EV Based Quarrel or Not? The “Mason vs TN Comptroller” Fiasco

Who is the blame for the Mason, TN Mess? Ford or TN Comptroller? — **Mason Tennessee vs. TN Comptroller**
Please help me decide who is responsible for the mess that Mason has found itself in. Is it Ford along with the new EV megasite, the Comptroller of Tennessee, or both?

Table of Contents

Introduction

Background

Is This a Politically or Racially Motivated Fiasco, or Perhaps, Both?

Are Other Electric Vehicle Advocates Frowning on this Fiasco?

Is the Drive Electric Tennessee (DET) Social Benefits Principle Violated?

Summary

Relevant Links (i.e., Information Sources)

Introduction

It was early March of 2022 when we first read the unsettling news on Jalopnik.com that the Comptroller of Tennessee, Mr. Jason Mumpower, is threatening to dissolve the charter of the town of Mason, TN and place the town under the governance of its parent county – that would be Tipton County. If Mason, a majority black and majority democratic town, refuses, then the state will take control of their finances. It was reported that Mason’s government has been involved in unscrupulous financial activities dating all the way back to 2001. This unscrupulous trend is the reported justification by the Tennessee Comptroller for the threat. However, after performing a rather detailed analysis, it seems highly likely that the real culprit is the Ford Motor Company’s massive investment in electric trucks and batteries plants at a nearby 4,100-acre site with construction starting sometime this year.

Speculation on this seemingly Electric-Vehicle-based fiasco is high and hot, and we cannot help but to share our perspective, especially since we are Electric Vehicle (EV) advocates. After providing background information on this mess, a few questions are explored: 1.) Is this fiasco racism-induced, politically motivated, or perhaps both? 2.) Are other EV advocates frowning on this fiasco? 3.) Is the Drive Electric Tennessee (DET) Social Benefits Principle violated? A comprehensive source of information (please see the relevant links) is provided for your convenience. Your feedback is encouraged and welcomed.

Background

Mason, Tennessee is a town of no more than 1,500 people. In February of 2022, Tennessee’s Comptroller of the Treasury, Jason Mumpower, gave the people of Mason two options: dissolute the Mason town charter or relinquish control of Mason’s finances. When Mason officials voted to retain the 153-year-old charter, Mumpower did as promised and put the town’s finances under the superintendence of the Comptroller’s Office.

Facing criticism, the Comptroller’s Office released a statement defending the high-handed decision; Mason’s shady financial history was cited. An investigation into the town’s past does reveal corruption and financial mishandling. In 2011, a former Mason town clerk pleaded guilty to embezzling $100,000 in taxpayer money. A former Mason public works superintendent was indicted for paying himself an extra $600,000 over the course of eight years (2007–2015). Additionally, Mason officials also have a two-decade-long history of missing their annual audit deadlines.

In 2015, the town’s corruption was revealed. As a result, nearly all Mason City Hall officials resigned. These felonious officials left the town with $500,000 in debt and a tarnished reputation. The tiny town of Mason had been abandoned and left to die by its own officials. When locals from Mason stepped up, took political office, and tried to mend what the bygone administration had broken, they were offered no support. When the financial conditions of Mason were most dire, the Comptroller’s Office showed no interest in the small town.

An observation of Mason in the current year shows that things have changed since the days of the past administration. In fact, Mason seems to have made a 180-degree turn financially. About half of the $500,000 inherited debt has already been paid off. Five of Mason’s past-due audits have been completed. And the town is on track to be completely caught up on audits by 2023.

Mason officials are not going down without a fight. Intending to maintain control of their town’s finances, and with assistance from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the town’s officials filed a lawsuit against Mumpower. The suit challenges the Comptroller’s authority to take over a town’s finances, disputes his given justification for the takeover, and requests that the Comptroller’s financial takeover be reversed immediately.

Is This a Politically or Racially Motivated Fiasco, or Perhaps, Both?

It is apparent that Mason officials are moving the town’s finances in the right direction; they have made significant progress in just seven years, and that was without much financial assistance. Therefore, we are left with a question: If Mason’s current officials have shown themselves to be financially responsible, what is the real reason for Mumpower’s sudden interest in the town’s affairs? Many are pointing to Ford Motor Company’s investment in Stanton, Tennessee. The town of Stanton is less than 10 miles away from Mason. In September of 2021, Ford announced plans to open a 5.6-billion-dollar electric truck and battery manufacturing campus called BlueOval City. BlueOval City is the largest manufacturing investment by an automobile manufacturer in United States history.

This situation is complicated, but one thing remains clear: Mason stands to gain a lot from this investment. For the town of Mason, Ford deciding to open a manufacturing megasite right next door is akin to winning the lottery. Remember, Mason is a tiny town. Currently, the town receives tax revenue from just four businesses. A local economic investment of this magnitude could have never been predicted. Oh, and did we mention that the opening of the megasite comes with 6,000 new jobs for locals?

