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Burchett running for Knox County Mayor
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Latest politicsUser loginNavigationAbout KnoxViews |
Burchett running for Knox County Mayor
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Don't forget about the rumor that Richard Briggs may run for mayor also.
So we may have Burchett, Hutchison, and Briggs all wanting the republican party nod. In my mind it would be between Burchett and Briggs, no way would I want Hutchy as our mayor. I think the hutch is waiting to see who all throws their hat in.
I wonder who the democrat mayor candidate rumors are?
I have heard something about Madeline Rogero, Community Development Director for the city.
I have heard something about Madeline Rogero, Community Development Director for the city
No, she is considering running for mayor, not Mayor.
Speaking of which, since Knox County is now unequivocably a home-rule county, can we ignore that idiotic state law and call the county executive something sensible?
Since they started that "mayor" silliness I've gone old school and been referring to him as Count Ragsdale.
I vote for "Suzerain to the Grand Portal."
True happiness is knowing you are a hypocrite. -- Ivor Cutler
We need to go cold turkey and elect a businessman who can fix county government. Why do we need to stay on the same course towards the looming iceberg?
I would prefer Lewis Cosby over any of the suggested candidates. He knows what the problems are and how to fix them.
I want Ragsdale to run again on an "anti-#9" platform.
"I want Ragsdale to run again on an "anti-#9" platform."
I don't get it. Ragsdale is term limited. Who are you?
The man is a genius. I expect him to come out with more campaign tag lines about how "fire is hot" and "water is wet". Also, what is the Republican fetish with Russia and Cuba?
They want to go back to the old standards, but not too old.
Thus, they warn about the dangers of Russia and Cuba, but not Spain and England.
"I'm not a member of any organized political party. I'm a Democrat." -- Will Rogers
The Spanish Inquisition!!
No one would expect the Spanish Inquisition to run for Mayor!
"I'm not a member of any organized political party. I'm a Democrat." -- Will Rogers
Same ole same ole.
Burchett is an empty suit. There is no there there. The problem is, if the only 2 electable candidates are this guy and Hutchison, our options are nothingness vs. tyranny. A viable third person with some star power and $ has GOT to step up and save us from these yahoos. But, understandably, why would that type of person want the job.
Woe is the Knox County voter in 2010. The yahoos line up to run for these jobs, and the qualified folks with some gravitas don't want them. So we wind up with Scooby, Pinky, Rags, Hutchison, Burchett, Campfield . . .
glad to see ole dean burchetts boy is gonna keep those commies from russia and cuba at bay. here's a clip from another republican't moron working hard to keep tennessee in the dark ages. this is tennessee's lt. guv. what a shame. he can't even get mcsames name right. no wonder these fools "thought" palin was a good choice, as a co-worker once mentioned.
Link...
This is county mayor, right?
I'm tellin' ya, Greg "Lumpy" Lambert in 2010.
He uses that as a stepping stone for a successful gubernatorial run, and between him and Sarah Palin, we have the future leadership of the Republican Party -- dolts with guns. (Okay, Sarah is a good deal better looking than Lumpy, I'll grant that.)
"I'm not a member of any organized political party. I'm a Democrat." -- Will Rogers
Not sure of the fascination with Russia but their tax rate is ~13% if memory serves...
I don't really keep up with Knox County politics (try not to), but where did Burchett's rise to "power" come from?
Seems like one minute he was the mulch man in hot water for runoff and water quality, and the next he's in the state house...
I think Sen. Burchett would do good job as County Mayor.
Are there any Democrats running?
He did it because of the mulch deal. I don't know if you know the whole story or not, but after watching Halerin Hilton Hill's ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE with Burchett, my opinion of the man COMPLETELY CHANGED. I thought he was just a dumb redneck that somehow weaseled his way into politics. Well, redneck maybe, but dumb and weaseled, NO WAY.
Turns out the city completely screwed Burchett out of his mulch deal, with tons of false allegations (proved by the EPA, and later Burchett was 'cleared' although with not NEARLY as much publicity as the front page headlines accusing him...) And after seeing how the city could rob the common man of their livelyhood, he took up politics.
Since having watched that program (it was quite touching really...) I have followed Burchetts career very closely. I don't think you will find a more honest politician today. I wish I lived in Knox County just so I could vote for him. I wouldn't want your traffic, but I would take Burchett.
