Tramel!

Now that yesterday is history, you may be surprised at how quickly some of those "non-seekers" may change their mind. I guess that most will no longer see the benefit of positioning themselves against the establishment and instead will see the benefit of taking the position now so that they can "move forward with the business of re-establishing ethical and open government". You know, moving forward with creating better schools, better jobs, taking care of seniors, etc. Not to mention the appeal of being able to run with the power of the incumbency for this new age government...

Ruthie said on WBIR this morning that she will not seek appointment.

As we all know, the appointments will be made by the existing eleven commissioners. Will Scoobie, Lumpy, Pinkston, and Ivan continue to try to get their buddies appointed? You bet they will. And if they can get Tramel and Bolus to sit in those seats (and others), they can continue keep the county in turmoil for another 6 months with their own agenda. What have they got to loose at this point? They have little control over what will happen in August now so this is their final dance. Granted they are just 4 votes, but how will Tank, Craig, and Our Larry vote? All the boys need are two more votes...

We need a strong contender in the second district also to oppose Bolus in the appointment process.

After the appointments would be a good time to vote for a new Commission Chairperson!

Also, if Phil Ballard wins at property assessor, the new commission will be appointing his replacement on commission.

Dr Briggs in District 5C is seeking the appointment. In the races where there is either no opposition or simply futile opposition (Albert Baah in District 1, for example) it might make sense to go ahead and take the office now in advance of budget time. In more contested elections, it's probably neither appropriate nor advisable to seek an appointment.

I agree Henley-Vandergriff would be making a huge misake if she was to seek or accept the appointment to the clerk's office. Although, I do admit it would be pretty funny for Stooksbury to find himself reporting to her for a few months, especially considering he's the one who fired her in the first place.

I do, however, think it would be both acceptable and helpful for the winners in each of the contested primaries to suggest an appropriate caretaker for the office. Right now, they're probably more closely dialed into the moods and desires of the people in their districts (especially in the 4th) and could put forward some good suggestions to warm up the seats.

On a barely related note, although I live in district 5, I grew up in district 2 and am slightly concerned about the amount of hostility between the Broyles/Piper camps. I'd hate for Cortney to withold her support and possibly give Bolus a fighting chance to win the August election. Any chance of these two metaphorically kissing and making up? Maybe Cortney could be persuaded to put herself forward for consideration for the appointment as the Democratic Primary runner-up, possibly even with Amy's full support?

On a barely related note, although I live in district 5, I grew up in district 2 and am slightly concerned about the amount of hostility between the Broyles/Piper camps. I'd hate for Cortney to withold her support and possibly give Bolus a fighting chance to win the August election. Any chance of these two metaphorically kissing and making up? Maybe Cortney could be persuaded to put herself forward for consideration for the appointment as the Democratic Primary runner-up, possibly even with Amy's full support?

I had a very long post typed up with the ugly details. Those that know me well know that it's not easy for me to be professional and hold my tongue, but I will continue to.

I will say that Cortney Piper has some fences to mend before there can be any kissing or making up. However, she needs to distance herself from some of the people she's been listening to first.

Amy did everything possible to stay above the mud-slinging. She asked me to shut the hell up before I cost her votes on a few occasions and we both urged her supporters to stay positive as well. Were we perfect? No. I'm too big an asshole to be nice all the time. But we don't have anything to apologize for.

Well let's just not leave any possibility of Bolus getting appointed or elected. And in the future anyone else of that ilk chosen by whomever works behind the scenes to get that sort of candidate elected.

If Piper is a good candidate, in my mind MPC needs some serious cleansing and so does the Industrial Development Board (if it should even exist) and probably some other entities I don't know about. So whatever good people did not make it thru primaries, they could be considered for those vacancies that will hopefully come soon.

i'm for amy...if others in piper's camp dont support amy..thats just sour grapes

Don D. your post is an obvious attempt at slandering the Broyles camp beyond anything that Paul Witt wrote or implied and is totally inappropriate. Your words are extremely divisive and do nothing to bring the party or district 2 together.

Oh, Brother.
All three of you need to shut up.
This is self-defeating behavior. Just stop it.

I had the feeling the tough contest would leave some bad blood behind. The 2nd district doesn't need any sore losers or sore winners, either, for that matter. Knox County does not need Bolus sitting on commission, and it'll take the combined effort of both Broyles and Piper supporters to overcome all the sherriff's faction and developer's dollars bound to come flowing his way. He's the last Friend of Tim still in the race. Any idea of what that means in terms of money and press? Lots of folks might have won in this primary in spite of the dollar disadvantages, but they were helped by the non-stop free publicity provided by the continuing antics of the commission. I'd hate to count purely on that come August. So bury the hatchet already!

given the results yesterday...bolus is in deep trouble

amy ran an outstanding campaign & i told her that paul had done a great job.

