Site domains for Burchett, Congress, Senate and governor scooped up

Ha ha, so yesterday the ol' Porch noted that blogger Brian Hornback scooped up a number of recently expired internet domain registrations tied to Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett.

Well, last night someone else grabbed burchettforcongress.com, burchettforsenate.com and burchettforgovernor.com.

Heh.

The sites at this point are parked and the registration is private, so there's no way of knowing for sure who got them. I have confirmed that it wasn't Brian, who has said previously that he's made his point.

There's long been rumors that Burchett will run for Congress or governor. In addition, the Tea Party in 2014 tried to get him to run against U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander in the Republican Primary but he declined.

On a side note, a local WBIR 10News viewer grabbed brianhornback.org.

Click on it. Heh.

Hornback grabs 'Burchett' websites

Brian Hornback

UPDATE: Comments from Burchett and Hornback at bottom

They don't call him "the rogue" for nothing.

It appears that local blogger Brian Hornback has fired another shot (sort of) at Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett, this time scooping up a number of internet domain name registrations including timburchett.com, timburchett.info and timburchett.org.

In addition, he also snagged electburchett.com, which expired and is the site the mayor typically uses when running for office. And if you click on it, guess where it will take you? Yep, to the rogue's home. Heh.

Anyhoo, this could get interesting because - as the hippie over at knoxviews noted - "if Tim Burchett decides to run for another office, it appears Brian Hornback holds the keys to his online presence."

Tim Burchett

Burchett, who is term-limited - is serving his second four-year term as mayor. He has a little more than two years left in the term.

The mayor on Wednesday did not appear happy about the move:

"It's been reported that Brian apparently has registered my campaign domain and redirected it to his blog," he said in a written statement. "Ultimately, we're talking about someone who doesn't like me personally, and who drags my beautiful wife and sweet daughter into his blog posts. At the end of the day, all I can do is pray for someone like that, and that's what I do for Brian."  

Brian fired back after hearing the mayor's remarks:

"Mayor Burchett has repeatedly stated that he is term limited and now a proud father. He has made no public indications of seeking higher office. Clearly in my opinion this is the strongest indication to date that Mayor Burchett plans on not pursuing any future political aspirations."

"If the Mayor doesn't have the ability or wherewithal to manage a website domain. It really begs the question, can he manage anything of substance?"

"The acquisitions of the domains was a strategic business move in an effort to potentially enlarge the base of political commentary in the Southeastern region of the United States. I thank the Mayor for this business opportunity as he has continually stressed his commitment to small businesses."

Antique business on Burchett land operating without occupancy permit

Credit: Floyd's Garage website

Apparently a woman who operates a consignment and antique business on property owned by Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett does not have a certificate of occupancy.

The matter was pointed out by rogue blogger Brian Hornback yesterday RIGHT HERE.

County Communications Director Michael “the bicycle rider” Grider told me that since it was brought to their attention, officials in the administration have talked to the operator, Angela Taylor, and she’s now aware that she needs a certificate and is working to get one.

The business is called Floyd’s Garage, which coincidentally (or not) is Burchett’s middle name. It’s located on a chunk of property at 3019 SE Amherst Road, which the mayor has owned for more than a decade.

Burchett, according to Grider, is not affiliated with the business.

According to the operation’s WEBSITE, Floyd’s Garage opened an eBay store in early 2014, and then the warehouse this past May.

“Our team of experienced and qualified staff, have been working many years collecting, buying, and selling car parts, motorcycle parts, antique toys, vintage furniture, antique glassware, and now have high quality interior furnishings – both new and old, large and small,” the website states.

Floyd's Garage is open on Fridays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Judge tosses Hornback libel suit

Hornback

A judge has dismissed the libel lawsuit filed by former Knox County GOP chair Ruthie Kuhlman against local political blogger Brian Hornback, also a former local Republican Party chair who owns and writes for “Shock and Awe.”

Kuhlman initially sued Hornback in October 2013 for $100,000, accusing the long-time blogger and former Knox County school board member of posting six false statements attributed to her and that he did so out of malice.

For example, she said that Hornback, on his blog, suggested that Kuhlman – whom he never actually named – verbally attacked a Young Republican Club leader; said that he resign from the club; and said he was blackballed “by the money in the party”.

She also said that Hornback asserted that she stated: “If we are to ever achieve elected superintendent status that we have to vote out Rep. Harry Brooks and Sen. Becky Duncan Massey.”

