MEET STEVE
Current Employment: Steve is a tenured professor at the University of Memphis law school,
where he teaches Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, and Criminal Procedure.
Education: He's a graduate of Cornell University (B.A.) and William & Mary Law School (J.D.).
Civil Rights Experience: He traveled the country fighting
for civil rights as a lawyer for the Justice Department from 1991 to 2000.
Criminal Justice Experience: He fought crime as a
federal prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Alexandria, VA from 1999 to 2000.
Political Experience: Steve is finishing up his first 4-year term as a Shelby County Commissioner, having been elected as a first-time candidate in 2006. In 2008 he successfully led the fight to get "Instant Runoff Voting" (click here for Issues) on the ballot for a Memphis City Charter referendum, and successfully led the campaign to get that measure approved with 71% of the vote in the November 2008 election. For this latter effort, as well as his record of groundbreaking law review scholarship in the election law field, Steve received the 2009 "Democracy Innovator" award from Fairvote, a national, Washington, D.C.-based, election reform organization.
Community Service: Steve has in recent years led the fight to save Libertyland amusement park's old Zippin Pippin rollercoaster. In March 2010, Steve arranged for the City of Green Bay, Wisconsin to buy the ride and rebuild it at Bay Beach Amusement Park in Green Bay (click here for media). CLICK HERE to listen to Steve and the "Zippin Pippins" sing "Meet Me Down At Libertyland".
Steve serves on the board of the Memphis Bar Association and also the Community Legal Center (CLC), a group providing free legal services to working class persons who make too much money to qualify for Legal Aid but too little to afford to hire their own lawyers. His mentorship in the Big Brother program earned him Tennessee's Big Brother Of The Year Award in 2009. He has written in local media, and spoken at local events, on subjects including affirmative action, election reform, civil liberties during the war on terrorism, and numerous other matters.
Church: He has for years been a member of Holy Rosary
Catholic Church, where he serves as a lector, a teacher of Children's
Liturgy, and has in the past taught in the weekly Parish Religious Education (PRE) program..
Family: Steve has been married for 19 years to his law
school sweetheart Amy and is the father of two children: Molly, 14, and
Quinn, 11. Both attend public school in Memphis. Steve also mentors a youth (Brandon, 12) through the local Big
Brother program, and is the proud owner of Buster the Wonder Dog, whom
he obtained from the Memphis Humane Society.
Personal: Steve is an avid runner, having run a marathon
and triathlon in the area. He's an unapologetic fan of Star Trek, The
New Republic magazine, TV generally, and the "water sled" ride at Libertyland.
Other hobbies include high-impact skydiving, and trying to learn which knob controls which burner on his stove. Both his blood type and his chirpy personal motto are "B positive."