government Schroer backtracks on parkway Does TDOT Commissioner John Schroer’s right hand know what his left hand is doing? The answer is not clear.
Victor Ashe
Recently, Schroer has been saying that the extension of the James White Parkway (all of five miles, all in South Knox County at a whopping $21 million a mile) is now a regional issue, not a local issue. So he is quite willing to override the views of Mayors Rogero and Burchett along with several neighborhood groups, Vice Mayor Nick Pavlis and Legacy Parks Foundation while negatively impacting two city parks. However, Knox County has the Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization, or TPO, which can be found at www.knoxtrans.org/. Jeff Welch is the longtime able staff director. Mayor Rogero is vice chair. TPO is a regional group with representatives from Sevier, Loudon, Blount and Knox counties. On Jan. 23, 2013, TPO voted in a public meeting, which included TDOT rep Angela Midgett as a voting member, to remove the James White Parkway from the TPO priority list. Apparently, Schroer does not know this or does not want to know it. He wants to build this extension despite the regional group saying it is not a priority. The minutes of the TPO vote are online at the above website. Farragut Mayor Ralph McGill is chair. Now Schroer says more public hearings are needed. Apparently, the previous public hearings where the public voiced strong opposition did not satisfy him. He does not explain why he is ignoring the unanimous TPO vote. This was the recommendation of the technical committee and the motion was made by Knoxville Council member Brenda Palmer and seconded by Alcoa Mayor Donald Mull. TPOs are part of the TDOT process required by the federal government so regions will voice their priorities with the state
honoring those decisions. Fortunately, Gov. Haslam has indicated he will review this particular project personally, which should provide a more objective and level playing field for a final decision. Expect this issue to continue for some time. ■ Fifty years ago this month, U.S. Sen. Estes Kefauver died, with services in Madisonville attended by Vice President Lyndon Johnson and former Democratic presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson, with whom Kefauver had sought national office in 1956 as Stevenson’s running mate against Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. ■ As predicted in this column months ago, Knoxvillian Larry Martin, who was Mayor Haslam’s deputy, has been named permanent Finance Commissioner for Tennessee. This is good for the governor, for Knoxville and for Tennessee. ■ Former Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar will speak at the Baker Center tomorrow, Tuesday, Aug. 27, at 1:30. The public is invited to hear the senator speak on international issues on which much of his 30 years in the Senate was centered. He was also mayor of Indianapolis for eight years in the 1970s when unified local government was achieved by popular vote. ■ Former U.S. ambassador to Egypt and Syria, Margaret Scobey (a UT graduate who now lives in the Farragut area) is in demand for comments by the media and civic groups on the tragic developments going on in Egypt, which has traditionally been a strong U.S. ally. Other former ambassadors living in the area besides this writer include Cran Montgomery, U.S. ambassador to Oman for President Reagan, and Howard Baker, U.S. ambassador to Japan for President George W. Bush.
NOTES ■ 8th District GOP will meet Tuesday, Aug. 27, at Carter High School. Speaker is Chancellor John Weaver. ■ 3rd & 4th District Democrats will meet 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 27, at Bearden Branch Library. Speaker is Rick Staples. Info: Chris Foell, 691-8933, or Rosina Guerra, 588-6260.
4 • AUGUST 26, 2013 • Shopper news
Launch pad to oblivion Larry Smith seeks commission chair
R. Larry Smith’s been accused of a lot of things, but nobody’s ever suggested he lacks ambition. The county commissioner from Halls is continually wading into controversy and testing the current for channels to further his free-flowing aspirations.
Betty Bean One week he appears to be getting ready to run for trustee, the next, it’s register of deeds. A school board rumor bubbles up occasionally, as does the suspicion that he’d like to be county mayor. In recent weeks, he’s devoted his considerable energy to getting elected commission chair.
Given the widely rumored suspicions about his lust for higher office, it’s hard to see this move as anything but a means to some unspecific end. But does it really work that way? A look at recent history suggests it’s more like a launch pad to oblivion. Common wisdom is that incumbent chair Tony Norman, who, like Smith, will be term limited out of office in 2014, could keep the job another year if he wanted it. This is not a notion he wishes to encourage. He doesn’t see the position as a springboard, launchpad or steppingstone – for Norman, it’s more of a cow pie from which he’s attempting to extricate himself before he ruins his good shoes. When talking about the past year, Norman sounds like the guy who was asked how it felt after being tarred and feathered and ridden
out of town on a rail and said, “But for the glory, I’d just as soon walk.” “It’s a royal headache,” he said. “Not only from the standpoint of the workload, but you’re also a target of your fellow commissioners, which I thoroughly have not enjoyed. It stings. But that’s not the reason why I’m leaving – I just think a year’s enough. Let somebody else do it.” So, does this mean he doesn’t plan to parlay his current prestige into another elected office? “Not without divine intervention,” Norman said. “After seven years in office, my eighth year can’t get here soon enough. It would take a direct communication from God.” Norman’s predecessor, Mike Hammond, used to be suspected of plotting to parlay his position into a run for mayor, but now he appears to be focused on his pro-
fessional life. Hammond’s predecessor, Tank Strickland, the only Democrat in human memory to serve as chair, likewise hasn’t demonstrated any signs of further political ambition. Former chair Scott “Scoobie” Moore had plenty of ambition, but got a rude comeuppance when he ran for county clerk in 2010 and got 17 percent of the Republican Primary vote. Previous commission chairs David Collins, Leo Cooper and John Mills were all defeated for re-election to their commission seats. So someone not consumed by a hunka hunka burning desire for higher office should carefully consider whether the lure of future glory is worth the pain of serving as commission chair. But we’re talking R. Larry Smith here. And unlike the guy on the rail, odds are he’d just as soon ride.