The two state leaders support electing a superintendent, rather than voting in one, something that is a hot issue among many local Republicans.

RULING: Link to summary judgement

Kulhman’s attorney, Herbert S. Moncier, asked for a retraction and public apology from the blogger, but Hornback refused.

Hornback then secured sworn affidavits from a number of his sources who said they heard Kuhlman make the statements.

In the end, Senior Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood, who presided over the case after a number of local judges recused themselves, said Kuhlman failed to establish malice – a key component needed to win a libel case.

Malice, he noted, connotes more than personal ill will or desire to injure, but rather “it is limited to statements made with knowledge that they are false or with reckless disregard to their truth.”

Kerry said that part of Kuhlman’s argument focused on attempting “to portray Mr. Hornback’s habit of publishing false statements,” and “that she believes (Hornback) belongs to a political breakfast club that dislikes her.”

“Much of this evidence is inadmissible such as (Kuhlman’s) beliefs about being disliked or that (Hornback) harbors ill will,” Kerry wrote in his judgment. “(Kuhlman) cannot rest upon supposition, but must state with clarity factual issues that establish actual malice.” (Kuhlman) has failed to carry this burden . . . .”

Blackwood also said Kuhlman is responsible for court costs. Hornback, though, is responsible for his own attorney costs.

Kuhlman can still appeal.

Hornback asks judge to toss libel case, files all sorts of ct stuff

Well, it looks like rogue blogger Brian Hornback came out swinging today, pretty much answering (and denying) the allegations made in the lawsuit filed against him by Ruthie Kuhlman, the county’s GOP chairwoman.

Hornback, who was sued for like a $100K in folding paper awhile back, argues that not only is Kuhlman a public figure, but the statements made by his sources were in fact accurate. He also provides affidavits by those sources attesting that what they told him was accurate.

(Oh yeah, and there’s a phone message in there from Kuhlman.)

All this stems from allegations that Brian made up stuff - or printed stuff that wasn't true - in a couple of entries on his 9-year-old blog Shock and Awe.

Brian says it's all a crock and in today’s legal filings seeks to have the case chunked, and also asks for a summary judgment.

Additionally, he identifies some of his sources and turns over affidavits they provided, including those from bad a$$ Bo Bennett, Jacob Swisher, former county property assessor John Whitehead and Ray Meade.

I don’t have a lot of time today to get into it, but it’s some pretty interesting stuff, and it looks like $&!# is getting real.

Lawyer, GOP chair, blogger battle?

Looks like we might have us an old fashioned showdown between the rogue blogger, the rebel lawyer and the Republican chair.

Ya see, a little more than a week or so back, rubble rousing attorney Herb S. Moncier, presumably representing current Knox County GOP chairwoman, Ruthie Kuhlman, sent blogger Brian Hornback a note, telling him that he needed to correct, retract and say he’s sorry for some of his blog posts. 

(I’m not sure which ones, but they had something to do with overheard conversations regarding Kuhlman.)

Moncier apparently gave Hornback 10 days to do this.

Well, the rogue fired back on Friday, with his own letter, saying he has no intention of doing any such thing.

You can find that bad boy, right smack here.

This could get interesting on a number of levels. Moncier is not afraid to sue. He probably holds the Death Star record. Kuhlman is a public figure, so it would be hard for her to win. But, it’s also interesting on the level of what role a blogger plays, the freedom of speech thing, the whatever. 

Hornback also can be a polarizing figure in the local political circles, so – no matter what people say – my suspicion is that a lot of folks will watch this closely, particularly if it goes further.

Commish, elections, managment style

Couple things on this Friday afternoon that I noticed during the past week. 

A number of folks were talking about Joe Sullivan's column over at the Metro Pulse. The one in which he skewered Knox County Commissioner Dave Wright.

Find it right smack here.

Sullivan says Wright has a tendency to ramble like a mental, and he takes exception to a number of resolutions tied to school-related election issues that Wright sponsored.

I'll give da Pulse this: Wright like to ramble. That's true.

But to say there's no consensus in the 8^th District for an elected superintendent? Yeah, you're kidding yourself. And while I like Lisa Starbuck (she's a great activist and has a cool last name), she's kidding herself, too.

