Jackson Jambalaya

or a postmortem on the elections in Jackson and the burbs that took place last week. 

My favorite chapter of Nietzche's Beyond Good and Evil is "Epigrams and Interludes". The philosopher chooses to collect a wide array of various thoughts and place them into one chapter.  I have decided to post my observations about last week's elections in the Jackson metro area in the same vein instead of writing one big monster column.  Enjoy.


The election showed that sometimes losing is indeed the best medicine.  Chokwe lost three years ago.  Lesser men would've been heartbroken by such a loss and moved on to do something else.  Not Mr. Lumumba.  He got leaner and hungrier.  He had to look in the  mirror and decide how badly he wanted to be Mayor of Jackson.  Apparently he wanted it pretty badly because he spent the next three years working towards that goal.  Lean & hungry + money usually wins races.   Wanting it more than your opponents usually helps as well.

It also didn't help that one candidate had a controversial record as Supervisor.  Another one had the Jeb Bush & Hillary problem: low energy and unable to answer the question: why are you running.  The incumbent was rejected by almost everyone.  Maybe it would have been a surprise if Chokwe had been forced into a runoff.  

What happened in Madison?  Several candidates backed by you-know-who ran against the Queen and a majority of the incumbent board of aldermen candidates.  They qualified, created a fuss, and then got real quiet.  What exactly was going on?  Mayor Mary would've crushed Matt Armstrong but it all seemed a bit surreal.


Never discount the importance of campaign staffs.  Mayor Yarber won in no small part three years ago because he had a very good campaign team: Aaron Banks, John Morgan Hughes, Theresa Kennedy, Pam Confer, and others.  That team was nowhere to be found this year as they all disappeared.  Robert Graham's campaign manager was an attorney who had not run campaigns before.  Senator John Horhn had some veterans on his team but they ran a campaign that focused on advertising in the media.


The old adage that all politics is local is always try in municipal elections.   Chokwe pounded the pavement while his opponents pounded the airwaves and had weak get out the vote efforts.  


Speaking of pounding the pavement, did anyone notice the out of state volunteers who invaded Jackson during the final weekend of the campaign?  Buses and buses of people arrived in Jackson to wave signs and go door to door for the victor.

Someone has to say it.  Dear Mr. Owner of Several Restaurants in Northeast Jackson.  The white folks see you as a white liberal Democrat who lives in Fondren.  However, the black folks see you a little bit differently.  You are the white guy who owns a fancy restaurant where the rich white Republicans hang out.  Guilt by association, perhaps, but it is what it is.  That is why your endorsements work against you in Jackson elections.

Me? I see you as a risk-taker who never gave up on Jackson and invested in the community.


The other surprise took place in Pearl.  It is not often that one sees a two-term Mayor losing a re-election bid in Mississippi.  Small-town Mayors are usually set for re-election once they get past that second term. However, the challenger in Pearl whupped the Mayor and whupped him good.  One could see this tsunami coming over the last couple of weeks but it seemed as if the Mayor didn't really campaign that hard.

Now the question will be seen if Jake will sell out to apartments.  Take some free advice Mr. Mayor-elect: Drive through Northeast Jackson.


Irony.  Chokwe Lumumba, Jr. celebrated his victory in the same place where Tony Yarber  celebrated three years ago.


Chokwe followed the path of most rabble rousers and merely said he would "include the people in everything".  Um, ok.  That is a nice slogan, it's appealing, and says almost nothing.  What exactly were Mr. Lumumba's promises?  Did he actually say anything?


Mayor Tony Yarber.  What could have been.  A good campaigner who was well-liked by more than a few people.  He made the mistake of stuffing his administration with cronies who were suddenly in the best jobs they ever had.  Suits, paychecks, Fuelman cards, and city vehicles.  Let the good times roll.  The Mayor never had a real bloc of support on the city council and all too often didn't have those one or two councilmen who will defend the Mayor's interests that every Mayor expects to have.  Too often, he was fighting the City Council all by himself.  Too many contracts became bogged down when political favors, real or imagined, were written into them.  Then there were the lawsuits.  The sexual harassment lawsuits filed against him and a staff member pretty much torpedoed his chances to stay in office. The lawsuits filed against Hinds County Sheriff Victor Mason hurt him as well.  It seemed one set of lawsuits would pop up in the news when the other faded, serving to disgust voters while never allowing them to forget. 

It seemed at times that the Mayor had to be the smartest person on his team. That is usually a fatal mistake in anything in life- politics, business, and especially sports.  Look at how many of Nick Saban's assistants go on to better jobs. Sulla has Pompey, Crassus, and Lucullus for generals.  Some of Harvey's people went on to bigger and better things.  Some of the current administration's head honchos will be hard pressed to find jobs at all.  The Mayor probably should have cleaned house but did not do so and  it probably cost him dearly. 


Remember that, Mayor-elect.  Don't be afraid to hire people smarter than you.  That is probably the best, unsolicited advice this website can give you.  Oh, and be prepared to say no to your own supporters when the situation demands it. 

It is actually nice to see the new Mayor and his wife.  They clearly are not just a husband and wife but are partners in life.  There are so many phony marriages, worn-out marriages, and disastrous marriages that one should appreciate the real thing in our leaders when we see it.

Canton, did someone say Canton?  There is a runoff between the champ, Arnell Bolden, and the champ he beat four years ago, Dr. William Truly.  Truly was an incompetent Mayor.  He even threw someone in jail for daring to videotape a Board of Aldermen meeting.  Bolden represented a reform effort four years ago but the effort apparently fizzled out in the Canton mud.  However, the real prize of Canton is CMU.  It has a cash reserve of $12 million and apparently can borrow up to $45 million.

