Home | Entries [Previous |Next]
0 Comments
Daily Dose for December 04, 2007
Cooper Out
Cooper Out -- Continuing the news of General Assembly retirements, State Sen. Jerry Cooper will not seek reelection. The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance recently fined Sen. Cooper $120,000 for an illegal transfer of campaign funds - a decision he says he will appeal because he can't afford to pay it. TN Republicans accuse Cooper of floating the notion that he won't run to get the Registry to reduce the historically high fine and then run anyway. Sen. Cooper has represented the 14th Senate District since 1985. Sen. Joe Haynes on reaction: "I have great respect for Senator Cooper, and I regret that he had to make this decision." More here, here and here.
Gresham to Run for Senate -- Former Lt. Gov. John Wilder could be another long-time General Assembly member to retire this year. State Rep Delores Grisham is apparently interested in running for Wilder's State Senate seat, a serious challenge which might convince the 86-year-old Wilder to retire. Blogger Mr. Turnbow has more details.
Surplus in Knoxville, Shortage in Nashville -- The Knoxville News-Sentinel reports that the city of Knoxville has an extra $8 million to spend this year. Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam already has a plan lined up to spend the money on capital improvements around the city, including new equipment for the Knoxville Fire Department and improvements to the Civic Coliseum. Larry Martin, the city's senior finance director: ""We had a good year from the standpoint of revenue ... This turned out to be more than we even forecast." By contrast, in Nashville, new Mayor Karl Dean is asking the city to prepare for a tight budget year. Dean has asked department heads to reduce their budgets by 5-15% of the current target levels. Dean blamed the unexpectedly low sales tax revenue collections for the budget shortfall.