In fact, I'm pretty sure that countywide – if you put to vote whether to have an appointed or an elected superintendent – we'd be voting for a new one next year.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong. But you can take that vote to the bank. People in Knox County like to vote. Heck, the charter review committee had a chance to fix this and didn't bother.

Over on da Rogue's blog, Brian Hornback calls out Knox County Property Assessor. (These two have no love for each other by the way.) He says Ballard is violating all sorts of campaign laws and has the picture to prove it. Click right smack here for that bad boy.

Ballard, though, says he's not doing anything wrong. He said that he was putting together a booth that he will set up tomorrow for a home builder's association at the Expo Center. He said the sign that bears his name doesn't include the phrases “vote for” or “elect.”

“I'm term limited,” he said. “I don't need to campaign.”

He didn't mention the rumors that he'll seek another elected office when his time is up.

Finally, we got former Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe and his column in the Shopper – click right smack here. Ashe talks about the managing style of county Mayor Tim Burchett and city Mayor Madeline Rogero. And he appears to be dead on about that South Knoxville stuff, which has left me scratching my head for awhile.

I really thought the city was going to take the initiative on this. Well, there's certainly still time.

Audit email war Day II: Jarret returns

(Note from Mike: No idea why the font is so small and funky. Blogger sucks sometimes.)

Frank Cagle has a good read about county law director stuff right smack here. And speaking of law director stuff: You remember the email correspondence the other day between the builder, the auditor and the rogue? Click right smack here for the original blog entry and right smack here for all sorts of electronic goodness and read further.

If you don't want to click, then the short of it is that local developer Sandy Loy wanted the county's internal auditor, Richard Walls, to turn over some information (I think it was his notes) that he put together when he was investigating the PBA's handling of the Hardin Valley Academy project.

Walls refused, citing some state law stuff. Brian Hornback then sent Law Director Joe Jarret a note, asking whether Walls could turn down Loy. Jarret pretty much said that the information Loy wanted was public record.

Loy, then asked for it again. Now, however, Joe says that's not the case.

In an email to Sandy this morning, Joe said:

I misread Mr. Hornback's email. While the completed audit is a public record, the TN code does render confidential, audit working papers. I believe the purpose behind the legislation was to project (I think he means “protect”) innocent parties should the auditor's initial mental impression prove incorrect.

Now, before you get all crazy and say: “Jarret flipped flopped again,” Joe sent me a follow up email that reads:

This wasn't a "he changed his mind again" issue, I was cooling my heels at the hospital (where he is with his mother right now) and misread the email.

Now, this isn't a blog entry if I don't have a Sandy Loy follow-up to Jarret's initial email. Take it away, Sandy:

Joe,

Thanks for your reply. I am constantly amazed at how complicated keeping the rules straight is in local government.

Private business people such as myself just don't understand how the same tasks we perform every day, place in the hands of government becomes so complicated and difficult.

Given the obvious, that there are enough laws and rules now passed to allow even the most inefficient and duplicitous of management schemes to be declared OK because it is “LEGAL” … I am going to get back to the work which I do understand.

At the audit committee meeting last week there were 28 people in the room at one time, of which 26 were being paid to be there by my taxes. I have to get back to work; so I can pay the 15 different types of taxes currently “LEGAL” to support those 26 people who obviously think I have no right to know they spend the money they collect 15 different ways from me and every other business in Knox County.

Just a “sidebar” … if I “accidentally” short one of those tax payments by even $6 do you think they will just forget about it as “insignificant”?

What an indictment of our county government.

Sandy Loy

On a side note, I was at the meeting and so, too, was Hornback. (He blogged about it right smack here and right smack here.)

OK, finally, Joe responds back to Sandy:

Sir, it is certainly understandable. The TN Legislature of late seems to be expanding rather than contracting the list of documents deemed confidential. This is one of the reasons why my attorneys must be constant students of the despite our respective experience levels.

Now, there is an inside baseball jab there right out of Screams from da Porch.

Email battle over audit, open records

Local developer Sandy Loy has taken the PBA out of his sights. Sort of. For now.

Instead, he's focused on the county's internal auditor Richard Walls.

A quick rehash before we get to the fun stuff: Loy has long been concerned with the Public Building Authority's handling of the Hardin Valley Academy project. After years of complaining, the County Commission and the Audit Committee asked Walls to conduct an audit of the project. He did. And he didn't find much. Here's a short story about it right smack here.

Afterward, Sandy took the audit and marked it all up. You can find that right smack here.