Ok, I guess I just assumed the mulch thing was something he was doing through family or political connections and he was just passing time until he made the jump into politics.
I just assumed the mulch thing was something he was doing through family or political connections and he was just passing time until he made the jump into politics
You assumed correctly. Burchett was president of the UT College Republicans before he was put in charge of the mulch facility. It wasn't even a private facility if memory serves, so the notion that he was an ordinary businessman victimized by government regulators is as happy-pants as anything else HHH thinks he can possibly sell.
I recall the arrangement was similar to the Solway facility. I think Tim had a company (Compost Corporation or something like that) that operated the facility under contract. There were issues of fecal coliform in the mulch, but I recall that was traced to the sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) that the city was suffering and KUB addressed with their 10-year plan.
That being said, I don't think Tim and his staff understood the difference between mulching and composting, much like a lot of people who get these contracts (throughout the country). People don't get these contracts based on their knowledge of chemistry. If you look through the old articles, you will see some fascinating parallels to the Solway facility, if memory serves.
That being said, I'd vote for Tim B over Tim H, no question about it. Make fun of Tim B all you want, he has some positives going for him, compared to many of the other people we've had to deal with in county government. Briggs would make the race much more interesting. Padgett would, too.
The scramble for Tim's senate seat will be interesting as well. :)
Rikki, your memory is faulty in several respects re the mulch business. I think Burchett got that "job" because nobody else wanted it, at that time. His CR connections didn't play into it, except perhaps for allowing him to know where to start. Bob Whetzel, who was his immediate city "boss," had been his HS football coach at Bearden, iirc, but I don't think that had much to do with it either, since it was Whetzel who ultimately terminated the operation.
Burchett was in business with a silent partner (lawyer Jeff Hagood) and contracted to take the city's brush collections. Burchett did all the physical labor, with the help of an employee or two, and it was dirty, nasty work. He leased city-owned space off Middlebrook Pike, adjacent to some kind of a city-owned garage or something (my recollection is fuzzy here, and I don't remember exactly what it was, except it was owned by the city and not very pretty). The Interstate was at the back border of the mulch lot.
There was a strong turpentine smell associated with the mulch operation, and neighbors started complaining. Peggy Douglas headed the city's recycling/solid waste at that time, and she mortally hated Burchett (IMO because of his politics -- i recall the word "Nazi" being used to describe him) and she was convinced that he was doing illegal stuff. The KNS beat reporter covering the story was very close to Douglas, and the stories in the paper were extremely damaging to Burchett -- and quite one-sided, in my view.
They were always sikking inspectors on him, and at one point, there was a fecal coliform scare, complete with a large, angry mob that descended on City Council with stories of daycare children getting sick from contaminated mulch. The county health department investigated each and every claim, and found them all to be unfounded. I was at City Council when the mob, led by some of my friends, btw, cornered Stephanie Hall and came close to physically attacking her when she said there were NO reported cases of children becoming sick from contact with bad mulch on their playgrounds.
Part of the KNS interest in the case might have come from Harry Moskos' daughter, who showed up to complain that she'd bought contaminated mulch from Burchett. Her mulch was indeed contaminated, but it turned out that she (or a close neighbor) had outdoor cats.
I was working full-time at Metro Pulse at the time, and I spent a lot of time looking into this story. After doing so, I concluded that the whole damn thing was nothing more than a witch hunt. The crowning event was when someone reported a "honey wagon" truck from Hugh Noe's septic tank pumping service being in the mulch yard. Douglas and the KNS believed this was evidence that Burchett had commited a felony violation of the Clean Water Act.
It turned out that Burchett had hired Noe to pump out a bunch of standing water -- not to dump human waste. I investigated this myself, and KUB had records of Noe dumping the wastewater from the mulch lot at its treatment plant (they keep strict records of that stuff).
Burchett spent thousands on testing, and ultimately got a clean bill of health, but Victor ended up terminating Burchett's contract, and he lost everything he had in the deal. He (Victor) also fired Douglas (I'm not sure what for), and the whole thing was a horrible mess. I think the biggest problem was that the volume of brush and yard waste far exceeded what Burchett's one-man operation could handle, the Ashe administration got tired of hearing complaints about it.
