The Southern Truth: Is Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert Being Trumped?

The Southern Truth

 Is Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert Being Trumped?

By Dr. Gloria Zuurveen, Editor-in-Chief

I first met Ms. Wanda Halbert when she was a City Councilmember sometimes back in 2015. I sat in on a council meeting where she was presiding and she exuded confidence in her presentation to the committee members sitting around the conference table including the late Right Reverend Bishop E. Lynn Brown, the presiding prelate of the Ninth Episcopal District of the CME Church, who had invited me to travel with to Downtown Memphis to cover the announcement of Champion Square in honor of the keeper of Memphis medical history,Pharmacist Dr. Charles Champion. It was then that I had the immense pleasure of being introduced to her, Ms. Halbert.

So to hear and to see today how she is being treated as the elected Clerk of Shelby County, to me, is appalling and it appears to be a pile of “political vindictiveness” of which I’ve never seen before. As a native Mississippian who was born just a stone throw away from Shelby County in the town of Senatobia a little over 30 miles  going south on the 55 Interstate Highway, I don’t like what I see and as a Black woman who happens to have founded a Los Angeles newspaper since 1995 and also one who has covered politicians from Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Barbara Lee, and the current Mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass and many others over the years politically, I can see the trickery.

To get to the meat of the matter, I had to call my friend, the one and only Judge Joe Brown, a longtime Memphis resident and former candidate for Mayor of Memphis and who is also known as one who doesn’t fool around when it comes to facts and the courtroom like when he was in Hollywood Tinseltown. But to find out what was going on in Memphis, I didn’t mess around and I picked up my cell phone and called Judge Joe Brown to see if he could help me to find out about this dog and pony show. I told Judge Joe that it looks like Sister Halbert is being treated unfairly, at least from a media perspective. I said that I believe there is more to this charade and this uncouth parade. He confirmed that it was so and he began to speak, but not only did he speak, he also sent me the receipts. The history of this charade and how the game is being played it makes me believe that Shelby County Clerk, Wanda Halbert is being TRUMPED. Yes, when I look at all the receipts, I can’t help but to believe this is the case and it is blatant mockery. Something fishy is smelling all over the place.

Judge Joe Brown chimed in on the matter and brought to my attention some fishy deals and other conflict of interest chatter. Such as the email to Tammy Sawyer dated 11/2/20 that said, “We also need to see what has happened to the former City/Co parks where the Johnny Reb monuments were removed What $ is being offered to whom for the resale of these properties As well, what are the storage arrangements (i.e. who gets the $) for the Davis/Forrest statues Something needs be done before another sycophant U.S. Atty (like Stanton III) gets in or nothing will be accomplished. We need to make a complaint to los Federales — hopefully Trump will stay in so the corruption can be ended.

Judge Brown copied me on the email which reads, ??? To Tammy Sawyer ⭐️ What was your part in the no bid sale to Turner’s non-profit? Explain the low price? Who gets the parks’ income? Who took the statues down/Who stored them/How much was paid for the services/What’s your relation to the entity? Who bought them/the price? What of the Ethics?_____ ⭐️ What was her part in the give away to Turner’s (Van) non-profit? Who gets park income? What other parks is he getting? Who took statues down/Who stored them/How much was paid for the services/What’s her relationship to the entity? Who bought them @ what price? What of the Ethics?______ ⭐️ I’m about bringing this City together—not polarizing it tryin to prove myself My Lady Chief of Staff wasn’t impressed w/your request She suggests you’ve a problem w/Masculinity & Conservatives as well FYI I’m business partner & professional associate with as many Women as Men ______ ⭐️ I didn’t say that … putting that as a quote is either an attempted lie Ma’am—or its a badly informed display of ignorance—& illustrates why my crew found your credibility as an interviewer highly suspect You seem unaware that crime & Criminal Justice has been my business for ½ century & I’m considered a National Expert on the subject So when I said (at ‘The Pocket’ nightclub): “The next mayor needs to go places where it wouldn’t be safe for a Woman to go right now … (b/c she’d likely get … & … if she did)” I spoke with recognized authority e.g. It seems that shortly after the above event, a young lady went for a run at the Univ of Memphis & was kidnapped/raped/brutally tortured/murdered The City has one of the highest rates of rape in the nation as criminally reflected by many thousands of untested rape kits Its unfortunate that the truth of the assertion speaks for itself (By the way, why didn’t you do something about these kits when you were a Commissioner ?) My motto: “Protecting Womanhood & Promoting Manhood” Dictates that I be dedicated to protecting the Women of the City Whether you like it or not … it is my duty to do so & I fervently intend to attend it p.s. I do several regular shows produced & directed by Women: @therealdana7 & @valeriedenise & they take care of the ‘estrogen’ angle (as Ms Val so charmingly puts it) so there’s no need to aid you in your efforts to work your mischief____ ⭐️I didn’t say this … & putting it as a quote is either an illustration of an outright lie—or a display of badly informed ignorance Either way It illustrates why the Womenfolk on my crew found this person’s credibility (as an interviewer) highly suspect.

