The Tyler hits the fan

Sat

Aug 26 2006

05:01 pm

By: Number9

The Tyler hits the fan on the Gene Patterson show "Tennessee This Week" which will air Sunday at noon. If you cannot wait to see this program it is available here. On the panel are Terry Frank, Mike Cohen, and Frank Cagle.

It is particularly interesting when Mike Cohen, a Vice President with Ackermann PR, channels Perry Mason when he puts the witness on trial. The witness of course being Tyler Harber. Cohen was once Mayor Ragsdale's staff advisor. Cohen was replaced by Mike Arms who was on Knox County Commission. Arms is the Chief of Staff for Mayor Ragsdale with a handsome salary which was recently raised to over $ 125,000 per year. Some say Arms effectively runs County Government allowing Mayor Ragsdale to do more important things like fund raising so he can run for Governor. Arms was replaced on Knox County Commission by Mike Hammond who is seeking to be the Chairman of the Commission after only two years on Commission.

The program develops quickly when Mike Cohen flatly states, “Tyler Harber is a liar”.

Terry Frank and Frank Cagle ask some pointed questions but all answers lead to Cohen’s end game that " Tyler Harber is a liar. Tyler Harber has a long history of lying". Yet in the discussion that is not clear at all. The only clear thing that this interview brings to the table is that the Ragsdale administration maintains that " Tyler Harber is a liar and a troubled young man. We wish him well in his recovery". Your mileage may vary. The truth may vary. One thing is certain, it is irrelevant if Tyler Harber is a liar. What is important is whether he was following orders from the Mayor or the Mayor’s Chief of Staff.

At least twice Terry Franks says, “There needs to be an investigation”. Each time Cohen flinches.

Gene Patterson is back to his old form here as he draws Cohen close with some soft balls but then closes with the “Mike Wallace” type question, “Is it possible that Tyler Harber was simply a maverick on his own doing things, without knowledge by Mayor Ragsdale, or was he being directed tacitly by Mayor Ragsdale? Cohen’s expression after this question reveals a great deal. Ask poker players what it means when people look down at the table.

This is either a tragedy or a comedy. I have trouble deciding. But it is compelling and entertaining. Based on Cohen’s performance it is clear this play will have four acts.

Correction: Mike Cohen was not replaced by Mike Arms. Cohen was the "communications and government relations guy" and was replaced by Dwight Van de Vate. Arms served two years as both Ragsdale's Chief of Staff and a District 5 Knox County Commissioner. It was perceived as a conflict of interest by the taxpayers and this was what necessitated the resignation of Arms as County Commissioner and the appointment of WNOX radio executive Mike Hammond to fills Arm's vacant seat. Dwight Van de Vate was formerly the Director of Communications for the Knox County Sheriff's Department.

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Thanks for the link to the

Submitted by Socialist With ... on Sat, 2006/08/26 - 5:38pm.

Thanks for the link to the video, #9. I also thought Cohen's body language was interesting -- about two minutes into the segment, he begins saying things like "Tyler is a liar" and "He has a long history of lying." While Cohen is saying these things, he's shaking his head vigorously side to side in a "No" kind of gesture, as if he's disavowing or disagreeing with his own words. There may not be anything to the analysis of such minutiae, but he sure did divert his eyes downward an awful lot.

--Socialist With A Gold Card

"I'm a socialist with a gold card. I firmly believe we need a revolution; I'm just concerned that I won't be able to get good moisturizer afterwards." --Brett Butler

"I think we should just let it go".

Submitted by Number9 on Sat, 2006/08/26 - 11:11pm.

While Cohen is saying these things, he's shaking his head vigorously side to side in a "No" kind of gesture, as if he's disavowing or disagreeing with his own words. There may not be anything to the analysis of such minutiae, but he sure did divert his eyes downward an awful lot.

The part that is easy to miss is near the end where Mike Cohen is waving his hands and says, "I think we should just let it go".

What caused Cohen to make such a statement? Frank Cagle said that it would be more appropriate for the Grand Jury to take this as a case rather than have Knox County Commission ask for an investigation with the Sheriff's Department.

On the Internet clip of Gene Patterson's show this is at approximately 8 minutes and 40 seconds.

If you have any doubt that an investigation or Grand Jury action should take place watch this small segment when Cohen says, "I think we should just let it go", watch his face and ask yourself what he is thinking. I think Ackermann just lost an account with the Mayor's office.

