Terry Roland: Shelby County needs an ‘effective,’ ‘aggressive’ mayor
Terry Roland, a candidate for the Republican nomination in the Shelby County mayor’s race, missed a call from actor Nicholas Cage a few nights ago. No, seriously, he adds.
Roland’s campaign videographer, on a shoot with Cage, showed the actor the candidate’s first campaign video, said Roland, who is nearing the end of his second and final term as a member of the Shelby County Board of Commissioners.
Cage was so impressed, Roland said with a laugh, he called “to say he would vote for me if he could.”
The strange thing about that story is that Roland, one of the most colorful and accessible government officials in Memphis and Shelby County, missed a call.
“For the last eight years, the people of Shelby County have had a full-time commissioner at part-time pay,” Roland said.
“To me, it’s about people, not politics,” he added, describing his political philosophy.
Roland, 57, who lives near Millington, faces County Trustee David Lenoir and Juvenile Court Clerk Joy Touliatos in the May 1 Republican primary, with early voting beginning Wednesday. Former commissioner Sidney Chism and Sen. Lee Harris also face off in the Democratic primary. The general election is Aug. 2.
A card-carrying bull rider for 12 years, from before his graduation from Millington Central High in 1979 until he was 26, Roland’s approach to government is similar to his approach to bull riding: “Aggressive.”
Praised as a firebrand by some and accused of being a loose-cannon by others, Roland doesn’t shy away from a political fight.
On the campaign trail, Roland has freely criticized his primary opponents for employing contract attorneys who “don’t do anything,” claiming the hires are political. Roland, who helped organize support in West Tennessee for President Donald Trump in the 2016 election, articulates a similar “‘drainthe-swamp” message as the president.
“I’m not a bought-and-paid-for politician,” Roland said. “... The reason I call it a culture of corruption (in county government) is because it’s been going on so long people don’t think it’s wrong anymore.”
Roland pursued his business degree at the University of Memphis until 1983, when he quit to take over the family business in Millington. He sold the Roland’s Amoco food shop in 2010 but is still CEO of Roland’s Tire & Auto and Roland’s Pool Supplies.
Roland got his first taste of politics in 1998 when he helped form the Rural Action Group to combat Memphis’ aggressive annexation plans. In 2005, Roland lost a House of Representatives race to Ophelia Ford — because of “dead people voting,” he said.
If elected mayor, Roland said he will work to cut taxes, to push the state to fairly fund Shelby County Schools, and to improve infrastructure to prepare the county for growth.
“If we could just get the money the state should be sending us, we could probably go down another 30 cents on our tax rate,” Roland said of state education funding.
Roland said he especially wants to see the state complete the north leg of the Highway 385 loop, opening up Millington and Frayser to more development.
Asked to describe himself in a word, Roland replies, “Effective.” One of his proudest accomplishments while on the commission was the creation of singlemember commission districts, which he said gave rural areas more equitable representation.
On his desk, he has a nameplate given to him by his longtime aide, Rhonda O’dell, with the inscription, “Terry Roland: The Common Sense Dept.” He said many of the city’s problems, from education to crime, could be solved by using common sense.
“I come from the business world,” he said.
“It’s got to make money sense and it’s got to make common sense.”
Reach Ryan Poe at poe@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter at @ryanpoe.