I cannot remember every detail that I learned, and MP's archives don't go back that far, but I do not believe there was much competition for this job, at that point, and I do believe Burchett got it fair and square, such as it was. And I am certain that he got screwed. Huge.
#I just read Steve's post, and it jogged my memory -- there were indeed sewer overflow problems at the back of the lot which were found to be the city's (or KUB's) fault.
Thanks, Betty. I was waiting for you to jump in on "after seeing how the city could rob the common man of their livelyhood, he took up politics" and set the record straight.
So Burchett did have plenty of connections that helped him get a contract with the city, and there was a clear, though intermittent, source of E. coli contamination, but it had nothing to do with mishandling the mulch and everything to do with where the mulch yard was. The flooding was bad enough that water had to be pumped from the site. The daily paper played up the controversy beyond the evidence, and frightened parents gave it a life of its own. Douglas was proved overzealous and lost her job, and the yard was inappropriate for the purpose, so Burchett had nowhere else to run the operation and likely wanted nothing to do with it after all that. The recycling/solid waste coordinator was probably angry that someone's buddy fresh out of college with no qualifications got the job, but she may also have remembered Burchett from the controversy the previous fall where the College Republicans lost a bunch of voter registration forms, and the election commission was forced to hold a late registration period after the deadline to accommodate the angry not-quite voters.
Does that sum it up about right?
All I know for sure is that the major charge against Burchett -- the allegation that he'd intentionally dumped contaminants on the mulch -- was proven false; that the job was more than he was equipped to handle; that the city terminated his contract and that he spent a lot of money testing the mulch. How he got the job, I don't clearly remember (it really was a long time ago -- maybe '93?), but I do not believe that there was a long line of applicants. I went out there a bunch of times while working the story, and I always left thinking that it was hot, nasty horrible work that I wouldn't do for a million bucks.
I will confess (once again) that I like the Burchetts and have always found them to be honest people.
I don't see where I'm impugning his honesty. When I say there was a "clear" source of E. coli, I mean that in hindsight. The intermittent nature of flooding and SSOs surely made the diagnosis difficult and slow and test results erratic. Flooding is a much better explanation than cat poop.
It was '93. I only remember because I came to Knoxville in August of 1992, so I have an easy reference point. I was a new grad student when the voter registration thing happened (and smitten by the great investigative reporting in the weekly paper), and the College Republicans played the "gosh, it could have been any of us, and there were so many ways it could have happened, we're really sorry" line perfectly. Everyone knew it was a line, but there was no proving otherwise.
I mostly bring it up because of the cheap slander against ACORN this year and the nauseating moral equivalence Republican weasels invoke when talking about election fraud. Since it's a new century and they still use Kennedy buying votes in East St. Louis in 1960 as a dodge, I don't feel too bad about bringing up 15-year-old stuff. Honest Republicans could do a lot more to raise the level of discourse than they do. I'd love to hear "Ann Coulter makes me embarrassed to be a Republican" every now and then.
Anyway, I agree Burchett has been an honest legislator. People I know who lobby the folks in Nashville tell me he listens and shoots straight. He reminds me of Jimmy Duncan, an old-school Republican, well meaning, with enough respect for liberty to keep the moralistic crap separate from the political, bright enough to stay out of trouble, but not quite able to see beyond the simplistic economics. County government may be just his speed, and it's sweet that he just got married and is looking to spend more time at home.
I found some NS stuff in the online archive that has jogged my memory a bit. This is from july 93, and the mulch site was county-owned -- and on a damned Superfund site. Strange they'd lease such a nasty piece of land out for such a use. John Evans was pretty new on the solid waste job back then.
And a couple more things: Victor really didn't like Burchett, which is another reason to doubt that he was given any kind of sweetheart deal. And Burchett is 43, which means he was 27 or 28 at the time, so I doubt that he was still in college the year before (although I really don't know this for sure). And I didn't mean to say you were trashing him, just testifying that that although I disagree with his politics, I've always found him to be honest. And cats really do love to crap in mulch, although that's a minor point, and something that just stuck in my head because Moskos' daughter (whose name was Xiantheos, or something) was very diva-esque and was going batshit crazy at City Council.
