« Bo Knows District 11 | Main | When Is an Elephant Not an Elephant?-And other uses for chipotle »
March 24, 2006
UPDATED There's No Place Like St. Elmo
A County Commission race just got more interesting. (Come on, aren't you with me on the fact that they're all already riveting, except for District 9?) Chattanooga attorney and former Hamilton County Democratic Party chair John Allen Brooks is challenging incumbent Lou Miller in the District 6 primary on May 2. Trouble is, some say that Brooks doesn't live in the 6th.
Hey, I don't question that there's confusion over electoral boundaries. These gerrymandered districts, at all levels of government, cause a person to forget which side of the street he's supposed to use to determine his precinct.
That said, it is interesting that Brooks seems to have a strong connection to Ooltewah (one of my Yankee friends' favorite words, by the way), as in:
OOLTEWAH, TN Political Contributions by IndividualsBrooks, John (Self/Attorney), (Zip code: 37363) $1500 to TENNESSEE DEMOCRATIC PARTY on 06/18/03
Brooks, John A (Self/Attorney), (Zip code: 37363) $1000 to TENNESSEE DEMOCRATIC PARTY on 05/12/04
Brooks, John A (Self/Attorney), (Zip code: 37363) $3444 to TENNESSEE DEMOCRATIC PARTY on 08/26/04
Brooks, John A (Self/Attorney), (Zip code: 37363) $1078 to TENNESSEE DEMOCRATIC PARTY on 09/26/04
Brooks, John Allen (Self/Attorney at Law), (Zip code: 37363) $250 to COMMITTEE TO ELECT LINCOLN DAVIS on 02/12/04
[Emphasis added by editor, who trusts that you know "37363" to mean Ooltewah.]
It has been some time since this information was updated. Perhaps he lives in St. Elmo now. As of 6/7/2005, though, not so much.
I honestly don't know if the FEC data uses resident or business address. Do you? But Brooks' business address seems to be Georgia Ave, downtown Chattanooga. What's in Ooltewah?
Frankly, and just between you and me and the entire electronic webverse, I wouldn't mind seeing someone come along that presents a reasonable alternative to Commissioner Miller. I think the voters in the 6th can make the right choice, it's not up to me -- but if there is any substance to the appearance of a paperwork indiscretion here, those voters will need to look further than to John Brooks for their alternative.
Let this be clear, too, that if there is just a misunderstanding, and no impropriety or even "fudging" going on, I'll be the first to publicly re-affirm Mr. Brooks. Or, someone else may do it first, but I'll make it eventually. It's slower going with a toddler in the foreground.
By the way, I cannot relocate the web page where I first read about this discrepancy, so apologies to whomever I did not link. It seems rather strange that search engines don't find it either. Was it just published today?
UPDATE: Yes, apparently so. I also received an e-mail just after posting. The e-mail contained another e-mail that was written by Jan Brooks, John's wife. She contends that the house in St. Elmo has been their residence for some time, and that rumors to the contrary were possibly the work of Mr. Brooks' primary opponent or her supporters.
See, I told you this race just got interesting.
Elections | By joe lance | 09:17 PM