Sunday, April 17, 2011

Who's going to be election chief?

I wasn’t going to post anything this evening, but I've got some time to kill before Family Guy comes on.

Yeah, it’s probably no surprise that I like that show.

Anyhoo, just two days after the election commission gave administrator Greg Mackay, who actually ran the show, the boot, there’s a few names floating around to replace him.

Which isn’t really surprising. People like to gossip in the Deathstar. And in 2009 roughly 45 people applied. (Hey, who wouldn't want that sweet job? It pays well and you get that goood county health insurance.)

I throw these out for now.

Scott Frith, the interim administrator is one. But I don’t think he’s going to get it. He takes law classes at night and I think commissioners want someone with a stronger commitment. Not to say he isn’t committed. But, I just don’t see it. Plus, there’s some other issues there.

I do, however, see him sticking around. Someone has to tell the new guy/gal how to run the show. Of course, this is Knox County politics we’re talking about. And the smartest decisions aren’t always the norm.

But I digress.

The second name is Josh Burnett. He’s Trustee John Duncan’s chief of staff. And he’s in tight with a lot of those guys. He also considered applying a few years ago when the commission took applications, but didn’t. However, Josh told me tonight he’s not interested.

“I love what I’m doing but I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “I’ll stay as long as John Duncan will have me.”

Finally, Steve Hill and Victoria DeFreese are the others. (I'm not including Mackay because I don't think he'll apply. The Republicans rigged it so that he doesn't have a chance of getting an interview.)

My show is about to start, so don’t have time to comment on the last ones.

But I do want to add this final note.

Election Commissioner Cameron Brooks is leaving – probably at the end of the month because he's moving.

So, I’m assuming the Democrats on the local Legislative delegation are going to nominate someone for his seat.

Wouldn’t it be a kick in the ass if Greg Mackay got the appointment?

Heh.

Sure, he’d be only one vote in the minority. But he’d have a few questions to ask his fellow commissioners, the ones who technically run the election office and set policy.

Right? That is what they do, isn’t it?

I imagine the first thing he’d like to ask them is: “What’s your stance on voter fraud?”

I’m sure it will be directed to one member specifically.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ms. DeFreese's qualifications for this post are what exactly?

Brian Paone said...

Last time I heard from ol' Vicki, she was going ape about the county's decision to purchase $1.4 million in H1N1 vaccines.

Not because of the cost or the alleged hysteria surrounding the H1N1 outbreak of late '09, but because she was one of those that were adamant that vaccines cause autism.

Once that was known, she dropped as a candidate pretty quickly. Probably a good decision. I mean, when your "sources" are Wayne Madsen and "Russia Today", it's a safe bet you need to do more research.

And no offense to Steve Hill, but I don't even know if he has any qualifications for the post at all.

If he (or ANY applicant) doesn't have the right experience for the gig, they need to do the right damn thing and not apply. Anyone applying for this job that does NOT have EC experience should be viewed as self-centered and detrimental to the post. Their application should then be immediately discarded.

THIS ISN'T A DAMN JOKE, VICKI. This isn't a Commission race that you can just *POOF* quit the second you're challenged. This isn't a game. You know you don't have the experience, and I sure as hell HOPE you know that your ego's nowhere near as important as finding a competent administrator for one of the county's most important civic offices.

This issue's plenty stupid as it is. We don't need to be making it worse by seeing every political hack in the county drool over a job they can't do.

Hey, that reminds me - has Elaine Davis put in for it yet? I fully expected her to do so by now.

Brian Paone said...

If Donila hasn't found the post that was submitted this morning RE: Vicki's stance on H1N1 vaccines in particular (and vaccines in general), then I'll re-post it.

Or one can read about it here. (Even if it IS a Big Metal Shed report.)

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/oct/28/former-knox-county-commissioner-defreese-argues-ag/

For S&Gs, someone should ask her if 9/11 was an inside job.

Mike Donila said...

Who said anything about qualifications? I just said it's a name I've heard from a number of people.

Brian Paone said...

Relax, Mike. No one's on YOUR case.

So. Elaine Davis sniffing around the job yet?

Mike Donila said...

Naw, I was kidding about qualifications. Probably not that funny this early.

Also, I did find your last comment in the spam section, so I put it back up.

Brian Paone said...

Hey, there it is! Thank God I don't have to re-type that.

Anonymous said...

Hey Paone, why are you so rude? You seem to like to insult people a lot. What's that about? Maybe we should talk about you some? How many blogs you been kicked out of? Your history and such? How about sticking to issues and leaving out the personal attacks?

Mike, use some parental control here.

Brian Paone said...

@Anonymous RE: whining -

When in Rome... but that doesn't answer your questions. In order:

* I am who I am, and there's plenty of people who don't think I'm "rude". The ones that do tend to be the ones that didn't really like me to begin with anyway. Bottom line: I can't control what other people think of me, and I'm certainly not going to be fake just for some random person's benefit. Sorry* if it offends you.

* I could get all huffy and angry about things people do that annoy the everliving hell out of me, or I can be snarky about it. Personally, I prefer the latter. The former's a terrible strain on the vocal chords and the caps lock.

I suppose I COULD just always let it go, but hey - I'm 32. I'm not that wise yet. Maybe some day.

* Go ahead. Most people with the similar issues you seem to have with my personality prefer it over discussing topics anyway, and it's not like it bothers me. Frankly, I find some of the whispers floating around to be exceedingly hilarious.

* Blogs? One - KnoxViews. As far as news websites go, two - Knoxnews (for obvious reasons) and CNN (someone involved with the Simpsons got upset that I was using a MoeSzyzlak profile and picture and commenting in detail about the Israel-Palestine situation - fair enough; I don't own the intellectual property so I can't control it.)

* My history won't fit on this blog. You'd need to hit DCS for the skinny on that.

* Fine by me. Is that what we're doing in Rome now?

* = Kidding, of course. I'm not at all sorry that your perception of my personality offends you.