Daily Dose for April 05, 2006

Daily Dose

Bredesen and Wilder Fail to Submit Ethics Panel Nominees -- Governor Bredesen and Lt. Gov. Wilder missed an April 1 deadline for submitting names of nominees for the newly formed panel to investigate ethical wrong-doing of government officials. The pair say they are missed the deadline because they need the state Attorney General's advice on whether or not potential nominees have conflicts of interest in serving. Rep. Donna Roland criticized the delay, "You can't tell me they can't find someone without a conflict in a state with 6 million people."

Bryson For Governor Round-up -- Most pundits say Sen. Jim Bryson's bid for Governor will be an impossible feat to achieve given his low name recognition outside of Nashville and limited campaign war chest. Matthew White writes at South End Grounds that he has seen Bryson overcome the odds. That was the message of Bryson himself in an interview with the Tennessean, who says no one gave him a chance in starting his business and no one gave him a chance in winning his state Senate seat. Bob Davis, the chairman of the state Republican Party, and Senate Republican Leader Ron Ramsey (R-Blountville) compared the race between Bryson and Bredesen to the 2002 Georgia gubernatorial contest between then-Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes and current Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue.

Prosecutors Say Wilder Helped Secure Land Deal -- Lt. Gov. John Wilder came under fire from prosecutors charging public corruption in a land deal case involving some former property of State Sen. Jerry Cooper. Prosecutors in the case say Lt. Gov. Wilder helped secure a loan that bank officers previously did not want to approve that allowed for the sale of Sen. Cooper's land to an Alabama couple even though Sen. Cooper had apparently missrepresented the true value of the land by insisting there was a railroad spur on the land when there wasn't. The prosecutor read from a letter in the bank file on the loan that said, "Gov. Wilder wants us to look at this loan. The seller is Sen. Cooper, a friend of the governor's."

Herenton Recall Effort to Use Election Day Workers -- Thaddeus Matthews says he has 400 volunteers to serve at every polling location in Memphis in an attempt to gather enough signatures to force a recall referendum on Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton on the fall ballot. The deadline to turn in the petition is May 10 and Matthews his group currently has around 10,000 of the 65,450 signatures required to force a recall.

Minimum Wage Bill Could Go Through -- The Senate Commerce Committee, which was expected to kill a proposed hike in the state's minimum wage passed the bill with Republican Sen. Mike Williams breaking party ranks to vote for the measure. The bill has been dramatically motified to exempt a number of employees, including restaurant and bar workers, agriculture workers, people working for a member of their immediate family, those in the nursery business and college students involved in "work-study" programs. The motified bill say the bill would only affect around 1,000 people in the whole state, but opponents still oppose the bill on the grounds it will make the state less competitive in attracting jobs. Sen. Doug Jackson the sponsor of the bill praised its passage in the Commerce Committee and the bill now faces a Democratic controlled committee in the House and Senate, both of which are expected to pass the measure. The bill still could be killed on the Senate floor where Republicans hold a majority.

State Supreme Court to Decide on Hearing Knox County Case -- The State Supreme Court will decide today whether or not to take up a lawsuit aiming to determine whether or not the term limit referendum passed in 1994 applies to all elected officials in Knox County as opposed to just County Commissioners. The Court will decide whether or not to envoke a jurisdictional provision which would allow them to hear the case immediately or allow the case to follow its normal jurisdictional route through the appeals process. State law allows 'reaching down' in cases of "unusual public importance in which there is a special need for expedited decision" that involve state taxes, "the right to hold or retain public office," or issues of constitutional law. Herb Moncier, the lawyer pushing the case, wants the Court to order a special election in June that would not include any candidates prohibited from holding the seat.

AARP to Rally in Nashville Today -- The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports the AARP has organized a rally in Nashville today in support of increased state funding of longterm care. AARP officials and volunteers want the state to increase reimbursements for adult day care, assisted living and inhome care. Governor Bredesen is expected to address the rally and show his support for expanding the long term care options that can be covered by TennCare. Currently most TennCare reimbursements go to nursing home facilities.

Nashville Clerk Candidate Shouldn't Have Drawn Medical Disability -- A candidate for Davidson County Clerk who has drawn $139,517.08 in Metro disability payments over the last four years will be asked to take a job with the government or leave the city's disability rolls, the Metro Employee Benefit Board decided yesterday. The civil service medical examiner said former Chief Deputy Clerk Steve McClure is no longer medically disabled and should take a job with the state or resign his position. McClure previously said he felt being elected to the clerk's job would be less stressful than working as deputy.

Qualifications Update -- Randy Fairbanks became the second candidate to qualify for the House District 31 seat being vacated by Rep. Bob Watson, who is running for the state Senate. Attorney Chris Lanier has also qualified. Jeff Lewis and David Norton are other Republicans who picked up qualifying papers. Richard Floyd has announced he will run as a Republican for the 27th Tennessee House District seat to be vacated by Rep. Chris Clem. Red Bank City Commissioner Howard Cotter also has qualified to run as a Republican in the 27th District race, while Bill Lusk of Signal Mountain, has announced he will run as a Democrat. John Lively will not seek the post. In House District 18th, Rep. Stacey Campfield has picked up another primary opponent, Bryan Dodson, who claims he is running not to prevent Campfield from winning, but to stop Campfield challenger Gary Drinnen, who he terms a RINO. Republican Randall Parker will again take on Rep. Harry Tindell in District 13 and Nick H. Cazana has qualified as an Independent in that race. Kent Rose, construction company owner, has taken out a petition to run against Rep. Harry Brooks of the 19th District. Rep. Frank Niceley will face a repeat of a three-way Republican primary contest against Ed Shouse and Jim Bletner. Finally, Democrat Cindy McGill, who ran against Republican state Sen. Jamie Woodson two years ago, has taken out a petition to run against state Rep. Parkey Strader in House District 14. The qualifying deadline is Thursday at noon.

Posted by Adam Groves | Email This |