Tue
Jul 2 2013
09:15 am
By: R. Neal
The other shoe finally drops...
UPDATE: Has resigned, will receive judicial diversion on felony plea if he cooperates with "this and any other" investigations ...
UPDATE: Donila files his first report for WBIR...
UPDATE: Knox Co. Mayor Tim Burchett released the following statement: "Today's events are certainly unfortunate. As Knox County moves forward, our finance department will work with our external auditors, and will also offer any assistance necessary to the Trustee's office in order to ensure that taxpayer business continues properly."
UPDATE: Booking photo...
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Wonder of the Duncan clan was in the courthouse today?
As little as they do, it would be interesting to see if they show up to watch their heir apparent and well groomed protege plead guilty to official misconduct and walk away from a job he was elected to do?
Satterfied tweeted that the
Satterfied tweeted that the Congressman was in court with him.
perhaps the planning started early
(in reply to R. Neal)
Jamie Satterfield @jamiescoop
State says Duncan was already checking into CTAS bonuses when gearing up for run for trustee. Duncan denied it to TBI
Sounds like he's being
Sounds like he's being prosecuted by an out of town DA? (Bright)
There's a picture of JDIII w/
There's a picture of JDIII w/ both of his parents.
Official misconduct
If official misconduct is a felony in this state, I'd say Haslam has got some explaining to do about his thought process when it come to appointing judges.......... or giving no bid contracts to his buddies.
timing is everything
Do you think it's a coincidence that they drop this right before the holliday?
Slightly off-topic, but it's
Slightly off-topic, but it's interesting that Satterfield's first line doesn't contain any of her usual rhetoric:
KNOXVILLE — Knox County Trustee John Duncan III pleaded guilty today in Criminal Court to a felony charge of official misconduct and resigned from office.
Yeah, let's fix that for
(in reply to michael kaplan)
Yeah, let's fix that for her:
"In a shocking new development today, embattled Knox County Trustee John Duncan III, recently divorced scion of Congressman John Duncan and heir apparent to the 2nd District Congressional seat occupied by his family for more than 50 years, stunned unsuspecting onlookers in Criminal Court Judge Mary Beth Leibowitz's courtroom today when he pleaded guilty to a serious felony charge of official misconduct involving misappropriation of thousands of taxpayer dollars just after unexpectedly resigning from office in disgrace."
lol
(in reply to R. Neal)
lol
Minor Correction + Term and Family Limits
(in reply to R. Neal)
I don't believe the Duncan Dynasty will reach the 50 year point in the House until January 3, 2015. Per Wikipedia, John Duncan first entered the House on January 3, 1965.
I do believe a substantially less than 50 year family term limit should be implemented in addition to other term limits. I propose 12 years each for both houses. Perhaps a 24 year family term limit would work; 2-12 year back-to-back periods of service or 3-8 year periods of service.
JD2 has announced his run for re-election to take the Duncan Dynasty to a term of at least 52 years. I believe JD2 is also heading the re-election campaign for Lamar! as he goes for his 3rd 6-year term. (Be sure to let Lamar! know you are proud of his independent leadership in favoring a variety of energy initiatives for the U.S.)
for future reference
He will now forever be known as "disgraced former trustee John Duncan III"
KNS commenters are asleep at
KNS commenters are asleep at the wheel. Nobody has blamed Obama yet.
Donilla broke the story, that made Satterfield show up and write
Donilla the career killa in at the top of the heap again.
Satterfield wrote a better, more objective article this a.m. than most puff and spin sideshows that usually accompany pieces on the Duncan clan, particularly the woes of JDIII (who now only goes by John Duncan).
Would like to have seen a question or two posed to Jimmy Duncan along the lines of how his son got divorced, tossed, convicted, threw two employees under the bus, before his initial term in office was completed and before he even had the opportunity to assemble a host committee for a re-election fundraiser.
With two reporters all over a story, can you image how much better our local government would function if we had two competing news organizations tracking a story and trying to address community credibility and integrity problems in our local government rather than continually tell us how wonderful they are?
Oh, my. How embarrassing it
Oh, my. How embarrassing it must be for the Duncan clan.
Official misconduct. No
Official misconduct.
No surprise.
Probation.
No surprise.
Chance for diversion.
No surprise.
So why did this guy get to draw a check for seven months after Tindell and Burnett pled out?
"Putting the trust back in
Way past time.
Way past time.
Quote of the day
This right here is my candidate for Quote Of The Day:
I believe that is pronounced
(in reply to Russ)
I believe that is pronounced shi - theed, accent on the theed.
First meeting of the OSAS is at Jack McIroy's office
2332 News Sentinel Drive
Knoxville, Tennessee 37921
As much as I've agreed with
(in reply to Elwood Aspermonte)
As much as I've agreed with you, and disagreed with McElroy, that is below the belt.
