Chapter 4: Mason (v.) Tennessee, Ep 2

Editor’s Note: This interview was done before recent events.

In early February, Tennessee Comptroller Jason Mumpower visited Mason, Tennessee, a town of about 1,000 or so people located on Highway 70 in Tipton County.

Mumpower gave Mason’s leadership and residents an ultimatum to surrender its charter or else the state would takeover its finances for an indefinite period of time. The story, reported first by The Covington Leader and Tennessee Lookout, went viral.

This story has layers. Mason, incorporated in 1869, does have a history of malfeasance, including a state comptroller investigation in 2016 that found Mason’s former public works superintendent had received over $600,000 in unauthorized compensation. That person was indicted. Yet, the state never took over the finances of the town, whose elected leadership at that time was predominantly white.

But now, the state is stepping in. The timing and optics are curious. To be sure, the action comes as Mason, whose leadership is now predominantly Black, stands to reap the benefits as a new Ford plant is constructed next door. And while the state says it is trying to help, the town’s leaders say the state has overlooked the city’s efforts to get its financial house in order. A lawsuit has been filed.

But I digress. It’s hard to argue that, if it weren’t for the small town media, that this story might not have caught much attention. So, as we examine the ongoing developments of Mason vs the state of Tennessee, we wanted to mark the work of the journalists who cover that community and brought the story to light. In this episode, we speak with Anita Wadhwani, senior reporter for the Tennessee Lookout.

Anita Wadhwani, Tennessee Lookout

Update: Wadhwani noted a correction about one of her comments: I misspoke about the size of the @Ford investment in the region. It's $5.6B @markupbymv