MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Otis Sanford reporting:
For months the race for Memphis mayor has focused not on crime or poverty or attacking blight, but on residency and whether anyone who has not lived inside the city limits for five consecutive years prior to the election is eligible to run.
Now, that issue has been put to rest after Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins ruled that Memphis no longer has a residency requirement, thanks to a 1996 referendum vote that changed the makeup of the city council.
The ruling was not a surprise. Had Jenkins decided the other way, it would have totally upended the mayoral race since two of the top candidates — Floyd Bonner and Van turner — would have been disqualified.
But I don’t believe the ruling was political. In fact, the biggest winner in this court fight was city council attorney Allan Wade, who insisted all along that voters struck down the five year residency in 1996.
Attorneys for the city administration disagreed, but I don’t see them appealing because that would definitely come across as political.
Now, it’s up to other candidates to paint Bonner and Turner as outsiders trying to lead the city. One of them — Michelle McKissack — is calling Bonner and Turner "suburban candidates."
Time will tell if the label will stick. For now, though, where candidates have lived is off the table, and we can concentrate on the issues that matter.
I’m Otis Sanford, and that’s my point of view.