Low Blow Below the Belt
(in reply to AnonymousOne)
In my opinion, McElroy's personal circumstances are completely different from the situation regarding Haslam and Duncan and are completely not of his own doing.
However, in my opinion, McElroy's professional circumstances at the Knoxville News Sentinel are completely of his own doing, poor judge of news contect, breakdown of journalistic ethics and standards, essentially in my opinion, he a sH!tty newspaper man and a lousy editor.
The newspaper on McElroy's watch took a number of low blows at Tim Burchette during his domestic dissolution and a number of low blows at Herb Moncier (one of the rags attorney heads in the Black Tuesday fiasco) as he battled a number of professional and possibly personal challenges. Perhaps more galling are the number of times the KNS simply looks the other way at obvious corruption, municipal malfeasance, chicanery, graft, backroom and backwater politics, and refuses to call out the easy and the obvious, all for the sake of a dollar and the attempt to "fit in" with their perceived movers, shakers, and money in the community people.
I was on the wrong track and the below the belt remark was not appropriate.
Elephant in the Room.
So, um......
.... who will take JD2's seat when he retires?
I do believe Jimmy had an
(in reply to reform4)
I do believe Jimmy had an heir and a spare, as they say in England.
What if the spare loses its
(in reply to Rachel)
What if the spare loses its heir?
The word on the street from last year is that....
(in reply to reform4)
Rep. Ryan Haynes (TN house district #14) is being groomed as JD2's replacement, but again, this is just street talk.
Judicial diversion grandfathered in
According to Mike Donila, JD3 is lucky he is able to be grandfathered in for judicial diversion.
The worst part
To me one of the worst parts is what this does to the many, many good people who work in government.
An account makes a mistake, few then make a conclusion about all accountants.
Construction worker....same thing.
Someone is government does something bad and an amazing number of people think everyone in government and politics are crooked and/or lazy.
It's just too bad. Most of the people I worked with in both City and County government were hard working professionals.
True, but unfortunately, good
(in reply to Mike Cohen)
True, but unfortunately, good news doesn't sell in the media markets. So, the taxpayers rarely hear it.
True, but also...
(in reply to Mike Cohen)
True, but also a ot of good, smart people Can't get elected under the current system have, Or are discouraged from running for office. Sure, we have a lot of good right people, but we also have a lot of officeholders Who are dumb as soon as fence posts. Or ones that have no ethics whatsoever.
I can think of a dozen people who could have done JD3s Job better, and not gotten in trouble. But he got in because he is a Duncan. Look at the growing degree of corruption in the Haslam administration. But our choices in Knoxville Seem to be limited to Haalams, Duncans, And people connected to other political machines. There are a lot of really smart potential public servants that are locked out of the process.
Yes there are a lot of good government employees doing hard thankless work for meager pay, But elected politicians are more of a 50-50 mixed bag. If the one in office with you more open the process, Then they might end up more respected.
Big Money + Massive Power = Fawning Coverage by the KNS
(in reply to reform4)
The KNS bows and kowtows to the powerful congressman-for-life and the 2 U.S. senators from East TN. Pols who are that powerful are fawned over and never even half way criticized.
It's a disservice to the public, to say the least.
Columnist Michael Collins is the absolute worst. The guy seems to be angling for a job on Rep. Duncan's staff.
Campaigns by challengers that are idea-rich but money-poor are ignored. The way that the KNS refuses to cover Lord Duncan's opponents, McElroy & Co. ought to be listed as giving in-kind contributions to the Duncan Campaign.
Media
I'm not blaming the media at all. And compared to "everything is good" something like the Duncan affair IS news. Heck, I did news for 20 years. My Dad was a newspaper editor and so was his brother.
And, honestly, I have never dealt with a reporter who cared about sales or viewers. They generally just aren't wired that way.
I'm not sure where this whole attitude started. Watergate was certainly a turning point in a lack of trust in government.
I'm pretty sure
(in reply to Mike Cohen)
It started with the Federalist Papers. That constitution thingy was a hard sell in New York.
When in doubt, quote Alexis De Toqueville...
(in reply to fischbobber)
"I do not know if the people of the United States would vote for superior men if they ran for office, but there can be no doubt that such men do not run.”
Check your sources. I
(in reply to Min)
Check your sources. I believe that quote is apocryphal. You didn't find it on the Internet, did you?
Reporters know that govt is
Reporters know that govt is much more stable as a career in tv or newspaper. How this story is reported will greatly impact who will lead the state.
There's a helluva lot riding on this, and the court of public opinion, in this case, as the court of law.
and the court of public
(in reply to AnonymousOne)
and the court of public opinion, will be as important in this case, as the court of law.