The Knoxville Republican’s bill (HB3056), scheduled for a House floor vote on Monday evening, may also impact a pending [...]]]> State Rep. Bill Dunn’s attempt to “clarify” the duties of county election administrators is being criticized as a move to politicize the position and make it easier to fire administrators who were hired by Democrat-controlled election commissions.

The Knoxville Republican’s bill (HB3056), scheduled for a House floor vote on Monday evening, may also impact a pending federal court lawsuit brought by administrators who have already been fired, according to an attorney for the dismissed administrators.

Republicans took control of all 95 county election commissions in April, 2009, after Republicans gained a majority of seats in the state House and Senate. Before that, Democrats held majorities on all county election commissions, which choose an administrator in each county.

Thirty-eight county election administrators have been dismissed since Republicans gained control, according to Blake Fontenay, spokesman for Secretary of State Tre Hargett, who oversees election operations statewide. Several are parties to the lawsuit.

“Rather than acting within the law, as interpreted, it appears that Republicans are now attempting to gerrymander the boundaries of the law to facilitate their political agenda,” said John Ray Clemmons, a Nashville attorney representing the dismissed administrators in the lawsuit.

“The law they seek to rewrite is at the heart of our pending federal lawsuit and several county suits. Essentially, we have a “tortoise and hare” scenario here with some Republican politicians trying to outpace our judicial system on a question of law,” Clemmons said in an email.

Dunn says the bill “updates a section of the code that hasn’t been updated in years and years” to basically acknowledge the reality of what election administrators do. For example, he says, the current law dealing with election administrators does not mention early voting, which began about 10 years ago.

In almost all cases, he said, administrators are already performing the duties enumerated in the bill and the measure simply recognizes those duties as they now exist and makes them part of state law.

“It could affect the court case, but the bottom line is the bill is the truth; the bill is reality. And truth has consequences,” Dunn said.

An attorney general’s opinion issued last year answered the question of whether county election administrators could be fired because of their political affiliation.

The answer, said Attorney General Bob Cooper, would depend on whether the duties of the administrator include substantial “policymaking authority” involving political decisions, in which case a dismissal for political affiliation would be legally permissible.

On the other hand, the opinion says if the duties are administrative or ministerial a dismissal for political reasons would be inappropriate and the fired administrator could successfully sue for reinstatement and/or back pay.

Tennessee’s law is unclear on how county administrators’ duties would be categorized, the opinion said.

House Democratic Leader Gary Odom has led criticism of Dunn’s bill in the Legislature. He said in an interview that the attorney general’s opinion provides a “road map on how to politicize and make partisan the position of administrator of elections.” Dunn is following that road map, he said,

“I find it offensive that a bill would be introduced while litigation is pending involving a number of these folks terminated for purely partisan reasons,” said Odom.

Dunn said the overall aim of the legislation is to promote “fair elections” and not to dismiss administrators.”

“If the goal was to make it where firing election coordinators is easier, we could just bring a bill saying, ‘this is what you do’, and we could pass it with 50 (votes in the House) and 17 (in the Senate). But I’m not doing this as a slam dunk thing.”

Dunn also said Odom’s criticism of legislation was ironic because a bill that ties into a lawsuit involving the Department of Human Services (HB3050) is also up for a vote Monday night with Odom’s apparent support. Odom said he is not familiar with the bill, which involves payments for children in state custody.

Republicans have a 19-14 advantage over Democrats in the Senate and 51-48 advantage in the House. Also, one Democrat – Rep. John Mark Windle of Livingston – is missing the 2010 session while on duty with the National Guard in Iraq.

First Lady Conte [...]]]> A news release from Andrea Conte’s Office:
NASHVILLE – First Lady Andrea Conte visited several East Tennessee Child Advocacy Centers this week to increase awareness about the issue of child abuse and build support for the work of Child Advocacy Centers to help children who are victims of sexual and severe physical abuse.

First Lady Conte visited Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center in Sevierville on Wednesday, led a walk in Knoxville on Thursday morning to benefit ChildHelp USA Children’s Center of East Tennessee, and concluded her swing through East Tennessee with a visit to New Hope Blount County Child Advocacy Center in Maryville on Thursday afternoon.

“April will be National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and I think it’s particularly important to act now to raise awareness of this issue and to encourage communities to support the work of Child Advocacy Centers,” Conte said.

When she became First Lady of Tennessee, one of Conte’s priorities was to help establish a child advocacy center in each of the 31 judicial districts across the state. In 2003, there were 25 Child Advocacy Centers. Today there are 43 centers statewide.

