Bredesen stiff-arming usual special interests In his cabinet selections thus far, Governor-elect Phil Bredesen appears to be going his own way -- and not pandering to the interest groups that normally "help" a new governor get off to a good start.
As has been noted, Bredesen by-passed road builders to pick as his transportation commissioner Gerald Nicely, a former head of the Nashville urban renewal agency. His background is planning, public hearings, public input and putting together deals like the Nashville hockey arena and the football stadium for the Titans.
Bredesen made a reform of TDOT one of his campaign promises and it appears that he is deterimined to have his "own man" running the place.
But it goes further than that. He appointed a former East Tennessee legislator to be his Commissioner of Agriculture. Ken Givens is from Hawkins County, not known to be a seat of extensive farming operations and a long way from Farm Bureau headquarters in Columbia. He is obviously not the first choice of the Farm Bureau to head the agency, the farmer organization usually suggesting someone from the middle or western part of the state, where most large scale farming operations are located. Givens is not a problem for the Farm Bureau, he was long-time chair of the House Ag committee. But they didn't pick him.
In-coming governors usually listen to the insurance industry in selecting a commissioner of Commerce and Insurance. Bredesen picked a women attorney from Nashville, who has experience as a litigator.
(Sundquist had former insurance agency guy Doug Sizemore for much of his term and we saw messes with AccessMedPlus and the Martin Frankel embezzlement case. He has had Ann Pope in the last few years trying to sort through the mess. Pope has a law degree, but had been in private business before joining the Sundquist administration. She moved to Commerce from her job with the state Film Commission.)
But the point here is that Bredesen picked a lawyer as a regulator rather than someone from the insurance industry.
If the trend continues it will be interesting to watch. Bredesen has picked people who are loyal to him rather than to the regulated industries they are to govern.
The road builders, the Farm Bureau and the insurance industry have lobbyists on Capitol Hill and they are not without influence (major influence) on legislators and the outcomes of elections.
Bredesen seems to be saying he got elected without these special interests and will pick his commissioners as a result.
The interesting part will be seeing how he can govern without them. Or whether he has made some very powerful enemies come next legislative session.
"I was disappointed at the time," he said. "In retrospect, it was the best thing that ever happened to me."
He and others launched a campaign to sell the idea to the voting public. Though initial polls indicated the referendum would fail, it wound up passing by a solid margin after "an educational process" that involved "using the bully pulpit of the mayor's office to convince people it was a good thing to do."
"(The vote) put the controversy to rest as well as anything could," he said. "It gave legitimacy to the decision to do it.
This guy went to Harvard? He must have been on one of those "iced tea pit stops" Democrats need when the discussion about that niggling little anachronism known as the consent of the governed happened.
He was "disappointed" when the NFL franchise question went to referendum? He prefers to just ramrod his programs through?
Boner was beset with allegations of ... marital misconduct
That is just priceless.
Funny. That is the same thing we were all saying when Bredesen was in office. I'll take Bill Boner. At least he did not rob from the commoners to give to the rich.
You will see a campaign for an income tax just like Bredesen's "NFL YES" campaign. He brought in all these slick PR types and cast those of us who opposed the deal as anti-Nashville and standing in the way of progress. He muddled the issue so much that some people thought the referendum was simply "Do you want football?" Many of the local idiots had no idea that they had to pay. It got very ugly. A number of us who opposed the deal were threatened, intimidated, and few physical attacks. The local radio, TV, and print media were the head cheerleaders for the deal.
I predict that Bredesen will use the same tactic with the income tax. He will have the media across the State pushing the idea. There will be slick ads with famous Tennesseans and average citizens proclaiming support for an income tax. Maybe he will even have a slogan like "Tennessee YES". We who oppose the agenda will again be belittled, attacked, and intimidated. We will be called neanderthals and obstructionists. The universities will be used to sell the message and bus in loads of students begging for an income tax.
He will keep the issue cloudy so as to fool the simpeltons of Tennessee. Sadly, I predict that in the end Bredesen will get his income tax just like he got his NFL stadium.
Interesting side note: Titans owner Bud Adams had Bredesen give him whatever he wanted. Our current Mayor Bill Purcell stresses neighborhoods and voted against state funding for the Titans stadium while in the Legislature. Bud no longer gets his way and lashed out at Mayor Purcell this weekend.
Titans owner Bud Adams and Metro Nashville had a legal dispute settled through mediation recently, but Adams said Friday that he still has problems with Mayor Bill Purcell.
''I'd like to get along with him, I have to put up with him for the next five years,'' Adams said. ''We'll live through it. I haven't been to Nashville as much since he's been mayor. I don't like the guy. He doesn't like me, and I don't like him.''
Relayed those comments Friday night, Purcell said he was ''surprised, and frankly baffled.''