I’m glad Tennessee politics is getting interesting again. I was becoming concerned. Now The Tennessean (best known for offering minimal content at the largest font size available) has made itself the focal point of the story out of a non-story run in today’s paper.

For those not from around here, there has been a multi-year debate regarding cable television and franchise uniformity in the state. Before, providers had to obtain numerous local franchises to operate in Tennessee. Once the so-called “AT&T bill” becomes law (because AT&T has been pushing for its passage), cable providers need only get one franchise license from the state. Some oppose it, but for the life of me, I cannot find a logical reason why.

Back on point - the bill passed 29-0 in the state senate. Senator Bill Ketron, a Republican, has been targeted and lambasted by Nashville’s largest circulating daily because his wife works for AT&T’s wireless division and he didn’t wear a sandwich board declaring it. Or at least, that’s what they imply they would have needed to be happy

What the Murfreesboro Republican didn’t mention then was that his wife, Theresa, works for AT&T Mobility, the company’s wireless unit, which he had noted on his ethics disclosures this year. Nor did Ketron mention the tie when he earlier acted as an unofficial spokesman for behind-the-scenes wrangling over the bill.

Wait a minute. He disclosed it, but then … what? He also disclosed his wife as an income souce. I am failing to see the ethical travesty here. What’s worse, the headline The Tennessean chose is an outright lie: “Senator discloses AT&T link after vote”.

As if any more criticism is necessary, what makes this story even more irrelevant is that the AT&T bill passed 29-0. If the vote had only been 15-14, I very well could see (somewhat) the paper’s point. But that’s not what happened and the possibility of Ketron’s recusal from the vote, which would have been voluntary in this case under the ethics rules, would have made no difference whatsoever. The Tennessean saw a chance to smear an up-and-coming Republican senator, and they jumped at the opportunity.

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State Senator Rosalind Kurita has sponsored legislation banning advertising by DUI lawyers

The bill in question has a provision sponsored by Sen. Rosalind Kurita (D-Clarksville) that explicitly prohibits attorneys from advertising that they specialized in DUI cases, from advertising a discounted rate for DUI defense, guaranteeing a certain judgment in the case or claiming that the attorney had more expertise than another on drunken driving defense.

Well, guaranteeing an outcome is already prohibited by the rules of ethics. The rest of it simply reeks from a variety of directions. But why did Senator Kurita introduce this obviously unconstitutional bill?

In response to the [Attorney General's] opinion, Kurita said she’ll “have to find another way” to curtail drunk driving.

Kurita sponsored the amendment because she said she was tired of seeing suspected drunk drivers not be convicted.

Her response to increasing DUI convictions is to curtail the accused’s right to counsel, which is dubious on a variety of fronts, including the commercial speech aspect that Attorney General Bob Cooper noted in his opinion.

Anyhow, what’s the real reason for Kurita’s amendment?

Her opponent in August’s Democratic primary, Tim Barnes, is an attorney whose practice area includes DUI defense.

I hope he kicks her derriere.

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AC Kleinheider, affixed and blogging over at the Nashville Post, reports on some procedural tomfoolery in the Tennessee House of Representatives today.

While the issue of SJR127 (the bill to amend the Tennessee Constitution to un-protect abortion) was being addressed, Representative Odom (Speaker Naifeh’s Democrat nemesis) brought forward a motion to amend the House schedule. Representative Dunn then moved to amend that motion to also bring up SJR127 for its first of the required three readings. Speaker Naifeh then called Dunn’s motion out of order.

The House voted, and by one vote, declared that it was Naifeh, not Dunn, who was out of order.

After a recess and some leadership wrangling, Dunn’s motion won out. A further effort to skip the committee process and bring SJR127 straight to the House floor failed

The two-thirds majority required to bring the resolution to the floor bypassing the committee process was not reached. SJR 127 was not brought to the floor for a vote.

Rep. Moore then called for a moment of prayer and silence for “what just went on here today.” Republican Glen Casada praised the motion and the events of the day as a true expression of representative democracy.

A moment of prayer and silence? I hate to call a Moore out, but grow some more skin. That is, unless the moment of silence extends only to House Democrats and lasts throughout the session - then, and only then, count me in.

