Mayoral candidate says mayor’s office ignoring records requests
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JACKSON, Tenn. — Mayoral candidate Lowe Finney makes hefty allegations against the Gist administration Friday morning as the race to lead city hall for the next four years heats up. Lowe Finney called a news conference Friday morning at city hall. Finney challenged Mayor Jerry Gist’s transparency and the truthfulness of Gist’s claims about the effectiveness of his highly touted Blue Impact program. “For instance, how many arrests have been made pursuant to that program, how many operations have been conducted pursuant to that program?” Finney said. “All of those requests have either been denied or have gone unanswered.” Finney said for more than a month he has made multiple requests to city hall for crime statistics and other public records. Gist said the requested information is easily accessible by anyone. “The records are here and they’re welcome to go through any information that they want, but we’re not going to spend tax payers’ money to furnish that for them,” Gist said. Gist stands by the Blue Impact program, made up of select Jackson police officers who are tasked with targeting high-crime areas and responding to certain calls. Jackson Interim Chief of Police Julian Wiser said it Is a department-wide philosophy. Gist said it is obvious violence is down since Blue Impact began last May. “The plan is working and will continue to work,” Gist said. “We may tweak it some if we see we need to. We’re going to be adding some more surveillance video cameras, and they have made a huge impact in the decrease of the crime in Jackson, Tennessee.” Finney said without clear evidence to back up what the program is doing, he just does not believe it. “People believe that we’re on the wrong track in Jackson, and when he always talks about Blue Impact, he needs to be willing to talk exactly about how precise that program is actually working,” Finney said. He believes this is just one example of a lack of openness in the Gist administration, “The issue has clearly become where is the transparency? Where is the data to back up many of the claims the mayor has made in the last several months,” he said. Gist said in his two terms openness has never been an issue and is not now. “This is a transparent government — city government has been for 8 years that I know of since I’ve been here,” he said. WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News reached out to the other mayoral candidates for comments on Finney’s claims. Calls to candidate Charlie Motten were not returned. Tim York released a statement saying, “If I was denied, I guess I’d have the same feelings,” and added, “that stuff is irrelevant to me.” Dr. James Baxter said “Crime is still in question in the city of Jackson. Minority contracts? Yes, those too are in question, so we need to see the paper trail.” Early voting begins April 15.
