This is outrageous.

Who has more influence on the Governor - citizens who deeply value our state's wilderness resources or a highly paid shill for increasing coal's profit margin?

On a given day it will likely go to the corporate lobbyist but WHEN the lobbyist is ALSO the Governor's personal advisor, the citizen & wilderness do not stand a chance.

My only encounter with Ingram was when, many years ago, he worked for Edison Schools bringing the charter schools argument before the school board. Oh, for simpler days ...

In my opinion, he's a Tennessee hippie version of Karl Rove (pony tail and all), not nearly as successful but equally as dangerous and misguided, having been relegated to public employment from time to time as the president of the Knoxville SuperChamber and subsequently chief of staff for Lamar! and between Lamar!, Ingram, and Mike Edwards, they have collectively done absolutely nothing for Knoxville or Knox County over the past 20 years, but the taxpayers have paid them royally for their efforts, time and time again.

This article left out the fact that Ingram recently became the public face of Pilot Flying J. Early after the FBI/IRS raid, Governor referred questions to Moxley. Now it is Ingram. Connect the dots, people. connect the dots.

Ingram tops his pretzel logic "no conflict" magic act by making his ties to the coal co. disappear for three years!

(link...)

Look at any Jimmy Haslam interview/transcript and look at the number of times he says "candidly", seriously, is that the best you can do or is this the Ingram spin on trying to let people in on how bad things really may get?

In a backwater town like Knoxville where there isn't a lot going on, Haslam (much like Jake Butcher in the 70's/early 80's) had a number of people under his thumb, making sure things happened or were pushed to happen the way they wanted them to, but that pressure persuasion doesn't work in Nashville (there are 100 Haslamesque fortunes in Nashville), Memphis (there are 100 more Haslamesque fortunes in Memphis), Cleveland, Ohio, New York City (where the NFL resides) or Washington, D.C. (where the regulators reside).

Moxley can put a bad over on the reporters for the Knoxville News Sentinel day in and day out, Ingram can massage the message for political purposes across Tennessee, but he can't do much anywhere else, particularly in those circles that can cut the heart out of the Brown's ownership or Pilot's backbone of their business of selling diesel fuel (and lots of it) across the country.

In my opinon, people are tired of the Haslam arrogance and the failure to disclose what most descent and simple people freely disclose when asked.