Safe Harbor serves Cocke, Grainger, Jefferson and Sevier Counties. Conte visited the center in Sevierville to learn about Safe Harbor’s plans to expand with two new centers in Newport and Jefferson City. The Newport center in Cocke County is expected to open on a part-time basis by the fist of May. The Jefferson City center in Jefferson County is expected to open by mid-summer.

In Knoxville, Conte kicked off a series of 12 AndreaWalks events that will be held in March, April and May to educate families about the issue of child abuse in Tennessee and the availability of services for victims. The walk to support ChildHelp USA is the first event in this year’s AndreaWalks series. Conte launched the AndreaWalks initiative in 2004, walking more than 600 miles from Memphis to Bristol and raising approximately $1.4 million in cash and in-kind donations for Child Advocacy Centers across the state.

At New Hope in Maryville, the First Lady met with staff and board members who presented the “Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth Small Print Media Award” to Blount Today for its ongoing coverage of children’s issues. The First Lady was also briefed about an awareness event New Hope is planning in November to be held in conjunction with the World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse.

“There are a lot of good things going on in East Tennessee and it has been wonderful to see the good work that’s being done by Safe Harbor, ChildHelp USA and New Hope to serve children who are the victims of abuse,” said Conte.

To learn more about the work of Child Advocacy Centers to keep children safe, visit www.tncac.org.

“Bill Haslam is the only candidate in this [...]]]> Part of a Haslam campaign press release:
KNOXVILLE – More than 200 business leaders from across Tennessee joined together today to endorse Republican gubernatorial candidate and Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam because they believe he has the proven executive experience and conservative fiscal leadership needed at this critical time.

“Bill Haslam is the only candidate in this race who has helped create thousands of jobs. First he grew and expanded the family business as President of Pilot Travel Centers, and then he recruited new jobs to Knoxville as Mayor. He understands how jobs are created,” said Allen Morgan of Memphis. “While other candidates are more concerned about gimmicks and concerts, Bill is focused on a three-week jobs tour. Tennesseans concerned about maintaining and recruiting jobs should enthusiastically support Mayor Haslam. I do.”

The announcement of “Business Leaders for Haslam” came during the second week of Haslam’s three-week Jobs Tour, and the coalition is a clear indication business leaders statewide know the two-term Mayor of Knoxville, who was reelected in 2007 with 87 percent of the vote, is the only candidate with proven experience at promoting business and growing and retaining jobs.

For a list of members, click the ‘continue reading’ button below.

