A resolution calling for Jackson Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba to take a leave of absence following an indictment on federal bribery charges failed after the Jackson City Council rejected it on Tuesday.
“It’s important that we just ask the mayor to step aside while we try to navigate a tough situation,” said Ward 3 City Councilman Kenneth Stokes, who proposed the resolution.
He said that the indictment of the mayor—who faces an array of federal charges including conspiracy, bribery, wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering—has left a “dark cloud” over the city.
Federal prosecutors allege that Lumumba accepted $50,000 in campaign donation checks from undercover FBI agents posing as real estate developers in exchange for a promise that he would use his power as an elected official to vote in favor of their acquisition of a City contract.
Ward 6 City Councilman Aaron Banks and Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens were arraigned alongside the mayor at the Thad Cochran United States Courthouse on Nov. 7, 2024.
Each man has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Lumumba has said repeatedly that he will not step down from the position and declared that he will run for re-election this year. “As I indicated in this courtroom today, I am not guilty. So, I will not proceed as a guilty man,” he told reporters on the courthouse steps following his arraignment.
U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Jordan granted a request from the men’s attorneys to delay the trial so that they may review “hundreds of hours of recordings and thousands of pages of other evidence” in preparation for the court proceedings.
Throughout his tenure, the mayor has been vocal about fighting state-sponsored attempts to wrest away control of City-managed assets like the Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport and Smith-Wills Stadium.
During his annual State of the City address on Oct. 10, 2024, the mayor said that his administration welcomes “a renewed relationship with our state leadership to brainstorm on the progress of our capital city and the prosperity of the state of Mississippi,” but added that Jackson cannot “surrender our assets and resources of our city.”
During Tuesday’s council meeting, Stokes said that the bribery scandal could make state lawmakers less likely to provide financial assistance to the capital city. “With the dark cloud on this city, they’re going to do even less,” the Ward 3 Councilman said.
Ward 5 City Councilman Vernon Hartley and Ward 1 City Council Ashby Foote voted for the resolution for Lumumba to take a leave of absence while Ward 2 City Councilwoman Tina Clay and Ward 4 City Councilman Brian Grizzell voted against it.
“The image is hurt, trust is hurt,” Hartley asserted.
Council President Virgi Lindsay abstained from voting on the measure altogether, saying that it was not appropriate for the council to vote on the matter.
“This is a matter for the courts,” she said. “I believe a person is innocent until proven guilty.”
Councilman Banks did not attend the vote.
Lumumba did not make any direct comments regarding the resolution. However, the mayor’s chief of staff, Dr. Safiya R. Omari gave impassioned statements, rejecting the notion that Lumumba cannot continue to do the job and accusing those calling for the mayor to step aside of “playing politics.”
“We just finished an agenda—when you count the items, it’s 73 items. A great deal of the agenda items dealt with how we move this city forward,” Omari said before the council’s vote on Tuesday.
“We’ve talked about increasing residents’ capacity to become real estate developers, we’ve talked about improving parks, we’ve talked about improvements that have been made all around this city,” she continued. “That is not an indication of a mayor or an administration that is not handling business.”
The mayor’s seat and each city council position are up for re-election this year.