Kim McMillan’s interest in the governorship throws her in with already-declared (sorta) Congressman Lincoln Davis,likely candidate Harold Ford, Jr., and the lingering former Nashville mayor, Bill Purcell. Bill Frist and Ron Ramsey have shown interest on the Republican side, and there are rumors that Marsha Blackburn and Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam are also considering a run as well.

I am curious to see McMillan’s income tax spin, as she was a vocal supporter back during the tax revolt days. Even better, with the state’s budget this year and next in the tank. If the state needed an income tax in 2002, when the last budget deficit loomed, why now does the state not need an income tax in in 2009 and 2010? Consistency and expediency are often cantankerous bed fellows, as McMillan will soon to find out.

That’s the gist of it. Yesterday the Tennessee Attorney General’s office released an opinion on HB3137, which would remove handgun carry permits from the public record. I’ll upload the opinion later today (the opinion can be found here),

Though not carrying the force of law, AG opinion’s are instructive, and can shape how legislation is amended, and whether it is passed at all. The key to the constitutionality of HB3137 according to the opinion is simply legislative precedent, which has been confirmed by the courts. The only factual scenario noted that may result in an “as applied” challenge would likely come under the First Amendment with a media defendant. In short, be sure to lock up the records in a really safe, super secret place.

Just days after AC Kleinheider is downsized at Channel 2, he signs on with NashvillePost.com

Adam “A.C.” Kleinheider, who until recently ran the respected VolunteerVoters.com site for WKRN-TV News 2, will on Monday join NashvillePost.com to augment the site’s breaking news coverage with a political blog.

Kleinheider ran VolunteerVoters.com for almost two years, amassing a loyal readership of local business and political leaders with his aggregation of and commentary on political blogs from all corners of Tennessee.

Kleinheider’s work will supplement the political reporting of NashvillePost.com veteran Ken Whitehouse, who among other stories recently broke the news that John Wilder will retire.

That was nice and quick.

was Senator Mike Williams wearing a NASCAR jacket during the professional eulogy of John Wilder this week?

Bill Hobbs notes an amateurish surveillance effort by the Tennessee Democratic Party.

I guess “Mike” won’t be on the NOC list anymore.

John McCain will make a visit to Nashville this Saturday at Montgomery Bell Academy, his first visit to Tennessee in the 2008 campaign cycle.

Reportedly hosting the event will be popular ex-governor Don Sundquist, widely known for his ultra conservative pro-income tax stand with House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, and his wholesale abandonment of the Tennessee Republican Party. Rumors are that a photo-op with the House speaker is scheduled for Sundquist and McCain at the Capitol right after the event.

John McCain, so confident in his conservatism, is now readily masking it, campaigning in a must-have primary state with a former GOP governor reviled more than Steve Spurrier.

Mitt Romney = Winfield Dunn.

McCain = Sundquist.

Choose wisely.

UPDATE Well, McCain is being endorsed by practically everyone but Jimmy Naifeh.

Well, yes. Not that I’m asking for it. It seems, from some well planted sources that have proven reliable in the past, that Ford has already made the decision to run, and has the campaign team already in place for a 2010 run for governor.

What do you think about that, Lincoln Davis?

State Representative Susan Lynn (one of my favorite Tennessee legislators) penned an essay on the troubles with democratic socialism

Today, there seems to be societal confusion over just what constitutes a “right.” A constituent asked me, “Do you believe healthcare is a right?” “No, I don’t” was my reply and I went on to explain that if a so called “right” takes something from another person to provide that right to you it is not a right.

My right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness costs others nothing and yet I delight in each of those rights everyday. My right to freedom of speech, religion and my property costs others nothing as well. The government doesn’t provide rights to me – they are mine, given to me by God. The government protects my rights for me.

Socialized healthcare is not a right but a government program. All socialism, democratic or totalitarian, is born of a “Plan” by politicians that think they know better how to spend your money and pretend to care more about your children than you do.

How is it accomplished? It is a gradual process to pass laws that destroy the free market and bring us to our knees begging for government intervention.

That’s just a taste, the rest is below the fold.

(more…)

This is the worst thing Phil Bredesen has said

“One of the great things about being governor is you get to take taxes away and later give it back and people are happy,” Bredesen said.  ”Is this a great job or what?”

The big print was originally Ben Cunningham’s idea. I deemed a reformat inappropriate.

