WBIR Inside Tennessee: McElroy v. Scooby and Lumpy

Submitted by R. Neal on Wed, 2007/02/28 - 5:19pm.

The topic on WBIR's Inside Tennessee this week (Sunday, WBIR, 9:30 am) will be the KNS lawsuit against Knox County Commission.

KNS Editor and Plaintiff Jack McElroy, Frank Gibson from the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, and County Commissioners Scott Moore and Lumpy Lambert will be the guests. Robin Wilhoit will be moderating.



Number9's picture
Katie,

If you see this in time I have a few questions for your guests Jack McElroy and Frank Gibson.

Can you explain to me how two Commissioners cannot discuss an issue? Do they not have a First Amendment right to do so? How is that right superseded by a State law? Why isn't the quorum threshold a better idea for better government?

Personally I think Gene

Personally I think Gene Patterson could produce more from this opportunity. Hopefully something useful will come from it.

Nine, your notion that we

Nine, your notion that we should model ourselves after that bastion of progressive government, Alabama (trying, and failing, to think of a polite way to put this) just defies commonsense and the history of the known universe.

Tennessee is not a leader in much of anything except infant mortality and high school dropout rates, but our open meetings law has long been recognized as superior to those in neighboring states. It's a bit toothless with regard to remedy, but it's far better than anything else for miles around, and has been evaluated and given high marks by just about every open government advocacy group there is.

Given your affinity for the number nine, perhaps I should understand your contention that the "threshold" needed to trigger the Sunshine Law should be changed from two or more to just under a quorum (Nine for commission; five for city council), but this is simply an invitation to step back into the dark ages, and your arguments supporting that position are so preposterous that I cannot believe you are wasting our time with them.

And, repeating myself yet again, it is even more preposterous for you to equate Lumpy Lambert's attempt to extort Jonathan Wimmer in a public place with open government.

What are you, some kind of nut?

What are you, some kind of

What are you, some kind of nut?

Channeling Barney Fife.. :)

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