Willie W. Herenton (born April 23, 1940) is an American politician who was formerly mayor of Memphis, Tennessee, and is an announced candidate for election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010. He was the first African American to be elected mayor of Memphis.

Biography

Dr. Herenton is a graduate of Le Moyne-Owen College in South Memphis, and the University of Memphis. He received his doctorate in education at Southern Illinois University, and is also a recipient of two honorary doctorates from Rhodes College and Christian Brothers University. He has four children, the youngest of whom was born in late 2004 to a local waitress.

He is the first African-American to be elected mayor of Memphis, but not Memphis' first African-American Mayor. He won his first term by defeating incumbent mayor Richard Hackett in 1991 by a mere 146 votes. Prior to serving as mayor, Herenton was the superintendent of Memphis City Schools for twelve years. He resigned from his position as superintendent amidst public accusations of an affair he was having with one of his employees and the resulting lawsuit. In his State of the City address on January 1, 2006, Herenton announced his intention to run for a fifth term in 2007 and refused to debate his challengers during the campaign.

He was elected to his fifth term in office on October 4, 2007 , thus making him the first Memphis mayor to be elected to five terms of office. Despite his win, Herenton garnered only 42% of the popular vote on the October 4, 2007 election. Nonetheless, run-offs for Memphis city-wide elections have been banned by court order since 1991, on the premise that the intent of run-offs was to give white candidates an advantage . Indeed, Herenton also scored his initial 1991 victory as well as his 1999 re-election with less than majority support.

Herenton was selected to the long list for the 2008 World Mayor award.

On March 20, 2008, Herenton announced that he would be stepping down from his position as Memphis' mayor, effective July 31, 2008. This move angered many politicians in the city including Councilwoman Carol Chumney, a candidate he beat for mayor of Memphis in October 2007. He made this announcement just a little over 90 days after his re-election. Herenton stated his early departure from the mayor's office was to seek the position of superintendent of Memphis City Schools, dispelling speculation that he was stepping down because of a run for Congress or impending legal troubles from an ongoing criminal investigation at City Hall. He later stated that he would not leave the office of mayor unless he got the position as the superintendent of schools. Herenton went on to state that he ran for re-election only in order to protect the city of Memphis from the other main candidates, Herman Morris and Councilwoman Carol Chumney. When the day came, Herenton failed to step down as Mayor and said he would serve out his term until 2011. In April 2009, however, Herenton formed an exploratory committee to run in the 2010 US Congressional Election for the 9th District of Tennessee, presumably in the Democratic primary against incumbent Steve Cohen. On June 25, 2009, Herenton announced his resignation as Mayor, effective July 10. On July 6, he announced that he would delay his retirement until July 30.

He resigned from office on July 30, 2009. Memphis City Council Chairman Myron Lowery was appointed as mayor pro tem, with a special election to be held on October 15. The law states that such an election must be held within 90 days of the resignation. On August 13, 2009, Herenton pulled a petition to run for the Mayoral office from which he had resigned only two weeks prior, raising questions of a possible lawsuit against the former Mayor for the more than $1 million in City funds needed for the October 15 special election.

Criticisms

In recent times, Herenton has faced mounting criticism from citizens and other observers, who have charged that he has done the following:

• 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 (failed) citizen recall effort
• Proposed raising property taxes by 17% while taxes on his personal home were delinquent.
• Called for a halt to early voting due to alleged "irregularities". The Shelby County Election Commission stated that early voting would continue.,
• Benefited personally from the rezoning of the Greyhound bus terminal property;
• Done little in response to the significant rise in crime under his leadership; he stated 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.
• Failed to address criticism in the way that cases and staffing were being handled by the Memphis Sexual Assault Resource Center, and caused a racially-charged argument in the council meeting where he accused the city councilman of being a racist.

2010 Democratic Primary

In 2010, Herenton announced that he would run against Congressman Steve Cohen in the Democratic Primary for Tennessee's 9th congressional district. In September 2009, Herenton drew controversy when he stated in a radio interview that Congressman Steve Cohen "really does not think very much of African-Americans" and that "[Cohen]’s played the black community well.” In addition, Herenton's campaign manager Sidney Chism told the New York Times that the Memphis-area congressional seat Cohen holds "was set aside for people who look like me. It wasn't set aside for a Jew or a Christian. It was set aside so that blacks could have representation." The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) criticized Herenton for these remarks, stating that his comments were "unacceptable in a Democratic primary or anywhere in our political discourse."

References

1. Ex-mayor Herenton says he's supporting son, 5, Memphis Commercial Appeal, October 6, 2009
2. Memphis Daily News - Power to the People
3. CityMayors profile
4. http://memphisdailynews.com/editorial/Article.aspx?id=42043
5. http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/jun/25/eye-city-hall-latest-updates-resignation-mayor-wil/
6. http://www.memphisflyer.com/TheDailyBuzz/archives/2009/07/06/herenton-delays-retirement-threatens-lawsuit
7. http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/news/local/081309_Mayor_Petition_Pulled_for_Herenton
8. City Of Memphis - 2007 budget address
9. Smart City Memphis - Compliance With Federal Regulations Receive Heightened Attention
10. Memphis Flyer - Charter Commission Tune-Up
11. WREG - Herenton Critics Can Begin Recall Effort
12. Ex-Mayor of Memphis Starts Bid for Congress, Invoking Race in Campaign by Robbie Brown, New York Times, September 13, 2009.
13. NJDC defends Cohen, Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), September 18, 2009.

External links

• Complete coverage of Mayor Herenton's rise to power and actions taken in office.
• Biography of Dr. Willie Herenton from the Memphis City Hall