We Should Be So Proud

Moral Turpitude: "conduct that is considered contrary to community standards of justice, honesty or good morals." See Shelby County Commission

Very few elected bodies have such little self-awareness as the Shelby County Commission. That maybe because the moral turpitude of that body is so ingrained that it doesn't even realize how public its corruption appears. The selection process of interim county mayor is now its defining moment. This Commission's past became prologue.

Lets just scratch the surface of how pathetic an elected body this is. A few short years ago a commissioner went to jail. Then a former commissioner who had gone to jail tried to run again and was beaten by new commissioner that didn't live in his district. This has recently been proven not to be unique. That same victorious commissioner, who prides himself on being Mr. Clean, was the driving force, just a month ago, to give a tax evader a gift of 140 lots owned by the county. In the course of that political scuffle, it becomes known that another bankrupt commissioner is living in a sweet pad downtown. Only a few short weeks before this, the commission chair breaks protocol and tries to get re-appointed in order to become interim mayor. But this breaking of protocol became protocol when a democrat was appointed to a traditionally republican seat. The mastermind commissioner of that was suspected last year of being tied to a little thing called Ballot-gate which tried to mislead voters about the official position of the Democratic Party on charter ballot initiatives.

Lets not forget the other side of the partisan divide. One of the most vocal commissioners has made a name for himself through homophobia and general know-nothingness. (He also took residence at his business to appear to live in his district. See, not unique.) One of the more "respected" commissioners has been rumored for awhile to be taking a position in City government, even though he has adamantly denied this, and may have had some bearing on his interim mayor vote. We'll see soon enough.

That brings us to our two interim mayor nominees. One was a particularly well known opportunist, famous for switching from a democrat to a republican and back to a democrat just before a county commission election. The other candidate wouldn't be qualified for a security clearance. Remember back in the Cold War when the KGB would target Americans with money problems to try to bribe in order for them to give up state secrets. Well that's the type of person the Commission selected. A bankrupt mayor to run a borderline bankrupt county. Not only that his brother threatened the political future of his most vocal opponent. An opponent who is trying to seize the new mayor's assets. Did I mention that vocal opponent was really close to the jailed commissioner who started off this trip down memory lane. Ah, it all comes full circle.

A week ago this motley crew of commissioners voted 24 times and could not come to a consensus. Today it gets resolved as quick as a hiccup. With this group's track record, should we expected anything less than a process defined by turpitude. We should all be so proud to governed by such a noble and august body.