I am all for kicking my political opposition all around the ring. John Ford? Deservingly kicked where it hurts. Ward Crutchfield? Certainly requiring a major thumping. There are others, but you get the idea. Our collective ire ought to be reserved for those who willingly abuse the public trust.

But Rob Briley? As far as I can tell, there is video evidence that the guy had a complete psychological meltdown. He may be a Democrat, and a liberal Democrat, but I have never, and will never, want to see anyone personally destroyed, either by their own hand or at the hands of another. In the theater of open political warfare, it’s the ideas I want to defeat, not the person.

In what I consider to be a dark moment for my party, some of the most asinine legislation imaginable has been introduced out of Rob Briley’s troubles. That a House member would propose that a legislator charged with a DUI cannot vote or debate DUI legislation would be questionable law in any circumstance, but to be proposed as a political club to beat a guy who is already flat on the mat…well, that’s simply disgraceful. This coming on the heels of that same legislator’s public condemnation of the Fifth Amendment. Perhaps next we’ll see a bill giving the police adjudication and sentencing power - that will certainly result in some taxpayer savings. Hell, let’s just scrap the Declaration of Rights in the Tennessee Constitution and be done.  We’ll likely get a sales tax reduction out of it.

All this boiled to the surface from a political post I just read, where it was bemoaned that Rob Briley was warmly welcomed back into the House chamber. It’s very possible, and I do think proper, that considering his mental instability he ought to stand down and not run for reelection. If he decides otherwise, the people of his district will determine his fate soon enough. But personally wishing him ill will is not in the cards - at least not for me.

The Tennessee Democrats have started a state party blog , dubbing it The Donkey’s Mouth.

Fair enough, but I do have one question…

What’s with the little Asian girl mean mugging that donkey?

The grand tradition of memorable quotes from great Tennesseans continues

Anyone who ever tried to suggest that the legislature is made up of perfect people is about as far wrong as you can be
House Majority Leader Gary Odom

Perfection - the straw man of the incompetent.

The Memphis Commercial Appeal reports an apparent breach of the open meetings law by several members at a recent Germantown, Tennessee, alderman meeting

With a video camera recording the proceedings, several aldermen seemed to be admitting that backroom deals had been struck — and apparently broken — over who would serve on which commission.

In interviews last week, aldermen declined to say what specific arrangements had been made. But Alderman Ernest Chism made no bones about saying that the aldermen discussed the commission assignments ahead of time.

“I think it’s pretty well understood who’s interested in what,” Chism said. “You’re waiting for the meeting to start, and you talk about things.”

Reading further, it appears that the aldermen collectively did not discuss the contents of the meeting before the meeting quite well enough. They apparently needed some more time to get the quid pro quos worked out

According to [Mayor Sharon] Goldsworthy, the discord seemed to begin with the selection of the vice mayor for next year.

The vice mayor’s post is largely ceremonial, unless something happens to the mayor. However, it does confer a bit of prestige to the alderman who occupies that position.

Alderman Carole Hinely nominated Chism for the post, which apparently didn’t sit too well with Frank Uhlhorn.

“Alderman Uhlhorn, I think it’s fair to say, was taken aback by that,” Goldsworthy said. “It was clear from his body language and his comments that night that he was expecting to get that.”

Of course, this quote says it all

[Alderman Carole] Hinely declined to comment about the meeting, saying “anything printed is only going to make the situation worse.”

Yup. The more the people know, the worse it gets. Sheesh.

Rejoice all those who like to see state government grow. The Copeland Cap is busted (again)

Both House and Senate also voted to increase spending beyond the so-called ‘Copeland Cap,’ by $46 million this year and $57.3 million next fiscal year. The cap, named for former Rep. David Copeland, was enacted in the late 1970s to prevent the state from spending more in a year than personal income increases. The cap is being broken to put $250 million into the rainy day fund over a two-year period, bringing the total to $750 million.

The Bredesen administration argues that saving money is not equal to spending money over the cap.

I never knew the government was in the business to “save money”. Recently elected State Senator Jack Johnson rightly notes

“I understand it’s kind of an unusual year with money going into the Rainy Day fund, but bottom line, we’re still increasing the growth of government and the rate of government spending at a pretty phenomenal rate and I was uncomfortable with that.”