Needless to say he wasn't happy. So, he asked Richard for more information, which Richard refused. Then he reached out to two commissioners who sit on the audit committee (Amy Broyles and Dave Wright) and also Commission Jeff Ownby. It doesn't appear that they responded.

Then the Rogue Blogger got involved. Then county Law Director Joe Jarret. Then Sandy again. Then Richard.

Then someone in the office sent an email to the staff, letting us know there's some free food in the break room.

But, essentially, Walls says the records aren't open. Jarret tells Hornback that they are. Sandy wants them. Walls won't give them up.

And I'm kicked back, eating some of the free food.

So, here's all the email correspondence.

CLICK RIGHT SMACK HERE

Enjoy. Good stuff.

Inside baseball on the KTSC mess

So, at this point is there anything left to say about the Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corp. mess that hasn’t already been reported in the paper, on TV and over at the blogs? Ha ha. Of course there is.

I wrote this entry on Sunday while watching the Stupor Bowl and the suck commercials that accompanied the game. But then I got caught up and didn't get a chance to post it.

Wow, rambling already and only a few sentences in. OK, I suppose there are a few things worth mentioning that haven’t been touched on yet. Note, that most of this is inside baseball.

First off, I posted a few days back about the KTSC hiring local spin team Moxley Carmichael. I called KTSC a public relations group. Cynthia over at the real PR firm pointed out that they’re actually a “marketing” group. At this point I don’t think it really matters. But, in the interest of fair play . . .

Anyhoo, Moxley Carmichael is charging KTSC $200 and hour. That’s a discount from the usual $250 an hour. Cynthia told me that in 10 years I’ll probably be in public relations myself. After seeing those numbers I don’t disagree.

But, first I want a job running KTSC. Heh.

(Oh yeah, for disclosure’s sake, The Knoxville News Sentinel has Moxley Carmichael on retainer. Or under contract. Or however all that works. Regardless, the company handles spin for us.)

Next up: Ward Phillips.

Ward is the attorney KTSC hired when the media started looking into how the non-profit spends money. I’m super impressed with Ward. You know, typically when a group hires an attorney, the lawyer represents the members of that group. Reality check: The attorney is supposed to represent the operation as a whole – not just the director, the chairman, the whoever.

Ward hasn’t pulled any punches in the last week or so. He – it appears at least – is acting in the best interest of KTSC and not one individual. Case in point: He pretty much said CEO Gloria Ray’s contract was illegal. (Heck, he practically begged the board to fire her during last Friday’s meeting.) And, he also noted that board members probably violated a few rules.

It’s always a relief to see an attorney do what they’re supposed to do. Cheers to him.

(I hope all this makes sense.)

Moving on . . . .

Ray’s future: Well, she’s a local icon and institution, and despite what you might think about her, no one at this point has proved that she’s broken the law. Yeah, she probably did draft her own contract and fax it down to Florida to board chairman David Duncan to sign (all this under the radar of the other members of the executive committee), but . . . well, whatever. Unless, it's proven he got kickbacks from this – and I mean proven – then . . . .

Maybe if the board members were actually paying attention. But, again, whatever.

And no, I don’t buy the argument that Ward made (I believe it was him) about how they’re all volunteers, so they can’t be expected to know everything. You know what? Quit then. Get off the board. I mean, come on. Don’t you want to know what your boss makes? And if given the chance, wouldn’t you take a peek? They should have looked. They didn't. End of discussion.

Sooooo, The board says Gloria owes KTSC $96K in folding paper. If it lets her go without cause, then it owes her about $55K in coin and some incidentals, like expenses, travel, whatever. I’m sure all of it will add up to be a lot. Like a lot, lot.

I’m guessing – that because of the work Gloria has done in the past – the board calls it a wash and lets her go “without cause,” and wipes the slate (any payments) clean. Now, whether she’ll stay on as a consultant is another story. Personally, she probably should, at least for a year to head up a transition. Of course that would mean paying her $150K. Unless that can be worked out.

One a side note, firing Gloria with cause might not be the smartest thing. If KTSC really wants to take the focus off the recent problems and get on with doing whatever it’s supposed to do, then it needs to work out something. If it doesn’t, Gloria will take them to court. I guarantee it. She didn’t get to where she is by lying down and taking it.

