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To people who, we politely say in the South, 'don't know any
better,' A C Wharton's favorite homespun self-described evaluation of
himself "I'm a workhorse not a showhorse" might seem trite. But, in
weighing his illustrious career, first as an esteemed lawyer and now as
one of the most popular politicians in Memphis political history,
Wharton believes his success speaks to the realness of his character. "Regardless
of what your role is...defense attorney...politician, whatever, if in
every encounter you look beyond the veneer of that outside and just try
to look into the soul of that person." Judging from the roster
of famous, infamous and not so famous people he defended during his
time in the courtroom, as a private attorney and a 22-year stint as the
Shelby County Public Defender, it was obvious Wharton thought the idea
of supplying a rigorous defense, no matter who the client, applied
across the board. His higher profile cases included defending
former Shelby County Sheriff Deputy Chief, Ray Mills in a jobs-for-hire
case, Auburn Callaway who brutally attacked a Fed-ex flight crew while
in the air, in separate cases both former State Senator, John Ford and
his wife, Tamara Mitchell-Ford, former County Commissioner Michael
Hooks Senior on drug charges and love-scandal disgraced former U of M
head basketball coach, Tic Price. Which brings us to his first
political victory in 2002, and the nearly 7 years as County Mayor that
have followed. As he strives to rewrite his personal resume and add
another chapter to Memphis history with a win in the City Mayor's race,
as the assumed front-runner in the race, we wanted to know more about
his stances on three key issues, beginning with his thoughts on curbing
crime. Wharton says targeting guns on the street and keeping them out of the hands of Memphis youth is a top priority. "I'm
gonna be on it like a duck on a junebug is we've got to tighten up the
way we deal with gun crimes in the streets particularly among the young
defendants, said Wharton. "We've got to come down even harder on those
who are supplying guns. That's why the proposals I took to the public
put a real bounty on folks who were supplying guns to kids. "These
guns they turn the weakest coward into the strongest king. When you're
packin', you reign supreme. We gotta take that away. Cut 'em down to
size." In creating jobs and promoting economic development,
Wharton suggests a three-pronged approach. A new package of incentives
to encourage new businesses by cutting bureaucracy, work force
development through improving education and to increase financial aide
to minority owned companies. "To set up revolving loan funds
that they can get the start-up capital that they need, operating funds
that they need, until they actually start cash flowing." On the
crucial issue of bridging the recognized racial divide, Wharton points
to his skills, his record and his own personal approach as a foundation
for building that "bridge." "Find one intemperate. One divisive
act or remark. You won't find it. Not in my public moments and not in
my private moments. What's holding us back is we're divided.
Six-hundred plus thousand people plus and we can't outperform some of
these one-horse ten-thousand people towns? Something's wrong with that. "If
everybody... you just come up on... go beyond that black paint or that
white paint or that brown paint and look straight inside and see what
you get." |