But honestly, leasing out a Superfund site? Sheesh!
-- here's a snippit -- I can't link it:
"Then, while digging a drainage ditch, the company discovered the "12- to18-inch" layer of "metal salts" - or old heavy-metal containing waste - about 12 inches below the soil surface, Douglas said.
The facility is next door to the city garage, built on top of a state Superfund site.
The same types of wastes have been found at both sites, according to records on file in the Knoxville offices of the state Division of Solid Waste and the Division of Superfund.
Both sites were once part of a 17-acre, manganese ore-separation plantowned by Foote Mineral Co. For at least 20 years, state records say, the company dumped toxic wastes into ponds at the Loraine Street facility.
In 1986, the state declared the land on which the city garage is located a+Superfund site. However, because it's covered with pavement and the buried toxins aren't likely to migrate off-site, state officials decided cleaning it up was not a top concern.
That may not be the case with the CCA site.
That site, Douglas said, is "all dirt" with no pavement to prevent machinery from disturbing any contaminants. CCA, according to state records, already has agreed to find another composting location and not to disturb the ground at its current site while moving. State officials have given CCA until Sept. 30 to move the composting facility.
In recent months, the CCA facility has had other problems, starting with the discovery of high levels of fecal coliform in its mulch and brush piles.
Tests conducted by state officials detected fecal coliform levels so high+they could only be coming from raw sewage. However, bacteria were found on!brush piles and in mulch that hadn't been on the site long enough to become contaminated by leaking sewer lines, said Bill Elmore of the Knoxville Utility Board.
CCA tests came back with different results, and CCA part-owner Tim Burchett (on Thursday said unofficial results he has just obtained show there is no fecal coliform in compost that's being sold to the public.
He got his degree in 1988, so either he was some sort of advisor to the College Republicans or my memory of that is total crap.
A Superfund site capped by a concrete pad wouldn't necessarily be a problem, but if it's dirt, that's not good. Still, that's totally different than fecal coliform and could possibly suppress E. coli, depending on how the bacteria gets along with the metals and salts. Loraine St doesn't look like it's close enough to Third Creek to be in its floodplain, so contamination would have to be directly related to sewer lines and local pooling of stormwater.
I did a little more checking (and thinking), and it turns out the KNS story was wrong about it being a Superfund site. It wasn't. So much for that.
The contamination came from two sources, one on-site -- a busted terra cotta sewer pipe that was so old KUB didn't even know it was there -- and another off-site -- the runoff from a dog lot next door.
I think you are correct---your memory is "total crap".
Burchett wasn't even a member of UT's College Republicans, let alone president. So to say he had anything to do with voter registration mix-up's, etc. is absurd. I think he was a member of Young Republicans, but that is a completely different group.
So was it the Young Republicans or the College Republicans who forced the election commission to open up a late registration period in October '92 by losing a bunch of forms?
I think you're thinking of Chris Holzen. It was the College Republicans. Burchett was never in college republicans and he would have graduated before 92...I think he's 43 or 44?
Tim graduated in 1986 or 1987 at the latest.
As for the mulch part. If most will recall, the blizzard of 1993 was an absolute mess around here with all the downed trees,limbs and such. The city absolutely covered him up in a very short time with way too much brush on a very small site. I also know that each and every single load had to be gone through practically by hand in order to separate out the other debris/junk that would come in on the city trucks. Paint cans, old lawn mowers, broken lawn chairs, you name it was on those trucks that dumped supposedly "only" brush/trees to be ground up. This was a very time consuming and laborious act. And, when the occasional piece of junk made it into the grinder, it would tear it up to the point of downing the machine and costing quite a bit of money in repairs. This was also a very dirty job that Tim did mostly himself.
I personally witnessed Tim give away countless loads of mulch to just about anyone that would ask for it.
I hear Padgett is thinking of running, although after his loss in the Senate race, I can't imagine that he would. Same goes for Randy Tyree and a few others I've heard mentioned. Rogero would be a good candidate for the City, but not the county. I'm not sure it would matter who they run though...The county almost always (unfortunately) goes Republican.
Here's something I don't understand. How is it that the county executive just prior to Ragsdale was a popular two-term Democrat (Tommy Schumpert), but everyone acts like the Democrats have never won a county-wide election here since Reconstruction?
