Pages

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

End

I always say " if you go in on your knees, you can never stand on your feet". That's what happened to Randy Wade. The Deputy Director tried out his feet. He planned on being a power broker in local politics. A Sydney Chism on the state level. That won't be happening though. Steve Cohen took care of that. Randy Wade used his clout to get Steve Cohen  elected.  This is how he pays him back. His years of dedicated service don't  count for much.  All of that "brother from another mother" doesn't mean a thing. He was just an employee. Mike Kernell was his friend.

Congressman Cohen knew exactly what he was doing. He was disconnecting a loose wire before it caused any real damage. Look at the first person Randy Wade called. when he gor in trouble, A convicted child pornographer, whom he had  to avoid just months ago. That doesn't promote  confidence and shreds any semblance of credibilityty that he might have had.  His main job now is going to be clearing his name. No one with any power is going to have  anything to do with him. Let's see him go to Rep. G.A Hardaway now.

Steve Cohen never considered  RandyWade his equal. He gave him a job and a title. Now that he no longer works for his office. He can no longer pull strings and do favors using Cohen's office and name. The congressman has no desire to be a part of the local Democratic clique other than to get their vote. I don't feel sorry for Randy Wade. He helped Cohen trick the black community foe six years. Little did he know he was being tricked too. In his last years in office Willie Herenton was wrong  about a lot of things, but he was right about Steve Cohen. This guy is arrogant and condescending. He'll dismiss President Obama in 2016. Blacks are just a means to and end. 

8 comments:

  1. So much for the Randy Wade connection. He has burned his bridges.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous9:36 PM

    There are times when an old-fashioned verbal street fight is the only thing that makes politics interesting.

    But the recent back-and-forth between U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen and his former trusted aide, Randy Wade, has been painful to watch. You could see it on their faces.

    Each man genuinely likes the other — or at least they did. But each feels betrayed by the actions of the other. So they both lashed out. And Memphians — those who care about such political breakups — are left to wonder what to make of it all.

    Wade, who once worked in the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, has been a well-liked and able political operative in Memphis for years. And Cohen is obviously popular with his constituents, who have elected him to Congress four times by unprecedented margins. Wade helped to deliver those margins, so his work as Cohen’s district field director was a good fit.

    But their relationship began to go south last year when Wade supported state Rep. G. A. Hardaway, who was forced to run against fellow incumbent Democrat Mike Kernell because of legislative redistricting. Cohen publicly supported Kernell in the August 2012 Democratic primary, but Hardaway won the District 93 seat.

    A few days before the August election, Cohen’s office quietly notified the House Ethics Committee that Wade might have used his official position in Cohen’s office in his endorsement of Hardaway.

    Wade left his job with the congressman in February. But upset by the letter to the Ethics Committee, Wade late last month leaked the document to the media and then held a news conference to deny any ethical wrongdoing.

    However, his comments — and Cohen’s response — seemed to have more to do with the anguish over their political estrangement than with a minor violation that no one — not even the Ethics Committee — cares about.

    Their words said it all.

    Wade: “I actually thought we had a true friendship, one that would go to the end. How can two men allow politics to separate a bonded friendship?”

    cont:

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous9:39 PM

    cont:

    Cohen: “I did consider Randy a great friend. I feel so betrayed. I feel like he is totally disloyal. He quit. I didn’t fire him.”

    Of course, there are those who say that their friendship actually started to sour in 2010 when Wade lost his race for county sheriff to Bill Oldham. Wade’s supporters still say Cohen did next to nothing to help his former aide win that election.

    Cohen disputes that. In an interview after the August 2010 election, he said he worked hard for both Wade and the late Minerva Johnican, who lost her bid for Criminal Court clerk. Johnican also formerly worked for Cohen.

    The congressman, who easily defeated former Memphis mayor Willie Herenton in the 2010 Democratic primary, said he spent “more money than we needed to” to help increase voter turnout among Democrats.

    After his defeat, Wade continued working in Cohen’s office, and as far as the public knew, all was well.

    But if the 2012 state House race between Hardaway and Kernell is really what forced the Cohen-Wade estrangement, then both men are to blame.

    In hindsight, Cohen should have realized that Kernell was in a no-win situation. The Republican-controlled legislature crafted district lines in 2012 that practically eliminated any chance of local white Democrats getting elected. State Sen. Jim Kyle is the only white Democrat from Memphis remaining in the General Assembly.

    It would have been better for Cohen — despite past disagreements with Hardaway — not to choose sides in that contest.

    Likewise, Wade should have been savvy enough to realize that Hardaway really didn’t need his help — not publicly anyway — to defeat Kernell. Redistricting by the GOP had already taken care of that.

    So what we have now is a political separation that has been no fun for anyone. It’s unlikely that the breakup will hurt Cohen’s chances for re-election.

    For a minute, Hardaway was starting to talk as if he would challenge Cohen next year for the 9th District Democratic nomination. But with the death of state Rep. Lois DeBerry, Hardaway could emerge as a leading voice among black Democrats in the legislature. He may not want to abandon that seat.

    Cohen, meanwhile, is trying to move on. He gave a detailed update about congressional issues to the Memphis Rotary Club last week. And his staff has been cranking out one press release after another recently, touting Cohen’s efforts to address everything from homelessness to nutrition to job growth in his district.

    Still, somewhere in the back of my mind, I can’t help but envision that Cohen and Wade will one day soon wake up and make up.

    The verbal jousting will be history. And all will be forgiven.

    ReplyDelete