Monday, January 12, 2009
Politics / Woods Keystone Kops Take Power at Capitol
Posted by Jeff Woods on Mon, Jan 12, 2009 at 7:08 AM
Don't they look proud? Knoxville News Sentinel
"It looks like they dropped the ball," House Democratic Caucus chair Mike Turner says. "They had a process, and they didn't finish that process, so evidently there's something wrong with their camp." With Republicans running the legislature, Democratic Rep. Tommie Brown says, "It will be a circus."
As Republicans take power this week in the legislature, they
already face questions about their ability to govern competently. That's
because they're really mucking up their first job, the election of new
constitutional officers.
They promised a transparent democratic process, complete with TBI background checks,
to pick the best and the brightest for the positions of secretary of
state, comptroller and treasurer. Instead, this promised high-minded
procedure has descended into a slapstick comedy of bickering, blundering and
backstabbing with damaging media reports about two of the
candidates--Justin Wilson and Ira Brody. Both are heavy GOP campaign
contributors, and that's become just about the only selling point for
either one.
Wilson
is the only Republican candidate for comptroller. In qualifications, he
pales in comparison with that job's current holder, John Morgan,
one of the Capitol's most respected figures. The difference between the
two is so stark and obvious that some observers think Morgan might beat
Wilson in a real embarrassment to the new Republican majority in its
opening week.
At
the end of last week, a joint screening committee gave up trying to winnow the field of 14 candidates for the jobs. One sticking point,
apparently, was that senators wanted to drop Brody from the
competition, but House members balked. So today, with all the
applicants still in the running, all 69 GOP senators and
representatives will meet to try to settle on the party's nominees. The
caucus will be open to the public, but the balloting will be secret so
no lawmaker risks personally upsetting any campaign money guy. So much
for transparency.
"It looks like they dropped the ball," House Democratic Caucus chair Mike Turner says. "They had a process, and they didn't finish that process, so evidently there's something wrong with their camp." With Republicans running the legislature, Democratic Rep. Tommie Brown says, "It will be a circus."
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