I'd suggest that the Democratic Party quit winning elections to county executive/mayor when they quit fielding candidates.
If the choices are Tim and Tim I'm for a 3rd Ragsdale term. I'd prefer listening to Bush than Burchett.
Tim Burchett's out there running hard. In politics, you can't win if you don't run.
Greg Mackay's name as a Democratic candidate...
What say you, Greg?
I have no plans beyond the job I currently hold.
I will be at work on Monday morning.
I wrote multiple columns about the mulch controversy of '93 and came away believing:
1. Peggy Douglas was a bulldog, doing her job as best she could, and was unfairly fired.
2. Tim Burchett worked incredibly hard to make a success of his business. He was generous with non-profit groups, often giving away a percentage of his Saturday sales. We ran some free ads for him to promote this.
3. Peggy (not Whetsel) terminated Burchett's contract while Victor was out of the country. Somehow Randy Vineyard, then finance director, was running the city and he fired Douglas.
4. My concluding column was headlined: Red, White & Blue (and green and gray). I called Burchett and his supporters the Red, White and Blue gang; Douglas and her supporters the green brigade; and predicted that Victor would replace the lot of them with someone very gray.
5. The next director of solid waste for the city was a guy named Ed Umbach. Remember him? I thought not. -- s.
Thanks Betty and Sandra, for bringing this into focus. I recall the Douglas - Burchett mulch controversy as well. I don't recall the details of the environmental issues, but there is no doubt that Tim worked very hard to build his business. Speaking of hard work, he first won the District 18 House seat by taking on a fairly well established incumbent in the Republican primary who, while not spending as much time in the district as she should have, was thought to have a pretty safe seat. Tim pounded the pavement relentlessly in an independent, minimally funded door-to-door effort and won in what a lot of people thought was a pretty big upset.
I'm not a particular fan of Tim Buchett's, but I'd vote for him over Shurf Tim in an east tennessee minute.
Never forget that Tim stood up for Missy Mayfield.I voted for him in the next election.
Tim represents me in the state senate.Always been nice & answered my questions.
I'm a partisan Democrat..wont be supporting him in the primary or in the general if we have a nominee.
But a stand up guy.
"He listens..."
Something you don't see much of in the GOP, and puts Tim at the top of the stack in his party, IMHO.
(emphasis mine)
And, why, pray tell, would the Democrats not field a nominee in an open race with no incumbent running? Is there truly not one Democrat in Knox County qualified to lead it?
I ask because eight years ago the answer was apparently "yes"-- even with a popular incumbent Democrat retiring from the office. I'm curious if we've grown any leaders in the past eight years or if the Democratic Party is going to endorse another Ragsdale-type uncontested election.
I'm a yellow dog Democrat & if we have a nominee I'll vote the ticket.
The fact is we've taken some pretty bad beatings county wide this year.
For a Democrat to win we need a nominee that can raise $200K & get 45% of the vote in Halls,Powell,Karns & Farragut.
That goes for all the county wide offices up in '10..including the 2 at large county commission seats.
Democrats in Knox County have been very successful in countywide races ... but only when they run independently of the party.
So you see a Democrat like Randy Nichols hire a Republican like John Gill. You see Tommy Schumpert retain Kessel's finance director, Kathy Hamilton. You see Mike Padgett build a base of Republicans in his offices.
These Democrats aren't there for the party so much as for themselves. This is probably why the D's always call their functions "unity rallies."
Unity because they ain't. -- s.
Tim Burchett's base lies in areas that typically don't turn out big in GOP primaries, and Tim has set himself up for the politician's equivalent of a perfect storm with Hutchison potentially pulling his hard-core GOP base vote -- the same folks who soundly defeated one charter amendment and almost got the other. And this was in a high turnout presidential election with both D's and R's voting.
The Hutchison base is even stronger in a low turnout, spring time GOP primary.
If Briggs, Larry Smith and who knows else get in, they don't touch Hutchison's base. Their votes come off Burchett.
Some have wondered if Burchett is savvy enough to be county mayor. I would submit that his biggest challenge is winning the GOP primary. If he can do that, being mayor should be a walk in the park. -- s.
