Swiftboating in Tennessee?

Tip to Say Uncle for this piece about the attacks on Gov. Bredesen and his reactions to them. Interesting read, especially this:

"On the one hand, I admire the way Bredesen tackles these issues head-on and takes swift, decisive action, similar to how early in his tenure he handled a scandal involving a U.T. president by summarily firing him and ending the controversy. On the other hand, it sometimes seems that, in his desire to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, he may sometimes overreact."

Good job by R. Neal. Of course, as Say Uncle points out, overreacting is probably better than doing nothing. Then again, these mainstream media attack dogs feed on firings and public humiliation. It pumps up their egos, and encourages them to start looking for their next victim.

Neal also questions who is behind these attacks: disgruntled Democrats or "the powerful GOP attack machine." I think the latter. I'm sure some Beltway folks took that hype about Gov. Bredesen running for president seriously, and the RNC fears Southern Democratic governors. They would want to take Gov. Bredesen down a notch or two.

Also, some of the MSM reporters around Nashville have interesting connections. More on that later.

Mister State Trooper

From Go4Truth.com and the Tennessee Democratic Party's "Tuesday Message," a little of the history of politics at the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

‘No Politics’ Questioned

The Chattanooga Times

February 4, 1995

By Andy Sher

NASHVILLE – While the Sundquist administration contends it’s taking politics out of the state Safety Department, Democrats suspect recent personnel moves point to politics as usual.
“I don’t think we have a clear picture yet, but every indication is that politics is very much alive in these initial decisions,” said House Majority Leader Bill Purcell, a Nashville Democrat, in an interview this week.

Gov. Don Sundquist’s campaign records show several Safety Department appointees contributed to his campaign. For example, newly appointed Tennessee Highway Patrol Colonel Jerry W. Scott, who was promoted from captain, gave $9,850 to Sundquist’s election efforts. Mickey Fletcher, a lieutenant from Memphis who gave $700, was elevated to captain.

Kent Eldridge, who gave $1,000, was promoted to head Safety’s support services division. Safety Commissioner Mike Greene contributed $620.

Eight high-ranking Safety Department officials who rose to their positions under the previous McWherter administration were faced with accepting demotions or retiring since Sundquist, a Republican, took office Jan. 21. Six of the eight were district captains.

Rocking in the Free World

While my light blogging of late has nothing to do with the "Who-is-Hitman?" flap, the absence has given me some time to think about how I would like to respond.

In short, I'm going to say as little as the rigmarole deserves.

I state plainly and unambiguously that the opinions expressed on Bring the Noise are mine and mine alone. I started this blog of my own volition, and I continue to post of my own volition. NO ONE - period - asked me to start this blog, nor has ANYONE - period - ever asked me to post anything on this blog.

In other words, I am not a spinmeister for anyone. I am not part of any plot to "get" anyone. I'm just a guy with a blog.

Anyone that claims anything contrary to this does so for reasons of their own. For example, perhaps Liz Garrigan of the Nashville Scene is upset because I criticized her for ignoring the Nancy Amons story. You'll note that Garrigan has not denied that she investigated that story - and then chose not to report it.

It's disturbing that many people in this country today simply do not believe in free speech. Whenever they are confronted by an opinion with which they disagree, they try to find some way to stop the expression of that opinion. Often, they do this under the guise of protecting the public from some evil - of course, they define what that evil is.

Bring the Noise will continue. It might be after the holidays before regular posting begins again, but it will begin again. As far as I'm concerned, I'm doing something right if I make the mainstream media angry.

For today, I'll leave you with this quote from John Stuart Mill. It's not the exact quote, but it's close enough for rock n' roll.

"If the whole of mankind, save one, were of the same opinion and only the one were of the contrary opinion, the whole of mankind would have no more right to suppress the opinion of the one than he would have, were it in his power, the right to suppress the opinion of the whole of mankind."

From On Liberty

Sexual Healing

Too good to pass up. From The Bradley News Weekly:

Miller Comes to Town with Girlfriend, Doesn't Get Divorced

Romance is Still Alive and Well in Cleveland

Reports of My Death . . .

Bring the Noise will be off-line longer than I had thought. Sorry, I just have too many irons in the fire right now. I will be back soon, though.

I'll leave you with a couple of thoughts:

1. I ain't skeered of no open records request.

2. The rigmarole last week has not threatened my job in any way.

Until Next Week . . .

Ye Ol' HitMan will be out of pocket for a few days. Unfortunately, I don't have the connections to line up guest bloggers, so Bring the Noise will be on hiatus.

I feel fairly certain that the blogosphere will survive the distruption.

'Nuff Said

From WMCTV Channel 5 in Memphis:

"John Ford's Collierville Home to Be Auctioned

"You could own the home of former state Senator John Ford.

"Ford's Collierville home will be auctioned off in mid December to cover missed payments. Earlier this year Ford was caught up in the Tennessee Waltz bribery scandal and gave up his Senate seat. Tamara Mitchell Ford says she's divorced from Ford, but not completely. She says her children have a right to that home and she's worried about their future, "We have a connection emotionally and because we have a family. When it comes down to having a family, that has interest involved. This will involve the state of Tennessee if I become destitute and that's where we're heading. Being destitute." Mitchell Ford's house was three thousand dollars behind on taxes but those have been paid but only until January. Ford's Collierville home has been valued at five hundred thousand dollars. The home has ten rooms including five bedrooms, four baths and one half bath."

The Race is On

From the Chattanooga Times Free Press

"Watson wins District 22 Republican primary

"Bradley County Deputy Sheriff Eric Watson on Tuesday won the Republican primary in a special election to fill the state House District 22 seat.

"In unofficial tallies, Mr. Watson received 1,085 votes in the district, according to election commission officials. The district includes Meigs, Polk and part of Bradley County. . . .

"He will face incumbent Democrat Sally Love, D-Reliance, in the Jan. 12 general election. Rep. Love, who was unopposed in the Democratic primary, received 565 votes in unofficial tallies."

******

This could be an interesting race. It's a Republican seat, but Rep. Love, the appointed replacement for Rep. Chris Newton, and the Democratic Party have been working the district hard.

On a related note, Chattanooga's WTVC Channel 9 has an interview with Newton, in which he offers this advice to those currently serving in the General Assembly: "Don't make choices that you cannot live with." Unfortunately, the WTVC web site does not have the video of the interview. Also, I didn't link to the CTFP story because their web site requires subscriptions.

The Song Remains the Same

A tip of the hat to Bill Hobbs for this one. The story speaks for itself:

State agencies in peril over scheduling problems

"A scheduling conflict between House and Senate members has left 45 state agencies up for renewal in peril, including large entities such as the Department of Transportation."

People in the know say that the Government Operations Committees are utter nightmares, completely lacking direction and focus. Also, members supposedly beg leadership to get off of these committees.

The Wild, Wild West

Look out, folks! An election year is on the horizon, and the bills are flying around Capitol Hill:

Lawmakers to shift focus from ethics

Perhaps the most brilliant aspect of the American system of government is that it's awfully hard to pass any law in our sausage-maker legislative system. When you read about the crap that gets thrown around in the General Assembly, you become REALLY thankful for that.

By the way, TABOR is a horrible idea. Take a look at Colorado.