Fullilove sorry for outburst on radio
On-air blast ‘unfortunate’
Memphis City Council member Janis Fullilove said in an interview Monday that she apologizes to the public for an on-air emotional outburst on radio station WDIA last week.
“It happened, and it’s unfortunate that it happened, and I apologize,” she said. “I apologize to all of my constituency and those who are not. I apologize.”
She said she’s trying to get better at keeping her feelings in check. “Because I always wear my emotions on my sleeves, which is something that I’ve always done and I’m working on not to do.”
Fullilove said on her radio show that her husband had threatened to kill her: “I’m going to protect my life. I don’t care — this man here threatened to kill me, and I want the police director and everybody in the city to know. I can’t let him kill me, and he’s threatened to kill me. He says he hates me.” She said Monday that people say things in the heat of an argument that they don’t really mean. “My husband is fine. I’m fine. Shassah is fine, ” she said, referring to her 3-year-old dog, a shih tzu.
Fullilove has a long history of personal problems, including three convictions for drunken driving since 1995. And police have been called to more than one domestic incident between Fullilove and her husband, Vernon Chalmers. City Council members voted to censure Fullilove in 2008 for driving on a fraudulent driver’s license, but had no power to remove her. She will soon turn 64 and has served on the council since 2007.
Fullilove is one of three representatives of Super District 8, a broad swath of territory that covers most of the western portions of the city and overlaps with smaller one-member districts. (The other representatives of Super District 8 are Joe Brown and Myron Lowery.)
Lowery said last week, “As long as her personal challenges don’t cross the line into what we do here at City Hall into affecting the citizens of the city, it’s my personal hope” that Fullilove will work out her problems.
As a member of the 13-person City Council, Fullilove plays a role in setting policy and budgets for basic city services such as garbage pickup and fire and police protection.
On the day following the outburst on WDIA, Fullilove missed several morning committee meetings but came to City Hall for a closed attorney-client meeting. She skipped the full council meeting that afternoon. She said Monday that she was feeling ill and emotionally drained and went home to rest.