(On a side note, we’ve reported that Gloria makes more than many of her counterparts in other major Tennessee cities, but did you know she also make more than Susan Walker, the state commissioner of tourist development? Yup. Walker makes $152,400 per year. Thanks to ass-kicking KNS state reporter Tom Humphrey for pointing that out to me.)

OK, let’s get to some good stuff.

County Mayor Tim Burchett. A lot of folks think he and the good Emperor, Dean Rice, were behind this mess, that they were the two trying to get out the information to the media, since Burchett wants to sell the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.

Nope. (I’ve taken my shots at both of them, but neither was behind this.) Don’t get me wrong, they’re not upset about what’s going on and I imagine there was some fist-bumping going on, but they weren’t behind the information drive.

You see, Burchett announced a long time ago that he wanted to sell the Hall of Fame. That was no secret. And if he knew about Gloria’s salary at that time, then it would have gone public then. It didn’t Also, Burchett wants KTSC – if the hall of fame is put on the market – to buy it and run the operation. Heck, I’m pretty sure that when the purchasing department got done with the bid it would have been written in such a way that KTSC would be the only logical buyer. And really, at this point they might be. So, the mayor doesn’t need this outrage. And yes, I know, that sounds funny. Because sometimes I think Burchett wakes up in the morning, looking for controversy.

With that said Burchett’s call for Gloria’s resignation on Thursday was straight spontaneity. Here’s what happened. As KTSC announced that David Duncan had resigned the previous evening, KNS reporter Josh Flory received some records that he had asked for wile back. He wrote the story and, using the documents, was the first to report the retention bonuses Gloria is/was set to receive. Burchett read the story Thursday morning and was none too happy. The same morning, WBIR, which also received the records, showed them to the county mayor.

And that was it.

Ticked off about the situation – and because he had asked Gloria about her total compensation weeks prior and wasn't told about these incentive bonuses - Burchett immediately called for her resignation.

No one on the city’s side of the Deathstar had a clue about this. So, when they heard that Burchett made the announcement, some on that side – I won’t say who – at first resisted. There was also talk about forming a committee to look into the KTSC issue. (Like this county/city needs another committee.) But, the writing was on the wall.

Then they opted for a spin conference. My understanding is that Burchett's people reached out to the Rogero camp and asked if they wanted to hold a joint press conference. At least one of Madeline's top adviser's was on board, but Madeline wanted to go solo. So, last Thursday’s spin conference was Madeline’s first as mayor.

I wasn’t there, but I heard Madeline did a pretty good job and made it clear that she wasn’t standing for Gloria to make some $600K in coin in her final year of her contract. (Now, if the city's mayor will just look at her own spin team, which makes more than a combined $200k salaries while the county's spin doctor makes about $54,000 . . . but I digress.)

So, who did leak the information (yeah, I know it was public but no one bothered to look) that got the media looking into this whole mess? Well, there could be some truth to the email that the KTSC Chairman David Duncan sent and which I wrote about (click right smack here for that bad boy). Or maybe not.

David Duncan – no relation to Trustee John Duncan III or his family – blames former Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe, Liza Zenni, executive director of the Arts and Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville, and Caesar Stair, a local attorney who serves on the alliance board.

Well, Victor certainly wrote about the issue – although he didn’t name names – before anyone else. And yes that includes WBIR, which continues to erroneously note that it reported about Gloria’s salary first (more on that later). I don’t know anything about Caesar’s role. I do know that he knows Liza. And I know that Liza and Victor don’t hang out.

But, here’s what else I know.

Back around November, Gloria and Liza got into a spat about the 5 percent of hotel/motel tax that is typically allocated to the smaller non-profits (think Beck Center, Ramsey House, symphony, blah, blah. Blah).

Some members of the Arts Alliance (Liza’s group) felt Gloria wanted the money to run the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame – if KTSC ever bought it. (Gloria denies her organization needed this money.)

There was plenty of internal bickering and the Arts Alliance board told Liza to step down from the KTSC board (yes, she was on both boards). The arts folks felt it was a conflict. They also saw the potential for a feud. So, did Liza leak the information out of spite?

Well, a lot of people think so. I will say that she did not give me the information. I heard about this elsewhere, and at this point I don't remember who first told me.

And: Does it really freakin’ matter who leaked what? No, it doesn’t!

(Also, the feud is now moot as county Mayor Tim Burchett decided late last year that he was going to make organizations bid on that 5 percent. They'll now have to submit “requests for information” and then a team will figure out who gets the money. At this point, the Arts Alliance has put together a group and will go after the money. KTSC isn't expected to.)

