The Shelby County Commission has just voted to take a five-minute recess and push voting for an interim county mayor to the end of the agenda. There are only a few items left on the agenda. After nine rounds of voting, Commissioner J.W. Gibson has five votes and Commissioner Joe Ford has five votes -- seven votes are needed to win election.
The breakdown has stayed mostly consistent, with a few commissioners occasionally switching to give acting mayor Joyce Avery a vote. Voting for Ford have been three Democrats (Steve Mulroy, Matt Kuhn and Sidney Chism) and two Republicans (Mike Ritz and Wyatt Bunker) and voting for Gibson have been three Democrats (Deidre Malone, Henri Brooks and James Harvey) and two Republicans (Mike Carpenter and George Flinn).
Gibson has continued to stress his experience as an entrepreneur and the creativity and work ethic he would bring to the eighth floor of the county building, with Ford countering by listing his years of experience as a legislator and being past chairman of both the City Council and County Commission.
One interesting moment came when commissioners were discussing whether to postpone, and Mulroy suggested that the composition of the commission might be changed in the next week or so. That seemed to be an allusion to persistent speculation that new Memphis mayor A C Wharton is eyeing Mike Carpenter as a possible CAO -- Carpenter is co-chairman of his transition team.
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