If the Comptroller is genuinely concerned about Mason’s financial condition and worried for Mason’s citizens, it would have to be entirely coincidental that he chose to take over Mason’s finances only six months after Ford announced the multibillion-dollar investment in the area. After all, Mason has been struggling financially for quite some time. Though Mumpower could be acting to further the interests of the people of Mason, it does not seem very likely.

Another option is that Mumpower is acting opportunistically; perhaps Mumpower got news of Ford’s immense incoming investment and decided to set himself up to reap the benefits. It is possible that he found a random town in the vicinity of the megasite, which just happened to be Mason, and dug up any financial scandals in the town’s history. The disentombed financial scandals could then be used as his rationale for swooping in and taking control of the town’s finances. In taking over their finances, he would have access to their incoming revenue from the Ford investment.

The actions of Ford have some wondering if they are complicit in Mumpower’s takeover of Mason. The following is a statement from Angie Kozleski, a spokesperson for Ford, regarding the Comptroller’s attempted coup d’etat: “We have reached out to state and local community leaders to express concern and learn more.” Kozleski’s statement has been confirmed by Mason’s vice mayor, Virginia Rivers, to be dishonest. At the time of Kozleski’s statement, not a single Mason official had been contacted by Ford, not the mayor, not the vice mayor, and none of the six aldermen. Kozleski later clarified what was meant by “local community leaders;” Kozleski stated that Ford officials had reached out to Van Turner Jr., the president of Memphis’ NAACP chapter. If it is not obvious, Turner is not a local Mason leader; he is from Memphis. If Ford officials are truly concerned about Mason’s struggle for self-determination, their decision to contact Turner is puzzling. Moreover, if Ford was at all interested in helping Mason move forward, it seems that they would first make an honest attempt to contact one of the several accessible Mason town officials.

There is an elephant in the room that we have not addressed: Mumpower could have been motivated by the racial makeup of the town’s leadership: the town’s current administration is almost entirely Black. Mason has a Black mayor, a Black vice mayor, and five of their six aldermen are Black.

Mason, which is a Black-majority town, has not always been run by Black officials. Let’s recall Mason’s unscrupulous former officials: yes, the ones who resigned seven years ago after being exposed for financial crimes and corruption. Almost every official in Mason’s former administration was White. The Comptroller’s Office cited Mason’s history of financial mismanagement and corruption as the reason for the takeover, but it was during the previous administration’s longstanding reign that the $500,000 debt was accumulated, taxpayer money was stolen, and financial crimes were committed. This makes the timing of the takeover suspicious.

Mason’s mayor, Emmit Gooden, released a rebuttal to Mumpower’s demand that the town’s charter be dissolved. In the rebuttal, Gooden implies that Mason has been treated differently than similar White-majority communities. To determine whether the takeover of Mason was racially motivated, Mason’s treatment by the Comptroller’s Office must be compared to the treatment of White communities in similar financial circumstances. A letter from the NAACP to the Comptroller identified three communities with similar histories to Mason: Jellico, Van Buren County, and Polk County, which are 94.9%, 95.1%, and 93.0% White, respectively. Like Mason, these communities were all placed under financial control by the Comptroller’s Office. At the time of takeover, all three White-majority communities were in worse financial shape than Mason. Furthermore, these communities were in a state of financial decline, whereas Mason has shown improvement in recent years.

In view of Mason’s financial improvement, was the Comptroller’s Office right to take over the town? Perhaps a better solution would have been financial mediation, or a cooperative agreement between the Comptroller’s office and Mason officials, allowing Mason officials to maintain financial control under some stipulation.

When comparing Mason’s treatment with the treatment of the White-majority communities, one must also consider the hostile nature of Mason’s financial takeover. Mumpower wrote a letter to Mason residents demanding that Mason dissolve its charter: “In my opinion, it’s time for Mason to relinquish its charter.” No evidence of such a demand being presented to the officials of the White-majority communities has been found. Again, we are going to ask a question: Was Mason treated differently than the other three communities?

In Summary of this section, the stated motivation of the Comptroller’s Office is to improve Mason’s financial state and further the interests of Mason’s citizens, but there is a plethora of evidence suggesting that the Comptroller’s Office has an ulterior motive. Their lack of interest in Mason’s former administration raises questions, and Mason’s treatment does not seem to be consistent with the treatment of White-majority communities in similar situations. Furthermore, the timing of the Comptroller’s interest in Mason, right after the announcement of Ford’s multibillion-dollar megasite, draws suspicion.

Are Other Electric Vehicle Advocates Frowning on this Fiasco?

The authors of this article tend to associate EVs and the EV movement with positive expectations and outcomes since EVs and the EV movement are viewed as helping to make transportation greener and more sustainable which are viewed as positive occurrences. When first hearing about this unfortunate fiasco in the first week of March of 2022, a feeling of surprise, frustration, and wonder immediately entered our minds. After gathering more details and performing an analysis of the situation, we were thinking “Really, can this be happening in our day and time?”