If all the kings horses and all the kings money did not get a seat in the chamber for Tramel and Cate (and Scoobie for that matter), why do they think it would work for the weakly Bolus? If I were a developer or a part of sheriff's faction, I would not waste my time or money on him.

But there will still be an important campaign by Broyles to win the seat. I just don't think that Bolus will be that tough to beat. His indefensible testimony on the witness stand, did not show up at any recent forum, has not replied to any candidate summary done by the media... one would wonder if he is really serious about running for this seat. Heck, one neighborhood group returned his check from his discretionary fund.

I cannot speak for Lee or Jim, but I will be going through the appointment process. I think someone needs to be the voice of the 4th District because it has been too long since we have had one.

Logan Brummitt

Nope, sorry, can't let it go. Asshole mode on.

I don't have a problem with Cortney, I have a problem with you. I have a problem with the supposedly neutral party Chairman recruiting and training a campaign manager for one side of a primary race. I have a problem with you spreading a nasty and sexist rumor about Amy going braless on some fundraising meetings and then ask us to sign an ethics pledge because Amy supposedly called Cortney "Billy's blonde".

I have a problem with Bernice Curtis mailing Amy's postcard back to her after it's been ripped into little pieces with a note saying "keep your trash to yourself". I have a problem with her telling an Amy supporter at early voting that Amy is a "liar" when this person is on their way inside to vote.

I have a problem with you obstructing our access to state voter data with the same "abandoned the democratic party" crap that later appeared on Cortney's flyer.

I have a problem with a certain "reporter", and Cortney supporter, telling Amy that she was exaggerating her involvement in her family's small business and that she didn't qualify as a businesswoman.

And that's not the half of it.

Yesterday was a satisfying victory. Not because I don't like Cortney, but because her supporters don't like Amy (or me, or Mark Harmon, or Jim Gray).

And again, I'm confident that 99.99% of Cortney's supporters aren't like you, or your special friends.

Y'all need to chill!

If you can hold that in and focus it on Lumpy, etc. it might be more useful.

I voted for Amy yesterday, but ONLY because Cortney was supported by Billy Tindell (the term-limited commissioner who ran for office and won anyway, creating a mess with the hole he left on Black Wednesday indirectly causing a Repub to get the seat only because he wouldn't support the person who challenged his illegal candidacy to begin with).

Well, that's not entirely true. I also voted for Amy because of the negative mailer I got from Cortney.

At the polls, however, there were two women at the sign-in tables and one young man standing beside them. The young man was talking about how he had used to work on Amy's earlier campaign, and both ladies start lambasting her for "losing the East Town voting site". The man said, "Well, that's the way the story is being passed around," but the women replied as if Amy had INTENTIONALLY shut that site down to attack our democracy. Regardless of the facts, there was considerable negativity being directed at Amy. It made me think that the powers-that-be didn't want her in, which made her candidacy all the more attractive to me as a self-proclaimed independent. As I left the table, the young man apologized to me and said that he hoped I would not allow their discussion I had overheard to influence me. I said I had already made my mind up. The two ladies said nothing in the way of apologizing for their obvious slanted remarks.

...

This morning, I asked a neighbor who she had voted for in the local race, and she said she had voted for Amy. I asked why, and she said it was only because she had received mail with her name hand-written on the envelope/letter and with a hand-written (?) signature from Amy, and it was so personal and positive it was the only local race she decided to vote in.

...

I just post this to say that the in-party Broyles-Piper bickering here and elsewhere IS noticed by those of us who usually vote Democrat but do not officially belong to the Knox County Democratic Party.

It's a good thing Chuck Bolus is such a terrible option, because my opinion of the Broyles campaign just changed dramatically......for the worse.

Paul, Don...please keep it up. I like a good fight amongst Democrats.

Political Knoxville has begun the process of compiling information on prospective appointees, collecting the 5 resumes that were delivered today to the Knox County Commission's office. Profiles include links to those resumes, as well as contact information for the appointees and direct links for readers to email their commissioners about the candidates.

Profiles are easily accessible via the "Appointees" menu item in the main navmenu at politicalknoxville.com - so if anyone knows someone who's going to get in the mix, have them send us their information so we can get it properly posted for all to see.

Well put Amy. I apologize for dragging the discussion down into the mud.

This is yet another example why I could never actually be the candidate.

I also spent the day at Spring Hill elementary with several of Cortney's supporters like A. K. Lawson and Lisa Starbuck. We got along just fine.

Much to the displeasure of a Sisk supporter who A. K. insisted on trying to convert to the Democratic party.

Nothing like eating your own... it appears a little success has gone to the head of a few of you guys... if you are not careful you might ruin the gains you made on Tuesday...

I had a good time with Christian Siler, a Cortney supporter at the O'Connor polling place. That said, sometimes its good to let the elephants or maybe in this case donkeys, in the room out, as Paul and Don have done. That way it doesn't show up in passive agressive modes like the witholding of voter data or arguing about napkin colors. Sometimes stuff needs to be called what it is.....On to August and November.