Posted on 08/04/2006 7:44:06 AM PDT by SmithL
Despite an ongoing controversy over term limits, Knox County voters Thursday appear to have returned every incumbent but one to the county commission.
In the 2nd District, Democrat Mark Harmon outpolled incumbent Republican David Collins, a former commission chairman, in the race for Seat A.
Harmon, an associate professor of journalism at the University of Tennessee, garnered 55 percent of the vote to Collins' 45 percent.
The results aren't official, but if they hold up the Republicans will hold a 14-5 advantage on commission.
At an election-night party with Democrats at Shonos in City on Market Square, Harmon pumped his fist and shouted "Yes!" when the final results were announced.
Later, he credited his win to old-fashioned politicking.
"The key was hard work," he said. "I had great volunteers. I walked nearly all the district listening to people on their porches and in their homes and it paid off."
In a telephone interview, Collins said the results took him by surprise.
"To be honest with you, I didn't see it coming," Collins said.
"I think obviously in the voters' minds there was something I wasn't picking up on and they wanted to make a change."
Collins said the controversy over term limits probably wasn't a factor.
He was one of five incumbent commissioners - Diane Jordan, Phil Guthe, Billy Tindell and John Griess were the others - who filed a lawsuit earlier this year challenging the validity of the county charter and its term-limits provision.
Chancellor John Weaver threw out the charter, and the state Supreme Court has taken up the case.
Collins appears to be the only one of the five to go down to defeat, according to complete but unofficial results released Thursday night.
In other races:
1st District, Seat A: Jordan, the Democratic incumbent, won handily over Republican Nick Della Volpe. Independent Pete Drew came in a distant third.
1st District, Seat B: Thomas "Tank" Strickland, another Democratic incumbent, received nearly eight out of every 10 votes in crushing Republican Ann Dingus.
2nd District, Seat B: Tindell, a Democrat who has held the seat for three decades, easily outpaced Amy Broyles, an independent write-in candidate.
3rd District, Seat A: The GOP's Tony Norman defeated Democrat Michael L. Daugherty, 53 percent to 47 percent.
3rd District, Seat B: Republican incumbent Ivan Harmon fended off Democrat E. Colvin Idol by 18 percentage points.
4th District, Seat A: Republican incumbent John Schmid rolled over Democratic challenger Joan M. Wagner by a 2-to-1 margin.
4th District, Seat B: Phil Guthe, the Republican incumbent, outdistanced Democrat Elaine Davis by 10 percentage points.
Harry Sherrod made a bid for both 4th District seats as a write-in and received a total of four votes in the two races.
5th District, Seat A: Republican Michael Hammond netted 71 percent of the vote to trounce independent J. Randy Sadler.
5th District, Seat B: Craig Leuthold, the Republican incumbent, was unopposed.
5th District, Seat C: John Griess, the GOP standard-bearer, won by a 2-to-1 margin over Democrat Tom Salter.
6th District, Seat A: Democrat Mark Cawood kept his seat by beating Republican challenger Chuck James, 53 percent to 47 percent.
6th District, Seat B: Greg "Lumpy" Lambert beat Democrat Margaret Massey-Cox by 16 percentage points.
7th District, Seat A: Republican R. Larry Smith cruised to victory with 96 percent of the vote over independent write-in hopeful Faith Tapp in a race the Democrats didn't contest.
7th District, Seat B: Commission Chairman Scott Moore, a Republican, was uncontested in his re-election bid.
8th District, Seat A: Republican Phil Ballard racked up three out of every four votes in defeating Democrat James Brian Pirtle.
8th District, Seat B: Republican John Mills had no problems winning re-election against Democrat Thomas Michael Pressley.
9th District, Seat A: Larry Clark, the Republican incumbent, knocked out Democrat Steve McGill by 22 percent of the vote.
9th District, Seat B: Incumbent Republican Paul Pinkston easily defeated Martin Pleasant, an independent. No Democrat ran for the seat.
The people chose Term Limits, but the career politicians and an activist judge decided that they knew better. It sure seems to have paid off for the career politicians.
Do we have a free republic Don Quixote award yet ?
Probably not the Mark Harmon from St Elsewhere.
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