The real-life Boss Hogg faces his legal hazards

THE Dukes of Hazzard was a popular TV series in which the attempts of Boss Hogg, a corrupt county commissioner in the American Deep South, to impose his own brand of justice were constantly thwarted by the free-wheeling, fast-driving “Duke Boys”.

Danny Crosby is the real-life Mayor of Coopertown, Tennessee, who — like Boss Hogg — is fond of white stetsons, police cars and speeding tickets. According to court documents filed this week, the similarities do not stop there.

A 17-page “writ of ouster”, a rarely used Tennessee procedure to remove an elected official, was presented to Robertson County Chancery Court on Tuesday by John Carney, the District Attorney, stating the mayor has “exhibited an unworthiness to occupy the office”.

The writ alleges that Mr Crosby systematically sought to “shake down” passing motorists with traffic fines, targeting undocumented Hispanic workers and soldiers because they were more likely to pay. He is said to have ordered police to arrest or intimidate political opponents, and fostered an atmosphere of intolerance against blacks and gays.

The document claims Mr Crosby routinely refers to black people as “niggers”, saying: “Everyone should own one.”

After swearing in a police officer on Martin Luther King Day, he is alleged to have said: “Happy James Earl Ray Day” — a reference to the man who assassinated the civil rights leader in 1968.

"Tyrant...the very word I worked hard to avoid but there it is. I asked you before but is there anything anyone can do to rid us of this (for those not in the know Mr. Naifeh is Tennessee's Democrat Speaker-uh-duh-Hizzee and habitually ignores Robert's Rules Of Order, civil behavior and common decency while overlording legislation for his party's advantage) evil, megalomaniacal stain on Tennessee's political reality."

"Now that was funny. Naifeh is about the most arrogant of them all IMO or at least my dealings with his office staff left me with that impression. You can not contact the man even though he is State Speaker of the House unless you are in his district. No calls no letters. This from the man who controls what gets voted on and what doesn't. He and Wilder will have to be surgically extracted from their seats if ever voted out of office."

In the wake of the Baker v. Carr decision in the mid '60s, when the state rapidly moved towards the GOP, the district that would elect Naifeh had a Republican representing it in 1972 (Naifeh lost to the winner that year). But with the horrid 1974 elections came the rise of the execreble McGovernites whom had mostly been eviscerated in the previous election, and Naifeh epitomized their arrogance, destructiveness, and tyranny. Only in his 2nd term in 1976, his mentor, the equally tyrannical and oppressive Ned Ray McWherter, moved him up to Majority Leader, before assuming the top job itself a decade later when Tubby occupied the Governor's office.

I do find it remarkable, albeit typical, that the local media never has found much of a problem with his 20-year reign of error and continuous demonstration of anti-democratic/anti-Republican (if anything, I do credit McWherter and Naifeh with making me a Republican at the time they rose to their highest jobs back in '86 -- they became the epitome of everything I knew was wrong with politics and government) and their neverending and successful attempts to proliferate an uncontestable one-party Soviet-style government regime apparatus for a party clearly on the decline (and one that is now clearly the choice of a minority of voters despite liberal employment of tools of majority disenfranchisement). Yet those same media outlets let out their hypocritical howls of invisible "injustice" at the relatively brief reign of Speaker Gingrich at the national level, and the 7+ years of a GOP majority since.

As for deposing Naifeh from his actual seat, it would likely require an opponent with considerable money and ground troops (although more likely, it would require a redraw of the lines to reflect the fact that the county he lives in (Tipton) is now quite Republican, far more so than in 1972 when his GOP predecessor first won). Beyond removing him from his actual seat is defeating him as Speaker. What has aided his tyranny is none other than some of our own party's leadership and members in the past decade. Having a very pliable and obediant go along to get-along minority (ironically, now representing, for the past decade, a majority of the voting electorate) refusing to challenge Naifeh has been the gift that has kept on giving.

When the Democrats watched with horror that their nearly 80% majority in the pre-Baker days saw us elect a Republican Speaker in 1969, they declared war on us and ruthlessly and without mercy have held onto power by any and all means necessary at their control (at least with regard to the House side, since the Senate was a whole other animal with a different psychology under John Wilder). Without employing a similar thought process to rip from them their undemocratic spoils, we may fail to depose Naifeh even WITH an actual GOP House majority (think of the situation in neighboring North Carolina where one RINO apostate voted to keep a 'Rat Speaker). We now have the highest number of Republicans in the House since 1972 (46), and with an aggressive leadership holding together ALL of our members, we could've tried to find 4 disgruntled Democrats to depose Naifeh last year (for example, we could've utilized Conservative DINO Frank Buck, making him Speaker, and retained de facto control of the body even with a few members down). But, alas, we don't know how to fight like pit bulls. When we do, when we show that hunger, we'll be deserving of what the voters already give to us, a clear majority (frankly, I'm wary of a milquetoast GOP majority almost as much as a tyranical 'Rat one, since usually the former allows the latter to run the show).

Well, I'll tell you, I had mixed feelings regarding Wilder. Unlike Naifeh, and at the risk of being deposed by his own party, he stuck his neck out to make sure we were given committee chairmanships when we were the minority party. It would've been far easier if he had been defeated for reelection in his own district (since it is quite Republican now), rather than have to deal with the quandary of deposing someone whom I personally felt was at least owed some consideration for his fair treatment.

But how it played out ultimately was a considerable disappointment. When we obtained a majority, it should've been made plain that we get all (or almost all) committee chairmanships in exchange for him retaining the Senate Speakership for a final two-year term, and let him retire with dignity (and believe me when I say he was one of the few Dems I'd afford that luxury). It is rather shocking the level of incompetence Wilder has demonstrated in this past term, which a large part of it seems to be outright senility.

What we have now is a 4-seat (5 if they seated the real winner in the Auntie Ophelia "contest") majority, which is the widest majority for either party in over 12 years, IIRC, and Wilder gave the minority Dems the bulk of the committee chairs. So, as it stands now, come January, we owe him an undignified forced retirement to the backbenches for the remainder of his term, and install Ron Ramsey as the first GOP Senate Speaker since Reconstruction.

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