Senate candidates vying for the Dist. 30 seat answer questions about women issues

National Political Caucus board member Deidre Malone moderate the Memphis
Women's Political Caucus Town Hall on July 12. (Photos by Wiley Henry)

Two political stalwarts vying for the opportunity to represent the constituents in Senate Dist. 30 touted their experience and answered a volley of questions lobbed by National Political Caucus board member Deidre Malone, who moderated the Memphis Women's Political Caucus Town Hall Meeting on July 12.

Women’s issues took center-stage in this town hall and drew a roomful of spectators and public office seekers to Amurica Studios in the Crosstown community, as state Sen. Sara Kyle and former senator Beverly Marrero discussed relevant issues pertaining to women.

“In this current season, it’s important to empower women, to inform them, and to encourage them to be a part of the political process,” said Latrivia Welch, president of the Memphis Women's Political Caucus (MWPC), a non-profit promoting full and equal participation of women in government and political parties.

State Sen. Sara Kyle (right) and former senator Beverly
Marrero discussed issues relevant to women.

The purpose of the town hall was to highlight two leaders in the community, said Welch, and the work they are doing for Dist. 30. “We applaud them for their willingness to be featured in our first town hall,” she said.

Kyle and Marrero, pitted against each other for the Senate seat that Kyle currently holds, are on the campaign trail leading up to the Aug. 4 Democratic and Republican state and federal primary elections and the Shelby County general election. The general election for this seat is in November.

Both Kyle and Marrero, who are familiar with the political landscape, sat adjacent to each other and espoused legislation that they had a hand in fashioning and discussed germane issues that would uplift women. 

Kyle, an attorney, was elected in 2014 to fill the seat that her husband, former Senate minority leader Jim Kyle, left vacant after he was elected to Chancery Court. She is the second woman to be elected statewide. No other woman has been elected statewide since.

Marrero spent nine years in Nashville and lost the seat in 2012 to Jim Kyle, then the highest-ranking Democrat. Kyle opted to run against Marrero rather than face Republican Brian Kelsey when districts were redrawn that year.

Explaining why she’s seeking re-election, Kyle said, “We’re 51 percent of the population. Only 22 women are running statewide in House and Senate races.”

“It’s important for women to have a voice and to speak their mind,” Marrero added. “We don’t have representation that can represent us.”

Priorities? Marrero said if she were elected, she’d work on pay equity for women. Kyle would do the same, she said, to bridge the wage gap that separates men and women.

“The gap is larger for women of color,” said Kyle, adding that women finishing college “face a 7 percent wage gap.”

  The health care debate continues to rage, with both sides of the aisle in the Tennessee General Assembly digging in their heals and refusing to budge one iota on a plan to insure the state’s uninsured adults.

“Viagra is covered by insurance and birth control is not. That’s an abomination,” said Marrero. “We have people dying because they can’t afford medical care. What kind of sick people who don’t want people to have health care?”

President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, which he signed into law in 2010, has been widely eschewed and denounced by Republicans. Gov. Bill Haslam, however, offered an alternative in 2015 to expand Medicaid. Insure Tennessee failed by a vote of 7-4.

“It’s a no-brainer to vote yes on the governor’s health care bill,” said Kyle. “Tennessee should have gotten $1.4 billion dollars. It would have created two million jobs.”

The candidates fielded a number of Malone’s questions, from funding education to economic development to fixing the schools. Since questions came from the audience, someone wanted to know the candidates’ feelings about the Black Lives Matter movement.

“I think it’s necessary,” Kyle said.

Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators seeks community input on criminal justice reform

Black Caucus members: Sara Kyle (non-member) and state representatives Barbara
Cooper, Brenda Gilmore, Johnnie R. Turner, Ramesh Akbari, Karen Camper and
Memphis City Councilwoman Patrice Robinson. (Photo by Wiley Henry)

A bevy of citizens attending a forum on criminal justice reform on July 10 at First Baptist Church –Broad expressed their concerns about the high incarceration rate of African Americans comprising the federal, state and local criminal justice system.

Hosted by the Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators, the forum drew a potpourri of citizens – activists, civic leaders, politicians and police officers – who listened intently to a panel discussion about reforming both the juvenile and criminal justice system. Memphis was the last leg of a three-city, information-gathering tour that began in Chattanooga in May and Nashville in June.

“The message so far is there are some artificial barriers out there that prevent people who have paid their debt to society,” said Nashville state Rep. Brenda Gilmore (Dist. 54), who chairs the Black Caucus. “They get out of prison and they’re not able to find housing, transportation or meaningful employment.”

The Black Caucus proposed 40 bills during the 109^th legislative session on criminal justice reform. Seven of those bills passed with bipartisan support – from the expunction of theft-related Class E felonies to pretrial diversion and judicial diversion in juvenile delinquent matters.

“We’re going to promise you 14 next year,” said Rep. Johnnie R. Turner (Dist. 85), the Caucus treasurer. “Who doesn’t have a family member that hasn’t been impacted negatively by the criminal justice system?”

The incarceration rate in Tennessee is not reflective of the population, said Rep. Ramesh Akbari (Dist. 91), the Caucus vice chair. Low-level offenders, she added, should not be given long-term prison sentences.

“Forty percent of folks that went to the prison system this year from Tennessee were for parole and technical violations,” Akbari said.

Sen. Sara Kyle (Dist. 30) sponsored Senate bill 2440 – “Ban the Box.” The House version (HB2442), sponsored by Gilmore, prohibits a state employer from inquiring about an applicant’s criminal history on an initial application form for employment.

Kyle is not a Caucus member, but added, “The issues are so important.”

Memphis and Shelby County Juvenile Court Judge Dan H. Michael cited statistics to buttress his argument that the number of juveniles in his charge has dwindled compared to the number of juveniles entering the system prior to his tenure.

He added that roughly 160 juveniles are placed with the state each year and routed to detention centers such as the one in Somerville in Fayette County – the John S. Wilder Youth Development Center. Fifty percent of them, the judge said, come from Shelby County.

“If we’re going to empty prisons, we’ve got to start with juveniles. We’ve got to start with families,” Michael said.

The panelists called attention to recidivism and that juveniles and adult offenders are likely to return to detention or lockup. “We’re looking for alternative ways to transport youth to detention…to lower the recidivism rate,” said Gary Cummings of Juvenile Court.

Dr. Altha J. Stewart, associate professor of Psychiatry at UT Health Science Center, said too many children are being exposed to trauma. “Forty percent of them have been diagnosed with mental illness.”

The juvenile justice panel went beyond the time limit.

“Our mandate is not to incarcerate, but to educate,” said Chief Kirk Fields of the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, kicking off the discussion about criminal justice reform.        

The panelists provided as much pertinent information as possible. When the floor was open for questions, Akbari, who moderated the forum, read many of the ones that were written on paper. She fielded them to the panel.

After hearing much about reform, Deputy Chief Jim Harvey of the Memphis Police Department stood at the microphone and said he had to speak. “When you’re trying to change laws, take the victims into account,” he said.