From reading the email to Sawyer, Judge Joe Brown was asking her for accountability and to expound on what happened to the statues and also what happened to the money from the sale of the statues and also what happened with the land sold to Green Space, a nonprofit held by Van Turner? What happened is a reasonable question to ask about the people’s money. So again, what happened? are the questions Judge Joe Brown is asking Sawyer for an explanation as a taxpayer.  No answers yet, But Ms. Halbert is put to the test so much so that the Commissioners and members from the state are asking for her dismissal. But not all are voting for her ouster, like Commissioner Eddie Jones. He abstained from voting to oust Halbert and he also questioned what the state’s role would be. He said, “What I don’t want to do is to vote on something so blindly that we bring the state in and it overturns the wheel of the people in Shelby County.”

Now that’s what I am talking about. How can these questionable few make decisions without going back to the people who put Halbert in the position to serve them. Wanda Halbert is the People’s Clerk not a clerk that “Step and fetch” at the beckoning call of the Shelby County Mayor and /or others who would have her to do the impossible like come up with mailing out tags without  allocated, budgeted funds and to do it without the higher-ups permission that’s not the County Clerk’s position. Halbert knows that.

Even Mr. Andy Meek in his recent article for BGR.com speaks about the fishy manner of Memphis politics when he talked about Elon Musk making the grand announcement to bring a multi-billion dollar supercomputer factory to Memphis, he said, “We hand out corporate welfare like it’s going out of style.” It looks like Judge Joe Brown is referring to the same corporate welfare Meeks is talking about when he practically give Musk a warning about Memphis and its players. Could he be referencing what appears to be a pay-to-play scheme similar to Los Angeles now convicted former  Councilmember Jose Huizar or any number of prominent players. So the questions in the email from Judge Joe Brown makes one wonder what is really going on with all the Black Lives Matter and statues removal of educational monuments, history and the past.

Like Nathan Bedford Forrest and Johnny Reb, where are they? The statues which were removed and motivated by the leadership of Sawyer? Or at least where are the city and/or county funds? From the looks of South Memphis, the community could certainly use them, that is, if Sawyer and her crew of supporters still have the money they were paid or not? Where is the accounting and where does the bucks stop? I’m just asking. Please advise so the people can know how you manage their funds from the statues you and the conscious crew removed from Memphis with a lot of media fanfare but “Where are the statues Sawyer or the dollars that were made on the people’s behalf? This is, I believe, what Judge Joe Brown is referring to when it comes to having had the statues taken down. Where and what became of the funds that were supposed to have come to town? Tami, or should I say, Commissioner Sawyer, where are the funds and the real transparency? Meeks and Brown, that’s Judge Joe, are witnessing what I believe is a miscarriage of justice and the public has a right to know why these two men, one Black and one white who are looking from a different spectrum but viewing the same old thing, the appearance of corruption in Memphis?

https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/wanda-halbert-responds-to-ouster-petition-denies-willful-neglect/article_64f2ffb8-2278-11ef-8c20-6fe283d990a0.html