EV advocates are pulling out all stops to make the EV transition as smooth and quick as possible. In particular, they are working with governments and businesses to populate the roads, highways, and parking spaces with charging stations, they are spending large sums of money on EV advertising and education, amongst other activities. The last thing we need is negative press to slow down the transition and plant a negative image in the minds of those who are currently indifferent or unaware of the EV transition.

Obviously, we are frowning on this mess, and the reason is because more viable solutions to move the town of Mason forward are easily apparent. For example, provide the officials of the town of Mason with at least part of the help that they have been asking for starting as far back as eight years ago. Now, we would like to know the following: Are other EV advocates also frowning on this unforeseen sticky situation? This seems like a rhetorical question; however, we are not taking any EV advocate’s position for granted.

Is the Drive Electric Tennessee (DET) Social Benefits Principle Violated?

DET is a consortium of utility companies, Tennessee State agencies, cities and transit agencies, universities, automotive companies, technology providers, advocacy groups, and others. DET’s mission is to collaboratively pursue initiatives that will significantly increase EV adoption from 5,000 EVs in 2019 to 200,000 EVs by 2028, guided by shared principles that benefit all residents of Tennessee. The pertinent part of the last sentence that needs your immediate attention is “guided by shared principles that benefit all residents of Tennessee” because including social equity considerations to benefit all Tennesseans is one of two components under DET’s “Social Benefits” guiding principle. As you may recall, equality and equity are related, but different: Equality means that everyone gets the same amount of pie while equity means that the more needy gets more pie than the less needy.

In this seemingly Ford Motor Company-induced mess, it is obvious that in order to take advantage of the prospective boom coming to Tennessee, the town of Mason needs more help than most other Tennessee towns. Hence, instead of throwing Mason officials under the bus and claiming that you will give control back to them later, the Comptroller could have given the Mason officials the help they were desperately seeking in the first place. This suggested gesture would have displayed more social equity and would have been more in line with DET’s social benefits guiding principle.

Mason officials are fearful that even though a comptroller takeover could still benefit the residents of the town of Mason, the benefits will be less than in the case where the Mason officials maintain control themselves. With the state in control of Mason’s finances, more potential benefits from the Ford megasite boom could be diverted to Tipton County. In addition, equal benefits under a comptroller takeover are not guaranteed, especially when one considers the seemingly ingenuine comptroller claim that he is concerned about Mason’s future. The following must be disclosed: DET’s document “ A Roadmap for Electric Vehicles in Tennessee” does not provide context for the “Social Benefits” guiding principle; hence, we are interpreting this principle to be inclusive of general considerations and are applying the principle to this mess.

Now, we ask the question: Is this DET social benefits guiding principle violated? Your input is both encouraged and welcomed.

Summary

In summary, the Mason, TN vs. Tennessee Comptroller fiasco does appear to be an EV-based quarrel fueled by the Ford EV truck and battery plants coming to the BlueOval City megasite in Stanton, TN – which is for all practical purposes in the backyard of Mason. Regardless of one’s answers to the questions asked in this article, the culprit still appears to be Ford Motor Company’s EV plants which is unfortunate because it could plant a negative image of EVs in the minds of those whose are indifferent or unaware of the EV revolution. A comprehensive overview and a somewhat detailed analysis of this mess, unlike any other article the authors are aware of at the present time, has been provided. A comprehensive list of information sources has been presented with the intention of providing the reader with enough information to adequately assess this unforeseen, unfortunate fiasco.

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Relevant Links (i.e., Information Sources)

10-04-2017 (Van Buren County)

COMPTROLLER: More than $3.5 million remains unaccounted for

3-27-2018 (Jellico)

City of Jellico Improves Financial Condition

6-26-2020 (Van Buren County)

Deputy comptroller stresses Van Buren’s financial crisis during commission meeting | Sparta Live

7-23-2020 (Van Buren County): Must subscribe to read entire article Van Buren County, Tennessee teeters on financial takeover

While Metro-Nashville and a dozen other distressed counties face their own money woes, Van Buren County is in the worst financial shape in Tennessee. The county is on the brink of becoming the first ever to lose control of its budget to the state.

11-20-2020 (Van Buren County)

Comptroller: Van Buren County audit finds ‘concerns, problems’

11-20-2020 (Van Buren County)

Van Buren County Audit Outlines Multiple Concerns and Problems

7-1-2021 (Van Buren County)

TN Comptroller’s Office Seeing Positive Change In Van Buren Finances | News Talk 94.1/AM 1600

9-27-2021

Ford to invest $5.6B in Memphis Regional Megasite

1-31-2-22 (Van Buren County)

Van Buren Has 8 Audit Findings With 6 Repeats

2-10-2022

Mason, Tennessee asked to surrender its charter or face state takeover