Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Legislature / Politics / Woods GOP Buys Ad to Attack Williams in Hometown Paper
Posted by Jeff Woods on Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 6:23 AM
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The state GOP has bought an ad in the Elizabethton Star to attack House Speaker Kent Williams. See the ad here courtesy of the fabulous Post Politics. The Star printed an editorial this week defending Williams, and the GOP ad is responding. Here's the party's clincher argument against Williams:
Rep. Williams has rewarded his Democratic allies with committee chairmanships, giving his Democratic allies the best office space and staff at the expense of the Republican caucus and put at risk the Republican agenda the majority of Tennesseans voted for.
OK, I don't claim to have my finger on the pulse of the people. (I generally restrict my travels to the Bermuda Triangle of Legislative Plaza, Brandon's and the big East Nasty.) But I'm guessing Williams' constituents are reading this ad and saying to themselves, "So what?" I doubt they care much about office space and staff. They might care about the Republican agenda if they knew what it is. The party didn't bother to detail it in this advertisement or explain exactly how Williams puts it at risk. Actually, voters probably think it's pretty cool that their hometown boy pulled one over on all those dimwitted pols in Nashville. Now, he can bring lots of pork back to little Elizabethton.
I spotted Carter County Mayor Johnny Holder hanging around outside Williams' office yesterday and asked him about all this. "Kent Williams is my friend," he said, jutting out his chin. Asked what he thought about Robin Smith, he snorted. "What do you think I think about her?" Holder didn't seem like a big talker.
"I'm an East Tennessee Republican. All these people around here," he said, casting a disapproving gaze upon the lobbyists and legislators glad-handing and hustling in the hallway, "most of them have never been east of Bulls Gap."
The New York Times chronicles our tale of political intrigue.
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