Fri
Jan 19 2007
07:07 pm
Commissioners in a hurry to fill vacancies
By: R. Neal

Gene Patterson reports at his blog that Scoobie Moore is now calling for County Commission to fill all vacancies in special vote on Jan. 31st with NO PUBLIC HEARINGS.

OK, then.

UPDATE: The KNS has this report on the Jan. 31st anointments. Scoobie Moore says he has ten commissioners lined up in support of the plan, which are enough to carry it. (I guess that would be Scoobie, Lumpy and the eight being ousted?) Lumpy Lambert is curiously not quoted.

UPDATE: In related news, Georgiana is back and posting at Michael Silence's place. She has some scuttlebutt from the South Knox 9th District .

UPDATE: Remarks by former Knox County Democratic Party Chairman Jim Gray regarding a resolution adopted this week by the party:

"The first resolution simply addresses the fact that there will be an election to fill the various jobs for the remainder of the term that started August 1, 2006. We'd like to see that election sooner rather than later. The resolution does not ask that there be an election instead of appointments. Those are expected; we just want them to be short and the voters to get a second chance at filling the jobs directly ASAP."

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Bbeanster's picture

With all due respect, David

Submitted by Bbeanster on Fri, 2007/01/19 - 8:27pm.

With all due respect, David Kiger's got about as much chance of being appointed as I do. Gary Underwood's not looking good, either.

Here's how it'll come down:
Each outgoing commissioner will nominate one person, after which the nominations will be closed.
I've heard a slate of candidates, but the list is too gross for me to type without puking on my keyboard.
And the situation is so fluid, that I shouldn't even have made the above prediction.
But as of now, it's a done deal, with the sheriff driving the train.

A big breaking scandal about courthouse corruption with a resulting HUGE wave of public reaction might change some things, but I dunno.

D Mac's picture

Live DTV with Mark Harmon tonight

Submitted by D Mac on Fri, 2007/01/19 - 9:02pm.

Tonight is live DTV with regular host Mark Harmon. Could be a good night to ask some interesting questions on this matter. The call in number is 215 2288.

In light of todays actions, I expect the mayor to come back with a volley to this serve by Scooby. Will he be the champion of the people in pressing for some kind of public forum? How will he counter the sheriffs' posse? (Okay, I am mixing metaphors.) What a soap opera, or is it a spaghetti western?

bill young's picture

my 2 cents

Submitted by bill young on Fri, 2007/01/19 - 10:36pm.

i think a special election this year would be the best way to go..but i don't think we can get there from here.30 years ago we began building a constitutional wall between the general assembly & the county because counties were getting tired of going to nashville for every little thing..this is the way it wuz..the justices of the peace were elected & were commissioned by the governor.vacancies for the sheriff,trustee & register were filled by the justicies..the clerks,elected by the people,were filled by the courts..all other vacancies were filled as the legislature directed.However,in '78,we changed all that..creating the county executive & adding the clerk & assessor to the sheriff,trustee & regester as the "constitutional officers",creating the the county commission & allowing the county body to fill all vacancies.Futhermore,a county could create its own charter.We did..well,we kinda did.Because of that the Court ruled term limits were valid.Before '78..the constitution said appointed office holders successors were elected in the first election held for any county officers.After '78,successors were elected at the next occuring election.I believe this gave counties leeway to provide for special elections as the next occuring election.however,our charter does not provide for special elections..it provides that the successor to an appointed official to be elected at the next(county)general election.

Bbeanster's picture

My eyes, my eyes!

Submitted by Bbeanster on Fri, 2007/01/19 - 11:06pm.

Bill, you always have something good to say, but it'd be a lot easier on my elderly eyeballs if you'd take a paragraph break every once in awhile

Tess's picture

my predictions

Submitted by Tess on Sat, 2007/01/20 - 11:33am.

I predict some shuffling around of commissioners to the other open jobs, and several wives of current commissioners being appointed to fill their slots. Lots of back scratching is going on at the moment, no doubt.

Rachel's picture

I think Bean is right

Submitted by Rachel on Fri, 2007/01/19 - 10:34pm.

Sadly.

Mark Siegel's picture

By 2010 or 2012, everything will be fine

Submitted by Mark Siegel on Sun, 2007/01/21 - 12:14am.

Right now, though, Knox County is going to look like hogs running through banana peels to a trough.

Welcome to Banana Peel Central.

rikki's picture

Scoobie sez

Submitted by rikki on Sat, 2007/01/20 - 12:30pm.

"There is no perfect plan." So they've decided to proceed without any plan at all. Isn't that precious.

While there may be no perfect plan, by no means are all plans equal. A minimally acceptable plan would address three issues: nomination process, order of replacements and whether to vote separately for each seat or group them into slates.

Since the Scoobie Plan ignores all of these issues, we have to assume the commission's intent is to handle this as poorly as possible so as to sow as much ground for legal challenges as they can.

bill young's picture

it stinks

Submitted by bill young on Sat, 2007/01/20 - 12:50pm.

they will do it per charter...it stinks..but it will be over...unless the nominees cant get to 10

Bbeanster's picture

actually, Rikki, there IS a

Submitted by Bbeanster on Sat, 2007/01/20 - 1:46pm.

actually, Rikki, there IS a plan. They're just trying to keep the civilians from knowing what it is.

bill young's picture

i'm wrong jim's right

Submitted by bill young on Sat, 2007/01/20 - 4:35pm.

jim gray's right..the legislature can provide for a special election..2/3rds vote of commission & tim will introduce a special election bill..i'm all for it...i was wrong...THANKS JIM

rikki's picture

fantasy commission

Submitted by rikki on Sat, 2007/01/20 - 5:04pm.

The subtitle of the KNS article is "Chairman says majority of commission members have signed on to plan."

I'm such a wild-eyed idealist I actually believe commissioners "sign on" to plans by convening, motioning, discussing and voting. You really have to wonder about me and the crazy ideas that pass through my head.

Since commission can now do business by having the Chairman declare the results of a secret ballot on a secret motion, perhaps the county should look into cost-saving measures like reducing the size of the legislative branch to two: a Chairman and a ghostwriter. The Chairman's responsibility would be to be The Decider, and the ghostwriter's job is to dream up tales of fantasy meetings at which The Decider's decisions were debated and voted on. Not only would this save money in salaries, office space, election costs, benefits and support staff, it would also be more efficient and entertaining.

Knox County voters would no doubt assent to the plan within minutes of being told they support it.

I imagine Steve Hall and his attorney were heartbroken to hear Scoobie say, "We're going to follow strictly state law, the commission rules and the charter of Knox County."

Pickens's picture

oh geez

Submitted by Pickens on Sat, 2007/01/20 - 7:20pm.

this is just sick. I never labored under any notion whatsoever that those who finished 2nd to a term limited incumbent would get the appointment. Those wounds are still fairly fresh, after all. But I didn't expect this horsesh@#.

Here's a potential upside: we're getting a lot of seat warmers appointed because of the public backlash that's going to happen. Unless someone is really well qualified, when these seats hit the ballots in 2/08, these folks appointed will be smeared from here to kingdom come as the spawn of the backroom deals and carry that around their neck everywhere they go.

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