The Blackmons took their lumps in 2013 and played the long game. They got control of the Board of Aldermen and then were ready when the forces of Karl Banks and Rudy Warnock invaded.  The invaders got control of CMU but the Blackmons took it back several months later.

Now it has come down to two runoff elections.  Arnell found himself without a home when the Blackmons and Warnocks went at it.  Kind of like Clint in A Fistful of Dollars but Bolden is not the Man with No Name.  He has apparently sided with the Blackmons.  Did anyone notice the Blackmons didn't have a candidate yard sign in front of their office as they usually do during elections?  Rudy and his side backed Greg Green for Mayor but Green lost.  However, there is still an alderman seat up for election.  Ironically Rodriguez Brown, Ike Brown's nephew, faces a challenger.  Brown is on the Blackmon bus.  However, the election is the engineer's best chance to get control of the Board of Aldermen as his already has three supporters on the board.  June 6 should be fun in Canton.

"We have economics by the people for the people or economics by a few people for themselves."  Chokwe Lumumba, Jr. quote from election night.   I'll be happy if this crowd actually understands economics.


"We’re going to show support to South Jackson. If the people in South Jackson aren’t treated right, the tax burden will fall on the people in North Jackson." Chokew Lumumba, Jr. quote made a few minutes later.  There might be hope.


Then there is this gem by Madame DeLadd:


Nice to know we are living inside of her head, rent-free.  This site hasn't really said much about her over the last two or three years but apparently the reverse is not true. There is a difference between the two of us.   I've never said anything about her sponsors, much less attack anyone for advertising at the JFP. JJ does not want to shut anyone down or up. However, the same can not be said about her in relation to this website.    Her comment is so dumb that it doesn't deserve a comment.  When there is more than one candidate in a race, then there are going to be more losers than winners.  This site gets over 200,000 unique visitors and 600,000 page views per month.  That is why they advertise, not because they loooove me so much.  Quite a few winners have advertised on this website over the years- black and white.  By the way, what is the JFP's track record for endorsements?

So much for the Costco Effect.  Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee had his share of flaws.  He lied about the Costco project.  He got burned on the apartment fight.  There were also some not so flattering emails that popped up in that fiasco.  County Line Road has deteriorated somewhat over the years.  However, crime has not gotten worse.  Other cities are trying to imitate Ridgeland when it comes to parks and recreation.  Only one alderman lost his seat.  There was a great deal of sound over the last year but not much fury at the polls.


Jackson was at it's best when the business community worked with the political leadership.  The building of the Rez and the airport are prime examples of this cooperation.   For all the talk on WMPR about the white folks and the downtown power structure, there has been little such cooperation for over twenty years- and it shows.  Mayor Johnson and the business community did not get along.  It backed Frank Melton but realized real soon he was nuts.  Mayor Lumumba was not in office long enough to make a difference one way or the other.  Mayor Yarber was supposed to be business-friendly but the business community backed Horhn for a reason.


Speaking of Mayor Yarber, did anyone notice how poorly he did in Wards 1 and 7?  Those two wards formed a huge part of his base in 2014 but disappeared for him on election day.  White turnout fell substantially from 2013 and 2014.   Hmmm...... how many white people did the current administration hire as employees or appoint to boards?


Note to Mayor Lumumba: When you look at a job position and its allotted salary, please make sure that the salary does not include benefits before you promise it to someone.  Someone else made that mistake last year and found out the hard way that the "salary" also included the benefits.  He thus went way overbudget and had to terminate a bunch of employees within a short period of time- including those who were promised jobs.


Will the Talk of the Town still present an "Uncle Tom of the Year Award"?


Perfect example of how dysfunctional city government is: Parking meters.  How many years has Jackson been trying to figure out how to revamp the parking meter system? How much money has been lost? Meanwhile, the Mayor and City Council yet again go back and forth over parking meters. If the new Mayor and City Council can't quickly work through problems such as this one, it will be a very long four years and Jackson will continue to fall apart.


Give Mayor Yarber credit.  Crime got better under his watch and people realize that the crime problem rests upon the shoulders of the judges and prosecutors.  JPD arrests the perps but they keep getting back on the street thanks to catch & release.  Will the new Mayor keep Chief Vance?

Mr. Lumumba held a press conference at Robert Shuler's Smith office and defended him when he was arrested by the Attorney General.  Will the District Attorney now have control over JPD? Hmm..... did anyone notice that the D.A. did not campaign for Mr. Lumumba?   Where was Robert?


What was interesting about the Jackson Mayoral election was that the serious candidates all raised enough money to compete well.  Horhn, Yarber, Lumumba, and Graham all raised over $100,000.  That is usually enough to compete well and get the message out in such a race.


The new City Council will be Melvin Priester, Jr., Ashby Foote, Virgie Lindsay, Charles Tillman, Dekeither Stamps, Kenneth Stokes, and a player to be named later.  Believe it or not, its an improvement from the days of Louis Armstrong and Credell Calhoun.  Think about that one.

No Jackson candidate said anything about getting a handle on rentals.  Nothing was said about strengthening neighborhood associations.  Just general statements about crime, economic development, and infrastructure.   So much for what makes other communities desirable. 


Few have notice that the trend in Jackson over the last few elections has been to throw out the Mayor.  New blood won the last three elections.  New blood made the runoff in 2013.  The voters apparently don't like what they see in Jackson and have no faith in the retreads.  2021 challengers need to keep that in mind.


None of the candidates said anything about imitating what successful cities do well.  The Clinton Mayoral candidates kept mentioning "like in Madison" four years ago during a debate.  No similar sentiments were mentioned in Jackson this year.   We apparently want to bang our heads against the wall until we figure out something might now work.  Heaven forbid we should save ourselves some time and trouble by seeing how other cities have overcome similar challenges.  Nope.  Jackson First also means Jackson Only.