Daily Dose for May 22, 2007

Thompson to Announce in July, Collamore to Head Campaign

Thompson to Announce in July, Collamore to Head Campaign -- TPB has learned from a source close to the Draft Thompson organization that Thompson will announce he is running for President shortly after the FEC June 30 quarterly report deadline of this year. As first reported by Chris Cillizza, Tom Collamore, a former vice president of public affairs at Altria, will serve as the Campaign Manager. Collamore was involved as a undersecretary under Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush's staff and transition team.

Judge Wants More Info on O. Ford Election -- Remember those three poll workers who reportedly conspired to throw the special election of State Sen. Ophelia Ford? It turns out all three of them have entered guilty pleas to charges that they tampered with the election. The judge in the case said yesterday he thinks the public is owed a more detailed explanation about an alleged plot. In a plea deal entered May 10, alleged ringleader Verline Mayo admitted to 10 felonies, including voter fraud, making false entries on election documents and official misconduct. In a series of conflicting media interviews, Mayo suggested at one point last year that then-Election Commission inspector Eddie Hayes -- who earned a living as a funeral director at the Ford Funeral home owned by Ophelia Ford's relatives -- played a role in the scandal. However, Dist. Atty. Gen. Bill Gibbons says there is no evidence of a wider conspiracy, a charge Terry Roland, the Republican who narrowly lost to Ford in the initial special election, refuses to believe.

Bank Records Show Cooper Used Campaign Money for Personal Items -- Judge Curtis Collier ruled that the government can introduce bank records at the upcoming fraud trial in Chattanooga of State Sen. Jerry Cooper. Federal prosecutors claim that Cooper was deeply in debt and used campaign funds for his personal use. Cooper is charged with allegedly using a false appraisal to inflate the value of a lumber business he was selling and to obtain a larger loan amount than he otherwise would have been able to receive.

Local Briefs -- Here's some local governmental news:

• Knox Co. - The Knox Co. Commission has voted 6-2 to ask a white supremacist group call ABC to cancel a rally they have planned for the Knox Co. Courthouse to protest black-on-white crime. Five black suspects have been charged in connection with the death of the young white couple in Knox Co. Knox Co. Mayor Mike Ragsdale proposed the resolution before the Commission at the behest of Saadia Williams, executive director of the Race Relations Institute. Commission Chairman Scott Moore and Commissioner Josh Jordan were the only no votes.
• Shelby Co. - The Shelby Co. Commission has passed a living wage ordinance that would require all county employees and contracted employees to be paid at least $10/hr or $12/hr without benefits. The vote was along party lines, with the new Democratic majority on the Commission prevailing.

All the Pork Requests In -- State lawmakers have made a deadline to submit their pet projects for a House plan to disburse the state's surplus dollars through a series of $100,000 grants requested by lawmakers. Even though some Republicans opposed the plan, they still submitted requests for funding, including State Rep. Stacey Campfield's request to have his $100,000 go to the City of Knoxville so the city could then rebate it as property tax relief. Three Republicans did not submit requests. Rep. Frank Niceley: "If everybody else is going to get one ($100,000 allocation), I want one, too ... But I'd rather get it back to people who spend it the way they want."

Posted by Adam Groves | Email This |