A three-year-old open letter on police priorities during the national reaction to George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis police custody has become a central issue in the race for the Memphis City Council’s District 5 seat.

The race among Meggan Kiel, Philip Spinosa and Luke Hatler is the most expensive of the 13 council races on the Oct. 5 ballot. Kiel and Spinosa have each raised close to $150,000, more than some of the candidates in the citywide race for Memphis mayor.

Spinosa, a former councilman, mailed campaign pieces and used social media ads to say Kiel, along with more than 100 other people, signed a June 2020 letter that calls for defunding police and that she “wants more criminals roaming the streets.”

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Kiel, community engagement director for the University of Memphis School of Public Health and co-founder of the social justice group MICAH, called the attacks a “smear campaign” as she and several other nonprofit leaders who signed the 2020 letter gathered Tuesday, Sept. 19, in Midtown.

“I knew that my opponent would try to make distinctions about how we were different,” she said. “But I did not think that my opponent would misrepresent and lie not only about me but a large group of our community’s most respected leaders and advocates.”

Spinosa stood by his characterization of the open letter.

“My opponent wants to mix words, and I want the voters to have a clear choice,” Spinosa said in an emailed response. “She said what she said. If she has changed her mind, she should tell the voters that.”

He also touted his endorsement by the Memphis Police Association and the Memphis Fire Fighters Association.

Other signees who joined Kiel for her press conference Tuesday included Gary Shorb, executive director of the Urban Child Institute; Darrell Cobbins of 100 Black Men of Memphis; Natalie McKinney, executive director of Whole Child Strategies; and Sally Jones Heinz, executive director of Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association.

The letter came after several nonprofit leaders were arrested during 12 consecutive days of local protests in the wake of Floyd’s death. Over those 12 days, Memphis police arrested more than 100 people in various protests across the city.

The nonprofit leaders said police acted unlawfully in making the arrests and called for the release of all those arrested during that and other protests.

The list also had a set of 13 demands that included “reallocate funding from the police department to fund alternatives rooted in community health and crisis response.”

It is that line that Spinosa has equated with defunding police.

“It’s never been a call for taking away funds. It’s making sure the funds are in a place where the police can actually protect and serve our community,” Kiel said. “We’re taking things off the plate of police officers. … We want police to focus on crime. We don’t need our officers writing up tickets, going to wrecks. … We’re talking about being smart about our solutions to crime.”

“It’s not just one letter she signed,” Spinosa replied. “Don’t forget she’s been kicked out of meeting with Mayor (Jim) Strickland as well.”

MICAH, or Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope, attempted to meet with Strickland as the mayor held a series of closed meetings with other leaders in the aftermath of Floyd’s death.

But it never resulted in Kiel or anyone else being thrown out of a meeting.

Some of the group ultimately parted company with Strickland publicly on the reimagining police effort.

Shorb said the specific line in the letter Spinosa is pointing to is about investing in “mental health services, intervention strategies.” He cited Youth Villages’ Memphis Allies violence intervention program.

“That’s the kind of work we need,” Shorb said at Kiel’s Tuesday press conference. “That’s what is going to make a difference, not arresting everybody.”

The 2020 letter also called for police brass to require “de-escalation” as a first response.

“For too long, nonprofits have been a stopgap solution to systemic issues,” the letter reads. “Our city is set up for many of our residents to be oppressed. … We call for a new day and new way of doing business in our city. Expecting nonprofits and public goodwill to solve these challenges is not enough.”

Shorb said Spinosa’s interpretation of that as wanting to defund police is “absolutely false.”

“I would not be part of any group or sign any letter that advocated for fewer police officers on our streets. Public safety is important to the growth and stability of our community,” he said. “I, for one, am sick of candidates who try to win campaigns based on making people more fearful.”

Cobbins said he stands by the 2020 statement.

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“It was the right thing to do then, and it’s still the right thing today,” he said. “It represented a collective of Memphians who have toiled through various missions and systems to make Memphis a better city.”

Early voting in the Memphis election is underway through Sept. 30 in advance of Election Day on Oct. 5.