• Republican Mark Luttell easily took County Mayor over Democrat Joe Ford (57.8 to 41.5)
• Democrat incumbent Steve Mulroy easily bested Republican challenger Rolando Toyos for County Commission District 5 (65.5 to 34.5)
• Republican David Lenoir took the County Trustee office away from incumbent Democrat Regina Newman, who was unanimously elected by the county commission to serve as interim Trustee last September (49.3 to 46.4)
• Republican Bill Oldham beat Democrat Randy Wade, although Wade has yet to concede even though he lost by over 7,000 votes (51.9 to 48.0)
• Republican Jimmy Moore easily defeated Democrat Ricky Dixon for Circuit Court Clerk (55.4 to 44.6)
• Republican Kevin Key eked out a win over Democrat incumbent Minerva Johnican for Criminal Court Clerk (48.7 to 45.7)
• Republican Joy Touliatos gratifyingly tromped Democrat snake-oil-salesman Shep Wilbun for Juvenile Court Clerk (51.4 to 43.9)
• Republican Paul Boyd beat Democrat Sondra Bection for Probate Court Clerk (52.1 to 47.9)
• Republican Wayne Mashburn handily beat Democrat Corey Maclin for County Clerk (54.8 to 45.0)
• Republican Tom Leatherwood stomped Democrat Coleman Thompson for Register of Deeds (58.4 to 41.6)

Republicans won 9 of the 10 contested races in Shelby County, often by surprisingly wide margins against Democrat candidates with establish name recognition (e.g., Joe Ford and Shep Wilbun). Congratulations to the Shelby County GOP leadership for believing that the party could do this well in a county dominated by Democrats (57 percent of the voters voted in Democrat primaries during early voting).

Also deserving note, my heartfelt congratulations go out to personal favorite and acquaintance Heidi Shafer for being elected to the County Commission (District 1, Position 2).

Technorati Tags: Races of 2010, Tennessee Politics, Shelby County General Election, Mark Luttell, Shelby County Mayor , Joe Ford , Steve Mulroy , Rolando Toyos , David Lenoir , Regina Newman, Bill Oldham , Randy Wade, Jimmy Moore , Ricky Dixon , Kevin Key , Minerva Johnican , Joy Touliatos , Shep Wilbun , Paul Boyd , Sondra Bection , Wayne Mashburn , Corey Maclin , Tom Leatherwood , Coleman Thompson , Heidi Shafer

But yesterday Joe Ford was handily defeated for County Mayor by Sheriff Mark Luttrell by a whopping 16-point margin:

The result denies Memphis’ Ford family of something oft-imagined but never achieved — an elected Mayor Ford.

Luttrell, the Republican nominee, got 58 percent of the vote in a county where 57 percent voted in Democratic primaries during the 16-day early-voting period. That it was the closest county mayor race since the first contest, in 1975, was no consolation to Ford (42 percent), who also lost a 1999 bid for Memphis mayor.

In other news, incumbent US Rep. Steve Cohen fought off a challenge for the 9th Congressional District’s Democrat primary by five-time Memphis Mayor and self-proclaimed deity, Willie Herenton. This margin was even larger: 79 to 21.

Both Ford and Herenton are members of political machines with vast reach and influence. But both lost on Thursday.

But the real winners are the citizens of Shelby County. Finally.

Technorati Tags: Joe Ford, Mark Luttrell, Steve Cohen, King Willie Herenton, Shelby County Elections, Elections of 2010, Tennessee Politics

A DOJ investigation in 2000 found that conditions in the Shelby County Jail violated the constitutional rights of inmates. Today, the Shelby County Jail has received state accreditation and is no longer the object of federal supervision.

Under the previous sheriff, there were reports of jobs for sale and preferential treatment for insiders. There was a sense of lawlessness in the department. Today those allegations are gone and integrity has returned.

Under the previous administration, the department was a black hole for taxpayer monies. Luttrell has reduced the Sheriff department’s budget each year he has been in office.

His oppenent, Reginald French, promises to rebid all contracts if elected. Can you say political payback and cronyism?

French has been tied to scandals and has been called “the most dangerous non-judicial candidate” on the August ballot.

Yet in this town of crooks in politics (can you say “Ricky Peete”?), Reginald French stands a very good chance of being elected, so this will be a close race.

However, in this race there is a third choice. John Harvey is a lieutenant in the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department and is running a credible write-in campaign.

I know John Harvey. He is intelligent, principled and passionate. The man is everywhere, attending every political event possible and participating in every debate he can. Where he is excluded from the debate, he stands outside as voters enter to greet them and let them know that there is another choice. He has made a name for himself by exposing the poor state of affairs in the voting system, having found a rather extensive list of dead voters and voters registered in two counties or states. He utilized his rather good programming skills to create a site where you can look up the record of every Shelby County voter.

John Harvey is an asset to the community and an invaluable resource for exposing voter fraud.

Yet in the end, Harvey has no chance of winning. His only effect will be to pull enough votes away from Luttrell so that the citizens of Shelby County are saddled with Reginald French for the next four years (can you say “Ross Perot”?).

One of Harvey’s complaints about the Sheriff is that he has accepted bribes from felons, which is a violation of department policy. I confronted the Sheriff with that allegation at one of the numerous forums that I attended. The Sheriff responded that

1. No campaign contributions received were illegal. His campaign treasurer checks out each dollar given to make certain that it does not come from an ineligable source. (That does not address the department policy issue that Harvey complains of.)
2. No contribution has every influenced policy or resulted in preferential treatment. (A claim I believe, as studies have shown that to be true of politics in general except for large contributions from special interest groups.)
3. The beauty of our society is that we offer 2nd chances. The felons that the allegations refer to were convicted 15 or 20 years ago and have reintegrated into society. Most importantly, they have gotten thier voting rights back and are citizens just like anyone else. (On this point I whole-heartedly agree. Voting rights for ex-cons is one of my issues, even though (or maybe because) I am a conservative.)

I give my full support and strong endorsement to Mark Luttrell for the position of Shelby County Sheriff.

Technorati Tags: Mark Luttell,
Reginald French,
John Harvey,
Tennessee Politics,
Shelby County Politics,
Shelby County Sherrif Race,
Corruption in Politics.