Well, that -- and there's the fact that Haslam is applying for a job that, for all intents and purposes, has itself been made by the government. So unless he's going to go the Bredesen route and refuse a salary*, he'll be fully sponsored and paid by our sales and Hall tax dollars.

Whatever. It's become boilerplate Republican hogwash, a bit of demagoguery that makes for neat sound bites even if he doesn't believe it for a second.

This "I-need-to-govern-by-not-governing" schtick is about as tiresome as the Democrat to be named later making utterances about the corrupting influence of corporate dollars in politics.

* I still maintain that this was a conflict-of-interest dodge if ever there was, but it does give a certain plausible deniability to the incumbent in matters involving the state healthcare regime.

I believe Haslam doesn't take a salary as Knoxville Mayor. Good point on the conflict of interest dodge.

Apparently he was asked at the forum about his lack of financial disclosures and whether he had investments in private prison corporations, casinos, redlight camera companies, or other companies that stood to benefit from state contracts. According to Stacey Campfield this made him "uncomfortable."

However, many people view the abundant and expanding government employment as a problem, not something to brag about and get excited. Government employment has significant limitations, it's esseentially redistribution of our tax dollars or redistribution of charitable contributions. Some government employment is sexier than others and can have a lot of the limitations removed.

Mike Hamilton, Tom Kilgore, Mike Edwards, Minta Roach, Judge Tom Phillips, and Jimmy Duncan are all government employees, yet they make hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, with incredible perks, benefits, and medical benefits that are out of reach of most employees, government, non-profit, or private.

Education will always be within the province of the government, the costs of private education cannot be distributed across the population like public education can.

Currently, some government employment is necessary for any community to grow, however, once the government becomes the primary employer in a community, we begin to encounter the problems like we have in Knoxville, the good old boy network, the its all in who you know situation, and the patronage fiascos that plauge our local governemnt. Government employment is a necessity, however, Knoxville is mired in it.

The fellow from Charlotte was an interesting fellow the other day. According to the most recent list, our largest employer (which is really in Oak Rdige) would be 6th on their list and we don't have anything on our employment list that would be relevant on their list at all.

(link...)

Nashville:

1. Vanderbilt University & VU Medical Center
2. State of Tennessee
3. Gaylord Opryland
4. Nissan North America Inc
5. Gulfstream Aircraft
6. St Thomas Hospital
7. AFL Telecommunications
8. Electrolux Home Products
9. Baptist Hospital
10. Centennial Medical Center

One advantage of so many government jobs in the Knoxville area is that it keeps the local economy (and housing prices) a little more stable.

If you're including UT Medical Center as the seventh government-run entity, that's not entirely accurate. UTMCK has been run by a private nonprofit since around 1999. State employees who still work there were either grandfathered in as employees leased from the University or are employees of the Graduate School of Medicine.