Gubernatorial forum will showcase legal issues
The cash-bail system. Criminal justice reform. Juvenile justice reform.
Those topics and others will be showcased at 8:30 a.m. Thursday as The Commercial Appeal and Tennessee Bar Association co-host a gubernatorial forum focused on legal issues at The Peabody hotel. The forum coincides with the bar association’s annual convention June 13-16.
Four of the six major candidates have confirmed. Former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh, both Democrats, will join Republicans Randy Boyd, a Knoxville entrepreneur and former state economic development commissioner, and House Speaker Beth Harwell.
It is part of The CA’s commitment to providing in-depth information about the candidates before the Aug. 2 primary. The forum will consist of one-onone interviews, offering a chance for a robust conversation on important legal issues.
The CA is sponsoring the forum, along with USA TODAY NETWORK Tennessee, the Tennessee Bar Association and the Tennessee Judicial Conference.
“The CA is proud to co-sponsor this gubernatorial forum on legal issues as part of our commitment to helping the area understand broader issues,” said Mike Jung, The CA’s president.
Lucian Pera, president of the Tennessee Bar Association and a partner at Adams & Reese LLC, said the TBA is excited about the forum.
“More than 70 percent of lawyers li-
censed in Tennessee are our members, and our members care deeply about a number of issues affecting the law and the legal system,” Pera said. “Who becomes governor matters to Tennessee lawyers, because we’re Tennessee citizens, but also because of our special role as lawyers.”
He added: “Tennessee lawyers have a bunch of issues on which the governor’s views matter a lot — court-appointed counsel for those who can’t afford a lawyer, criminal justice issues like our cash bail system, how judges are appointed, how our state attorney general is selected, juvenile justice reform, open government. We’re hoping we’ll hear the candidates’ views on all of these and other issues.” And you can hear their views, too. The June 14 forum will be livestreamed on CommercialAppeal.com and on the websites of the five other properties that make up the Tennessee network.
The forum on legal issues will be followed by two major debates in Memphis, both of which are co-sponsored by The CA and USA TODAY NETWORK Tennessee.
On Sept. 13, co-sponsor Rhodes College will host a general election debate for the U.S. Senate seat. On Oct. 2, we will showcase the two gubernatorial candidates in a debate at the University of Memphis, a co-sponsor. Both sessions will also be livestreamed on the six USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee sites. WMC Action News 5 is the broadcast partner on both debates.
The USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee has also co-hosted gubernatorial forums on education in January, health care in February and rural issues in April. A forum in May covered a host of topics.
Mark Russell is executive editor of The Commercial Appeal. Email him at mark.russell@commercialappeal.com.