Murray Philip says “not a day goes by” when he doesn’t consider resigning from the Metro school board. Nothing would make some of his colleagues happier.
Philip, a political conservative and the owner of a local tile company, has gained a reputation as a troublemaker on the school board, largely because of his dramatic, tireless condemnations of Metro’s controversial school desegregation plan. Philip suffered a major defeat last week when Metro Council approved the 12-cent property tax hike necessary to fund the $206 million plan, but he does not plan to give up without a fight. Instead, he says, he and other parents may file a lawsuit challenging the plan.
As the Scene reported last week, Philip was the only school board member present at last week’s Council meeting. Wearing his shaded glasses and sitting with arms crossed, he watched as Council debated and took its vote. Meanwhile, his eight fellow board members were attending their own regularly scheduled meeting at the Metro Department of Education’s administrative offices on Bransford Avenue.
Little could Philip have known that his colleagues were trashing him behind his back, openly questioning Philip’s ethics and his motives for attempting to “sabotage” the desegregation plan, which was drafted to free Metro from a 42-year-old lawsuit. At last week’s board meeting, Philip’s critics made no attempt to disguise their disdain for his tactics.
“I literally think about giving up every single day,” Philip says in the wake of Council’s vote in favor of funding the desegregation plan. He says he finds it “a daily struggle to get up and face” his fellow school board members, whom he describes as “morons.”
On the school board, Philip has only remained on good terms with Nikki Meyer. Like him, Meyer has questioned and analyzed the information presented to board members by school administration officials. But, unlike Philip, she has been supportive in her votes for the desegregation plan.
Philip says he’s frustrated that other board members won’t look “beyond what’s spooned to them by a schools staff member.”
For months now, Philip has been writing letters to Mayor Phil Bredesen, Metro Council members, newspaper reporters, and other influential members of the Nashville community warning about potential pitfalls in the desegregation plan.
Philip has noted that Metro could have been freed from the federal court order without spending any money. He has warned that the new desegregation plan will not do away with busing. He has also cautioned that, despite legal opinions to the contrary, the desegregation plan is potentially unconstitutional because it uses race as a factor to determine which students attend which schools.
Metro officials are tired of Philip’s warnings. And Philip is tired of raising his complaints. But that doesn’t mean he plans to stop. If he or other public school parents can show they have been disadvantaged personally by the new desegregation plan, it’s likely they will, in fact, file a lawsuit to challenge the new plan.
For the moment, Philip says, he dwells on that likelihood virtually every day. “I think one day I went golfing and I didn’t think about it,” he says.
Starting blocks
This week marks Gov. Don Sundquist’s first round of election-year campaigning, with stops scheduled across the state—from Knoxville to Memphis. But the news isn’t being met with the usual fervor that surrounds a gubernatorial campaign. Even some Republicans are unexcited by what promises to be a stale election year.
Mike Whitaker, a perfectly respectable West Tennessee attorney, is running for the Democratic nomination, but he’s not expected to spice up the race. And many Republicans have become disenchanted with Sundquist because of his commitment to bipartisanship and his inclusion of Democrats in his cabinet.
Only John Jay Hooker, the aging Demo-cratic politico who has undertaken a late-in-life crusade to reform Tennessee’s political system, seems capable of bringing any drama to the 1998 statewide elections. Hooker has talked about distributing paper stovepipe hats at his campaign stops, and he’s mentioned the possibility of posting an informational campaign Web page on the Internet. He’s even fine-tuning his campaign slogan, which goes like this: “No more bull, no more bribery, no more business as usual. The time has come for reform, redemption, and rededication to our constitution.”
At the very least, Hooker’s most recent gubernatorial candidacy, like his challenge to Tennessee’s system of electing appellate judges, has people talking. According to one local judge who recently attended a statewide judicial conference: “That’s all anybody’s talking about.”
Creature feature
Chalk up another gaffe for Vice President Al Gore:
The Herald newspaper in Monterey, Calif., recently ran a photograph of the environmentalist vice president kayaking alongside a sea otter in Monterey Bay. Unfortunately, as one letter writer to The Herald noted, the picture caught Gore violating a federal environmental regulation.
The letter writer pointed out that it is a “federal offense punishable by up to a $20,000 fine and/or one year in jail for disturbing marine mammals in the [Monterey Bay] sanctuary.” The writer went on to point out that visitors to the bay are required to keep at least 50 feet away from the mammals.
The letter asked, “Want to take any bets as to whether any prosecution will become of the vice president’s violation of federal law?” Then the writer conjectured, “I guess in Mr. Gore’s case, his excuse will be that there is no controlling legal authority.” That’s the now infamous explanation the vice president offered to argue why it was legal for him to make fund-raising calls from federal buildings.
To reach Liz, call her at 244-7989, ext. 406, or e-mail her at liz@nashscene.com.
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