Daily Dose for August 03, 2007

Dean / Clement Go to Runoff in Nashville Mayors Race

Dean / Clement Go to Runoff in Nashville Mayors Race -- Former Metro Legal Director Karl Dean and former Congressman Bob Clement will be the two men to square off in the run-off election for Nashville Mayor. Both ended up with 24% of the vote, with their closest rival Howard Gentry coming in at 23%. The runoff is triggered because neither candidate received 50% of the vote - and now the race may come down to wooing supporters of other campaigns. Clement wasted no time in going negative against Dean - criticizing Dean's access to his wife's money by saying "Nashville is not for sale" in his victory speech. Dean took a different note: "It will be a positive campaign on my part." More here and here plus go to the Tennessean for video from last night.

The Next Knox Co. Mayor -- The MetroPulse has an interesting tidbit in Ear to the Ground - apparently State Sen. Tim Burchett is considering a run for County Mayor after the term of current County Mayor Mike Ragsdale expires. Burchett would be a front-runner immediately for the job. However, wide speculation is that recently ousted Sheriff Tim Hutchison may also run for the gig. Hutchison has a loyal following among Republican circles and if both decide to run, it could be a very epic race.

Feds Want Ford's Rolex -- The federal government has filed legal action to take posession of former State Sen. John Ford's infamous Rolex, which he took from Memphis developer Rusty Hyneman in exchange for influencing state government. The feds say: "[The Rolex] constitutes or is derived from proceeds of an offense constituting 'specified unlawful activity' ... or a conspiracy to commit such an offense, specifically bribery." Ford has denied any wrongdoing and has said he wants the watch back, but Hyneman refused to answer questions about the watch, envoking the 5th amendment.

Love Gets 1 Year, 1 Day -- TN Waltz bagman Charles Love picked up a sentence of one year and one day for his role in the FBI sting operation. Love, a former lobbyist and Hamilton Co. School Board member, must show up to jail within 60 days to serve out his sentence. Love apparently was threatened, but choose to still cooperate with the authorities. On Love: "He received five or six phone calls telling him he shouldn't cooperate. His wife was mentioned in some of these. ... It scared him enough to report (to agents), and he left town." The cooperation lead to the indictment of one more person. More here.

Inspecting Bridges -- In the wake of a tragic bridge collapse in Minnesota, Tennessee Department of Transportation officials said Thursday that similar bridges in our fair state will be immediately inspected. TN has several five deck truss bridges similar to the one that collapsed in Minnesota including ones in Jefferson, Carter, DeKalb, Sullivan and Knox counties. The federal government cut Tennessee’s bridge repair and replacement fund by $12 million this year, but state officials are not worried about having the money.

Shelby Ballot Questions Cleared Up -- City Council attorneys for the City of Memphis have answered the legal questions of Council members who wanted to know among other things if City school board members can run for mayor and council and if an 18-year-old could run for the Council. School board members can run but once elected must resign their school seats and 18-year-olds can run. Tennessee does not have "resign to run" laws common in other states. Once these questions were cleared up, the Shelby Co. Election Commission quickly certified the ballot for the Memphis' Mayors race and Council seats.

Local Knox Official Fired After Posting on Brian's Blog? -- Hubert Smith, a former employee of the Knox County Juvenile Court Clerk’s Office claims he was fired after he criticized his boss, County Commissioner Sharon Cawood for leaving work after clocking in and taking long lunches. That was a criticism Smith, a close friend of former Knox Co. GOP Chair Brian Hornback passed on to him and Hornback posted on his blog Brian's Blog as an anonymous tip. Smith claims that Knox Co. Court Clerk Cathy Quist then found out that he was the anonymous source and subsequently fired him. Earlier this week, Commissioner Sharon Cawood resigned from her job in the Clerk's office, saying she wanted more time to devote to the Commission. Three commissioners are still working for the county — Chuck Bolus, Lee Tramel and Craig Leuthold. All told, 13 commissioners or their relatives earn more than $1 million in county jobs.

Posted by Adam Groves | Email This |