Tennessee State and Local Politics (Two GOP gov. debates upcoming)

[Oak Hills]

I've decided to start a thread for posting news about Tennessee politics. I'm going to focus on state and local stories that may be of interest. For things pertaining to congressional elections, I created this thread awhile back.

I figured this is as good a time as any, seeing as the primary is coming up Thurs, Aug. 7 (Yes, you read that right - we hold our state primary and local general elections on the first Thursday in August, for no reason I can figure out.), and a number of new state laws took effect yesterday.

Among them:
One requiring a prescription to purchase more than 28.8 grams of pseudoephedrine annually, to fight meth production;
One requiring the state Dept. of Children's Services to release information about children whose death it investigates (age, gender, history with the DCS; There had been a major scandal about the DCS with regards to information about children who died in DCS custody or while having abuse claims investigated; I will not link to a specific article because this has been ongoing for years, but this page has a decent selection of articles on the matter);
One allowing the state to execute using the electric chair if lethal injection drugs are unavailable or lethal injection is ruled unconstitutional;
One allowing package stores to sell beer among other things; the same law will allow municipalities to hold referenda on whether to allow wine sales in supermarkets, though they will not be allowed to implement this change until 2016; currently; supermarkets are allowed to sell beer, but not wine, while package stores are allowed to sell wine and other alcoholic beverages, but not beer;
And one allowing prosecution of mothers for using illicit drugs while pregnant.

[Oak Hills]

So you don't see the TN Dems ever getting the TN Executive Mansion back ever again?

They most likely will at one point, but probably not in 2018

The Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, site of the recent union vote, will be making Volkswagen's new SUV, creating 2,000 jobs. The creation of a new UAW local, in the hopes of receiving recognition for the union if enough workers sign up, had been announced last week.

Also, there an important vote on the August 7 ballot which I forgot to mention: every eight years, Tennessee Supreme Court justices have to go through a popular referendum on whether they will continue to serve on the Court for another eight years. Normally the justices are re-elected without incident, but this year, Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey is leading a campaign to deny the justices their seats, basically for being appointees of Democratic governor Phil Bredesen. In Tennessee, the state Supreme Court appoints the state attorney-general, so if Ramsey's smear campaign succeeds, it will mean that a majority of justices will be Republican appointees, meaning the Republican Party will have complete control over all state offices, given their supermajorities in both houses of the General Assembly.

[Oak Hills]

What odds does Ramsey's tempter tantrum have of succeeding ?

Pretty high, unfortunately. A lot of people are going to be swayed by ads calling them "activist judges" or whatever.
From the article I posted earlier:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

In other news, the Haslam family's truck-stop chain has agreed to pay $92 million in fines for cheating customers out of rebates.

[Oak Hills]

Well, the primaries for Congress, governor, and General Assembly are today, as are the judicial retention elections and all county offices up for election this year.

Turnout was heavy in early voting.

A total of 564,631 early ballots were cast. 354,154 Tennesseeans voted in the Republican primaries, and 164, 918 in the Democratic. That link also gives a breakdown by county.

Anderson County Election administrator Mark Stephens was quoted in today's Oak Ridger as saying that "Clinton had about 45 people in line and Oak Ridge had about 20 still in line at noon" on Saturday, when early voting ended. (Source: http://www.oakridger.com/article/20140806/NEWS/140809929, also appeared on page 4A of the print edition under headline "Voting gets underway this morning")

I expect turnout to be quite good today, as well, I will give you a report from Roane County's Oak Hills 
precinct later this afternoon.

Polls close simultaneously across the state despite the time difference; they will close at 8PM in precincts on Eastern Time and 7PM in those using Central Time.

On a more personal note, this will be the first election I will ever vote in.

[Oak Hills]

Turnout at my precinct was steady, but there weren't huge lines or anything like that. I voted for McKamey for Governor, Adams for Senate, and to retain the judges. All the others were either unopposed or local races not of interest to the forum.

