Ben Allen of Ward 1 Elected ‘El Presidente’
Just in ... The City Council has elected Ben Allen of Ward 1, the council's only declared Republican, to the seat of council president. More details soon ...
by Adam Lynch
Photo by Jaro Vacek
July 3, 2006
Read the 2004 JFP Interview with Ben Allen here.
Visit Ben Allen's JFP Blog here.
The City Council meeting on July 5 will feature the usual slew of council decisions on city disbursements, legal priorities and discussion items, but it will contain something else very significant: a vote to decide who will be the council's next president. This week's vote will be complicated by accusations of ethnic slurs by one of the leading candidates, Ben Allen of Ward 1.
"It's going to be interesting to see how this all turns out," said current president, Marshand Crisler of Ward 6, who offered no insight into how he will vote.
As we go to press, Allen is in the hot seat due to a comment some say he made at last Monday's work session—saying that a house in his ward is populated by "El Chico Mexican illegal immigrants."
The comment was shocking to some, with Bill Chandler, executive director of the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance, going on the offensive against Allen's comment.
"It's the same thing as using the N-word to destroy the humanity of African Americans," Chandler told The Clarion-Ledger. "A person like that is not fit to be an elected public official." Chandler plans to lead a protest of Allen at this week's City Council meeting, which is being held at 9:30 a.m. the morning of July 5 due to the July 4 holiday.
Allen said later that he meant a house owned by El Charro. He also admitted that he did not know the legal status of the tenants there, and was trying to call attention to lax enforcement by the city.
Even without such controversy, the annual July vote spawns fresh antagonism and new rivalry among members, as seen last year with the short battle between Crisler and former president Ward 2 Councilman Leslie McLemore.
Crisler, an Army reservist and Marine, resigned as president in 2003 to serve in the war in Iraq, forcing a presidential vote among council members and opening the door for a return of JSU political science professor McLemore, who proved to be a fierce defender of the council's legislative powers during his time as council president.
Last year, Crisler did an about-face regarding support for McLemore's re-election for president and Barrett-Simon's for vice president. Crisler said he'd expected McLemore's support because of a "gentlemen's agreement" between himself and McLemore before his 2003 Iraq departure.
McLemore said he didn't recall that deal, and called to Allen and Barrett-Simon to defend his position.
Crisler, however, formed a four-person majority alliance with Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes, and newcomers Ward 5 Councilman Charles Tillman and Ward 4 Councilman Frank Bluntson, who became vice president.
"I didn't approve at all how that mess turned out," Allen said.
Allen shirked all committee positions in protest, and Crisler's eagerness cracked fissures in the rest of his voting bloc, including Barrett-Simon and McLemore.
The remarkable differences between Crisler and newbies Bluntson and Tillman did not help the situation. The latter two turned out to be staunch supports of Mayor Melton, who does not generally seek input from the council.
Melton said he promulgated Jackson's current state of emergency specifically so he would not have to negotiate with the council.
"(Going to the council with suggestions) won't work because then they'll sit there and debate forever and ever and ever when we need to be taking action. The reason I'm doing this under emergency order is so I can avoid that type of meeting. Instead of going through all the rhetoric there are things that we need to do, and I'm more conformable doing it under executive order," Melton told the Jackson Free Press.
Though there is no real crystal ball on how the council will vote, it is possible that Allen will walk away with the presidency if the current alignment holds fast.
Stokes, Bluntson and Tillman form an airtight coalition that will prefer to nominate one of their own, but none of the three is likely to win a four-person majority. Stokes and Tillman will likely nominate Bluntson, but Bluntson will likely toss his vote to Ben Allen rather than fall short.
Though Allen has occasionally complained about Melton, many of his North Jackson constituents voted in support of Melton's campaign, so Allen finds himself stuck in the same toga party. Allen has rarely gone straight at Melton, except for when the mayor dismissed Jackson's Washington lobbyists in favor of hiring Marcus Ward to lobby from Jackson or when Melton came close to sabotaging the King Edward renovation.
To Bluntson, Allen's loyalty to Melton is likely preferable to Crisler, Barrett-Simon or McLemore, who have proven to be reticent, if not hostile, toward the mayor.
Tillman follows Bluntson in everything, so if Bluntson votes Allen, there will likely be a second vote from Tillman. Barrett-Simon, who has no issue with Allen, will also likely support Allen, as may McLemore—despite the heat he may take for supporting the council's only Republican.
McLemore said the issue of Democrats against Republicans is no longer a factor in Jackson: "We've gotten beyond that."
Nevertheless, Stokes might prefer burning in hell to voting for Allen. If he does vote for Allen, hell might well ice over.
If Allen does win the presidency, he will be the first Republican to hold that position since the council form of government was adopted. Crisler predicted that the new council president will have to oversee some very hard times in the upcoming year.
"That's my only concern: that it's really going to go bad in the next year, and I know that there are only a few people sitting on the council who can keep that thing from going ape," Crisler said.
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