If Harber is a liar, then

Submitted by Anonymous22 (not verified) on Sat, 2006/08/26 - 6:10pm.

If Harber is a liar, then why is Ragsdale and Co spending so much time and resources trying to spin this story?

Regardless of the specifics, Bean has been able to find others to interview that prove Harber's story (see story about the petitions).

Ragsdale and Co has yet to provide case work or proof that Harber worked on county projects. Furthermore, everyone knows that Harber had his hand in political races on Ragsdale's behalf.

There is more proof that these things happened. They have yet to prove that Harber really is a liar.

Tyler

Submitted by Stacey (not verified) on Sat, 2006/08/26 - 7:50pm.

I think Tindell didn't prosecute because he wanted to run for judge and didn't want that to be a distraction. Then everbody jumped on the Jackson bandwagon, so he doesn't seem to be getting any patronage for keeping quiet. Stacey

good spot, 9, on the clip

Submitted by Lee Greenwood (not verified) on Sat, 2006/08/26 - 10:22pm.

That was interesting to watch. But why wasn't the person who interviewed Tyler there? Isn't Bean on this board? Why didn't you do it?

It was interesting to see the panelists. Terry Frank, who can be off beat, and has no allegiance or job ties to Team Ragsdale, was speaking her mind.

Mike Cohen, who has worked for the city, the Knox county school system and for Team Ragsdale (is there anyone else in local gubmint he hasn't worked for?) was being the water boy for both Team Ragsdale and his current employer (why would he do anything other than bash Harber, there's no upside for his current job and the next job he's looking for if he doesn't bash Tyler).

And then Frank Kagle, who works for "he who cannot be named here," who likes to build subdivisions in the county and get tax breaks.

Stacey, You're just wrong.

Submitted by CBT (not verified) on Sun, 2006/08/27 - 2:23am.

Stacey,

You're just wrong. You make some comments about what I did and/or my motivation, but I don't know that you've ever asked me (seeing as I don't know who you are).

If I wanted to "keep quiet", I wouldn't have gone to the authorities (FBI first, who refered me to the KCSO) in the first place. And, that was long before I made the decision to run for judge. All I did was tell the truth when I found someone was getting into my personal email. No agenda, no politics.

If politics were my concern, never saying anything might have been better. Who knows.

As for formal charges, the District Attorney was fully capable of bringing any charges. I know the KCSO worked hard to develop facts to support a case. I made written and recorded statements. I talked with investigators, the DA and turned over my computer. I did everything was asked to do.

paper

Submitted by Stacey (not verified) on Sun, 2006/08/27 - 7:34pm.

I'm going by what was in the MP and News Sentinel about it and my own speculation that you just wanted it to stop so you could run for judge. What the MP said was that you would have had to been the one who brought the charges. Stacey

If there is any truth to

Submitted by goper (not verified) on Sat, 2006/08/26 - 8:51pm.

If there is any truth to anything the kid says, then we should:

IMPEACH RAGSDALE AND FIRE ARMS (and his son).

I would be amazed if Mike

Submitted by Betty Bean (not verified) on Sat, 2006/08/26 - 10:26pm.

I would be amazed if Mike Cohen could say the things he said with a straight face.

But he can't, can he? So I can save my incredulity for weightier matters.

Mike's not a bad guy, but I think he had an obligation to disclose that his firm does business with the county, and that those jobs are doled out at the pleasure of the mayor. And absent his disclosure, Gene should have pointed that out, since it's not exactly a state secret.

I believe Ackermann got the job of selling the wheel tax, for example.

Knox County

Submitted by Mike Cohen (not verified) on Sun, 2006/08/27 - 8:59am.

All:

Ackermann PR has no contracts with Knox County and hasn't had any in the time I have been there.

We did manage the Wheel Tax campaign, but it got no taxpayer money. In fact, we did much of the fundraising for the campaign. I did mention that on the show.

I was not replaced by Mike Arms. Mike Arms was Chief of Staff from the first Mayor Ragsdsale took office. I was the communications and government relations guy and I was replaced by Dwight Van de Vate. Think of it as an upgrade for the taxpayers.

If you watch segment two of show, I get slapped around by the other two while defending Bredesen. At least I'm bi-partisan.