[Oak Hills]

Well, I'm pleased to report that justices Wade, Clark, and Lee have been retained by a nearly 60%-40% margin, as disappointed as I am that McKamey and Adams seem to have lost their races.

[Oak Hills]

And the fun begins...

Democratic nominee against Tennessee governor wants to electrocute him

The Tennesseean managed to get an interview with this guy.

[Oak Hills]

I haven't updated this in months, but I figured I'd do one final election eve update.

Early voting turnout declined by 14.6 percent versus 2010, but continually rose over the early voting period. The Tennesseean speculates that this may be due to voters taking longer to make up their minds than in previous years.

In line with that theory, a Middle Tennessee State University poll out last week indicates that support for Amendment 1, which would give the legislature authority to regulate abortion, leads opposition by 39%-32% among likely voters, with 15% undecided, 8% saying they won't cast a vote on the amendment, and 6% refusing to answer. Sorry there's no link to the poll on MTSU's site, but I bizarrely could not find it on http://mtsusurveygroup.org.

More results of the poll, released a few days later, indicate that Haslam leads Brown 50%-19%, Alexander leads Ball 42%-26%, and support for Amendment 3 leads opposition 30%-25%, with 24% unsure and 14% not voting.

That poll doesn't look very good to me.

[Oak Hills]

643,413 gubernatorial votes have been counted so far, according to wate.com. Although only 22% of precincts are reporting, this would mean that each state constitutional amendment would need at least 321,707 votes to be passed, if that were the final number (which of course it won't be). Nevertheless, I will state the current numbers on the amendments in order to get an early look: Amendment 1 (giving the legislature authority to restrict abortion) has 354,836, Amendment 2 (giving the legislature confirmation powers over state appellate judge appointments) has 406,243, Amendment 3 (banning a state income tax) has 417,715, and Amendment 4 (allowing veterans' groups to hold lottery fundraisers) has 430,848, all over the threshold for now.

[Oak Hills]

WUOT is saying all four amendments have passed.

[Oak Hills]

There's a new Vanderbilt University poll out this week asking a wide range of policy questions to Tennessee voters.

Some of the most important numbers:
-56% support Medicaid expansion.
-ACA favorability is at 20/44, with 35% unsure.
-Gov. Haslam's approval ratings stand at 70%
-67% oppose a no-exceptions abortion ban, though support for several other measures related to     abortion is higher.
-There is a wide generation gap concerning the issues of same-sex marriage, marijuana legalization, and income inequality.

The poll was conducted Nov. 10-20 by Princeton Survey Research Associates International.  It sampled 949 TN registered voters and has a margin of error of +/- 3.7%.

[Oak Hills]

I haven't updated this thread in quite a while, but I wanted to note a couple of stories from last week.

First, longtime state Rep. Joe Armstrong, D-Knoxville, has been indicted on fraud and tax evasion charges based on an alleged plot involving cigarette tax stamps:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Here is a piece giving some background on Armstrong.

Second, the Chattanooga Times-Free Press ran an article yesterday regarding Democratic efforts to defeat state Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanoga, in next year's election:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Oak Hills]

State Supreme Court justice Gary Wade is retiring, effective Sep. 8.

[Oak Hills]

Nashville has a mayoral election coming up on Thursday, August 6, and there is a poll out conducted by Democratic pollster Gerstein Bocaine Agne Strategies for the Tennessee Laborers PAC, showing these numbers:

Megan Barry: 20%
David Fox: 19%
Bill Freeman: 18%
Howard Gentry: 11%
Charles Robert Bone: 9%
Linda Eskind Rebrovick: 7%
Jeremy Kane: 3%
Undecided: 14%

Sample: 500 LVs
MoE: +/- 4.4%
Conducted: July 16-20

There is a runoff in September.

I haven't really been following this race.  Is there anyone from that area who could give a summary of what's been going on with that?

[Oak Hills]

Bill Freeman= Liberal Democrat (why wasn't he included on this poll?)

He was.  I just forgot to type his name and percent when I was making that post.  Fixed.

