Labels: Conservatism, Republican Party, Tennessee politics
posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 10:37 PM
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Domestic violence is very serious business indeed, and it doesn't matter what the political or religious persuasion of the abuser might be, abusers deserve far more than to have their name dragged through the mud. However, any allegation where Bill Hobbs may be involved must be tempered with the reality that our friends on the Left despise Bill Hobbs with a passion, because they know that Hobbs played as big a role as anyone in helping bring a Republican majority to both houses of the Tennessee General Assembly. Hobbs' indispensability to the conservative movement has been such that when he was fired by Chris Devaney when Devaney replaced Robin Smith as State Republican Chairman, I threw a ring-eyed fit, believing that this move wasn't a good opening salvo for Devaney, and demonstrated that the new Chairman was on disconnect with the ordinary folks out in the grassroots fields. Even the smarter people on the Left thought at the time that it was one of the worst political moves Devaney could have possibly made-and were clearly pleased about it (since that time, I have come to think it may have been better that Bill moved on, for other reasons not necessarily to do with Chairman Devaney).
Labels: Republican Party, Tennessee politics
posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 4:13 PM
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Association with a political party is a free choice, and the decision of a political party to disassociate with someone is also a choice of free association, regardless of the merits or lack thereof in making such a weighty-and hopefully extremely rare-political move. Political parties assist in the functioning of government, but they are not institutions of government and thus have the right to decide who does and does not qualify as a member.
It is very true that people in East Tennessee care much less about who is Speaker of the House and more about whether business is being done in Nashville the way that they would like it to be done. I myself have admitted that this past session turned out better than I would have expected, and I haven't even called-as some others have-for Kent Williams to resign as Speaker of the House. Williams has incurred the penalty which he knew would be coming if he did not vote for the Republican nominee for Speaker.
Kent Williams has an opportunity to build bridges and mend fences by first admitting that the way in which he obtained power was wrong. If he fails to do that, the only person keeping Kent Williams out of the Republican Party is Kent Williams.
Labels: Republican Party, Tennessee politics
posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 6:15 PM
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There is also little doubt that Kent Williams is aiming for another term as Speaker of the House, and one of the reasons that he wants to be re-enstated as a member of the Tennessee Republican Party is that being a party member would make it much easier for Williams to get the Republican nomination for Speaker. Last January, Williams was made Speaker because he received the Democratic nomination, but if political projections for the 2010 General Election turn out to be even remotely accurate, there will be too few Democrats to sustain Williams as Speaker should they want to do so. Kent Williams either needs the Republican Caucus to back him or he needs a real bipartisan coalition to re-elect him Speaker.
Labels: Democrats, Republican Party, Tennessee politics
posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 7:05 PM
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Since financial institutions either would not or could not say no to debtors who were unlikely to repay them, many of these lendors have sold their debt obligations to companies free to collect on the debt and keep the money-not a cent going to repay the original lendor. It is a legal, but at the very least unsavory practice that undermines the creditor-debtor relationship and, it could be argued, perverts the capitalist system. The practice of selling debt needs far more oversight legally than it gets in order to help preserve the notion that a person deserves to know to whom they owe money, and why somone totally unaffiliated with the institution which lent them money is trying so vigorously to collect from them.
Labels: Tennessee politics
posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 3:02 PM
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I have heard this story told in similar fashion by miltiple sources, including one respected Statewide (non-elected) Republican political player who actually favors readmitting Kent Williams to the GOP, but said that these comments by Williams did more to hurt his cause with the Executive Committee than anything else he has (or has not) done, and I heard this some three weeks ago. Hence, I believe Rep. Stacey Campfield's version of the story as told him by an SEC member from West Tennessee is probably quite accurate.
More recently, some details have been leaked that in these comments, Williams named names and even threw known supporters or potential supporters under the bus. Apparently, the Speaker doesn't believe that Charles Sargent, who had been opposed to throwing Williams out of the party to begin with, is qualified to chair the House Finance, Ways, and Means Committee. Nevermind, of course, that Sargent has one of the best fiscal minds in the House and is respected as such on both sides of the aisle-oh, and he has been in the House three and a half times longer than Kent Williams. Charles Sargent-unqualified...
Labels: Democrats, Elections, Republican Party, Tennessee politics
posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 2:38 PM
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Labels: Faith, Holy Mother Church
posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 5:46 PM
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