By & large we Democrats do stick together..there are some that get more hung up on purity than winning..& those folks end up losing.Of course there are exceptions..the '08 sheriffs race comes to mind.
However,given the need for Democrats to get Republican votes in the large county wards...the old saw I'm a Democrat but I'm not dumb comes to mind.
One could say as Sandra has that Knox County Democratic incumbents are out for themselves.
I would say we are a minority party around here..it's a tough roe to hoe & I'm tickled pink every time a Democrat becomes an incumbent.
Victor Ashe was considered a nice guy by many people. Even more people consider Mike Ragsdale a nice guy. Many still do. Richard Briggs is another nice guy. We are awash with nice guys seeking office.
There has to be more than being a nice guy. Seeing Tim B. on Gene Patterson's show today I was taken by how much he sounds like every nice guy running for elected office. His pitch is so vanilla. It's a big county and so far I don't see how Tim Burchett runs county wide. Carrying his 7th District isn't enough.
On qualifications Tim Burchett has some problems. Can a serial State politician fix the problems in Knox County government? Tim B. would be the least experienced County Mayor in a very long time. That is a tough sell county wide. It takes more than good stories and being affable. Everyone is affable that seeks the job.
Victor Ashe was considered a nice guy by many people.
Really? Name two.
NO. ONE.
Everyone I know refered to him as Victor Ash-hole. I found it suiting.
Let me keep my name out of that list of two. The guy was/is/and always will be an vindictive jerk. He's been a complete embarrassment as Ambassador to Poland as well.
We all know that The Digit wants The Shurf. Best of all worlds: Rule by the stupid and a putative libertarian utopia. Anyhow, if The Digit backs The Shurf, ole Timmy is screwed. Remember: Any position held by The Digit will be the exact opposite of reality or that which works best.
True happiness is knowing you are a hypocrite. -- Ivor Cutler
We all know that The Digit wants The Shurf.
If you can read metulj, which is debatable, you would have seen several times I have written that I do not think Tim Hutchinson should run. He is too polarizing. It allows Jack McElroy too much opportunity to not report the actual news but to go on a weekly diversion like he loves to do with Lumpy Lambert.
Clear enough? I could print it in braille, if that will help.
DOTS-6 DOTS-24 DOTS-145 DOTS-135 DOTS-1345 DOTS-135 DOTS-2345 DOTS-2345 DOTS-125 DOTS-24 DOTS-1345 DOTS-13 DOTS-6 DOTS-2345 DOTS-24 DOTS-134 DOTS-6 DOTS-125 DOTS-136 DOTS-2345 DOTS-14 DOTS-125 DOTS-24 DOTS-1345 DOTS-234 DOTS-135 DOTS-1345 DOTS-234 DOTS-125 DOTS-135 DOTS-136 DOTS-123 DOTS-145 DOTS-1235 DOTS-136 DOTS-1345
Mkay?
Really? Name two.
How do you explain Victor being elected four times? Coincidence?
It's not because people thought he was a "nice guy."
I notice you didn't name two. Or even one.
It's not because people thought he was a "nice guy."
Really? Elected 16 years in a row and they hated him?
How did this become a "bash Victor Ashe" thread?
Victor Ashe is a nice guy. I've always found him generous and helpful anytime I've asked for his assistance through the years on any project.
You're either stupid or arguing just to be a butthole. Sadly, I don't think you're stupid.
So... as you absolutely well know, there are tons of other reasons people vote for somebody other than that they think the candidate is a "nice guy." In fact, there are tons of BETTER reasons to vote for a candidate.
BTW, Frith has made it easy for you. Now you just need to name one person who thinks Victor is a "nice guy."
Frith, you are young.
Very young.
I've found people call you "young" when they're being too nice to call you something worse...
There's plenty of bashing that goes on at this blog, Betty. Folks can disagree with Victor's politics or his actions in office, but he also did a lot of great things for this City during his 16 years in office. He's always been a nice guy to me.
Folks can disagree with Victor's politics or his actions in office, but he also did a lot of great things for this City during his 16 years in office.
I endorse both parts of that sentence.
I just don't think "nice" is the word that comes to mind when describing Victor.
Back to Burchett - just curious, has he ever used his education degree? That is, has he ever been a teacher or worked in the school system?
You know I'm not not calling you anything worse than young...
