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Daily Dose for July 31, 2008
Gov. Opposes Early Retirement Incentive
Gov. Opposes Early Retirement Incentive -- The reason that Gov. Bredesen has received tepid response for the state's buyout proposals is to offer voluntary retirement options to those at or near retirement age who did not guy a buy-out offer, according to State Employee Association Executive Director Jim Tucker. Gov. Bredesen has signaled more than once that the target number of buyouts accepted will probably not reach the state's target by Tuesday's deadline. Gov. Bredesen says he may be willing to extend the number of buyouts to other employees, but he opposes offering early retirement on the grounds that it will cost more and the state will likely have to hire back some of the employees it lets go. Tucker said the administration’s targeted buyout plan doesn’t appear to be working despite the administration having paid a private firm $500,000 to develop it.
Jones At It Again -- State Rep. Ulysses Jones is at his pet project again - an attempt to turn back the reforms of TN Waltz and weaken the state's new requirements against accepting meals from lobbyists. The current law prohibits lobbyists from funding meals for lawmakers and limits groups or individuals who employ lobbyists from spending more than $50 per legislator per meal. The law doesn't apply to individual constituents or groups that don't employ lobbyists. But those reasonable limits seem unreasonable to Jones, who wants to end the limits and simply offer public disclosure of all meals instead. He said he also might support spending limits of $88.20 per meal or $1,000 per group per year limit on meals.
Kurita v. Barnes Endorsement Fight -- In the State Senate primary going on in Clarksville, State Sen. Rosalind Kurita just picked up some mega endorsements to quiet the endorsements primary opponent Tim Barnes released this week. Barnes announced earlier the endorsement Clarksville’s Labor Organizations United Together, which is a union of all the major unions in Clarksville, including the Montgomery Co. Teacher's union. In addition to major union endorsements, Barnes also picked up the endorsement of the APSU College Democrats. Kurita, however, announced a string of endorsements first from NRA - an unusual endorsement for a Democrat, the TN Nurses Association and the Conservation Action PAC, an environmentalist group.
Residency Requirements on Election Day or Filing Deadline? -- That's the issue being discussed in Chattanooga, where former Rob Healy, a former city parks and recreation director, is asking state officials whether he would qualify for the election in March of next year after just having moved to the city. State Election Coordinator Brook Thompson and City Attorney Randy Nelson have both said the deadline for residency is measured from the filing deadline - and thus Healy would not be eligible to run, however the issue will ultimately be settled by a lawsuit.
