Rochelle's frustration ends run in state Senate
By Richard Locker locker@gomemphis.com
July 10, 2002
NASHVILLE - State Sen. Robert Rochelle, the Senate's speaker pro tem and its chief tax reform advocate, ended his bid for re-election Tuesday after 20 years in the legislature.
Rochelle (D-Lebanon) had suspended his campaign Friday, two days after legislative leaders conceded defeat in trying to pass a state income tax. He said then he needed time to think through whether he wanted to continue in the General Assembly.
After three days of reflection on his Wilson County farm he concluded Tuesday he did not want to serve in a legislative climate that will likely require cuts in state programs and services in the next few years.
"The fact is that I do not want to spend the next four years tearing down what I have spent 20 years helping to build up. Tennessee can be a great state again. That return to greatness will begin when the legislature solves the state's biggest problem: an inadequate and unfair revenue system," Rochelle, 56, said in a statement issued by his office.
"I do not desire to serve the next four years in the Senate. If necessary I will file the appropriate documents to withdraw after the August primary. It is my belief that a write-in campaign for a quality Democratic candidate can be successful," he said in the statement. Rochelle, the lone Democrat on the ballot in his district, was not available for further comment.
As speaker pro tem, Rochelle was the second-ranking official in the Senate behind Speaker John Wilder (D-Somerville).
The timing of the withdrawal could make it easier for Republicans to gain control of the Senate in the November elections. Democrats outnumber Republicans 18-15 and Rochelle was being challenged by state Rep. Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet), an anti-tax legislator who did not vote for any of the tax increases and budget-cutting plans that reached the floor of the House this year.
Rochelle was generally considered to be the front-runner in the race.
Under state election law Rochelle's name will still appear on the Aug. 1 Democratic primary. A write-in candidate would have to receive more votes than Rochelle in order to win the party's nomination and appear opposite Beavers on the Nov. 5 general election ballot, state Election Coordinator Brook Thomp son said.
Tennessee Democratic Party chairman William E. Farmer, who like Rochelle is a Lebanon attorney, said he believes the party will find a write-in candidate and will hold the seat but it will take considerable work.
"Bob Rochelle is a friend of mine and Senator Rochelle will be missed by the people of Tennessee and this area. I'm disappointed but I understand his decision and the pain and suffering his family has endured," Farmer said.
Rochelle and his family received death threats during the long tax reform battle. At some points in the debate income-tax opponents drove past his home honking their horns, as they did at the Capitol.
Rochelle's Senate District 17 includes seven counties just east of Nashville: Wilson, Trousdale, Macon, Smith, DeKalb, Cannon and Clay.
News of Rochelle's withdrawal was greeted with dismay by Senate colleagues.
"Bob Rochelle is by far the most skilled tactician in passing legislation," said Sen. Jim Kyle (D-Memphis). "He played a very hardball game of politics. He played to win. But even among those he played against I think everyone thought he played fair. He will be missed by those who played with him and against him."
When the legislature's monumental struggle over tax reform began in February 1999 Rochelle became an early advocate of an income tax - after opposing it earlier in his career - as a fairer and more adequate way of raising revenue for the state and its programs and services.
Although it was eclipsed this year by a flat-rate income tax plan proposed by House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, Rochelle had advocated a graduated rate income tax with high exemption levels that would abolish the sales tax on grocery food.
Both plans ultimately failed and the legislature instead increased the state sales tax. Contact Nashville Bureau chief Richard Locker at (615) 255-4923.
On WHAT planet ?!? Unless they mean the front runner to be LOSING. Good riddance to my trash state senator, I'll miss you like I miss a raging case of herpes."