Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Politics / Woods Despite Critics, Freeman Insists He Won't Quit as Democratic Party Treasurer
Posted by Jeff Woods on Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 5:43 AM
Party chair Chip Forrester, whose own support is tenuous, isn't strong enough to fend off Freeman's critics on the executive committee should they demand the treasurer's ouster, according to these sources. "Chip is a lightning rod in a shitstorm," one insider says. If any of Forrester's dreamy supporters desert him over Freeman, Forrester would have little choice but to dump the real-estate developer, these sources say. "He just can't afford to lose any of his own people over this."
Blogs are fueling the controversy and making matters much worse for Freeman. Actually, you could say blogs and their commenters have created Freeman's troubles. "In a normal world without the Internet, I wouldn't know any of this was even happening," one insider says. "There might have been some muttering or something. But damn, now I'm getting emails from somebody in Knoxville who's gotten an email from somebody in Memphis who's been reading it on the Scene's website, and all of a sudden there's all this trash out there. There's just reams of. I don't think Freeman or Forrester ever expected that this would blow up."
Freeman insists he won't quit. "I have no intention of doing that," he tells us. In fact, he says he's already been dialing for dollars for the party, and "we've had a tremendous first few days. I'm optimistic I'm going to continue doing this."
Maybe the color of Freeman's money will calm his critics. After the jump, Forrester tells us what he thinks about it all.
Forrester says dumping Freeman's "the last thing I'm contemplating." He did a little calculating and figures 86 percent of Freeman's political contributions since 2002 were to Democrats, an amount Forrester calls "modest percentage-wise."
"In looking at these contributions, he contributed to every Democratic member of Congress, except John Tanner and that's maybe because he wasn't asked. His first couple of days on the job he's already raised substantial contributions from Democrats," Forrester says.
Nearly the entire senior elected Democratic leadership opposed Forrester's election as chairman in January. Only one of the congressmen, Jim Cooper, has agreed to meet with Forrester since then. He hasn't met with the governor, either. But Forrester denies his appointment of Freeman signals that he's given up trying to patch up relations with Bredesen.
"I'm trying to build the strongest team here to raise money," Forrester says. "Bill will be a part of that team and part of that success. It was not at all an effort to turn away from the governor. I consistently hope that we can all come together with the single task of taking back the House. This was not by any means an action to push the governor away."
Comments (5)
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So just to sum up ... Chip tells senior Democrats in Tennessee to go fuck themselves and runs for chairman anyway. Along the way, Chip blames said senior Democrats for November losses. Then, Chip selects as treasurer a guy who's given to the Tennessee Republican Party, the Republican National Committee, Bob Corker (at a time when Harold Ford was in the fight of his life), and not one but two of Phil Bredesen's opponents. In explaining all this, the new treasurer says: A. He only gave to wanna-be gubernational Republicans in order to spite Bredesen; B. He only gave to the RNC so his kid could get a picture with Bush; and C. He only gave to Corker because he's a developer buddy, intending no slight to Ford. Oh, and D. He only gave to Republicans because it's "good for business," suggesting some kind of slimy quid-pro-quo. And Chip says he's standing by his man.
Does that about sum it all up correctly?
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The story is like an onion. There are so many layers of blundering incompetence and dishonesty to peel away.
So Chipper tries to skate Freeman through the executive committee without telling them he's a major Repubican contributor. The dopes on Chipper's vaunted transition team and on the executive committee utterly failed in the vetting process.
Then Chipper shoots out multiple excuses for Freeman contributions but never addresses his $11K to the Tennessee Republican Party - the very people that Chipper likes to call racist scum on the stump.
Make Freeman TNDP treasurer was a slap in the face to everyone that has worked on a Democrat campaign since 2002. Chipper should have known better. Then again, he should have known better than to run for chairman after his party elders told him not to.
By the way, he just couldn't help taking a shot at Tanner, could he? "Freeman would have given to him, too, but Tanner didn't ask." What a knucklehead.
In 2006, Freeman maxed out to Jim Bryson. Bryson ran a television spot basically claiming that all Hispanics are drunk drivers that kill white people on our roads.
In 2006, Freeman gave $10,000 to the Tennessee Republican Party. The Knoxville News Sentinel did a piece about a TNGOP mailer that read, "The difference between Harold Ford, Jr. and Bob Corker is the difference between night and day." They darkened the picture of Ford.
Chip Forrester has consistently condemned the racist tactics of Tennessee Republicans, but he defiantly stands by his tresurer, who funded those tactics.
I don't see how Forrester can live with his hypocrisy.
It's gotten almost comical the echo chamber that Morpheus, Heatseeker, and Harrison have created. Why don't you guys get a job or create a job or do something constructive? You're like the "Stadler and Waldorf" of Tennessee politics - telling bad jokes from the peanut gallery.
Meanwhile, as the TNGOP is planning a tea party and kicking people out for disloyalty, Chip Forrester is continuing to welcome more and more new energy into the TNDP.
And by the way - Chip offered Charles Robert Bone the treasurer's job. He declined.
Wonder if Charles Robert still feels that was the right decision for him to make, as a Democrat.
You're over stepping your bounds benitn. CRB has raised more money for Democrats than most of us have ever earned. Why do you think all the electeds wanted him in the driver's seat? My guess is he'll continue to do that-- but regardless, his bona fides are well-established. He doesn't need a lecture from you on what it means to be Democrat.
And to my knowledge, he hasn't said a bad word about Chip. Not a one. Show some class, benintn, show some class.
