While Andrea Conte kept a smiling, tolerant public face as critics lambasted her for digging a gigantic hole in the front yard of the governor’s mansion, from behind her computer our demure first lady was quietly denouncing “partisan political hacks” acting out of “meanness of spirit and selfishness.” So when a pesky think tank came around asking for correspondence about Conte’s project, the governor’s office conveniently delayed the release of these emails until after the controversy subsided.
In December, the libertarian Tennessee Center for Policy Research (TCPR) made a public information request for emails from Gov. Phil Bredesen’s administration on the proposed renovation of the governor’s mansion, including the construction of the so-called “Bredesen Bunker.” Republicans had been criticizing the underground entertainment center—formally known as Conservation Hall—for the shifty economics of the project while the governor’s irritable neighbors grew furious at the massive scope of the bunker, which they viewed on some days as a nuisance and on others as a terrorist target.
Sure enough, the think tank received the emails—in April, months after construction workers began blasting for the project and the original fury over it had long waned.
“Initially, I thought it was just bureaucratic foot-dragging, but as time went on I realized it was deliberate,” says Drew Johnson, president of the TCPR. “They wanted to keep us from receiving information that was damaging about the bunker project until construction began so that if we did uncover something damaging to their efforts it would be a moot point.”
Naturally, the Bredesen administration, which has a mixed record on open government, scoffs at Johnson’s claim, saying that his outfit simply asked for a series of documents that took a while to track down.
“I know Mr. Johnson has some interesting conspiracy theories, but I think this time he’s really grasping at straws,” says Bredesen spokeswoman Dana Coleman. “The reality is that his request was a fairly sweeping one that involved searching for files held in three different places.”
That may be true—the center is known for its rather cumbersome requests—but surely the administration wanted to keep at least one email under wraps for as long as possible. In December, Conte, who has been the public face of the project, sent a note to state architect Mike Fitts. Here Conte—who is referred to as “FL,” for first lady, in many administration emails—comes off as part Cruella de Vil, part Christian motivational speaker as she encourages Fitts to continue touting the project in the face of bitter criticism.
“You are doing a magnificent job of deflecting hits and correcting erroneous information regarding Conservation Hall,” the FL writes. “This is an innovative design and a long time coming—what a shame partisan political hacks have targeted the project out of meanness of spirit and selfishness.”
Conte concludes her note with a hearty dose of good cheer.
“Keep a song in your heart and a smile on your face” the FL assures Fitts. “We will prevail.”
Had the TCPR obtained that email earlier this year—at the height of the controversy over Bredesen’s bunker—Conte doubtless would have garnered more bad press at a time when she was already the subject of ridicule and contempt for her efforts to spruce up the Executive Residence. The project would have proceeded as planned, but Conte would have been mocked in newspapers and on talk radio across the state. Now most people have moved on, and a newly discovered petulant email from the FL won’t stir the hornet’s nest of Republicans and angry neighbors.
Unless, of course, we tell them about it. Bill Hobbs, mouthpiece for the Tennessee Republican party and presumably one of those “partisan political hacks” who have so irritated the first lady, jumped to criticize Conte for cavalier correspondence.
“The language sounds like it came from the civil rights movement,“ Hobbs says about Conte’s email. “I don’t think the bunker deserves that type of flowery language. ‘We will prevail’? Let’s be honest about what they are prevailing about—$8 million in tax money to add a ballroom to a mansion at the same time they’re about to cut $500 million from important programs to balance the state budget.”
In fact, the questionable financing for the project was one of the reasons the TCPR wanted to review the administration’s emails in the first place. Trying to figure out what parts of the project were paid by private donations and what was covered by tax dollars leads you down a long and convoluted road of problem solving. A quick review of other emails the center obtained—Desperately received them right at press time—raises many questions about whether the administration has used some sort of creative shell game to pay for the less controversial aspects of the renovation with public dollars. But what’s the point of writing at length about all these emails anyway? The blasting is finished and the FL prevailed. If you’re still upset about that, Desperately has a little advice for you:
“Keep a song in your heart and a smile on your face.”
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