Posted on 05/12/2002 5:09:10 AM PDT by GailA
Susan Adler Thorp: Angry GOP voters turn out, slap 'ins' May 12, 2002
When Shelby County awoke last Wednesday, one thing was clear: Republican voters were angry.
They were angry with Republican elected officials who they believed had ignored their brand of governance, one that promotes reduced taxes and smaller government.
These Republicans - mostly white and mostly suburban - were angry with GOP county commissioners who gave themselves a $10,000 pay raise after voting to raise county property taxes and to increase the wheel tax.
They were angry with commissioners who had approved tax subsidies to build the downtown arena.
And they were angry at the head of the state GOP, Gov. Don Sundquist, whose push for a broad-based income tax led to an assault last year on the state Capitol by their grass-roots colleagues in Middle Tennessee.
Although the 18 percent voter turnout for the May 7 county primary was woefully low, thousands of Republicans turned out to reject most of the politicians they believed to be part of the party establishment - the people they blamed for their discontent.
Commissioners Clair Vander Schaaf and Morris Fair were tossed from office. GOP strategist and Republican National Committee member John Ryder, a commission candidate, lost his first bid for elected office.
In their places, GOP voters elected Joyce Avery, John Willingham and Bruce Thompson, all of whom vowed to hold the line on county taxes. It was a promise voters had heard before, but evidently were ready to believe.
Fueling and benefiting from that anger was George Flinn, the Memphis physician and broadcast magnate who won the GOP primary for county mayor by tapping his personal wealth to gin up voters' ire.
Flinn defeated state Rep. Larry Scroggs, the GOP leadership's preferred candidate. A six-year state lawmaker with close ties to Sundquist, Scroggs never had a chance. Even though he entered the campaign late, he chose to remain active in his House duties. That forced him to divide his time between his work in Nashville and the campaign trail at home.
Scroggs raised relatively little money - just over $100,000 - compared to the more than $400,000 of his own money that Flinn poured into his campaign.
Flinn used his money effectively, He played on voters' anger and fear about taxes. He hired an out-of-town consultant to help run his campaign - someone with a track record of destroying the opposition without mercy.
For Scroggs, the result was devastating. Flinn used the airwaves in an unprecedented assault, portraying Scroggs as a career politician who spent his years in Nashville voting to raise taxes. Nothing could have been further from the truth, but Scroggs didn't have the resources to refute the constant attacks.
Also benefiting from the Republican drive to defeat the establishment was Mark Luttrell, the county's corrections director, who easily won the GOP nomination for sheriff. Luttrell, too, represented change. He successfully positioned himself as an outsider among insiders, defeating two longtime Sheriff's Department employees, Chief Deputy Don Wright and Capt. Bobby Simmons, whom he tied to the problems plaguing the downtown jail and the department's soiled reputation.
Flinn's popularity among Republicans will be tested in the Aug. 1 general election, when he faces A C Wharton, the Democratic nominee.
Wharton enters the general election as the unified favorite among Democrats. His popularity as the county's chief public defender and a community leader has a long reach into Republican circles. It likely will be even greater now that Flinn's campaign has divided the Republican ranks between party moderates and the disenchanted right - a division that could last for years.
But Flinn will give Wharton a tough challenge. His funding advantage gives him the wherewithal to launch another negative campaign.
Flinn will benefit from more than his money. On the same Aug. 1 ballot will be primary elections for state offices, including governor and the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Fred Thompson.
The GOP Senate race between U.S. Rep. Ed Bryant and Lamar Alexander promises to lure a big Republican turnout in Shelby County. Also drawing Republicans to the polls will be the Seventh Congressional District contest, which includes state Sen. Mark Norris of Collierville, Memphis attorney David Kustoff and Memphis City Council member Brent Taylor.
The problem Wharton faces is that there's not a hotly contested Democratic race other than his own that will drive Democrats to the polls in August.
U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. is unopposed. Former Nashville mayor Phil Bredesen is the prohibitive favorite for the Democratic nomination for governor. And U.S. Rep. Bob Clement of Nashville is effectively unopposed in his Democratic race for the Senate.
Randy Wade, the Democratic nominee for sheriff, will have to pray that Wharton can inspire a large Democratic turnout, since it's unlikely he will raise enough money to draw Democrats to the polls on his own.
Even though 70 percent of the county's Democratic voters are African-American, as are Wharton and Wade, that's not enough reason to bring the Democratic majority in Shelby County to the polls in large numbers.
Wharton will have to give voters a compelling reason to turn out. Chances are, he'll be forced to spend a significant amount of the money he raises to defend himself against Flinn's campaign attacks, rather than to boost voter turnout.
Susan Adler Thorp is political columnist for The Commercial Appeal. You can reach her at 529-5843, write to her at 495 Union, Memphis, Tenn. 38103,
The EVIL, EVIL, Flinn used MOUNTAINS of illgotten personal wealth to defeat the kindly, poor, hard working Republican Scroggs, who was only trying to help the downtrodden taxpayers.
Now he's going to tap into more UNTOLD MILLIONS of dollars to run another EVIL NEGATIVE CAMPAGIAN against another kindly gentleman, this time the Democrat Wharton. God help us all!
Note: The shouting is transfered from the article to my summary.
James Carville is now working for conservative GOP candidates?
Wasn't it the peoples drive that defeated the Republican establishment? How can she/it, be against "the little people?" Just a question, we know why. Good luck, God bless and go get'm!
She can't stand it we threw out the TAX & SPENDAHOLICS long time incumbents.
You bet we are and the dems/libs will hear from us BIG TIME in November.
Is that none other than Jimmy Sasser, he of Doficit fame?
James Carville is now working for conservative GOP candidates?
Yeah, CarVile and Bug-alley both. Evidently.
What's the problem? Well, voters are angry and white and suburban and worst of all, Republican. Opposition candidates "gin up voters ire", as if politicians lies and tax increases aren't enough. This reporters are the ones out of touch. Isn't this how democracy is supposed to work? Or is democracy simply supposed to confirm what the politicians want to do? I think we know the answer to this one.
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