Business Leaders for Haslam Coalition

· Matt Alexander, Blount County

· Chris Allison, Madison County

· David Amonette, Sumner County

· Charlie Anderson, Jr., Knox County

· Leo Arnold, Dyer County

· Max Arnold, Carroll County

· Sammie Arnold, Madison County

· Tonya Arnold, Dyer County

· Billy Atkins, Montgomery County

· Adrian Bailey, Knox County

· Sharon Bailey, Knox County

· Marvin Baker, Smith County

· Lee Barfield, Davidson County

· Pete Barile, Hamblen County

· Jim Barrier, Maury County

· Steve Bates, Lewis County

· Sandy Beall, Knox County

· Keith Bell, Sumner County

· Gary Binkley, Cheatham County

· Jim Blalock, Sevier County

· Sid Blalock, Knox County

· Everett Bolin, Jr., Cumberland County

· Randal Boston, Cumberland County

· Keith Bowers, Sr., Carter County

· Chip Boyd, Washington County

· Randy Boyd, Knox County

· David Bradshaw, Anderson County

· Starr Bragg, Blount County

· Jim Bush, Knox County

· Harry Call, Knox County

· Donnie Cameron, Williamson County

· Mike Campbell, Knox County

· Steven Cannon, Williamson County

· Bob Card, Bradley County

· Herman Carrick, Sullivan County

· Bill Carroll, Sevier County

· Billy Carroll, Sevier County

· Rob Carter, Shelby County

· Steve Cates, Williamson County

· Matt Chambers, Knox County

· Charlie Chandler, Dyer County

· Brandon Cherry, Smith County

· Tom Cigarran, Davidson County

· Pete Claussen, Knox County

· Kevin Clayton, Blount County

· Robert Clear, Campbell County

· Noble Cody, Putnam County

· Scott Collins, Hancock County

· Evan Cope, Rutherford County

· Howard Cotter, Marion County

· Dan Crockett, Davidson County

· Ricky Crook, Hamilton County

· Milton Curtis, Sumner County

· Joe Davenport, Hamilton County

· Ron DeBerry, Sumner County

· Fred Decosimo, Hamilton County

· Joe Decosimo, Hamilton County

· William DeLay, Davidson County

· Michael Dumond, Perry County

· Harvey Durham, McNairy County

· Jonathan Edwards, Lawrence County

· Paul Ellis, Montgomery County

· Danny England, Claiborne County

· David England, Dickson County

· Tom Flynn, Cumberland County

· Darrell Freeman, Davidson County

· Bud Fultz, Rutherford County

· Sam Furrow, Knox County

· Buddy Gambill, Rutherford County

· Bill Giannini, Shelby County

· Mike Gibbs, Cheatham County

· Randy Gibson, Knox County

· Trow Gillespie, Shelby County

· Leigh Gillig, Williamson County

· Ann Gillis, Smith County

· Bill Greene, Carter County

· Gay Gregson, Madison County

· Hoy Grimm, Blount County

· Bill Hagerty, Davidson County

· John Haines, Cheatham County

· Danny Hale, Sumner County

· Jim Hamilton, Dyer County

· Mike Harris, Dyer County

· Melinda Headrick, Blount County

· Tom Hendricks, McNairy County

· Dean Higby, Rutherford County

· Randy Hodges, Knox County

· Randy Hoffman, Sumner County

· Tony Hollin, Knox County

· Tom Hooper, Haywood County

· Tom Hughes, McMinn County

· Glen Hutchinson, Rutherford County

· Orrin Ingram, Davidson County

· Jack Jarvis, Sullivan County

· Lance Jenkins, Bedford County

· Alex Johnson, Sevier County

· Greg Jones, Bedford County

· Bryan Jordan, Shelby County

· Raja Jubran, Knox County

· Bland Justis, Greene County

· Doug Kennedy, Knox County

· Bob Kenworthy, Henry County

· Chris Kinney, Knox County

· Angie Kirby, Blount County

· Maribel Koella, Knox County

· Wayne Kreis, Morgan County

· Eric Lambert, Sevier County

· Steve Land, Knox County

· Greer Lashlee, Gibson County

· T.O. Lashlee, Gibson County

· Rodney Lawler, Knox County

· Fred Lawson, Blount County

· Gigi Lazenby, Davidson County

· Ted Lazenby, Davidson County

· Bill Lee, Williamson County

· Terry Leonard, Greene County

· Buddy Liner, McMinn County

· Mike Magill, Anderson County

· Boyce Magli, Williamson County

· Brad Martin, Shelby County

· Larry Masters, Jefferson County

· Fiona McAnally, Knox County

· Rob McCabe, Davidson County

· Dale McCulloch, Wilson County

· Mike McGuffin, Davidson County

· Stuart McWhorter, Davidson County

· Tommy Mitchell, Houston County

· Jeff Monson, Sevier County

· Kitty Moon Emery, Davidson County

· Danny Moore, Crockett County

· Lewis Moorer, Jr., Davidson County

· Mike Mortimer, Lewis County

· Cynthia Moxley, Knox County

· Doug Muech, Henry County

· Lyle Mullins, Hancock County

· Bill Newsom, Dyer County

· Scott Niswonger, Greene County

· Jerry O’Connor, Unicoi County

· Linda Ogle, Sevier County

· Joe Orgill, Shelby County

· Kevin Painter, Blount County

· Greg Petty, Dyer County

· Teddy Phillips, Jr., Knox County

· Victor Pike, Dyer County

· Johnny Pitts, Shelby County

· John Pontius, Shelby County

· Aubrey Preston, Williamson County

· Ben Probasco, Hamilton County

· Scotty Probasco, Hamilton County

· Sharon Pryse, Knox County

· Newt Raff, Washington County

· Brian Ragan, Dickson County

· Carroll Richardson, Sullivan County

· Don Ridley, Hawkins County

· Matt Riggsbee, Crockett County

· Jerry Riley, Sr., Crockett County

· Jerry Riley, Jr., Crockett County

· Joe Riley, McMinn County

· John Roberts, Coffee County

· Kenneth Roberts, Robertson County

· Richard Roberts, Greene County

· Don Rogers, Hamblen County

· Paul Rose, Tipton County

· John Ross, Gibson County

· Bill Sansom, Knox County

· Ricky Sanders, Crockett County

· John Santi, Shelby County

· Nate Schott, Rutherford County

· Brenda Sellers, Blount County

· Jerry Sharber, Williamson County

· Richard Sheperd, Blount County

· Susan Simons, Davidson County

· Bill Sinks, Sumner County

· Jerry Smith, McMinn County

· Reese Smith, Williamson County

