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July 15, 2007
Senate District 10 Candidate Parade Begins
Three local and state beat reporters for the big Chattanooga daily published a roundup Saturday of the potential names we could see on ballots as early as this fall in a special election to replace Sen. Ward Crutchfield. Let's examine some.
Andy Berke This young lawyer has been causing ripples in the local Democratic pool lately, but is about to make a big splash with a formal announcement and some hefty pocketbooks at the ready. Pris Siskin has signed on as one of the chief fundraisers, and the campaign boasts that it will be sporting a hundred grand in the next few days. An aside: I was a juror for a civil trial in which Berke and his father, Marvin, represented the plaintiffs. I won't recount the whole story here, but it ended with a hung jury, where I and seven others found that the evidence simply didn't support the lawsuit's claim, but the other four were obviously persuaded otherwise. That case was a real eye-opener for me, with regard to the tort process but I digress. Berke's apparent resources could make this a very interesting Democratic primary. (See Don Loftis paragraph, below.)
Oscar Brock Obviously I don't know my local Republican Party, because I had not heard this name before, and he is an Executive Committeeman. His name is added at legislative delegation chair Rep. Gerald McCormick's behest, although it's not known whether he intends to run. Brock is a commercial real estate developer; perhaps you've seen one of his newest buildings, a medical office complex, going up near the corner of McCallie & Central. And, being a Brock from Lookout Mountain, is he related to the candy Brocks, aka the family of former US Senator Bill Brock (III), and former US Senator William Brock (I)?
JoAnne Favors current member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, District 29. Daughter, Karen Lee, serves on the Hamilton County Election Commission, which legislators appoint. Lee was named to the commission after her mother, a former county commissioner, won election to the House. Conflict of interest?
Ken Jordan
Mike Killian Mayor of South Pittsburg, who just signed into law an ordinance banning so-called "pit bulls" from his city. From the Chattanoogan: "Mr. Killian is the former chairman of the Marion County Commission. He served an internship in the state legislature and has a number of contacts in Nashville."
Don Loftis County Commissioner Curtis Adams lost the ability to appoint the county school board, and thus wield much power over who held the position of Superintendent, when the city and county school systems merged a few years back; and now Adams, and perhaps a few other commissioners, want to send their guy, the former Hamilton County Schools superintendent, to the Legislature as an appointee, and thus avoid an election. However, for them to be able to do that, Ward Crutchfield would need to remain in office until after November 4 of this year. Thankfully, that doesn't appear likely, so Loftis has indicated an interest in entering the special election. But get this: in a news story from about seven months ago, Loftis, who has been hired since 2004 as the lobbyist for the school system he once led, said "I don't deal with the Legislature that much." Come again? Furthermore, he never registered as a lobbyist, even though tax dollars were paying him to be one, and only got away with it because the oversight of lobbyist registrations changed departments after Operation Tennessee Waltz created all of that ethics brouhaha. (He is registered now, and his effective date predates the aforementioned article by one day. Curious.) People, y'all will elect whomever you choose, but at this point in time, I view voting for this candidate as tantamount to abetting cronyism. See here.
Bernie Miller Actually, Dr. Miller, a popular pastor and community leader, has denied that he is interested in the position, after county commission chairman Larry Henry alleged that Miller had told him as much. But it looks like a few people, at least, are afraid of a Bernie Miller candidacy, because former Hamilton County Democratic Party chair Stuart James sent Miller an email warning him off pursuing it. This email rather hilariously ended up simultaneously being sent to the Times Free Press, as you saw in the story linked above. Oops! Careful with that "CC:" field, Stuart. And, frankly, shame on you for attempting to dissuade, with what some may see as underhanded tactics and condescending remarks, a legally qualified citizen from running for office.
Arnold Stulce According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press on July 17, this former state Representative, a Democrat, has also expressed interest.
Randy Russell this experienced attorney ran for General Sessions Court Judge in a crowded Division I last year. It was the race that Christie Mahn Sell ended up winning. Other than that, I don't currently have much info on him.
John Wolfe Bill reminds me that Wolfe's name has surfaced somewhere as well. If I could stomach listening to talk radio, I might tune in to see if there are any hints or announcements on the air. Wolfe, you remember, ran against Bob Corker in the 2001 mayoral race; and has at least twice opposed Congressman Zach Wamp. During one of those campaigns, when I asked around as to why, with no offense meant to Mr. Wolfe, the Democrats didn't put up a bigger-name candidate to try and unseat Wamp, I was consistently told that who else? Ward Crutchfield "likes Zach Wamp," and since Crutchfield had a big say in how state party funds were doled out (and, apparently, "wonderfully and crookedly" doubled), District 3 Democrats from here to Wartburg were pretty much left on their own. John Wolfe also infamously penned the "power structure" memo that was circulated during the 2005 mayoral campaign, that attacked candidate Ann Coulter and her supporters. It's almost ironic to think that the beneficiary of that memo, Mayor Ron Littlefield, is easily more connected to a "power structure" than was Ms. Coulter. (In fairness, I believe they're all connected to the same one, but that it suffers from high school-like rifts among various cliques.) John Wolfe is a nice guy; but he is, professionally and otherwise, sort of a "perpetual underdog." Nothing wrong with that, if that's your shtick.
Okay, so far, there's no standout in this bunch (at least for my vote), but let's see who all else comes along.
State Senate Elections | By joe lance | 12:00 AM