Victor's been gone for awhile now, and I just wonder if you paid that much attention to city politics during the Ashe Era -- for example, what he did to Burchett wasn't particularly nice.
And somebody mentioned Missy Mayfied -- "nice" doesn't come to mind there, either. Perhaps you missed Danny's name being removed from the Welcome to Knoxville plaque in the airport before Missy even returned from his funeral? And I'll not even get started on the rest of the Mayfield story, beyond saying that Carlene Malone described it as "being in the presence of evil."
I'm not going to defend every action taken by the Ashe Administration, issue by issue. (Heck, the guy was in office for 16 years.) However, I do believe that history will judge Victor's term in office quite kindly.
(Primarily, I object to a thread about Sen. Burchett's campaign for County Mayor becoming a Victor Ashe bash-a-thon.)
Maybe I'm the only person out there that respects Victor Ashe and will vote for Tim Burchett for County Mayor -- but I doubt it. I can only hope that a Burchett Administration shows the same commitment to expanding our parks and greenways and street tree program in the County as Victor Ashe did in the City.
These aren't the only issues important in our community by far, Betty, but I'd argue that they're critical to economic development and recruiting companies to do business in Knox County. I believe they're the most important issues facing our future Mayors. Knoxville can be the cleanest, greenest, most beautiful city in America. Call me "young," but I believe we're on the way.
Tim hasn't managed anything but a failed trailer and mulch business in West Knoxville. He has lived off the taxpayers and is a professional politician. But then again - it didn't stop Haslam. He bankrupted Saks online and then we elected him Mayor. I'd say Padgett has a good shot since so many republicans are looking to run.
Burchett has made less than 30k a year for the last 15yrs. If someone is going to be 'living off taxpayers' I'd rather it be someone driving a beat up old pick up truck than some politician who lives far better than I do, with some sweet do-nothing job. If anything, it shows Burchett is honest and hasn't been bought out by Nashville. And an honest politician is hard to come by. I'll vote for him.
What do you mean he bankrupted Saks online? I thought he worked for Pilot.
He did work for Pilot, but then he went to Saks. The division he was running did not do well. I have no idea what happened, nor who was a fault.
but he's the first person in Halls to admit to planning to vote for Burchett. Eight years ago he was the first person in Halls to support Mike Ragsdale.
He supported Cathy Quist over Lillian Bean when he was about 12 years old. The "kid" has a keen eye for winners. -- s.
"but he's the first person in Halls to admit to planning to vote for Burchett."
You should have been at the Baloney deal. There were lots of familiar faces from Halls there.
So, Clark,
Since you're no kid, and you've known Victor for 40 years, are you saying that, if asked to describe him, "nice guy" would be the first words out of your mouth?
This thread has taken an odd turn -- probably steered by Scott's description of the Ambassador.
OK. "Nice" isn't the first word that comes to mind when discussing Victor. Let's try...
Smart
Hard-working (even relentless)
Bulldog determined
Progressive (for a Republican)
Loyal (to family & friends)
Good fiscal agent (except for the Convention Center)
I could go on ...
Lewis Cosby? He knows county business first hand
So is nice guy the main qualification for being county mayor?
I haven't seen anything on here that tells me Burchett has the skills needed to be our next mayor.
Why shouldn't the GOP in Knox County run Victor Ashe for the County Mayor? Via a friend who doesn't blog. I will duck for him.
True happiness is knowing you are a hypocrite. -- Ivor Cutler
Why shouldn't the GOP in Knox County run Victor Ashe for the County Mayor? Via a friend who doesn't blog. I will duck for him.
Why not Bill Haslam for County Mayor?
Madeline Rogero could fill the City Mayor seat and it would be virtual Metro. The Haslam's finally control the entire county. Oh joy.
Instant Pottersville.
Link...
"Why not Bill Haslam for County Mayor?
Madeline Rogero could fill the City Mayor seat and it would be virtual Metro. The Haslam's finally control the entire county. Oh joy."
