Basar loses his seat on the commission. Was it about payback?
Maybe it was about partisanship. Then again, maybe it was about payback. Or neither. Brandon Morrison, a homemaker with a St. Mary’s Episcopal School and Vanderbilt University pedigree and high-powered connections, ousted incumbent Shelby County Commissioner Steve Basar from the District 13 seat he held since 2012. She amassed 2,938 votes to his 1, 488 votes.
Come August, Morrison will face Democrat George C. Monger, a former executive at the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and at Consortium MMT – a Memphis music nonprofit – to represent the East Memphis district.
Yet while Monger easily beat his challenger, Charlie Belenky, some were surprised Basar lost to an opponent who, up until the time she won, few people even knew was a woman. Speculation, however, is rampant. Some believe Basar incurred the wrath of local Republicans for voting with Democrats on the commission too often. Others believe he angered another powerful constituency – St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and its supporters – for backing efforts that were viewed as hobbling the Uptown Tax Increment Financing District.
St. Jude relies on the TIF to foment its expansion.
Basar, however, says such speculation is hogwash. Morrison, he says, simply spent more money and more time persuading her friends to tell their friends to vote for her.
“As far as I know, no one put anyone up against me,” Basar said. “She bought the seat … she raised more than $200,000, and tapped into some voters that would have normally voted for me.
“I’m not in the country club … I didn’t send my kids to private schools. A lot of people said to me, ‘Steve, Brandon’s my friend,’ or ‘Brandon’s my neighbor,’ or ‘Sorry, we’re in the country club together.’ ” OK. But here’s the thing. One of the strengths of incumbency is usually the office-holder has amassed connections and influences to raise more money than their challengers. That’s a built-in advantage – and a major rationale behind term limits.
“If she [Morrison] outraised him, then that’s more of an indicator that people were ready for change,” said Eric Groenendyk, associate professor of political science at the University of Memphis.
Joshua Sandman, a professor of political science at the University of New Haven, also said having no political record can even give a newcomer like Morrison an advantage.
“People often hold ‘politicians’ in contempt,” writes Sandman. “They make many promises that cannot be kept, fail to solve intractable problems, and need to make ‘no win,’ decisions or votes. A newcomer comes with a clean slate.”
If partisanship and payback fueled Basar’s defeat – and that’s not an impossibility considering how it consumes politics nationally – that would spell stagnancy for Shelby County’s future. Representatives must gauge how their decisions and priorities benefit everyone, not just a party or personal interest.
But if Basar’s name recognition, record and connections that he should have built since 2012 weren’t enough to propel him to another term over a novice, then that probably means that people in that district didn’t care about having an experienced voice as much as they cared about having a fresh one.
“I definitely see myself as a bridgebuilder,” Morrison said. “I see this position as a non-partisan position, and I ran for it because having received so much myself, I see it as a way of giving back to my community.”
Come August, it’ll be interesting to see how voters in District 13 build on the change that they’ve already set in motion.