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No Special Election
Submitted by CBT on Fri, 2007/11/02 - 2:01pm.
Chancellor Daryl Fansler ruled today that the law does not allow a special election and replacements must be made by appointment. Link Link...
Well duh! This is what I (and others) have been saying for weeks now. Instead of pandering to voters with promises of a special election how about just doing what the law requires the way the law requires it to be done. Make the appointments in compliance with the Open Meetings Law, have those folks serve a few months, let's have a good election with a huge turnout and swear the winners in next Fall.
Submitted by StaceyDiamond on Fri, 2007/11/02 - 5:02pm.
A special or moved back election would have made sense in spring 06 but not now. If we had one in Feb. it would get mixed up with the actual candidates running for a full term.
Submitted by knoxvegas99 on Fri, 2007/11/02 - 5:51pm.
Carole, while I appreciate your point of view, I agree with Chad that the right thing to do is make the appointments and respect the Open Meetings Law while doing so. What form the process takes - public forums by district, etc - is open to debate, but the way forward for county commission should not be, IMO.
I agree with Larry. We need to fill the vacancies. And I profess to taking a bit of preverse delight in the prospect of watching Commission try to do so in a way that satisfies the county power brokers and also appeases very p***ed off citizens.
"The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones." - John Maynard Keynes
By making empty promises you know you can't fulfill, designed only to get headline coverage. I also blame the KNS for printing these empty promises as opposed to offering the public a realistic view of the process and legal requirements.
Case in point, instead of trying to get their names and quotes on the front page with the announcement of a call for a special election (which, if you will recall, was said to be against the law back when the original appointments were made), Mayor Ragsdale and Commissioner Hammond could have said that the law says Commission should make appointments, we're sorry it wasn't done right before and we intend to have a process which complies with the Open Meetings law. That, my friend, is a promise Commission could fullfill and would take a step forward in restoring some faith in Commission. By promissing something you can't delver, some of the public no doubt becomes more disappointed with Commission. That's a tall order, I know. But, apparently some have made it possible.
It also peeves me to hear elected officials and some lawyers declare 'this is what the county wants'. Show me the poll. Show me where more than a few letters, blog posts and elected officials have called for there to be a special election. I'm not saying it might not be true. What I'm saying is you have all these dang people telling me and others what we want when they have little or no basis to make those statements. More headlines and pandering.
Commission: do your job and do it right. Let's have an election and give people a reason to go vote.
Submitted by SammySkull on Sat, 2007/11/03 - 4:17pm.
Thanks for answering my nearly snarky comment without snark. I see your point now. One thing that bothers me about the question of a special election is that it keeps coming up that it's against the law. I personally don't have any problem with going outside the law in situations where it is honestly and realistically helpful to the majority of people. I just don't think, in certain instances, the fact that something is illegal should necessarily preclude doing that, going above the law. I'm not saying that this is or isn't a situation where this applies.
Having said all that, I also feel as if I must admit that, no, we shouldn't really go around the law for this. Perhaps it's a part of me that looks at what got us here and thinks that if commission can ignore law for their "special appointments" that perhaps that's the way to fight back, but wanting to fight fire with fire isn't always the best course either.
Submitted by Pam Strickland on Sun, 2007/11/04 - 4:40pm.
I just spent four days, including 28 hours in the car, with family so I could attend my uncle's funeral. When my brother, not a newshound but a sports and obit reader, asked me what was with the Sunshine Law suit he kept seeing on knoxnews.com. He and my cousin almost had to stop the car because they were laughing so hard as I told the story. My brother used to live here; now he's in Clarksville. My cousin lives in Arkansas on the Louisiana border. Neither of them could come up with an example that topped this.
It is going to be interesting to watch the appointment process. And, I have to agree w/ Chad on this one, they were pandering in trying to get a special election.
Pam Strickland
"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." ~Kurt Vonnegut
I heard at lunch today that Commissioner Mike Hammond was on the radio this morning and said he favored not making any appointments until after the February election. Can anyone confirm that? If so, I guess that begs the question of who would Commission pick, the Republican or Democrat primary winner, seeing as February is a primary election only? As it is at present, party affiliation really isn't much of a factor. If Commission waits, party politics would then become a factor in the appointment process.
Commissioner Hammond, along with Mayor Ragsdale, was also the one pandering to voters with press releases calling for a special election. What part of 'do your job and do it right' do some of these folks not understand? With some planning and diligent work, new Commissioners could be appointed in less than 30 days, with open meetings in each district between now and then. They would serve until next next Fall's general election. Commission needs to do it's job and let candidates and the voters worry about the election.
Unbelievable. At every turn, the county has made the worst of all possible moves. They were correct to act quickly last January, but proceeded without any ground rules. Now they have apparently flip-flopped to having no sense of urgency at all. How is it possible for this many adults to sum their abilities and add up to -1?
With some planning and diligent work, new Commissioners could be appointed in less than 30 days, with open meetings in each district between now and then. They would serve until next next Fall's general election. Commission needs to do it's job and let candidates and the voters worry about the election.
At this point, I totally agree with CBT. I'm sure Commission doesn't want the responsibility - and the scrutiny & criticism they'll get - but this is part of their job. They just need to do it right this time.
"The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones." - John Maynard Keynes
That would satisfy those who can't stand the idea of more appointments.
