Allegations may have little effect on election
As if Memphis Mayor A C Wharton needed another thing to worry about in what has turned into a wildly competitive campaign for re-election, along came Sunday night’s bombshell about Robert Lipscomb’s suspension — and Monday night’s resignation.
Wharton already has a well-funded challenger (Jim Strickland) threatening the white vote. He has another credible challenger (Harold Collins) threatening the black vote. Fewer than 40 days from election day, arguably the highestprofile director in his administration became snared in a startling allegation — and it remains just that, as Lipscomb has said he’s innocent — regarding sexual misconduct with a minor years ago.
Except, do a news bombshell and high-profile resignation necessarily become an electionyear turning point?
It isn’t that easy. Take Strickland, who has made it a sport these past few months of criticizing the mayor. Particularly flammable logs for the Strickland fire: anything that hints of ineffectiveness within the Wharton administration. But Monday? “I think the mayor took the correct
action today,” Strickland said in a phone interview, four hours after Wharton held a brief news conference on the allegations. In this instance, Strickland is keeping his powder dry.
“I’m just not going to get into the details of this until the investigation’s over,” Strickland said, before extending thoughts to the alleged victim.
Collins wasn’t as neutral. After expressing sadness at the allegations, he referenced specific grant projects Lipscomb was coordinating, raising the specter that they could be lost.
“One person in charge of some of these complex issues is dangerous,” Collins said. “We need a coordinated team approach. And, that is what the mayor should be announcing now so our city will not miss a step in these opportunities.”
Collins has a point: Lipscomb was so ingrained in every aspect of city government that the void is immense. What happens to the Foote Homes grant pursuit? The Whitehaven project? Those are questions more important than politics, and they have no concrete answers.
But here’s a best guess on the impact to the mayor’s race, given what we knew as of late Monday: Wharton may have a tough time actually gaining from this story, but by effectively managing it, he can probably play it to a tie.
The knee-jerk reaction, of course, says this hurts Wharton. Says it’s a scandal and that Wharton is dragged down by association, his electoral name tarnished. Says that this should prompt Strickland or Collins to measure the drapes of the mayor’s office.
Yet that seems almost too easy. Or, in this case, overdone.
And it doesn’t exactly fit the particulars of what has happened here.
Had Lipscomb stood accused of something more along the lines of the corruption scandals of the past, perhaps. But this allegation is personal, believed to be outside of his office — and, in a key point, the alleged incident in question predates Wharton’s time as mayor.
Assuming Wharton handled everything aboveboard, Lipscomb’s potential personal issues would not ordinarily cause much more than a blip on a mayor’s image once the news cycles run their course.
Except this is not an ordinary time, not with the election looming so closely. While there’s a strong case to think he’ll brush this off largely intact, believing there’s zero crossover from the Lipscomb allegation and resignation to Wharton’s re-election campaign is shortsighted.
No matter how much the damage is mitigated, the story certainly does not help Wharton. No matter how much his associates may want to tout how the incident showed “decisive action” from Wharton, merely having to speak on the issue is fraught with problems.
It is, in some ways, the disadvantage of incumbency — the real problems of managing a large city must be dealt with while campaigning, too. And often, those optics aren’t pretty.
Not that Wharton cared to frame it in electoral terms Monday morning. Asked in a news conference a question about the allegations’ electoral impact, Wharton recoiled.
“Let me tell you about the election,” he said, then paused for a few seconds, seemingly steeling his nerve. “I really could care less about that. There’s never a wrong time to do the right thing.”
But there is a bad time for bad news, and that was Sunday night. Wharton’s only question now is, can he get that tie?