Mike

Ackermann PR has no

Submitted by Number9 on Sun, 2006/08/27 - 11:54am.

Ackermann PR has no contracts with Knox County and hasn't had any in the time I have been there.

We did manage the Wheel Tax campaign, but it got no taxpayer money. In fact, we did much of the fundraising for the campaign. I did mention that on the show.

My reference to the Ackermann contract in an earlier comment was for the Mayor's 2006 campaign not Knox County business. I made the correction in the main post to reflect you replaced Mr. Van de Vate.

I can appreciate you and others would like for this to go away. The statements made by Don Bosch and Susan Richardson Williams this morning on "Inside Tennessee" reflect the same desire. However, it is a serious charge that Tyler Harber defrauded Knox County taxpayers of over $75,000. If this had occurred in any other office there would be an investigation. This should be a matter for the Grand Jury.

Cohen should be ashamed of

Submitted by Veritas (not verified) on Sun, 2006/08/27 - 2:22pm.

Cohen should be ashamed of himself - attacking some kid for doing what he was told to do. It is clear now that Ragsdale had complete control.

Cohen - why don't you tell us exactly why you left the mayor's office. And, we all know that it has nothing to do with wanting to be in the private sector, because you have been paid by a government entity for the better part of 20 years and never had a problem with it before.

Cohen Was The Fall Guy, Why Does He Protect Ragsdale?

Submitted by Old Hickory (not verified) on Sun, 2006/08/27 - 4:15pm.

In my opinion after the Harber debacle/the Stokes campaign blowing up on itself, Ragsdale had to have a fall guy and that is when Cohen was let go. In my opinion, you know what you are getting with Cohen, he's a career mouthpiece for local governments and he plays that role very well. He doesn't appear to be any smarter than John Werner and neither could come up with the tactics to put these plans togather. They are role players and they play their roles well.

Since Cohen got canned, he's hanging out over at Akerman, but I'm not sure what big clients he has that Akerman can make any money on.

He took a big fall for Ragsdale and why he continues to protect these clowns is amazing to me.

Reaction

Submitted by Mike Cohen (not verified) on Sun, 2006/08/27 - 4:28pm.

First off, Ackermann had no contract for the Mayor's re-election campaign. We haven't worked for the county or for the Mayor.

Second, I was not fired from the Mayor's office. I left because I felt it was time to get back into the private sector. If I had been fired it seems unlikely I would have been asked to manage the wheel tax campaign, doesn't it?

Third, while I certainly held a number of government jobs here in Knoxville and Knox County, I never worked in government before I came here. I spent the bulk of my career as a journalist, managing TV newsrooms...mostly in Nashville.

I have as many or more faults than anyone out there, but I think most people that have dealt with me find me to be honest. You might disagree with me, but I'm not trying to get away with anything.

now I'm confused

Submitted by rikki on Sun, 2006/08/27 - 7:06pm.

Hi Mike,

I have no opinion on whether this disclosure gripe has much merit since I didn't catch the broadcast. I don't have a broadband connection at home, so this thread is all I have to go on. Your post has me confused. If you did work on the wheel tax campaign, but not for the mayor, who were you working for? Escalade Drivers for Value-blind Taxation?

all-stars

Submitted by JustJohnny on Sun, 2006/08/27 - 7:24pm.

Wow. This is an all-stars thread, eh? Carry on.

"Escalade Drivers for

Submitted by bean (not verified) on Sun, 2006/08/27 - 7:57pm.

"Escalade Drivers for Value-blind Taxation?"

Best slogan of the day.

Mike, you're one selfless dude, always throwing yourself into the breach for a good cause. You raised money and wrote mail pieces so that wheel tax could live and fund that library, errr, that big west Knox high school, errr, that little west Knox high school.

And now you're taking one in the bread basket for Team Ragsdale and making yourself the issue, rather than whether those who needed to know what Tyler Harber was doing did, in fact, know -- or whether one wet-behind-the-ears 20-something undergrad was able to snooker all the geniuses on the 6th floor into thinking he was supervising ankle bracelets when he was really being a bad, bad boy on the taxpayers' dime.

Who is the Ankle Bracelet Supervisor now that Tyler's gone?

Response to Bean

Submitted by Mike Cohen (not verified) on Sun, 2006/08/27 - 9:15pm.

Betty:

The last thing in the world I want to do is make myself an issue. I amo more than happy to spend my time working for Ackermann PR and our clients...almost all of whom have nothing to do with politics.

