Generally speaking, Hamilton County’s rule that prohibits officials from naming a building after someone who is still alive is an excellent one. It eliminates the chance for political opportunism and ego-stroking. Still, the agreement by the County Commission to waive the rule and to name a newly acquired building for the Rev. Paul McDaniel in recognition of his long service to this community is an admirable and acceptable exception to the rule.
Mr. McDaniel is uniquely qualified for the signal honor. His quiet but forceful leadership is deserving of a namesake building. His main calling is as pastor of Second Missionary Baptist Church — a post he’s held for more than three decades — but he has long and willingly served the broader community as well as his parishioners.
His advocacy of equal rights for all — and his unremitting and dignified pursuit of them — is an example for all to emulate. Mr. McDaniel’s belief that public service should be open to all led him to seek office, and ultimately led him to the United States Supreme Court, where the justices agreed that Tennessee’s ban against members of the clergy in public offices was not constitutional. That signal victory would have been enough for some men and women. Not Mr. McDaniel.
His desire to serve compelled him to seek elective office. He proved a formidable candidate whose constituents regularly returned him to office. His exemplary and long-term service as a Hamilton County commissioner — the first African-American on the modern county’s governing body — and as a delegate to Tennessee’s State Constitutional Convention are models by which current and future public servants should be measured.
County Mayor Claude Ramsey struck just the right note when he said, “I think it is very proper that we name a building for you.” Current members of the commission, who voted unanimously to name the building for the man who served on the commission for two decades and who was chairman of the body five times, smiled in agreement at the mayor’s words.