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This is a production
of WKNO - Memphis.

Production funding for "Behind
the Headlines" is made possible

in part by..

A preview of the
local primary elections

tonight on
"Behind the Headlines."

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♪♪♪

I'm Eric Barnes, publisher
of the Memphis Daily News.

Thanks for joining us.

We are joined tonight by the
two heads of the local parties.

We'll start with Bryan Carson,
Shelby County Democartic Party.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you.

Bill Dries, senior reporter
with the Memphis Daily News.

And Justin Joy, Shelby
County Republican Party.

Thank you both for being here.

Thank you very much.

We're gonna start a
little differently.

Bill, there are
so many elections.

We're talking about primaries.

But they're big primaries.

And why don't you
give us a rundown,

a kind of lay of
the land of what's,

who's running, what's up, what
offices are up for election?

And then we'll get in to
questioning these guys.

Alright.

Election day -- the most
important fact here is May 6.

Early voting will
start in April.

These are primary elections,
Democratic and Republican for

county offices.

There are 83
candidates, 29 Republicans,

54 Democrats
running for 24 offices.

County-wide,
that's 11 positions.

Only one of those county-wide
races is one that does not have

an incumbent where you have new
folks running and there's going

to be a new person in that
office and that is for criminal

court clerk.

Six of the ten incumbents are
running unopposed in their

primaries.

On the County Commission, all 13
County Commission seats are up

for election this year.

And there's another twist to it.

These are new districts.

The County Commission has gone
to a set of 13 single member

districts.

Of that 13, you're going to
have a majority of new members.

You're going to have seven new
members on the Shelby County

Comission.

Only one county
commissioner, Terry Roland,

has no opposition of any kind
and was effectively re-elected

at the filing
deadline for the candidates.

And so let's talk a
little bit about who's not up.

No city mayor?

No.

No city council?

No.

That's next year.

Next year -- okay.

Legislators --
state legislators?

Comes in August when you'll have
the primaries for the Tennessee

State Legislator.

You'll have the
Congressional primaries,

the U.S. Senate
primary for governor.

Okay.

And then what about
county-wide office,

like assessor, trustee?

Those up this year?

Yes.

Those are all up?

They're on the ballot.

Okay.

Alright, so with that
sort of lay of the land,

we'll try to kind of
dig in to some of this.

And let me just start
with a real basic question.

I introduced you first, Bryan.

I'll start with you, Justin.

What are your, you know, for
the Repubicans -- what are your

major goals?

What are your major themes?

If you could talk about that
across a really diverse set of

elected officers.

Well first of all, I just wanted
to say thanks for having a

program on a local primary.

Unfortunately but frankly, this
local primary every four years

that is in a non-presidential
year is typically one of the

lowest turnout elections
that we have in the cycle.

So we really appreciate the
opportunity to be here talking

about this elections
because it is important.

And when you're looking past
the primary for the local county

Republican party, what
we're looking at in August is

presenting the voters of this
county with a set of candidates

that are serious leaders.

We have some serious
challenges in this county.

And I don't think anybody's
really gonna say otherwise.

But I believe the Republican
candidates that will be

presented in August will present
various serious leaders to

address those various
serious challenges.

Again just for
the general themes,

I mean you have
more folks running.

But what are the Democratic
themes that you are trying to

get across in this
wide range of offices?

Well as Justin just said, with
this not being a presidential

year, the turn out
is significantly low.

We've been looking
at the voting trends,

the numbers for..

We're actually looking at
the past 18 election cycles.

And we anticipate maybe 40,000
to participate in the primary

election.

And it's kind of sad with the
population of Shelby County

being 900-and
something odd thousand.

So basically what we are doing,
we're trying to engage in people

in our Democratic community,
get them out to the polls,

let them know the significance
of their voice being heard.

Because of their voice, if
they don't come to the polls and

vote, their vote
goes on deaf ears.

And right now, the
Republicans are the majority.

They hold most of
the county offices.

So we want to take some of
the leadership back in Shelby

County.

Alright, Bill?

Four years ago..

And Bryan, you made
reference to this.

The Republicans took every
county-wide office that was on

the ballot.

And so here we are four years
later with all of those offices

plus Shelby County Assessor on
the ballot after a change to get

it on this same election cycle.

And the clerks -- right, right.

So what do you
tell the candidates?