[Oak Hills]

Nashville:  Fox is now accusing Freeman ally, and Democratic state representative, Bo Mitchell of being behind an anti-Fox robocall which did not disclose who paid for it, a violation of federal regulations; the Davidson County DA is investigating.

House District 14:  I have thus far failed to mention this, but the Republican primary for the special election to replace Ryan Haynes, who resigned from the TN HoR in order to become state GOP chair is next week.  The two candidates, small businessman Jason Zachary and local school board member Karen Carson will be facing off at a debate this Thursday at 7 PM.  No Democrats or independents have filed, so the winner of the primary will be elected.

Here is a map of the district, located in Knox County:


Prisons:  Gov. Haslam is defending his administration's record of running state prisons in the wake of recent controversy surrounding staffing policies.

[Oak Hills]

HD14:  Here is the News-Sentinel write-up of the Carson-vs.-Zachary debate.

[Oak Hills]

HD14:  The primary is today.  Polls close at 8 PM.  Here is an article about the election from today's Knoxville News-Sentinel:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Oak Hills]

HD14:  Zachary wins the primary, with 2,397 votes to Carson's 1,742.

[Oak Hills]

2018 Gov:  A couple of Dem state senators claim to be optimistic about the election, and suggested the mayors of Chattanooga, Nashville, and Clarksville as possible candidates.

[Oak Hills]

2018 Gov:  Mayor Andy Berke (D-Chattanooga) denies any interest in seeking the office.

[Oak Hills]

Nashville:  I heard this story on the radio today.  Apparently there's been an anti-Barry smear campaign accusing her of being anti-Christian.  Fox has disavowed any such accusations.

[Oak Hills]

In addition to Nashville, Memphis also has a mayoral election this year, and the local daily there, the Commercial Appeal, has a new poll out suggesting a tight race.

Mayor A.C. Wharton: 30%
City Councilman Jim Strickland: 25%
City Councilman Harold Collins: 12%
Police union President Mike Williams: 12%
Others: 6%
Undecided: 15%

Sample: 500 LVs
MoE: +/- 4.5%
Pollster: Mason-Dixon Research

The election will be held on Thursday, October 8, and there is no runoff.

As with Nashville, I invite anyone who has been following this race more closely than I (read: following it at all) to share any knowledge they may have.

[Oak Hills]

Megan Barry: 60,519 votes (55%)
David Fox: 49,694 (45%)

[Oak Hills]

Several important stories in the last week, which I was unable to post because I was too busy:

HD-9: Rogersville realtor Cynthia Bundren-Jackson yesterday announced her intention to run as a Republican for the state House from District 9, comprising Hawkins and Hancock Counties, in a special election triggered by the recent resignation of state Rep., and chair of the Finance Subcomittee, Mike Harrison (R-Rogersville), to take over as executive director of the County Mayors' Association of Tennessee.  Speaker Pro Tempore Curtis Johnson (R-Clarksville) will take over the Subcommittee on an interim basis.  Map of the Ninth, from the General Assembly website.

Memphis: City Councilman Jim Strickland defeated incumbent Mayor A.C. Wharton by an unexpectedly large twenty-point margin yesterday.  Full results:
Jim Strickland: 41,829 votes (41.54%)
A.C. Wharton: 22,199 (22.05%)
Harold Collins: 18,496 (18.37%)
Mike Williams: 16,180 (16.07%)
Sharon A. Webb: 598 (0.01%)
M. Latroy Williams: 404 (<0.005%)
A. Fullilove, Jr.: 365 (<0.005%)
Robert Hodges: 235 (<0.005%)
D.P. Walker, Jr.: 168 (<0.005%)
Leo Awgowhat: 118 (<0.005%)
Write-ins: 91(<0.005%)

News industry: The Gannet Co., which already owns the Nashville Tennesseean, among other papers, has reached an agreement to purchase Journal Media Group, Inc., owner of both the Memphis Commercial Appeal and the Knoxville News-Sentinel along with other smaller papers, for $280 million, which will put all three of Tennessee's largest dailies under a single corporate umbrella.