Blake’s Blog

Jack Sammons doesn’t quite seem to have this "retirement from public life" business completely down pat.

Less than nine months after he quit the Memphis City Council, Sammons was selected last week to return on an interim basis.

And, in addition to that and running a couple of private businesses, Sammons was recently elected chairman of the Tennessee Athletics Commission, a nine-member panel created to regulate boxing and mixed martial arts competitions in the state.

One might wonder what in his background would make Sammons a good choice to lead the commission. But, if you think about it, what better training could there be?

After 16 years on the council, Sammons certainly has first-hand experience with combativeness.

Just like cyclist Lance Armstrong, former Memphis City Councilman Jack Sammons is coming out of retirement.

The council decided yesterday to appoint Sammons, who left office less than nine months ago, to fill a vacant seat until after the November elections.

No word yet on whether Sammons, a 16-year veteran of the council, lobbied for the job with the slogan: "Change you can believe in."

When Scott McCormick left the Memphis City Council at the end of last month, it required a reshuffling of some of the council’s committee assignments.

As a result, Reid Hedgepeth, a developer by trade, will apparently be taking over as chairman of the council’s planning and zoning committee.

And might I just add that it’s about time.

For far too long, the needs of the homebuilding industry have been woefully underrepresented at City Hall.

Maybe Hedgepeth can get in there and, you know, stand up for the big guys.

For the record, Memphis City Councilman Myron Lowery will be attending the Democratic National Convention as a superdelegate next week.

Also for the record, he won’t be nominating himself for president.

Lowery thought he had better make that point clear since he received an e-mail with a link to a mock news report, titled "The Myron Lowery Phenomenon," that talked about how Lowery's candidacy for the Oval Office was catching fire across the country.

The report appears to show Myron Lowery '08 signs everywhere - on buses, billboards and even tattooed to the back of one supporter.

(Actually, local political junkie Tom Guleff recently played the same joke on me. If you want to send a personalized mock newscast to some of your friends, all you have to do is visit www.news3online.com and fill out the necessary information.)

Lowery says he’ll toe the party line by supporting presumptive nominee Barack Obama.

Personally, I was relieved to know Lowery isn’t planning to launch his own insurgent bid for the presidency. After all, he’s already the chairman of the Memphis Charter Commission and as vice-chairman of the City Council, he’s in line to replace chairman Scott McCormick, whose resignation becomes official at the end of the month.

Too much power concentrated in the hands of one person would be a bad thing.

Then again, Lowery points out that the charter commission will cease to be at the end of December, just weeks before the new president would take office. The council could pick a different chairman for the new year, too.

So stay tuned.

People used to call former President Bill Clinton "Slick Willie."

However, that nickname isn’t often used to describe Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton, who is many things, but generally isn’t associated with political slickness. Unless a wrecking ball fits your personal definition of "slick."

Herenton turned on the charm with City Council members yesterday, though, convincing them not to put two charter amendments on the ballot that could have increased council oversight of the mayor’s work.

To head off an amendment that would have required council approval for all of the city’s deputy division directors, Herenton promised to give council members names and resumes of people he’s planning to hire for those jobs in the future. And he also promised all deputy division directors would have to live inside the city limits.

Council members also decided not to pursue a charter amendment that would have required their approval on city contracts above a certain dollar amount. Instead, the council may pass a resolution requiring the mayor to provide quarterly updates on major contracts that have been signed.

I know this hasn’t been a particularly hot August, but, dang, that still must have been quite a snow job over at City Hall yesterday.

Wow. I’m shocked - SHOCKED! - to read in today’s newspaper that those two guys from Georgia who said they had found Bigfoot ... really hadn’t found Bigfoot after all.

That’s about as surprising as reading that either one of the U.S. basketball teams (men or women) has racked up another blowout victory in the Olympics.

And let’s face it: There are some things in our lives that are better off remaining mysterious, occasionally promising to be revealed and yet still slightly beyond our reach.

You know, sort of like the Bass Pro Shops development agreement for The Pyramid.

I had to laugh as I was reading through the Memphis City Council’s committee meeting schedule for next Tuesday.

The last item scheduled for discussion on the public safety and homeland security committee’s agenda is a resolution "discouraging police brutality."

Now, I don’t want to be accused of sensationalizing anything or taking anything out of context.

I’m quite sure the actual wording of the resolution is quite different.

I’m sure at the very least, the resolution will say that police brutality is "strongly discouraged."

The following may be of some comfort to those who think Memphis politicians have cornered the market on erratic behavior:

According to an article posted on The Tennessean’s Web site today, Metro Nashville Councilwoman Vivian Wilhoite was cited by police this month for driving on a suspended license.

Wilhoite apparently had her license suspended after failing to pay a speeding ticket issued in January.

Wilhoite reportedly "forgot" about the ticket until she was pulled over for speeding, again, a couple of weeks ago.

Hmmm. Sound like anyone we know from around here?

Which leads me to this question: If Wilhoite and Memphis City Councilwoman Janis Fullilove were involved in a street race, I wonder who would win?

It’s nice to know that Jack Sammons has landed on his feet.

After a lengthy career as a Memphis city councilman, Sammons is now filling the hours (well, some of them, anyway) as a judge at the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest.

I could be wrong about this, but I'm thinking Sammons’ years on the council were probably pretty good training for his current gig.

After all, both jobs involve dealing with a lot of pork.

I don’t know what problems Memphis City Councilwoman Janis Fullilove has that have prompted her to seek medical treatment.

But I do think that her decision-making skills could use some work.

At a news conference yesterday, Fullilove told reporters of her plans to seek help for the undisclosed condition. Mayor Willie Herenton was there, too, advising Fullilove on which questions not to answer.

Well, I’m no doctor, so I couldn’t advise Fullilove about whatever her problems may be. But I can tell her that relying on Herenton to be her media consultant might not be the best choice she could make.