Because just controlling the county isn't enough. They want it all. Bill will run for Governor. (assuming Frist doesn't run--and maybe even if he does)
But wouldn't that be interesting. A tale of the 2 Tim's and a tale of the 2 Bill's. Stay tuned til 2010.
because its beneath him. Ambassador to Mayor? Talk about a serious step down. Speaking of steps down, wouldn't County Mayor be considered a step down from State Senator? 95 counties, 30-some odd senators? Any idea why Burchette is coming back to Knox? Has he had problems in Nash? Has he been asked to leave? Why? Problems with other legislators, money issues, eye for the interns, ticked off the governor, etc? I'm curious to know the real reason he's leaving Nashville, especially to come back for a "lesser" job.
He got married not long ago. Maybe he doesn't want to spend so much time in Nashville.
BTW, I just found out about a month ago that my GP is married to Tim's brother. Knoxville really is just a small town.
GP?
Didn't know he was recently married, googled his wife. Damn. Should have been a Senator.
Speaking of steps down, wouldn't County Mayor be considered a step down from State Senator?
Hardly a step down in pay.
Look at what a *part time* state senator makes as compared to Knox county mayor.
Good grief.
The problem here is that this is too inside baseball.
When I said Victor was nice I wasn't talking to the inside baseball crowd.
Think of it like this, there are people in the know, and everyone else. The people that read the Sentinel and believe it are not the inside baseball crowd. They are busy people who don't like politics and feel that since they vote they have done all they need to do. Think West Knoxville.
Many of these people are from other places. They are here for five to ten years then they will go somewhere else. They could care less about our colorful history and unique characters. Both husband and wife work and their family life is very hectic. In other words, the perfect Sentinel focus group.
And to answer the challenge, I know a lot of people who thought Victor was nice. It isn't my job to expose them. They didn't know anything other than what they read in the Sentinel and I certainly wasn't going to tell people who have no interest in the subject they were mistaken. It is very difficult to engage people who don't care.
As to the question of whether the Knox County Mayor race is a Junior High School popularity contest?
Yes Virgina, sadly that is the case.
Tim Burchett is very nice. He will be beaten be someone nicer with more money and qualifications. Or just more money. If no one with either the money or the qualifications step forward, meet your new Mayor. Timmah.
The sad part is Timmah would have trouble being hired in most mid level management jobs in private business in Knox County. How much resume enhancement is there in being a professional State politician?
Also, there is no record that he has ever read to children. Think about that. Do you really want a Mayor who hasn't read to children?
That's it. My money's on Burchett FTW.
True happiness is knowing you are a hypocrite. -- Ivor Cutler
"Also, there is no record that he has ever read to children. Think about that. Do you really want a Mayor who hasn't read to children?"
That's supposed to be funny--right?
"Also, there is no record that he has ever read to children. Think about that. Do you really want a Mayor who hasn't read to children?"
That's supposed to be funny--right?
Not exactly, but it is a joke. We need a Mayor, not what we have now.
"The sad part is Timmah would have trouble being hired in most mid level management jobs in private business in Knox County."
That's the problem in a nutshell.
Saw a piece on Jake Butcher the other day, and for all his faults he was talking about how Knoxville could have had economic development similar to Nashville, but hasn't had the leadership, or words to that effect. Maybe alot of us don't want to be like Nashville, but then alot of us still think that flouride in drinking water is a communist conspiracy. Knox County ain't Green Acres- it's an urban county, and better paying jobs from new employers, with an expanding tax base, leads to an awful lot of good things. Maybe, despite our relatively low wages and dependency on public sector jobs, we don't want that. And maybe our choice of viable candidates simply reflects that we don't want that.
Rather than being progressive and constructive, what either Burchett or Hutchison WILL be good at is very generally criticizing big government and taxes while they, like thousands of anti-government conservatives in this area, take a paycheck from the government, as they have done most of their working lives. Not saying being a police officer isn't noble- just saying don't bite the hand that's fed ya, and that being a Sheriff doesn't mean you'll make an effective CEO.
Say what you want about a guy like Phil Bredesen, I know, there were faults there, but you knew going in that as a Mayor he had the wherewithal to build, improve, and grow a city without getting tranfixed on silliness like road kill and megalomania (our current choices). The guy was at least an adult, and his resume included building a multi-gazillion dollar business before he was mayor. Our candidates' resumes consist of mulch and helicopters.
Maybe we just want a smart politician, not a smart planner. Good thing, because from the looks of it, we certainly ain't gonna get one.
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