William Larsha

A committee of 40 African-American business, community and religious leaders reportedly has chosen Atty. Nikki Tinker as its consensus candidate in an effort to put an African-American back in Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District seat.

According to political activist William Larsha, one of the architects who spearheaded the movement to try to unseat U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, Tinker was chosen because of name recognition and her purported financial resources.  

But a Tinker campaign worker said he was unaware of a consensus campaign and that he didn’t think the candidate was informed either. He wanted to know who initiated the move and who comprised the committee.

Tinker could not be reached for comment.

Larsha wouldn’t release the names of committee members, fearing they might be scrutinized by the media, and because “they didn’t want racial tension in the headlines.”

“But I’d say this: There were no ministers involved,” said Larsha, referring to a group of African-American ministers that assailed Cohen during a speech at the Memphis Baptist Ministerial Association in 2007.

Dr. LaSimba Gray said he was not at the meeting where Tinker was tapped, but said he supports the choice.

Cohen beat 15 candidates in the 2006 race and Gray said, “We had no business giving up a seat in the district. No other ethnic group would give up a seat.”

Gray said Cohen’s race or religion isn’t a factor in his decision to support Tinker. “I oppose him because of his politics,” he said.

Cohen, the first non-African American to win the seat in 31 years, said a secret committee to choose a consensus candidate is old school politics.

“On Aug. 7, we’ll see who the consensus candidate the voters will decide,” said Cohen. “I think we’ll have a landslide.”

Larsha did not say if state Rep. Joe Towns Jr. or Dr. Isaac Richmond – the other two African-American candidates in the August 7 primary – were considered during the selection process.

Towns had not returned calls by the time of this post.

Dr. Richmond, the national director of Coalition on Religion and Racism (CORR), said he isn’t fazed by the committee’s selection. Instead, he said a grass root effort led by the Unification Leadership Movement had selected him as the consensus candidate.

He said he doesn’t have anything personally to say about Tinker other than, “I don’t know what she’s done in the African-American community. But I understand I’m not approved by the black or white system.”

Larsha, who has expressed his opinion in the local media on the “need for African-American representation,” said the committee based its decision on Tinker’s ability to “amass a lot of votes” and her second place finish in 2006. But their decision, he said, had more to do with the candidate’s race.

“Race does matter,” Larsha said. “We should judge people based on the color of their skin and the content of their character as long as you’re honest.”

He said he’s always respected Cohen. “I know his Tennessee record has been good and excellent. And I have no reason to believe that he hasn’t been a good congressman,” Larsha said.

“My thing is this: I don’t believe we should sacrifice an African-American political institution because we think somebody is good when we have African Americans who are just as good.”

After Tinker lost the congressional race to Cohen in the 2006 Democratic primary, Larsha wasted no time trying to urge voters to consider returning an African American to Congress.

“I was hustling to get things together after 2006,” Larsha said. “Win or lose, I’m finished. The rest is left up to the voters in the district.”

He said if Tinker loses the primary he wouldn’t campaign for an independent candidate in the general election.

“I don’t think it would work.”