I'm not trying to take one for Team Ragsdale. But I am willing to defend what I did and why I did it.

Tyler, on multiple occasions, looked me in the eye and said he had nothing to do with CasWalker.com. Was I snookered? Apparently so.

If Tyler was being paid tax dollars, he better have been doing work for the taxpayers. There's no way I would defend him being paid tax money for the stuff he says he was doing. But I don't believe most of what Tyler says anyway so I have no reason to think he's being truthful about that.

Cohen's Still Spinning the Story, Probably Billing It As Well

Submitted by Tiny Tim (not verified) on Sun, 2006/08/27 - 10:12pm.

The folks that spun for the mayor's office are still spinning the Tyler Harber story, however, I hope that the Shopper has grown immune to this type spin. Cohen spun the media for victor ashe, for the city, for the county, and for the county school system. Spin Generals do not make good analytical thinkers and they don't make good witnesses before the grand jury. Cohen looked without any credibility on Geneo Patterson's show today and although these spinning heads don't really do anything except talk, they get a lot of attention for talking on behalf of sombody else. Our community needs to get past these spinning heads and get in front of Arms and in front of Ragsdale and find out why they need to pull these stunts and tricks and go ahead and fully fund the West Knox County High School, quit holding funds hostage for attention and control and start governing and quit pandering for attention.

With the new county commission coming on board this coming week, Ragsdale needs to demonstrate that he is somehow relevant to the political process and if he's not going to do his job, then just quit and let somebody else do it.

I don't consider Cohen an authority on anything except how to spin a story and bend it for some rookie/novice local reporters who can't spell Maynardville and don't realize Steve Hall is the Knox County Register of Deeds and is not running for County Mayor.

Response

Submitted by Mike Cohen (not verified) on Sun, 2006/08/27 - 9:07pm.

Rikki:

Certainly Ragsdale wanted the Wheel Tax campaign won. But he did not have a large involvement. An organization was set up, we raised the money and managed the campaign. I certainly talked to Mike a couple of times, but it's not like he was heavily involved or attended meetings. Tommy Schumpert was the chair. The money was raised from realtors, home builders, developers.

The money was raised from

Submitted by rikki on Mon, 2006/08/28 - 9:33am.

The money was raised from realtors, home builders, developers.

Escalade drivers, I knew it!

PS

Submitted by Mike Cohen (not verified) on Sun, 2006/08/27 - 4:31pm.

Those of you saying I got canned or should be ashamed of myself or am failying to make any money for Ackermann, two things: first, you don't know what you're talking about. Secondly, I'm siging my name to what I say. How about showing the class to give yours when you throw around insults and lies?

Hey, treat Mike Cohen with

Submitted by Rachel on Sun, 2006/08/27 - 6:09pm.

Hey, treat Mike Cohen with some respect. There are lots of folks with no class involved in this entire Tyler Harber mess (TH himself included). Mike's not one of them.

clarify

Submitted by Clarify (not verified) on Sun, 2006/08/27 - 7:47pm.

To clarify, I'm talking about something that was in the MP a few months ago, a year after the Tyler debacle started, saying something like, that the KCSD had finished its investigation and that between Tindell and Nichols having to be the ones to bring charges there probably would not be a hot election year trial that would bring out Ragsdale's administration's dirty laundry. Between that and all the other stuff I've read and pure speculation, it sounded like that nobody running for office, Tindell, Nichols, etc, and everyone involved in the prosecution was running for something, wanted this possible trial to taint their campaigns. Others speculated this too and figured Tyler was given a ticket out of town and some sort of pay off to keep quiet. And now its seems everyone wanted to wait and make sure Ragsdale got elected before anything was looked into any furher.And it could be the kid really is just a liar and there is no dirty laundry. Who knows. Will read more in the Shopper tomorrow. Stacey

puttin humpty dumpty back together

Submitted by bill young (not verified) on Sun, 2006/08/27 - 8:33pm.

the anti-wheel tax grassroots campaign was focused,organized & was very close to winning...when mike cohen,tommy schumpert et al came on board the grown ups had shown up to put humpty dumpty back together..& the wheel tax passed by the skin of it's teeth...the truth is,The Art of War.."subvert,steal & desroy"..political tricks are for kids..does not work,not then,not now,not ever.

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