Due to widespread public corruption and no public oversight, Memphis/Shelby can’t Wipe its own Civic Azz. Evidence is all over the place and even shows up in the little but important things like the years-long busted escalators at both the Hooks Main Library AND at Mud Island Garage Gateway. Memphis/Shelby just can’t wipe.

Memphis/Shelby’s inability to wipe justifies Federal intervention and the National Guard. After all, the Federal government can see the public corruption and inability to wipe on full display with Memphis/Shelby’s use of Federal COVID funds. Federal COVID funds arrive in Memphis, and the workforce, education and transit system are botched as downtown implodes on the heels of the $61M Tom Lee Park renovation and crime explodes upward. Go figure !

Hyper public corruption is a combustible prescription for high crime rates in any city. But no one is discussing the public corruption crisis facing Memphis and Shelby County to include local political parties and the press.

On a recent airing of Local ABC’s This Week, no one discussed public corruption. Republican Vice Chair Luke Cymbal focused on crime while supporting National Guard intervention and looking away from grossly deficient staffing of the Republican local Comptroller’s office. Jason Mumpower, the Republican Comptroller claims to be the State’s public money cop, but as far as permanent local staffing, the Comptroller is AWOL in Memphis/Shelby.

Deidre Malone wants more Federal public money and Quotis Sanford has been discussing the feel comfy “collaboration” with the Feds. Lack of collaboration with the Feds in the use of Federal COVID funds is why the National Guard should be coming ! And because Memphis/Shelby just can’t wipe due to out-of-control public corruption and no public oversight.

Excluded from this analysis are the overcovered Edmund Ford Jr, Wanda Halbert and Bacarra Mauldin reporting. On balance, given the local degree of public corruption, the former works as fake public corruption reporting.

No city in America, other than Memphis, simultaneously botches their workforce, education, and transit systems. NONE. Keep in mind these botches have been long-term projects for the Chamber, local elitists, and the punk families of Memphis. Somebody must be making money from public botching. Gotta be….

Specifically, the public corruption I’m talking about is running international developers out of town, so that local taxpayers can write a $30M check for local developers to control and operate the Downtown Sheraton. AND the $10M Cobblestone public ripoff on the Riverfront. AND the EDGE $10M ripoff of the impoverished South Memphis Depot area. AND the implosion of MATA, through botched procurement practices, well before Bacarra Mauldin took the MATA helm. All occurring while the press blames Mauldin for the years long MATA botch that preceded her MATA CEO tenure.

AND there’s more, the City of Memphis cannot account for $200M in state approved Accelerate Memphis public spend. AND local elected officials can’t discern when they are dealing with elitist idiots. These are the idiots that believe they are astute civic designers that SUCK at design. Designs that include a blight-looking installation of a Rocky Mountain side into the Memphis Bluff, a design to make Memphis a fine arts town when it’s not and a Zoo crew design to build out a $100M elephant sanctuary.

Then there is the systemic 20 yr use of excessive, data dislocated, tax incentives through payment-in-lieu of taxes (PILOTS). Of the $90M per year in tax incentives, $50M is excess, each and every year, when benchmarked against peer cities. $50M that corporations and developers see that taxpayers dont see !

Here's the deal. Memphis/Shelby can’t Wipe its own Civic Azz due to public corruption, no public oversight, and the inability of local officials to discern when they are dealing with elitist idiots. That’s why both Federal intervention and the National Guard are needed in Memphis and Shelby County.  

And with all the pageantry of helping black people in Memphis/Shelby, I am not even trying to help black, brown or for that matter white people. But as founder of the Taxpayer Justice Institute, I know my taxpayer justice program helps more black people in Memphis than any other race and I am not even trying to help black people. In fact "helping black people in Memphis" can be shown to be the largest and longest running public municipal scam in contemporary American History. Put that in your pipe and smoke it !

Taxpayer justice, not happening in Memphis, is merely the non-partisan practice of public transparency and rigorous public oversight to deliver taxpayer value. But Memphis/Shelby just can’t wipe. That’s all. C’mon National Guard !