Fit only for the occasional gumming, the Copeland Cap has yet again proven how utterly useless it is in halting the growth of state government. Jack Johnson keenly notes in theory that the Copeland Cap is more than a deficit reduction measure - it is also a cap on government growth. Increasing the rainy day fund to $750 million is being viewed by many as some sort of prudent move by a responsible government. A responsible government would be offering more than the most paltry of tax decreases to its citizenry with such a sizable amount currently stashed away.

Ben Cunningham aptly examines the problems with the Tennessee rainy day fund. From the WPLN analysis Ben references

1) The budget will be based on revenue estimates that are on the high end of the state Funding Board’s earlier estimates, both for this year and next year.

2) To offset that, the budget adds $150 million to the Rainy Day Fund. That contribution drives the safety-cushion fund towards the 11% of an annual budget that the Funding Board is seeking. And the money would be available for two foreseeable expenses:
i) If revenue estimates are correct, the money being banked this year would fully fund the state’s Basic Education Program (BEP) for three years; or
ii) If revenues fall off, the amount would cushion the entire budget – the correct named for the Rainy Day Fund is “revenue fluctuation account.”

It’s a slush fund, folks. The right thing to do was propose an across-the-board tax decrease and push the political will toward a balanced budget amendment. Take note of the absence of both.

Talented scribes must be hard to come by. On alternating days, The Tennessean runs a guy whose most stellar journalistic achievement is setting the record for number of quote lines per column inch (that would be Dwight Lewis - it’s funny until you realize he gets paid for original thought), a former-contributor-now-columnist who most recently contrived that American politics are as corrupt as Indian politics (laughable on its face) and Iraqis are apparently suffering more now than under Saddam Hussein, and finally we have Larry Daughtrey, who penned this brilliant gemlet (not gimlet, gemlet) this past Sunday

Some of them editorial writers, good-government types and purist-but-clueless Republicans are all in a dither about the latest budgetary strategies in our General Assembly.

The legislature is getting ready to spend, oh, about $28 billion and, in the process, raise taxes while running the biggest surplus in history. Nobody except the same purist-but-clueless Republicans will squawk about that.

Eh, what does that even mean?

Having blessed the Tennessee public with that rather cryptic introduction, Daughtrey plows on, hooked on metaphors like Mama Cass to ham sandwiches (see…it’s okay to try a simile every now and again), proceeding to tell us why government waste is a good thing. Why? Well, it shows times are good!

In the old days, when governors dictated legislative votes, the executive branch controlled who got the pork as a method of discipline. Later, Naifeh did the same thing, like Santa winnowing out the good from the bad. At least this year, it looks like a democratic process: Whoever wants some gets some.

Spoilsports will claim that the money really is an incumbent re-election fund. That’s OK with me. I’d rather pay for it than the lobbyists. It may take a while, but if they are taking public money rather than special-interest money, they may remember who they work for.

Whoever wants some gets some…sounds like a perfect recipe for a brood of spoiled legislative brats. As well, I assume Daughtrey meant to say “Democratic” instead of “democratic” (perhaps we can pin that one on the editor).

Having spent an entire column mixing metaphors and calling Republicans clueless, it seems rather ironic that our senior columnist would conclude that legislative pork will eventually supplant lobbyist influence. According to Larry, there’s no better way to decrease the power of lobbyists than to give government more money to spend. Sheesh.

Puzzling as well is the contention that an incumbent protection racket is at any level a good thing. It takes a lot of ham sandwiches to conclude that invulnerable incumbents will result in better government. Mr. Daughtrey would do well to audit a rudimentary civics class or two before sitting down to write his next due piece.

A rather interesting, and considering some of the sources, also reliable, rumor has been making the rounds lately that Beth Harwell, the sole Republican in the Davidson County General Assembly delegation, will resign her house seat and run for governor in 2010.

And if this is indeed true, falling dominoes will abound. The line to fill Harwell’s seat once vacated is a long one. After a narrow loss to Jack Johnson in the 23rd District Senate primary, Chip Throckmorton is primed to run for the seat, as well as long time Republican election commissioner and 60th House resident Lynn Greer, just to name two (and not meaning to slight the rest of the field, there would be many, many more). More interesting though may be the effect the Harwell dynamic would have on Bill Frist’s interest in the governorship, as well as its effect on the never-ending rumors that Knoxville’s mayor Bill Haslam is intending to run in ‘10 as well.

It’s only 2007, and there’s so much to ponder.