government Three go full time As mayor’s race heats up
Before we examine too closely the strengths and weaknesses of the mayoral candidates, we should collectively voice appreciation for their efforts. It is not easy running for mayor. The campaign started more than a year ago with
Victor Ashe
Marilyn Roddy driving the pace with early events and fundraising. Now she has moved on to a state Senate race, abandoning her former opponents. But these candidates have dropped whatever else they were doing and now seek full time to win your support. With about three months until the city primary, it is already heating up between Mark Padgett and Madeline Rogero. Padgett threw the first punch claiming Rogero is anti- small business. Rogero denied
it and claimed all of this was “courthouse politics,” reminding voters of Padgett’s family ties to the old courthouse. Given that both have strong ties to the local Democratic Party, these attacks and counterattacks will only increase and help Harmon if a food fight develops. One wonders if they will start examining where the other stands on specific issues. Padgett had previously criticized Rogero for not doing enough on codes enforcement when she was a city director for Bill Haslam. All claim to be for transparency in government, but none has disclosed any personal financial information such as tax returns or net worth or even real property they own in Knox County. One wonders if the local media will pursue this issue which they discussed so much in the 2010 governor’s contest. Meanwhile, Ivan Harmon operates below the radar screen and continues going door-to-door in his down-to-earth, likeable way.
NOTES ■ The Knox County Republican Party chair hosted a meet and greet this past Saturday at Wright’s for Ivan Harmon, whom he described as the Republican candidate. Now the city election is legally and officially nonpartisan. This may help Harmon in the short run by getting Republican voters behind him. However, Harmon should remember the city (unlike the whole county) is not Republican. It is Democratic with Gore beating Bush, Kerry beating Bush, Obama beating McCain and Bredesen defeating Van Hilleary in the city precincts. If a purely partisan race occurs, then the Democratic candidate benefits. ■ Interesting that two con-
tests provide a contrast in age. Both Rogero and Harmon are old enough to be Padgett’s parents. Bill Owen is old enough to be the father of either Marshall Stair or Tierney Bates, who are his rivals. ■ TVA is not being candid on why David Mould left a $276,000 a year job as communications director after less than two years. Obviously, he was told to leave, but why? Ratepayers are entitled to know. They are also entitled to know how much the media consultants they now have are being paid. Where is Neil McBride, new TVA director, on this? He should be telling us if management will not. He has always backed openness before he was on the TVA board.
A-4 • JUNE 27, 2011 • POWELL SHOPPER-NEWS
Mr. Answer Man has the answers This week Mr. Answer Man returns from a welldeserved hiatus. His mailbox is crammed, so let’s get started. Q: Mr. Answer Man, W.C. Fields once said, “Any man who hates dogs and babies can’t be all bad.” Looking over the cuts to nonprofits in this year’s Knox County budget, do you think Mayor Tim Burchett fits that description? A: You’re wrong on a couple of counts. First, it was writer Leo Rosten who said that about Fields. Second, we know that Tim is a warmhearted, sentimental soul who tears up at the drop of a hat. (You should be ashamed of yourself for asking such a question – Tim signs your paycheck, Mr. Rice!) Q: The property tax rate has not been increased in Knox County since before the turn of the century. Has any city or county in
Larry Van Guilder
the U.S. gone longer without a tax increase? A: Great question. Hibberts Gore, Maine, has never levied a property tax, and not a single resident voted for the most recent effort to impose one. According to the 2010 U.S. census, the population of Hibberts Gore is 1. Q: Hello, Mr. Answer Man. What is a “TIF,” and can I get one? I understand it is worth a lot of money. A: “TIF” is an acronym for “This Is Fantastic.” If you’re dreaming of creating a strip mall or hotel that may create dozens of minimum wage jobs, TIF dollars may be just what you need to bring your vision to life. Before applying, answer
of his fellow commissioners saw through his sentimentality to reject wasteful spending on seniors and the homeless, thus preserving funds for their own travel allowances. Q: Yo, Mr. Answer Man! I bet my wife you couldn’t come up with an example of irony involving our state legislators. A: State Rep. Ryan Haynes, a lawmaker, sponsored legislation that says it’s OK to break the law by turning right on red without stopping as long as the only witness is a camera. (You lose.) Q: It’s me again, Mr. Answer Man. What’s the chance for a similar law for left turns? A: This state has been turning right since Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Mr. Answer Man doesn’t see any left turning laws in the General Assembly’s immediate future. Contact: lvgknox@mindspring.com.