Clark reads book, goes to movies Casual voters have no idea how close the 2012 Presidential election was. Even I didn’t know, and I’m a political junkie.
Sandra Clark “What Went Wrong,” by Jerome Corsi, breaks down what he calls “the GOP debacle of 2012” and offers advice to Republicans for future elections. While I disagree with many of Corsi’s conclusions, I appreciate his analysis. Follow along: The Electoral College has 538 electors with 270 electoral votes required to win the presidency. Barack Obama started with 55 electoral votes from California and 29 from New York, “for a total of 84 electoral votes without any necessity to campaign in ei-
ther state,” Corsi writes. Both parties labeled states as “blue” or “red,” thus eliminating states where the presidential candidate would have to campaign. While analysts differed, Corsi said the consensus was that Obama entered the 2012 race with 251 electoral votes in states where Romney had no chance of winning; Romney had 191. “For all practical purposes, the presidential election of 2012 was reduced from the start to the seven swing states,” Corsi writes. Those states were: Nevada (6 electoral votes), Colorado (9), Iowa (6), Ohio (18), Virginia (13), North Carolina (15) and Florida (29). Romney lost six of the seven, winning only North Carolina. This book is a great read for those who want to understand how Mitt Romney could spend $1 billion and lose to a marginally popular incumbent. The difference was the cities.
In Ohio, Obama got his majority in one county – Cuyahoga, which includes Cleveland. Take out Cuyahoga and Romney carries Ohio. Obama won Florida by just 74,309 votes (4,237,756 to 4,163,447). Take out Dade County (Miami) and Romney wins. Take out Broward County (Fort Lauderdale) and Romney wins. Romney lost Colorado by roughly 138,000 votes of more than 2.36 million cast. Take out Denver and Romney wins. Romney lost Nevada by 67,800 votes out of nearly 1 million cast. Romney carried every county but two. Take out Reno or Las Vegas and Romney wins. Obama won Nevada by carrying only two counties – a state where unemployment was 11.6 percent. On and on. Obama won Virginia by just 148,000 votes out of nearly 4 million cast. Take out Richmond and Romney wins. Read the book and form
your own conclusions. ■ “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” is a must-see movie, especially for those of a certain age. The young director moves at a fast clip from Truman to Obama, a span of 60 years, hopping through domestic politics like a frog on hot coals. At the core is Forest Whitaker. Boy to man he wears 200 years of ugly racism etched in his face. The movie is a great character study of a man who loved his family (despite fissures) and a family that loved its country (despite strong disagreements about how to manifest that love). The movie elicited both sobs and applause at Regal Riviera on opening week. And Jane Fonda’s portrayal of Nancy Reagan – priceless! Watching the elderly butler slip into an Obama Tshirt at the film’s end adds soul to the numbers of Jerome Corsi’s book and helps answer his question: “What Went Wrong.”
Sheriff’s Office brings crime stats home By Sandra Clark The county’s chief law enforcement officer is not afraid to wear pink in public. And he’s not afraid to blast the Obama Administration and immigration officials by declaring he will stack illegal immigrants “like cordwood” in his jail. So why would anyone think he would be scared to post the county’s crime statistics online? Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones was not scared to do that. In fact, he encouraged
Captain Bobby Hubbs to hop to it. “This has revolutionized our Neighborhood Watch,” Hubbs said last week as Jones demonstrated the computer program at the Halls Republican Club. “This is the future,” Jones said of the program. “If you’re not willing to step into the future, you won’t be arresting people.” He said criminals don’t mind the city limits or the county line. Burglars might break into homes in Nor-
can log in to the system to get updates about crime nearby their home or business. “It will send you a link or message each day. You can check on the dorm where your kid lives,” said Hubbs. When Jones OK’d the plan, only Collierville used Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones the system in all of Tenneswood one day, Powell the see. Now the “RaidsOnLine” next and Anderson County is regional, covering Knoxthe next. When the officers ville, Oak Ridge, UT and communicate crime stats Loudon. Sign up free online at online, it helps enforcement knoxsheriff.org and click on across the boards. Jones said individuals Crime Map.
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