The decision by Congress to regulate campaign gifts didn’t bother Jason Nabors. It actually might benefit him one day in the future if his dream of holding office becomes more ambitious.
Nabors, 28, a Cordova High School teacher and adjunct professor at The University of Memphis, is running for mayor of Shelby County.
“In October of 2001, I kept reading about daily attacks on the Republican Party that they didn’t have anyone running, so I decided to,” said Nabors, who has a degree in political science as well as an undergraduate degree and master’s in classics.
However, Nabors who graduated from Collierville High School and Ole Miss was surprised at the lack of connections and money he had compared to the other candidates.
“I just want to get my name out,” said Nabors, who was asked by one of his students if he was running for mayor of Cordova.
Nabors’ platform is against consolidation and urban sprawl.
“If the county and city schools consolidate then it will be the end of Shelby County,” Nabors said.
The ‘end’ Nabors is talking about is the extended white flight he feels will occur and the excess of money that will be taken out of Bartlett, Cordova, Germantown and Collierville. Nabors said the outlying counties’ tax money will not benefit Shelby County.
However, Nabors is not just pro-County. He attended city schools as a child and believes they need work, but that consolidation is not the answer.
Another part of Nabors’ platform is a ban on more malls and strip shopping centers.
“I can’t believe they wanted to build a mall in Collierville when the Mall of Memphis is sitting there practically empty,” Nabors said.
He is opposed to the boom and bust effect, an effect where commercial business is placed in a part of town until it is used up, to be ultimately abandoned.
It may seem with Nabors’ platform that he is definitely linked with the white population more than anyone else. But he insists this is not true.
“This is a red vs. green campaign, if anything. And the red is for the debt we are in and the green is for the money we need,” Nabors said.
Dr. Sunny Eilert, principal of Cordova High School and Nabors’ boss, said character is the last thing any voter would have to worry about.
“He has honesty, integrity and values,” Eilert said. However, Eilert said he was more concerned with Nabors’ character in the classroom because he has 150 students whom he is with seven hours a day and the potential for damage is greater. So far, Nabors has proven to Eilert to be an excellent classroom teacher. Eilert believes he is a viable and solid candidate for mayor.
A colleague of Nabors, Ryan Sellers, adjunct instructor in the foreign language department at The U of M, said even though Nabors lacks the experience in administration and policy-making that many of the other candidates have, he does have something the other candidates lack.
“He does have a certain youthful, middle-class perspective on life in Shelby County which the high-powered candidates from the mansions of Germantown cannot afford,” Sellers said.
Sellers said his friend is very authentic and down-to-earth, and would rather spend a day hunting than schmoozing on a country club golf course.
Nabors knows his chances are quite poor but feels this has been a good experience for him.
“If I had raised $25,000, I could have taken the May primary,” Nabors said.
Sellers said Nabors is perceptive enough to realize the economic disparities he is facing, but believes he has something other in mind than taking the mayoral seat.
“I think he is primarily running as an act of protest against the corruption and nepotism inherent within our current political system,” Sellers said.
Nabors said it doesn’t cost anything to put your name on the ballot. He encouraged other young people like himself to become interested in politics.
“One thing I would do differently is get more involved in the political establishment and make as many wealthy friends as I could,” said Nabors, who realized candidates need more than good values, integrity and honor to win an election these days.
Visit his Web site at www.jasonnabors.com.