Or what did you tell them going
in to the filing deadline in

terms of what the candidates for
the Democratic party need to do

going in to this election to
not have that happen again?

Unity.

This is what I ran on
when I ran for chair.

And that's the message I
send out to the party.

We're stronger unified and
we're weaker as we're divided.

So typically what we want to do,
who ever comes out the primary,

we want them to land their
support behind the Democratic

nominee.

In the past, people
tend to get upset.

If someone loses, they have
their supporters frowning upon

the Democratic nominee.

But ultimately at
the end of the day,

we're all Democrats.

And we want to stand behind the
Democratic nominee in going to

the general election.

And Justin, what do you tell
your cadidates who are for the

most part, the incumbents in
these county-wide offices going

in to this election
four years later?

Well I think being an incumbent,
you do have the advantage of --

and in the case of the
Republican incumbents,

talking about a very positive
record that they have set forth

over the past four years.

But not only talking about the
record but also talking about

their vision for their office
for the next four years as well.

So those that are running
the contestant primaries,

I think that gives them a
good opportunity to go ahead and

begin to lay that vision out
whether it's an incumbent or not

incumbent for what their vision
would be for their office if

they get the party's
nomination in May.

Bryan, you had an executive
committee meeting last night

where -- on Thursday night if
you're watching this show on

Saturday or Sunday.

You had an executive committee
meeting and it was again where

this theme of
party loyalty came in.

How do you..

How does your party deal with
candidates or supporters or

politicos who identify as
Democrats but may have strayed

from the party line or
actually supported Republicans?

Typically in the past, I
think it's been overlooked.

But this year, we're
not gonna tolerate that.

We had three individuals who
attended a Republican fundraiser

and we have our own candidate
who's running opposing Jimmy

Moore.

That's who it was.

And basically, a few individuals
were censored last night as a

result of the fundraiser.

Basically
perception is everything.

And my code of ethics..

If you violate our values
of Demoratic principles by

supporting, endorsing,
raising money for Republicans,

you can be censored.

And that's what
happened last night.

Do you have..

Do Republicans have the
same objection to that?

Do you censor your members
if they're raising money or

supporting other
Democratic candidates?

Well there's two
things at work, Eric.

And it can be somewhat of
a difficult line to walk.

And one side,
Chariman Carsons point,

there certainly is a very
important role that the

two-party system plays.

And those lines
have to be maintained.

And when it comes to executive,
county executive committee

members, there are certain
rules there when it comes to not

publically crossing party
lines and things like that.

But that being
said, Shelby County,

whether you're
Republican or you're a Democrat,

you not only need your base
to vote for you but you need a

fairly substancial
amount of crossover vote.

So while it's important that
the party base stay unified,

it's also important to appeal
to a very broad base of Shelby

County voters.

But..

And let me switch
back to you, Bryan.

When you talk about censoring
people who've raised money or

supported Republican cadidates,
I mean there must be some people

listening who say well, you
know what's wrong with that.

Why?

You know part of
what's disfunctional,

I think people would
say, with the U.S.

congress and the congressional
presidential relationship is

that so much is party driven.

The matter -- if it's
Obama, we're against it.

If it's Republican,
we're against it.

And that sort of labeling,
kind of visceral resistance or

opposition to one another isn't
helpful to solving problems,

some would say, on
the federal level.

Aren't you pushing for that on
the local level when you say

that you can not support a
Republican no matter what just

because of that label, not
because of what they stand for,

what they do or who they are?

Absolutely.

But there are several different
variables that take place in the

situation like that.

I totally agree that we have to
work together to get anything

accomplished.

And that's just
based on human nature.

Now the county parties both
reserve the right to allow you

to run as a Democrat
or as a Republican.

That's not a right.

That is a privilege.

And when you are walking around
as a proud Democrat supposedly,

you should wear that with
honor, wear that with pride.

Now when it comes to
supporting, endorsing,

raising money for Republican
and you're supposed to be a

Democrat, that
violates our code of ethics.

Yeah.

Now if you want to work with
a Democrat to get some things

accomplished
across Shelby County,

that's fine.

Once elected.

Exactly.

Right, right.

Because once..

It seems to me a lot of the
time I honestly lose track.

And we cover a lot of
local issues and have a lot of

commissioners and
city council and so on.

But we're talking
about county offices.

I lose track of
Republican versus Democrat.

And often it seems to break
down of suburban versus urban.

