Do we have a prayer in hell of picking up this seat?

No.

It made me wonder, though, whether Marilyn Roddy would be interested. She's a popular Republican running in the non-partisan Knoxville Mayor's race, and likely strongest challenger to progressive Madeline Rogero.

Knox County loses its most powerful legislator ... and Stacey X becomes "the senior senator from Knox." -- s.

the law, County Commission will make this appointment and we're more likely to get someone like John Mills. -- s.

Stacey X becomes "the senior senator from Knox."

Oh, my.

Woodson always struck me as one of the more reasonable and level-headed Republicans around here. Knox could do a lot worse. (See above.)

Mike Hammond's name has come up on the twitters....

Add her to the list of folks with no expertise or experience in education cashing in on the education reform movement. I'm sure she'll fit right in with the Frist crowd.

Lord help us all. She's a fairly reasonable Republican. Those are rare these days. It's going to be hard to find a level-headed one to replace her.

I was bitterly opposed to Jamie when she first ran.
But over time she's won me over (and not just because she's carrying John's bill). She is far more conservative than I would prefer, but she's smart and humane and a damn sight better than whoever it is that will be appointed to succeed her.
She'll be governor some day. Book it.

Word is that Mike Hammond has the State Senate seat and Ron Peabody is going to be the temporary at large Commissioner. It appears to be a Hunley deal.

Part of her district is in Jefferson County. How does it make sense that the Knox County Commission gets to replace her?

Rachel, you are thinking of her old House seat, now occupied by Frank Nicely. Jamie is a senator now.

So just out of curiosity, what's the protocol for replacement if a House member whose district covers more than one county resigns?

I haven't a clue.

I think the selection is made by the commission of the home county (where the legislator actually lives)in the case of multi-county districts ... which Woodson's is not. -- s.

For profit edu-corporation hires state senator...remember,it's for the kids...

It sure helps the education privatizers to hire an insider like Woodson to navigate TN's political landscape to their advantage. The timing is perfect. Thanks to Race to the Top privatization scheme, snake oil salesmen can use Woodson's influence to funnel our taxes into their bank accounts.

Isn't this hire just emblematic of our rotted political system.

Here's a brief timeline of the exceptionally fast birth and insidious growth of SCORE from 2009 to the present, the purpose of which should provide more context to the Woodson CEO appt. In 2009, Bredeson appointed Frist to travel the state and conduct town halls to manufacture consensus on edu-reform efforts. Here is the Race to the Top grant app of Jan 2010 claiming consensus:

"The support ranges from our Congressional delegation in Washington, D.C., to the organization representing our five largest district superintendents, to the statewide Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE), chaired by former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, which held 72 town hall meetings across the state to gather Tennessee encourages fresh ways of
thinking, opens the education market to charter schools and alternative licensure providers while holding them accountable for results, enables partnerships with respected local and national non-profit organizations, coordinates previously disparate assets such as STEM, and harnesses the power of our individual districts and schools to move achievement in the right direction. We have ambitious and achievable goals, and this application provides a road map to reach them."

Next, look a bit closer at the SCORE partners and you'll find that there is significant clout given to organizations that represent statewide power brokers in business.
Nine out of 13 board members represent groups with no experience, knowledge, or history in learning and education.
SCORE partners: (link...)

"In addition to Vanderbilt, SCORE partners include the Tennessee Department of Education, Tennessee Chamber of Commerce, Tennessee Education Association, Cornerstone Foundation, Hyde Foundation, Ingram Industries, Stand for Children, Niswonger Foundation, Tennessee Farm Bureau, Tennessee Business Roundtable, Tennessee Board of Regents, Tennessee School Board Association and United Ways of Tennessee."

Using Peabody via The Seigenthaler Center simply gives this group a veneer of respectability. If the goals of this business foundation consortium follow the national pattern, they will be endorsing reforms such as merit pay, high stakes standardized testing, firing teachers, school privatization schemes, none of which are educationally sound. (link...)

Businesses and politicians who stand to benefit financially from powerful donors have pre-determiend the research questions rather than educators determining the research questions. TN Race to the Top power point lays this out :

"This is not a pilot project.It is a comprehensive roadmap for transformational reform for the entire state."

Bredeson was smart to tap Frist for TN education agenda. Frist's clout with Vanderbilt and the business community is considerable. It's not surprising that after winning RttT, SCORE will be managed through the Seigenthaler Center that sits on Peabody Campus. Result: Frist gets to load his resume as an edu-refomer and Vandy gets a huge grant to study a predetermined business edu-reform agenda -an agenda that is already funnelling millions of public dollars to private testing, financial and real-estate industries. With Woodson as CEO, they have someone with deep legislative influence. It's not WHAT you know, it's WHO you know.

TN edu-reform effort is NOT about helping poor kids succeed. It's about PROFITS.

Sometimes I'm not too smart. I moved in March, but thought I was still in Stacey's district. I was just checking to see whose House District I'm in and discovered that I'm actually in Jamie's Senate District. Gives me something to be thankful for -- I'm not represented by Stacey. But means that I have more than a pundit's interest in who replaces her. Nicely is my rep. I'm neutral there. Not happy, but it could be worse.

The good thing is that I was at least correct in who represented me on commission and council. One, I'm reasonably fine with, Grieve. I suppose I would have voted for him. I can't remember who else was in that race. He can be a little off course sometimes, but he's mostly OK. But my commissioner is Ownby, who has proven on more than one occasion that he's not completely clear as to what the role of government should be. I definitely would have voted for Finnbar Sanders had I been here for that race.