Candidates take on legal issues in Memphis
Four Tennessee gubernatorial candidates addressed a range of legal issues, and a few broader topics like Confederate statues and the Memphis Regional Megasite, during one-on-one questioning at a Thursday forum.
The two leading Democratic contenders in the Aug. 2 primaries, former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh, D-Ripley, joined House Speaker Beth Harwell and Knoxville entrepreneur Randy Boyd, both Republicans, at the event co-hosted by the Tennessee Bar Association, the Tennessee Judicial Conference and The Commercial Appeal, USA TODAY NETWORK-Tennessee.
Mark Russell, executive editor of the newspaper, served as moderator for the forum, held at The Peabody Hotel as part of the Bar Association’s annual convention. Russell asked each candidate the same set of questions during individual on-stage, sit-down conversations before a room full of lawyers and judges.
The sharpest divide in a forum that generated little controversy, given the fact that candidates did not interact directly with one another, came on the topic most directly connected to the host city – Confederate statues.
Democrats Dean and Fitzhugh each said the city’s December removal of two statues was a local issue that should not be the state’s business. Harwell and Boyd, while conceding Memphis acted legally according to a Davidson County chancellor’s ruling, addressed the questions in terms of preserving history.
“The state should have kept its nose out of it,” Fitzhugh said pointedly, also criticizing legislators for taking away
$250,000 from the state budget intended for Memphis’ bicentennial celebration next year. “It was the city’s call. We’re doing a lot to put the legislature’s stamp on what cities do. That’s a concern.”
“Frankly,” added Dean, “Memphis outsmarted everybody” in finding a way to remove the statues by selling the parks to a private nonprofit. He said taking away the $250,000 was “unwise, unnecessary and spiteful.”
Countered Boyd: “Our history is our history, and we need to preserve it.”
Harwell, who kept all her answers short, said that while the issue is complicated, she was not in favor of removing statues. “You can’t go back and rewrite history,” she said. “I respect heritage.”
The four also were asked about the Megasite, 4,100 acres of vacant farm land on Interstate 40 near Stanton. The site, if it can attract an auto manufacturer or other major industry, is seen as the key to West Tennessee gaining the kind of economic momentum Middle Tennessee has enjoyed.
All the candidates said finishing infrastructure work at the site on which the state has invested more than $100 million – making it “shovel ready” – is the key.
Boyd, who was more in his element talking about the issue than the legal questions that preceded it, characterized the site as “our opportunity to transform West Tennessee.”
“When we fill it, it will create 10,000 direct jobs” with thousands more ancillary jobs, Boyd said.
ON OTHER TOPICS Sanctuary cities
The hot-button topic prompted the two Republicans, Harwell and Boyd, to say they would enforce federal law by using local authorities to round up immigrants for deportation.
“I don’t think local law enforcement should be doing federal jobs,” Harwell said, “but the federal government has left us no choice.”
The Democrats raised concerns about the sanctuary city law passed by legislators and allowed to become law without Gov. Bill Haslam’s signature. Fitzhugh said he thought there were constitutional questions about the bill; Dean said the law is “a solution looking for a problem” since there are no sanctuary cities in Tennessee.
Quoting Haslam, Dean said he thought gubernatorial candidates should spend their time talking about things they can do something about.
“For me, that’s health care, public education and jobs in the state,” Dean said. “What we need to be concerned about is building our economy, creating better health for our citizens and creating a better education system.”
Dean added that Tennessee needs to be a state “for all different groups of people, a state that respects people’s dignity and treats them with respect.”
Criminal and juvenile justice reform
All agreed that education is key to reducing recidivism rates and breaking the cycle of crime.
“We’ve gotten ourselves into a bit of a mess,” Fitzhugh said. “A lot of small communities have had to build jails, affecting their bond rating, instead of schools. Once they get into that cycle, they have to pay for it. It’s going to take FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 2018 awhile to unravel. Education is the key to keeping people out of the criminal justice system.”
Harwell said the key to reducing recidivism is helping people find work. She cited the state’s Fresh Start Act as a way to do it. The program prevents occupational and professional licensing boards from denying a license due to an applicant’s criminal record, unless the offense is a violent felony or relates directly to the offender’s ability to perform the job.
Clemency
A topic on the minds of many because of President Trump’s clemency for Memphian Alice Johnson, the candidates said they would consider using it when appropriate. Boyd said it would be rare in his case. Harwell noted clemency was “pretty popular” with Tennessee governors until the time of the cash-forclemency scandal involving former Gov. Ray Blanton.
“When that happened, governors got nervous,” Harwell said.
“But I do think there are times when it should be reviewed, and I would rely on legal staff to help me make a good decision.”