It would ease some of the pressure on the current Commissioners.
It would also support the idea that voters should be able to elect those who represent them.
The big question though is would this be legal?
This is some sort of zombie thing that simply will not die, isn't it?
~m.
A special or moved back election would have made sense in spring 06 but not now. If we had one in Feb. it would get mixed up with the actual candidates running for a full term.
If the commissioners had done the right thing from the beginning, NONE of this would have happened.
Carole, while I appreciate your point of view, I agree with Chad that the right thing to do is make the appointments and respect the Open Meetings Law while doing so. What form the process takes - public forums by district, etc - is open to debate, but the way forward for county commission should not be, IMO.
Larry Van Guilder
I agree with Larry. We need to fill the vacancies. And I profess to taking a bit of preverse delight in the prospect of watching Commission try to do so in a way that satisfies the county power brokers and also appeases very p***ed off citizens.
"The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones." - John Maynard Keynes
How do you pander to voters? Does it happen when you allow them to vote? Because without a vote one can't very well be a voter.
How do you pander to voters?
By making empty promises you know you can't fulfill, designed only to get headline coverage. I also blame the KNS for printing these empty promises as opposed to offering the public a realistic view of the process and legal requirements.
Case in point, instead of trying to get their names and quotes on the front page with the announcement of a call for a special election (which, if you will recall, was said to be against the law back when the original appointments were made), Mayor Ragsdale and Commissioner Hammond could have said that the law says Commission should make appointments, we're sorry it wasn't done right before and we intend to have a process which complies with the Open Meetings law. That, my friend, is a promise Commission could fullfill and would take a step forward in restoring some faith in Commission. By promissing something you can't delver, some of the public no doubt becomes more disappointed with Commission. That's a tall order, I know. But, apparently some have made it possible.
It also peeves me to hear elected officials and some lawyers declare 'this is what the county wants'. Show me the poll. Show me where more than a few letters, blog posts and elected officials have called for there to be a special election. I'm not saying it might not be true. What I'm saying is you have all these dang people telling me and others what we want when they have little or no basis to make those statements. More headlines and pandering.
Commission: do your job and do it right. Let's have an election and give people a reason to go vote.
Thanks for answering my nearly snarky comment without snark. I see your point now. One thing that bothers me about the question of a special election is that it keeps coming up that it's against the law. I personally don't have any problem with going outside the law in situations where it is honestly and realistically helpful to the majority of people. I just don't think, in certain instances, the fact that something is illegal should necessarily preclude doing that, going above the law. I'm not saying that this is or isn't a situation where this applies.
Having said all that, I also feel as if I must admit that, no, we shouldn't really go around the law for this. Perhaps it's a part of me that looks at what got us here and thinks that if commission can ignore law for their "special appointments" that perhaps that's the way to fight back, but wanting to fight fire with fire isn't always the best course either.
Last day to register to vote in county primary
You can get registration forms on line or @ the commission office.
You dont need to be a part of an organized voter registration drive.Just pick up a few forms & register some folks.
This Christmas give the power to vote.
Never, never stop being snarky. Snarky is why I come here. Snarky is what I live for. Politics would be no fun with out its "snarkinicity".
I just spent four days, including 28 hours in the car, with family so I could attend my uncle's funeral. When my brother, not a newshound but a sports and obit reader, asked me what was with the Sunshine Law suit he kept seeing on knoxnews.com. He and my cousin almost had to stop the car because they were laughing so hard as I told the story. My brother used to live here; now he's in Clarksville. My cousin lives in Arkansas on the Louisiana border. Neither of them could come up with an example that topped this.
It is going to be interesting to watch the appointment process. And, I have to agree w/ Chad on this one, they were pandering in trying to get a special election.
Pam Strickland
"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." ~Kurt Vonnegut
It is a funny story...would make a great movie. Something along the lines of the governor's race in"Oh Brother Where Art Thou".
I heard at lunch today that Commissioner Mike Hammond was on the radio this morning and said he favored not making any appointments until after the February election. Can anyone confirm that? If so, I guess that begs the question of who would Commission pick, the Republican or Democrat primary winner, seeing as February is a primary election only? As it is at present, party affiliation really isn't much of a factor. If Commission waits, party politics would then become a factor in the appointment process.
Commissioner Hammond, along with Mayor Ragsdale, was also the one pandering to voters with press releases calling for a special election. What part of 'do your job and do it right' do some of these folks not understand? With some planning and diligent work, new Commissioners could be appointed in less than 30 days, with open meetings in each district between now and then. They would serve until next next Fall's general election. Commission needs to do it's job and let candidates and the voters worry about the election.
Unbelievable. At every turn, the county has made the worst of all possible moves. They were correct to act quickly last January, but proceeded without any ground rules. Now they have apparently flip-flopped to having no sense of urgency at all. How is it possible for this many adults to sum their abilities and add up to -1?
With some planning and diligent work, new Commissioners could be appointed in less than 30 days, with open meetings in each district between now and then. They would serve until next next Fall's general election. Commission needs to do it's job and let candidates and the voters worry about the election.
At this point, I totally agree with CBT. I'm sure Commission doesn't want the responsibility - and the scrutiny & criticism they'll get - but this is part of their job. They just need to do it right this time.
"The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones." - John Maynard Keynes
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