Now more often than not, you
know it's Democrat in the urban

districts and it's Republican
in the outer districts.

But isn't that more important?

For the average person, those
are the fights are suburban

versus urban.

Yeah, basically it is.

Most of the issues
on a local level.

It really doesn't come down
to Democrat or Republican.

We all want the same
thing for Memphis,

a more progressive Memphis.

We want to edge crime.

We want better health care.

We want better jobs, more
employment for the people of

this community.

And that's not a
Democratic or Republican issue.

It's a human rights issue.

So basically it doesn't
come down to Democratic or

Republican.

Yeah, yeah.

And I would agree with that.

I think especially at the local
level and as you work your way

down from the federal, state
and on to the local level,

I do think that party
labels when it comes to general

election time lose somewhat of
their definition as they may

have at the national
or even state level.

Again though, there is a role
that the two party system plays

even at our local elections.

But going back to
the broad base of,

you know, reaching out and
attracting that broad base of

voter support is important
for both -- candidates in both

parties.

Let's focus on a couple of
different races for a second

here.

Talk about the
County Commission.

Bill mentioned at the opening
that we've got this change where

it's singlemen member district.

People who don't know -- a
certain number of the positions,

you can correct me here
Bill, were super districts.

Right?

Yeah, super districts are
multimember districts where

in one district, you elected
three commissioners in that one

district.

So now it's you divvy up the
county and there's one in each.

How does that change?

We'll start with you.

How does that
change things for you?

Does that create opportunities
for Republicans that you want to

take advantage of?

Is it..

Were you opposed to that?

What was your take on this shift
in the way the seats are drawn?

Well going back to when
this new system was proposed,

there was some discussion within
Republican circles as to which

plan or which system is adopted.

But the plan that we have
now I think does present some

opportunities if for no
other reason that the geographic

boundaries of the
district are smaller.

And, at least in theory, you
don't have as many people to

reach in order to be
victorious on election day.

So I do think it presents some
opportunities that maybe not

have been there in the
multimember district structure.

And let me just start.

Were you in favor personally
or was the Democratic party in

favor of going to the
single member districts?

Or did you guys have a position?

What do you think?

How does that
change the dynamic?

I think it gives us an advantage
and an opportunity to serve the

constituency in a better
capacity with it not being as

many people within the district.

It gives the person who
represents that district a

better opportunity to reach
out to those people in his

constituency, help them better
with their needs and whatever

they made need in that district.

Okay, Bill?

We should also note that
five of the commission seats,

the elections will effectively
be decided with the primaries

because there's no one running
in the companion primary and

there's no
independent candidates.

So we know right off the
bat that of the 13 seats,

two of them will be Republican.

Three of those seats will be
Democrats by virtue of one side

having candidates in the primary
and the other side not having

cadidates in it.

With that in mind, how many
votes are we talking about that

will be in play in
each of these districts?

How many voters will likely
decide the winners and the

losers per district?

On the County Commission?

Yes.

Typically a few thousand
turn out on those districts.

Am I right, Justin?

Yeah.

Maybe two- or
three-thousand people turn out.

See, it's amaing really because
I get -- and I'm sure you guys

get.

I know Bill gets your just
dinner conversation when you're

out or whatever.

And people talk about, you know,
why does this happen or why

doesn't that
happen or, you know,

complain about some
local issues -- taxes,

schools or whatever.

And it really does.

I mean it's, what?

-- a million people
in the greater area,

however many people
in Shelby County.

And you've got 1,000
people affecting huge change.

I mean there's a huge amount of
power if you look at the last

three years.

What happened with
schools, what didn't happen with

consolidation, whatever
you think about them.

huge issues that affect the
future of the county decided by

single digit
percentage of the population.

Well and what's really
unfortunate as Bryan alluded to

earlier, we have a county
of almost a million people.

And when you divide that by
13, you know you're looking at a

little bit under
100,000 people per district.

But you know a lot of
these, especially these primary

elections where you've got
especially more than two people

running, you know the person who
wins those primary elections may

not have more than two- or
three-thousand votes across this

entire large district.

Yeah.

Let's go to another race
which is the district attorney.

Amy Weirich, I think, is
running unopposed -- Republican,

the incumbent district attorney.

Joe Brown, famously of
the reality tv show,

is running.

Let's start with you.

Your take on maybe
Joe Brown's candidacy,

specifically but also crime and
the approch to crime and crime

fighting.