GOP foray into mayor’s race unlikely to succeed By Betty Bean Will party politics play a role in this year’s city elections? Should they? And if they do, will that benefit Republican candidates? Evidently Republican Party chair Ray Jenkins thinks the answer to those questions is yes. He has a right to feel pretty good after last year’s county elections left County Commission with only two Democrats standing, as evidenced by the email he sent out last week on his Knox County Republican Party letterhead, complete with a border of happy red, white and blue pachyderms. It was an invitation to the faithful to join mayoral candidate Ivan Harmon (the only Republican left in the race) at Wright’s Cafeteria to hear about his
Betty Bean vision for creating jobs, lowering taxes and making city government smaller and more accountable. Rousing language for a tea party convention, but is it a winning template for city elections? Jenkins, whose family name is synonymous with old-time GOP machine politics, county style, might be tempted to think so. The last time a Democrat was elected mayor was when Randy Tyree won a second term in 1979. But Jenkins, who lives in East Knox County and isn’t eligible to vote in the city, evidently assumes that city and county poli-
Common sense and civility are dead Long live the mob. The comments in the local daily newspaper on the story of Commissioner Amy Broyle’s problems with a county employee who repeatedly sent her vulgar and insulting emails is cause for more than head-shaking despair. The vast majority were written by individuals who lack not only common sense, but the ability to so much as spell “civility.” We hardly expect critical think-
these questions: (a) I contributed (blank) to (blank) commissioners’ last election campaigns. (b) Does your car have a bumper sticker that reads “I love The Development Corporation?” (c) Should a developer pay for infrastructure improvements that mainly benefit the developer’s project? The correct answers are: (a) as much as I could to as many as I could (b) yes (c) never. Good luck! Q: I watched County Commission’s budget meeting recently, and I noticed that Commissioner Mike Brown made a couple of comments about how we’ll be remembered for how we treat the least able among us. Was he on to something? A: Commissioner Brown’s heart is in the right place, but he forgot that in this country we believe no man or woman is any more “able” than the next. Fortunately, enough
ing to emerge as a hallmark of the cesspool comments section in the newspaper, and it rarely does. Slap a story on the website that involves race, immigration or abortion and the mob is soon in full throat. But common sense? Isn’t it common sense to conclude that an employee of county government who decides to send vile emails to a sitting commissioner (or any other county official for that matter) will
lose his job if his actions are uncovered? I can’t imagine a private company in which that behavior would be tolerated. And maybe civility is too much to ask for from folks whose keyboard engages with little or no assistance from their intellect. Still, I’m going to miss common sense and civility. May they rest in peace. – L. Van Guilder
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tics are interchangeable. He is not the first to make that assumption, and in doing so he is thumbing his nose at the old adage about what happens to those who ignore history. In 1991, the late Claude Robertson, a noted attorney and longtime Republican stalwart, ran a disastrous GOP-centric campaign against sitting mayor Victor Ashe, who was always relentlessly bipartisan in his approach to city politics. In 2001, Republican Tim Wheeler ran for the 5th District City Council seat fortified with endorsements from county Mayor Mike Ragsdale and a gaggle of GOP stalwarts. He got his clock cleaned by Bob Becker, a not-fromhere labor union organizer who was the voice for the Living Wage campaign. In 2006, Democrat Harold Ford Jr. lost a bid for the U.S. Senate but carried the Knoxville city wards handily. Republican Bill Haslam was elected mayor in 2003 with the support of prominent east side Democrats. Five of nine sitting City Council members – Daniel Brown, Brenda Palmer, Chris Woodhull, Duane Grieve and Charlie Thom-
at
Now thru June 30th
Ivan Harmon Photo by B. Bean
as – are Democrats. Two of the four Republicans – Nick Pavlis and Nick Della Volpe – are centrists with many Democratic supporters. Only Republicans Joe Bailey and Marilyn Roddy are strongly identified party members. Pavlis, who is a regular attendee at the Boyd Cloud Democratic Club, has been elected to City Council three times by comfortable margins and doesn’t see the point to bringing partisan politics into city races. “I go to Lincoln Day and I go to Truman Day. I buy ads in both books. It’s set up to be nonpartisan and I enjoy support from both sides of the aisle. In return, I think it is my responsibility to give attention to both sides of the aisle. Neither party should get really involved in council or mayoral races.”
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