Mason is a tee-tiny little town in West Tennessee, in Tipton County, one county north of Shelby County (Memphis). It maintains a population of about 1400 people, mostly black, in an area about two square miles total. It may be difficult to understand why I’m writing about it.
Well you see, Tipton County is trying to get Mason to voluntarily relinquish it’s charter and agree to be taken over by the County government. I suppose that happens from time to time, tiny little towns like Mason might actually do better with an influx of leadership.
But that's not what is happening here.
Coincidence #1:
[Comptroller Jason] Mumpower’s letter has infuriated Mason’s part-time elected officials, who insist they have no intention of ceding their town’s 153-year-old charter – which would subsume the largely African-American, majority Democratic community under the governance of Tipton County, which is predominantly white and Republican.
...
Mason is 60% Black and includes descendants of men, women and children enslaved in the area before Emancipation. For more than a century the town was led by White elected officials.
That changed in 2016, when fraud and mismanagement allegations led to the resignations of nearly all City Hall officials, all of whom were White. Mason’s current mayor, vice mayor and five of its six alderman are Black.
Coincidence #2:
Mason, located in the southeastern corner of Tipton County, now finds itself with some of the most coveted real estate in Tennessee.
It’s one of the nearest towns to the massive new site to be built for Blue Oval City, a key component in Ford Motor Co’s multibillion-dollar pivot to electric vehicle manufacturing.
Remember, Tipton County is just north of Memphis. The Ford plant is being built...just north of Memphis. It is expected to bring 33,000 temporary workers to build the plant, and then 27,000 workers once the plant opens (estimated 2025). Which brings us to...
Coincidence #3:
According to Mumpower, Mason’s leadership is ill-equipped to manage the challenges, and opportunities, ahead.
…
Mumpower points to a 20-year history of fiscal mismanagement, including two major fraud investigations that resulted in criminal indictments. He also points to a history of financial accounting challenges that include town officials missing their annual audit deadlines each year since 2001.
The financial disclosures for the past two years are running late. Between 2004 and 2016, Mason’s financials were in such disarray they were “unauditable.”
(All emphasis mine)
But...wait…what was that first coincidence again? Oh yeah, it was white Republicans in charge until 2016. So that means...the white Republicans who are trying to take Mason from it’s Black elected officials were the ones who ran it into the ground in the first place, and they are using their own fraud and mismanagement as an excuse to take the town over...because they know business is about to boom.
It shouldn’t be legal, but...it’s inevitable.
Mumpower has offered an ultimatum: either city officials decide to rescind its charter, bringing Mason under the authority of the Tipton County government – or the Comptroller’s office will take full financial control, overseeing the town’s budget with the authority to approve any expenditure of $100 or more.
If there’s anything you can count on down here, it’s white Republicans getting away with everything.