I think like you said before,
everyone agrees we want to lower

the crime rate.

What does Judge Brown bring that
Amy Weirich isn't bringing right

now?

Well Joe Brown, he would bring
a lot of things to the table.

He's a pulverizing figure.

In the past in his career as
being a judge as well as a

prosecutor, and may
I mention he was the first

African-American prosecutor
here in the city of Memphis.

His judgements and rulings were
kind of unorthodox and they kind

of were controversial.

And that's how he
ended up getting the show.

He's a guy of integrity.

He says what he thinks.

And I think he really would
bring a lot of change to Shelby

County.

And his celebrity will
bring a lot of excitement.

And I think the people of
the communtiy would gravitate

towards this election.

I think Republicans and
Democrats alike will get

involved based on that.

Amy Weirich -- why does
she deserve another term?

Well with all due
respect to Judge Brown,

Amy Weirich is not a celebrity.

She's a prosecutor.

And she's been a prosecutor
all of her professional career.

And there's obviously
serious challenges.

And it's kind of like
I mentioned earlier.

But you want to talk about a
leader who's ready to meet those

challenges, Amy Weirich is.

And she's proven that in the
last three years since she's

been in office.

And I think that she is one of
those who again gets that broad

base of support across and
frankly across party lines as

well -- Republican and
Democrat all across the county.

I think we'll see
that again in August.

To what degree do you think
the race for district attorney

general and a few others,
the race to come in August for

juvenile court judge -- to what
degree do each of you think that

this indicates that we're going
to be talking a lot about how

the criminal justice system
works and whether it needs to

change to some degree or
whether we need to keep doing

the same things
we've been doing?

To what degree is criminal
justice and our system here

locally going to be an issue?

I think it's an issue.

And I think we most
definitely need change.

If you look at our crime
statistics here across Shelby

County, it's kind
of embarrassing.

Now that's not my
area of expertise.

But I know one thing for sure.

If we continue to try the exact
same thing we've been trying,

we'll get the same results.

And that's called insanity.

So we want to get the most
person who's of the -- best

person, the candidate that's
qualified for the seat to get in

and do some thigns different
around Shelby County so our

crime statistics can reduce.

Well I think a lot of the
problems that we have in this

county are long term.

They have not been in place for
four years or even eight years

for that matter.

They've been in
place for many years.

And I think that progress has
been made on a number of fronts

and I think will continue to be
made if the current leaders stay

in place and are allowed to
continue to make the progress

that they've been making.

Bill?

Some of the other races,
the candidates for clerk,

whether they're
Democrats or Republicans,

always have a hard time with
voters because the jobs are

administrative jobs.

So the first thing that a voter
usually asks a candidate for a

clerk is what
does that office do.

And the second question is
usually that's something we

actually elect instead
of it being appointed.

So how important
are the clerks races?

The criminal court clerk,
circuit court clerk -- how

important are those positions
to what happens in our system of

justice?

Justin, I'll go with you first.

They're very important.

And like I said, I don't think
they get the attention that they

deserve.

The so-called down ballot
races a lot of time are a lot of

times, some people don't
even vote in those races.

They'll go with the
top of the ticket,

so to speak, for the D-A's
race or the county mayor's race,

the sheriff's race.

And then they'll stop voting
because they don't know who

these candidates are.

And I think that's a big mistake
because they really oversee the

administration of our court
system and in terms of making

sure that the documents make
their way through the system

efficiently.

There's a lot of expense
that is involved in that.

And it is important that those
various offices are run in an

efficient matter, which result
in cost savings for the tax

payers.

Bryan?

Yeah, absolutely.

I agree with him as well.

Thsoe offices are very
significant as far as record

keeping the filings of various
documents of this city that are

very important.

So we need someone
that's competent.

And I think a lot of
times, as you said,

it's a significant amount of
drop off that we have that we've

been looking at when we
study the voting trends.

People do tend to vote at the
top of the ticket and they drop

off or they skip over certain
races when they don't actually

know what that office does,
what it entails or if they don't

recognize a name on the ballot.

And that's something
we need to change.

I want to come back to that.

But we're still talking
about courts and so on.

Juvenile court --
it is, I guess,

officially a
non-partisan position.

But I believe that the
Republicans have said they're

supporting Dan Michael and that
the Democrats are supporting

Tarik Sugarmon.

There was a lot of
criticism a year ago.

