{"campaigns":[{"candidatename":"Joseph Lee, III","chatgptsummary":"Joseph Lee holds a B.B.A. in Accounting and an M.S. in Operations Management, with nine years of U.S. Navy service. His career includes serving as Shelby County Trustee Deputy Chief Administrative Officer since 2019, alongside roles as Memphis Treasurer, Finance Director, and MLGW President/CEO. These positions demonstrate relevant financial management and operational experience for the county trustee role. Lee lost a prior Democratic primary for this office in 2018. Bio does not indicate specific experience administering Tennessee property-tax law or managing monthly tax collection settlements.","notes":null,"party":"D","person":{"biography":"## Current office and 2026 campaign\n- Candidate in the Democratic primary for Shelby County Trustee on May 5, 2026. ([Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Joseph_Lee_(Tennessee)))\n\n## Background and education\n- B.B.A. in Accounting, Christian Brothers University. ([Shelby County Trustee Staff Directory](https://www.shelbycountytrustee.com/directory.aspx?EID=15))\n- M.S. in Operations Management, University of Arkansas. ([Shelby County Trustee Staff Directory](https://www.shelbycountytrustee.com/directory.aspx?EID=15))\n\n## Career\n- U.S. Navy, 9 years. ([Shelby County Trustee Staff Directory](https://www.shelbycountytrustee.com/directory.aspx?EID=15))\n\n## Office history\n- Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Shelby County Trustee, appointed in 2019. ([Shelby County Trustee Staff Directory](https://www.shelbycountytrustee.com/directory.aspx?EID=15))\n- City of Memphis Treasurer. ([Shelby County Trustee Staff Directory](https://www.shelbycountytrustee.com/directory.aspx?EID=15))\n- City of Memphis Finance Director. ([Shelby County Trustee Staff Directory](https://www.shelbycountytrustee.com/directory.aspx?EID=15))\n- President/CEO of MLGW. ([Shelby County Trustee Staff Directory](https://www.shelbycountytrustee.com/directory.aspx?EID=15))\n- Lost the Democratic primary for Shelby County Trustee on May 1, 2018, receiving 41.2% of the vote (17,608 votes) to Regina Newman's 46.3%. ([Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Joseph_Lee_(Tennessee)))\n\n## Business interests and wealth source\n- **2026** \u2014 [County Trustee (SS-8005)](https://conflict.app.tn.gov/conflict/view_form_8005.htm?name=LEE&id=77162&f=199607&v=1) \u2014 filed as a Shelby County official/candidate\n\n*Source: [Tennessee Ethics Commission Statement of Interest Search](https://conflict.app.tn.gov/conflict/search.htm). Scraped 2026-04-25.*\n","firstname":"Joseph","lastname":"Lee","middlename":null,"suffix":"III","token":"b5LT43wv9o"},"token":"joseph_lee_iii"}],"choices":null,"description":null,"district":"shelby","districtgroup":"county","districtgroupname":"County","districtname":null,"job_type":"trustee","o.office":"county_trustee","office":"county_trustee","officedescription":"The Shelby County Trustee serves as the county's banker and as its billing-and-collection agent for property taxes. The Trustee bills and collects property taxes for the county and for smaller municipalities that contract for the service (Arlington, Lakeland, Millington), settles collections by the tenth of each month, invests county funds, and administers tax-relief programs for senior, disabled, and veteran property owners. Duties are set by the Tennessee Constitution and state law; the office is limited to two consecutive four-year terms.","officequalities":"- Financial trustworthiness: the Trustee is the county's banker and custodian of tax revenue, handling several hundred million dollars of property-tax collections annually for Shelby County.\n- Working knowledge of Tennessee property-tax law, including tax-relief programs for seniors, disabled residents, and veterans, plus the city/county dual collection structure for Memphis-area taxpayers.\n- Investment and cash-management competence for county funds under state-law constraints.\n- Monthly settlement and reporting discipline (collections settle by the 10th of each month).\n- Accessible customer service for taxpayers paying bills, disputing assessments, or seeking relief; ability to administer a large, partly-online operation.","officeterm":4,"officetitle":"County Trustee","partisan":1,"pgr":"general","quantity":1,"referendum":null,"source":null,"title":"County Trustee"}