Thu
Feb 25 2010
02:33 pm
Charter Amendment 3 Court Challenge
By: Lisa Starbuck

A new motion for "Extraordinary Relief and Injunction" was filed today in the Charter Amendment 3 lawsuit which seeks, among other things, to prevent the reduction of County Commission to 11 from 19.

The motion asks for a temporary injunction "enjoining the effective date of Item Numbers 1, 2 and 4 of Charter Amendment Question 3 and requiring Knox County to proceed henceforth as if those three challenged provisions had not been adopted and approved . . . "

Topics:
Anonymously Nine's picture

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Submitted by Anonymously Nine on Thu, 2010/02/25 - 2:37pm.

Again KnoxViews provides the information the daily paper cannot seem to find.

Maybe one of the tv stations can post the filing?

Lisa Starbuck's picture

Election Date Changes

Submitted by Lisa Starbuck on Thu, 2010/02/25 - 2:46pm.

The injunction is asking for the primary to be moved to August and the August general election to be moved to November so that the Constitutional and state law issues can be heard before the election proceeds.

Anonymously Nine's picture

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Submitted by Anonymously Nine on Thu, 2010/02/25 - 2:52pm.

"The injunction is asking for the primary to be moved to August and the August general election to be moved to November so that the Constitutional and state law issues can be heard before the election proceeds."

That is exactly what needs to happen to prevent another sweep of County Commission like the one that devolved into "Black Wednesday".

And even though it was not reported anywhere other than KnoxViews County Commission had an almost unanimous vote Monday to instruct Bill Lockett the County Law Director to stop Robert Watson from using more delaying tactics so the matter can be heard as it is crucial to this election process.

Finally the matter can be heard and a ruling made.

Tamara Shepherd's picture

Background, please?

Submitted by Tamara Shepherd on Thu, 2010/02/25 - 5:34pm.

Nine, you speak as if the Chancellor is certain to grant the motion to change the election dates. Is he?

And pending Nine's answer, Lisa, has a date been set to hear the lawsuit, should the Chancellor not grant this motion?

I've been unclear as to where this lawsuit stands...

Lisa Starbuck's picture

Information

Submitted by Lisa Starbuck on Fri, 2010/02/26 - 12:35am.

I don't know if any hearing dates have been set should this motion be denied. I do know that commission voted on Monday to get this question expedited.

Anonymously Nine's picture

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Submitted by Anonymously Nine on Sat, 2010/02/27 - 4:31pm.

"I've been unclear as to where this lawsuit stands..."

The filing is here:

(link...)

As you can see, this bundled Amendment was illegal on its face. I would not want to be either Jack McElroy, Greg Mackay, or Tom McAdams today.

County Commission was castigated for not allowing this mess on the ballot. Things look quite different now.

This will end with a whimper should Chancellor Weaver rule for the Plaintiffs. You can see in the Sentinel today the reluctance to discuss the filing. It should have been the top headline. It is Kryptonite to the daily paper. Too much water was carried.

You can imagine what the people that paid for the Knox Charter Petition are thinking today. $150,000 was spent on this folly. How could it have been this flawed?

Anonymously Nine's picture

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Submitted by Anonymously Nine on Thu, 2010/02/25 - 6:08pm.

"Nine, you speak as if the Chancellor is certain to grant the motion to change the election dates. Is he?"

I have no idea.

Chancellor Weaver will rule in the best interest of Knox County and according to State Law and the Knox County Charter. That is all I know.

The choice is whether to risk a complete sweep of County Commission. Should the Plaintiffs prevail the entire County Commission, all 11 Districts, would be removed from office. Think of that as an Nuclear Black Wednesday. Since there would be no Commission to make appointments, then a special election must be held. They are quite expensive on such a scale. This would not be an issue if Robert Watson, Attorney for Knox County, had not played the delay game. But that is another matter.

Or the other choice is to grant the injunction, hear the case, and move the County Commission election to the August and November time frames. This would cost nothing as other elections are held at this same time. Only County Commission is effected. Other races would run at their normal times.

After the case is posted, I am sure you will have opinions you will share on the case law.

If you read the ruling from Chancellor Weaver allowing the case to go forward, you will understand more. On "Inside Tennessee", local Attorney Don Bosch mentioned this ruling and suggested it is possible we may go back to 19 Districts. You may not agree.

Time will tell.

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