Fool Me Once

"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." --- George Bush, Nashville 2002

Mr President, there IS an old saying in Tennessee but it goes something like this, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

That's exactly what W.W. Herenton is doing, trying to fool us again. The fifth-term Memphis mayor wants to become superintendent again. Plus his business and political friends are working quietly to make sure he is successful in his return. I just read where influential members of the business community are publicly supporting Herenton's return to the school system he ran for more than 12 years, while political allies try to line up support for a move to influence the school board, whose members say (thank God!!) they are sticking with the process they established for picking a new schools chief.


Herenton, the soon to be former Mayor of Memphis and former Memphis City Schools superintendent, has tried to pitch various education reforms during his 16-year tenure. I remember when he was in a pissing match with the school board and he proposed lobbying the legislature for a mayor-appointed school board. With 115,000 students, the Memphis system is the 21st-largest in the nation. Its operating and building budget, at $1.2 billion, is larger than the city's. Seems to me like Herenton is trying to go where the money is. He and his cronies have fvcked the city out of all they can and now the feds are watching so they like any other gang would are trying to take over new turf.


Did any of you know that Memphis's graduation rate is only about 67.2 percent which is much less than the state average of 80.7 percent? We owe more to our children than Herenton being superintendent. What did he do while he was in that office before besides bone some teachers, parents and faculty members? We ALL know what he's done while mayor and I can agree with Wiki when it says he has..........

• Failed to ensure sound fiscal management of the City of Memphis.
• Fraud allegations involving national money for the building of the FedEx Forum.
• Failed to communicate effectively with the City Council.
• Failed to address multiple allegations of improprieties regarding Memphis Light Gas and Water.
• Served as the prime target and catalyst for the City Charter rewrite.
• Angered citizens to the point of becoming a target of a citizen recall effort.
• Mayor Herenton proposed raising property taxes by 17% while taxes on his personal home were delinquent.
• Done little in response to the significant rise in crime under his leadership, stating that "No mayor in any American city can solve the crime problem."
• Appointed new leadership of the Memphis Public Library over the objections of the Tennessee Library Association.