· Steve Smith, Williamson County

· Tom Smith, Davidson County

· Pete Sommer, Lewis County

· Jerry Stanley, Lauderdale County

· Roger Staton, Madison County

· Doug Stephenson, Madison County

· Nick Stewart, Montgomery County

· Clayton Stout, Washington County

· Wes Stowers, Jr., Knox County

· Michael Strickland, Knox County

· Leroy Thompson, Knox County

· David Verble, Sevier County

· Jim Vines, Jefferson County

· Howard Wall, Rutherford County

· Harry Wampler, Loudon County

· Ron Watkins, Knox County

· John Weathers, Hamilton County

· Ted Welch, Davidson County

· Charles West, Blount County

· Andy White, Blount County

· Kahren White, Blount County

· Ken White, Monroe County

· Tommy Whittaker, Sumner County

· Ted Williams, Dickson County

· Chad Wood, Henderson County

· Shirley Woodcock, McMinn County

· Eleanor Yoakum, Claiborne County

· Kenny Young, Williamson County

Last month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said the state can keep some of the reimbursements it makes to the federal [...]]]> By AP’s :Lucas Johnson
TennCare officials said Thursday that they will be able to use a federal refund of $121 million to postpone some cuts to the state’s expanded Medicaid program for a year.

Last month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said the state can keep some of the reimbursements it makes to the federal government to pay for prescription drug benefits.

Lawmakers have been waiting to hear how that money would be used, considering Gov. Phil Bredesen has said he needs to cut $201 million from TennCare, which has about 1.2 million enrollees, to balance the state budget.

TennCare director Darin Gordon on Thursday told the House Finance Committee how that money will be used.

He said limitations on non-emergency outpatient visits, physician procedures, and implementation of a $2 copay on non-emergency transportation are among items that will be postponed for a year.

Gordon said the agency wasn’t able to prevent capping many TennCare recipients’ annual benefits at $10,000, but will temporarily remove the cost of transplant hospitalizations from the cap.

“There wasn’t enough to address everything,” he said. “But clearly address … some significant changes.”

Gordon said he’s reviewing a proposal by the Tennessee Hospital Association, which last month unanimously approved a one-year fee assessment to draw down federal funds and hopefully raise about $200 million to prevent some of the cuts to TennCare.

Without the fee, hospital officials estimate the loss to hospitals statewide will be about $540 million.

CMS has approved similar plans in at least 26 other states, according to the Tennessee Hospital Association.

In addition to the fee, some lawmakers and health care advocates say state reserve funds should be used to help mitigate cuts to TennCare.

Between the rainy day fund and TennCare reserves, there’s currently about $900 million available.

Yet a count by The Associated Press shows that nearly half that many jobs were added to the Knoxville-based company’s payroll through mergers and acquisitions of [...]]]> From the AP:
On the campaign trail and in television ads, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Haslam boasts of his role in creating 11,000 jobs as an executive with family-owned Pilot Corp.

Yet a count by The Associated Press shows that nearly half that many jobs were added to the Knoxville-based company’s payroll through mergers and acquisitions of other truck stop chains.

The 11,000 new jobs figure includes about 4,000 existing positions that were added through a 2001 joint venture with Marathon that re-branded 110 Speedway and Super America stores as Pilot Travel Centers. Another 1,400 were added when Pilot acquired 60 truck stops from Williams Co. in 2003.

Haslam said in an interview in Bells this week that the point of the advertisement was that he has experience growing business.

Haslam’s opponents call the ad misleading.

The House vote was on SJR30 was 90-1, considerably above the two-thirds majority required for final legislative approval of a constitutional amendment resolution. It had cleared [...]]]> The House today gave final legislative approval to a proposed amendment to the state constitution that declares Tennessee citizens have a right to hunt and fish, “subject to reasonable regulations.”

The House vote was on SJR30 was 90-1, considerably above the two-thirds majority required for final legislative approval of a constitutional amendment resolution. It had cleared the Senate 31-0 on Jan. 28.

Legislative approval sets up a statewide referendum on the proposal as part of the November general election.

House sponsor Rep. Joe McCord, R-Maryville, said there is “an assumed right” to hunt and fish now and adoption of the constitutional amendment will assure future Tennesseans have the same rights guaranteed.

“Don’t wait until you’re embroiled in problems before you address them,” said McCord, adding that some future General Assembly could act to block hunting and fishing without a constitutional provision in place.

Reps. Tommie Brown, D-Chattanooga, and Johnnie Turner, D-Memphis, questioned McCord in floor debate. Brown suggested the move could be a “knee-jerk reaction” to President Obama’s administration.

McCord said that was not the case, noting that the amendment was first approved by the 105th General Assembly, before Obama took office. Constitutional amendments must pass in two consecutive General Assemblies before gaining final approval.

Turner cast the sole no vote. Brown abstained.