Was it the federal courts or the
federal government who came in

and said mistreatment of
juveniles of African-Americans

being treated, kids being
treated much more harshly than

white kids?

I mean there was a
lot of problems.

I don't think anyone said
there weren't a lot of problems.

Let me start with you.

What does Tarik Sugarmon bring
to that job that you would like

to see change now?

Now for one thing,
he's an African-American.

He can directly relate
to some of those guys,

the children that are
going through the process.

And they may listen to him or
take heed from him because he

can relate to them and he's
of African-American descent.

Also, he brings his expertise.

He's been a judge and he served
in the capacity where he's been

helping people for a while.

And so I think he'll do a
tremendous job in the seat.

Dan Michael -- you're supporting
him in a non-partisan way,

if that's how I should say that.

Well yeah, those are
non-partisan races.

It looks like he's going to
get a lot of Republican support.

I think I can say
that at this point.

The final deadline for those
races is not until I guess the

first week of next month.

But I think he's already
gathered a lot of Republican

support.

I think, again, he's gonna be
one of those candidates that

gathers support
across the county.

Judge Michael, he's been there
in the juvenile court system for

many years.

And I think he's got the
experience to address.

Again, going back to this issue
of the challenges that we face.

He has the knowledge.

He has experience to
address those challenges,

take them on and do
something about them.

Okay, Bill?

Just about four
minutes left in show.

Right.

Let's talk about the race
at the top of the ballot,

which we haven't gotten to yet
and that's the race for mayor.

Really busy on the
Democratic side.

We have a pack of
three contenders.

Deidre Malone, former
county commission chairman.

Steve Mulroy, a
current county commissioner.

And also, Kenneth Whalum Junior,
former Shelby County Schools

board member.

You've had all three of those
candidates at the Democratic

executive committee.

And they didn't really go after
each other as much as they went

after the
incumbent, Mark Lutrell.

And that's one thing that I'm
emphasizing and were pushing

forward.

We want to have
good, clean races.

We don't want to
have a blood bath.

All three of them
are good, formidable,

viable candidates.

I think they'll serve
well in that capacity.

And I think that Shelby County
needs different leadership at

this time,
Democratic leaderhsip.

So whoever comes
out the primary,

the Shelby County Democratic
party will stand behind them

whole-heartedly and push forward
to seeing them through the

general election.

Alright.

Justin, Mayor Lutrell does face
opposition in the Republican

primary from Ernie Lunati, a
perennial candidate who ahs run

a number of times not only
for Shelby County mayor but for

Memphis mayor as well.

So not discounting
the Lunati candidacy,

I'm going to say that Lutrell
is likely to win that primary.

And what is his challenge in
seeking a second term as Mayor?

Well and Bill, going on
your assumption on that,

I think that Mayor Lutrell
is known as a problem solver.

And sometimes frankly, he gets
some criticism on the republican

side for maybe working across
the aisle too much in solving

those problems.

And I think people all
across Shelby County,

Republicans and Democrats
alike, recognize that.

Again going on your assumption
about the May primary there,

I think that, you know, he's
going to continue to talk about

his vision for Shelby
County for the next four years,

what he's done for Shelby County
in the past four years and

again, I think he's kind of a
very broad base of support in

that effort.

To what degree is his role
or his involvement in the

reformation of public education
in Memphis and Shelby County

over the last two
or three years?

To what degree is that going
to be an issue in the general

election?

It will be..

Hmm..

Because your group of candidates
were unanimous in saying that

Lutrell has not done enough
or as much as he could have,

especially with
influence in the legislator.

Absolutely.

That will be something to use
against him in the platform

along with their vision.

That will be something they
incorporated in their campaign.

So, yeah.

And as the head
executive for our county,

you know regardless of whatever
direct or indirect role that he

had in restructuring our
education system here in Shelby

County, I think that he will get
credit or perhaps the blame for

whatever issues are.

I think it will be an issue.

But I think he's also again
going to the problem-solver idea

that, you know, he realizes the
obvious importance of education

and the obvious importance of
making it work in this sytem

that continues
to play itself out.

I think it's finally
starting to solidify some.

But there's still some
unanswered questions.

And I think he just wants to
see education work for Shelby

County.

Alright.

Justin, thank you
for being here.

Bryan Carson, thank
you for being here.

Bill Dries.

That's all the time we have.

Join us again next week.

Thanks.

Goodnight.

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