How is it that all of a sudden, after 5 plus years, this County Clerk is a problem and don’t know what she is doing for the people in Shelby County. This current Shelby County Clerk and former Councilwoman Wanda Halbert who was the second African American woman in the history of the City of Memphis to be elected to a city-wide office all of a sudden now she doesn’t know what she is doing. Halbert’s attributes are too numerous to name here but I will mention a few such as:

• Created the city’s first Minority & Women Owned Business Oversight Commission, an appointed group requiring and monitoring the city’s spending with minority and women owned businesses;
• Revived the city’s Pre-65 health insurance for employees;
• Initiated the city’s joint compromised pension investments;
• Sponsored approved legislation reviving the city’s Summer Youth program with a $2 million-dollar investment;
• Sponsored approved legislation strengthening the city’s Civilian Law Enforcement Review processes and procedures;
• Sponsored approved legislation adding $4 million to revive the city’s Utility Payment Assistance Program;
• Sponsored approved legislation adding $2.4 million for a school literacy initiative;
• Sponsored approved legislation to spend $500,000 to repair city parks;
• Sponsored new legislation securing $1.6 million for new park and neighborhood redevelopment;
• The first and only city legislator:
• Walking and documenting evidence to ensure more than 2,000 blighted properties were reported and/or litigated;
• Publishing district-wide reports and plans for community improvement projects;
• Initiating the city’s review and remediation of outdated drainage systems causing city-wide flooding;
• Preparing the city’s first report tracking more than 3,300 District wide Housing and Community Development Major Projects;
• Securing district wide Blight Remediation Funds;
• Ensuring District was selected as the first recipient of the Memphis Clean 2019 initiative;
• Creating 5 year pot-hole and street repair

No. No. This is not right and something fishy is going on here. But what?

Why did Division 6 Judge Cedrick D. Wooten filed the order of recusal from the case involving Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert on May 7, 2024, “for good cause shown,” but the order did not elaborate on what that cause entailed according to an article by Kim Chaney from localmemphis.com? Chaney’s report revealed the filing against Halbert. It said that Halbert consistently fails to turn in monthly reports to the trustee in a timely manner and said there is no legitimate reason for the failure to do so. The petition also said the reports were inaccurate “with collected dollar amounts not added properly.” The petition alleges that Halbert’s reporting became so “untrustworthy,” that the Shelby County finance department had to stop submitting the final reports in a timely manner because the inaccuracies were jeopardizing Shelby County budgetary numbers.

In a social media post Halbert said, “The Office of the Shelby County Clerk over the last 5+ years has repeatedly ‘sounded the alarm’ regarding a host of findings/concerns (financial included).” “Said concerns have been documented and reported to multiple legal County & State entities but never investigated. Fortunately, the day has come that FINALLY begins direct attention to the matters we have raised. While our team cannot discuss these and other matters, we will not be afraid to do what the law requires of us. When given authority, we commit to being transparent and will report accordingly.” On June 6, 2024,  Halbert’s filed response in defense of the allegation filed against her on Friday, June 5, She said, “Plaintiff’s petition is contradictory, stating that somehow defendant should be removed for ‘willful neglect,’ but admitting that there were several instances that look an awful lot like simple negligence — where defendant was unaware, didn’t know information, didn’t understand, didn’t have the help required for her to facilitate her duties, or was faced with circumstances involving other moving parts of Shelby County government that failed her.”

I believe with the charges lodged against Ms. Halbert, transparency is about to come in full view especially when one consider that less than two months before the petition to oust Halbert was filed by District Attorney General Coty Wamp, the prosecutor investigating the Shelby County Clerk for “”willful neglect to perform a duty enjoined upon the Shelby County Clerk by the laws of the State of Tennessee,” the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office completed an audit of the Shelby County Clerk’s Office. The Comptroller’s Office found that the clerk’s office checkbook had essentially not been balanced for at least 14 years, predating Halbert’s time in charge of the office. The crucial question is why is Wanda Halbert, the Shelby County Clerk,  being trumped?

The Southern Truth