From The Memphis Commercial Appeal, May 22, 2003
http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/local_news/article/0,1426,MCA_437_1979969,00.html
Familiar candidate Joe Cooper aims for empty City Council seat
By Blake Fontenay
fontenay@gomemphis.com
May 22, 2003
After making six bids for elective office in the last eight years, Joe Cooper figures his name is well known to Memphis voters. With that in mind, Cooper has decided to take a crack at running for the District 5 City Council seat that's being vacated by John Vergos.
Cooper picked up his qualifying paperwork Monday and said he plans to return the completed forms to the elections office today.
"I think I've got as good a chance as anybody,'' Cooper said. "I think I've got as much government experience as anybody I've seen so far."
Cooper's most recent bid for office was an unsuccessful race against Bruce Thompson for the County Commission's District 5 seat last year. During that campaign, Cooper caught flak for his proposal to turn a large chunk of Shelby Farms over to developers.
Cooper, a 57-year-old business consultant, said he won't advocate anything like that again. One of his priorities if elected would be to reorganize the city-county Office of Planning and Development's management staff to correct what he considers inequitable treatment toward certain developers. Although he vows to knock on every door in the district, which includes much of Midtown and East Memphis, Cooper said he won't buy any new signs or accept contributions for this campaign. However, he said he will recycle the signs he used in last year's race. If elected, Cooper vows to return every constituent call he receives within two hours.
"Unlike Mr. Vergos, who was sometimes too busy to talk to constituents, I'll be a 24-hour council member,'' Cooper said.
Several people have expressed interest in running for the seat in the Oct. 9 election. Former county mayoral candidate George Flinn announced his plans to run last week. Cooper served on the Shelby County Quarterly Court - a predecessor to the County Commission - from 1972 to 1977. Cooper resigned after being convicted of conspiracy to misapply bank funds. He served four months in prison, but his citizenship rights were later restored.
- Blake Fontenay: The Memphis Commercial Appeal 901-529-2386
