrick Johnson won't answer anybody's calls," Lewis said. "So they don't know why they (the maps) were never submitted."

After D.L. Johnson Consultants' selection in Jackson in December at $20,000, Deputy City Attorney Monica Joiner said there were frequent lapses in which Derrick Johnson would not respond to requests to draft a contract and then to sign a revised copy. Joiner said the city received a signed contract on April 23, the same day council members threatened to fire Derrick Johnson..." Article