The pressure of 24 roll call votes didn’t change any minds. Attempts at persuasion between the votes didn’t change any votes on the Shelby County Commission.

So now commissioners on both sides of the body’s deadlock over an interim county mayor are counting on another tactic to break the draw between Commissioners Joe Ford and J.W. Gibson – time.

The commission is scheduled to meet in special session Nov. 17 to try again.

“Everybody is pretty dug in. That’s obvious,” said Commissioner Mike Carpenter, who is backing Gibson. “But people feel strongly about these two individuals.”

Commission Chairman Sidney Chism, a Ford backer, said one side will blink first and he believes it will be supporters of Gibson.

“I think they have to. Commissioner George Flinn has got some grand idea that he can make it, if he keeps up the divide,” Chism said of Flinn’s repeated nomination of acting mayor and fellow Republican Joyce Avery to keep the job beyond her 45 days in office under the charter.

She became acting mayor following the Oct. 26 resignation of A C Wharton Jr., who won last month’s special election for Memphis mayor following the July resignation of Willie Herenton.

“That won’t happen. I hope he comes to a realization that it won’t happen. And then he’ll make up his mind as to what’s the right thing to do,” Chism said.

Conflicts

All of Flinn’s GOP colleagues on the commission are split between the Ford and Gibson camps.

“I’m just holding out for the Democrats to fall apart,” Republican Commissioner Wyatt Bunker joked.

Later he and other Republicans conceded the political choice is between a Democrat and a Democrat. Bunker is going with Ford.

The commission’s Democratic majority is also split.

“We are eight strong but we don’t act like it,” said Democratic Commissioner Deidre Malone at the outset of Monday’s debate and voting cycle.

Chism, also a Democrat, accused Malone of opposing Ford because of a court case in which the marketing company Malone co-founded sued Ford for campaign work.

Malone said the lawsuit has been settled and is not a factor in her support of Gibson.

Because of the litigation, Malone sought a legal opinion from the County Attorney’s Office on whether she had a conflict of interest that would not allow her to vote. Assistant County Attorney Danny Presley said Malone has what the county ethics code terms a “personal interest.”

“That has no negative connotation,” Presley added as he opined that Malone could vote on the appointment without a conflict of interest as long as she disclosed the lawsuit and the dispute over money owed. She did and she voted in all 24 rounds.

Continuation considerations

The biggest surprise of the balloting was in Round 13 when Malone nominated county Chief Administrative Officer Jim Huntzicker, who accepted the nomination.

Huntzicker said he accepted as a “compromise candidate” who would continue Wharton administration policies. He’s been either CAO or finance director since Wharton took office in 2002 and was CAO during the administration of former county Mayor Bill Morris.

“I look back at 2002 and see where we were at that time financially and where we are today. I can say we’ve come a long way,” Huntzicker said. “The debt was out of control. It’s now under control and dropping. … We’ve made substantial progress.”

Ford’s response was also a surprise as he trashed Wharton administration attempts to get a handle on the county’s $1.8 billion bond debt and blamed it for the possibility that the Regional Medical Center at Memphis’ emergency room might be closed. He was also critical of how the county pension fund was invested and losses of $300 million because of those investments.

“You need a watchdog. Somebody to watch the money – to go to The MED and correct the problem,” Ford said shortly after Huntzicker spoke. “If you pick somebody from the former administration to guide this county over the next nine months, you are heading for disaster.”

Gibson seemed not to care for the Huntzicker surprise.

“You never cease to amaze me,” he said to Malone. “I was wondering when you were going to get us out of that old politics – that negative old politics. But it’s here now and we have to deal with it.”

Malone took it as a criticism but said little. Just before the roll call, Gibson said he wasn’t criticizing Malone. She still voted for Huntzicker on that round and the next one.

In the first round, Huntzicker got three votes and two in the next round.

Seeking compromises?

Carpenter, who stuck with Gibson, said someone like Huntzicker might be a suitable compromise candidate by next week if they can pick up political traction outside the county building.

“I don’t know who it might be,” he added. “There may be somebody who steps forward. I think people will walk away from here today saying, ‘OK, who else is there, because we can’t go through this on another day.’”

It’s one of several scenarios for breaking the five-five split in which neither Gibson nor Ford have a vote as long as they are nominees.

“One is a public outcry for one candidate or against another,” Carpenter told The Daily News. “The other possibility is a third candidate comes out of nowhere. But it’s got to be someone who transcends the line that’s been drawn and has the ability to reach across to both coalitions.”

Chism said Ford is facing opposition from some who dislike his family – the best-known and most active political family in Memphis for decades.

“I think some of them may have a problem with the Ford name. But you can’t tie Commissioner Joe Ford to that scenario. He’s never been in trouble with the law,” Chism told The Daily News, referring to the jail term Joe Ford’s brother, former state Sen. John Ford, is serving on two sets of public corruption convictions. “I don’t tie Commissioner Ford into the scenario that all Fords are bad and that’s what some people are trying to do to him. I just want to see him make it.”

Carpenter is equally adamant that Gibson deserves the county’s top job.

“He’s run three successful businesses. He’s a military veteran with no interest in this seat beyond serving on an interim basis,” Carpenter said. “I have been impressed with his ability to take every issue and do what I try to do – every issue, issue by issue and look at the facts and say, ‘I’m either for it or against it and here’s why’ – as opposed to saying, ‘I’ve got to be a part of this coalition or I’ve got be a part of that coalition or I’ve got to stick with my party.’”