Now, let’s get down to who first broke this story. I get kind of annoyed with the whole “you heard it here first” or “as we first reported” or whatever. Hey, I get it. The media – KNS included – likes to toot its horn. Fine. Just make sure you know what you’re talking about.

So, I know a lot of people aren’t going to like this and I’ll probably catch some heat for it. But I got news for you: I don't care.

Rogue blogger Brian Hornback was actually the first to write about Gloria's salary with any detail and name names. You can find if by clicking right smack here.

Again, that’s also probably going to tick off some people over at the local TV channel that’s been bragging about this, but . . . whatever.

Finally, what does the future hold?

I don’t know. I think more crap will come out about the contracts and how they were hammered out in the middle of the night. Or not. Maybe the new executive committee will keep a better eye on things.

I hope.

Anyway, I’m out.

Harmon to Rogero: Say you're sorry

There’s quite a bit of energy and feistiness getting poured into this Knoxville mayoral campaign. Certainly, a lot more than you’d normally see in an election where only about four people are expected to vote.

Heh.

Anyhoo, on Wednesday, Mark “Da Plan” Padgett called a spin conference to announce some endorsements. Later, opponent “Battlin’” Madeline Rogero – again playing the defensive role – called her own spin deal.

She also issued a spin release which you can find right smack here.

Truth be told, I didn’t read the thing. They’re all the same, but the names change. I just skim these things to make there’s no cuss words in them. Cause this is a family blog. And we don’t cuss, talk about beer or throw in sexual innuendos that my editors haven’t caught yet.

But, I digress.

Since I do read the comments here (entertaining stuff, particularly the things about Toby and Rikki kicking ass and drinking beer) I learned that Rogero threw out some Black Wednesday references.

So, this morning, “Metal Shed Hater” Brian Hornback sent me some spin from Ivan “Darn Straight I’m a Republican” Harmon, a former mayoral candidate.

You can find the note by clicking right smack here.

(Normally, I'd just reprint it here, but I'm having formatting troubles this morning and too lazy to work through them.)

Yeah, this is going to be a good race.

Heh.

Did commissioners violate Sunshine law?

On Saturday, Brian Hornback posted this – click right smack here – about Commissioner Amy Broyles and what he – and quite a few people at the Deathstar today who read his blog – felt was a possible Sunshine law violation.

You know? That little rule you’re supposed to follow when you’re a commissioner and you want to hang out with your buds and not get in trouble.

Here’s the deal I got from talking to commissioners: Broyles, who was in the hospital recently, wanted to catch up on some of the recent audit committee discussions. So, she sent some folks this email:

“Commissioners Amy Broyles and Ed Shouse will meet at Panera Bread in Bearden (4855 Kingston Pike) on Sunday, September 25, at 3:00pm. Other Commissioners may be present. The public and press are invited.”

(Shouse, by the way, is a member of the audit committee.)

I got the email at 4:52 p.m. Friday, according to my delete folder where I dug it out of because that’s what I do with those things. Because I’m immature that way. Heh. (OK, that wasn’t fair. I have actually gone to one of Broyle’s meetings.)

It appears Amy sent that to me personally. Going back through the junk box of bad boys I also found the exact same email sent to me again, but this one was at 8:18 a.m. Saturday. It also included a bunch of other email addresses. So, lots of people got it. On Saturday.

At issue is whether the meeting was adequately publicly noticed. I don’t recall seeing it on the county’s Web site, but who checks that thing anyway?

I asked Joe Jarret, the county’s law director, about it during today’s commission luncheon and he said Tennessee Code says officials need to give “reasonable public notice.”

And there is the problem. What’s reasonable? Jarret felt 48 hours was a good number.

He also emailed me this during the luncheon:

Mike, here's the latest analysis:

What constitutes adequate public notice depends on the totality of the circumstances. In Memphis Publishing Company v. City of Memphis, 513 S.W.2d 511, 513 (Tenn. 1974), the Tennessee Supreme Court declared that, "[a]dequate public notice means adequate public notice under the circumstances, or such notice based on the totality of the circumstances as would fairly inform the public." See also Neece v. Paris Special School District, 813 S.W.2d 432 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1990).

Mike, based upon the above, the courts have issued inconsistent rulings. If a court ruled that notice was inadequate, then any action taken by the members present, presuming they had a quorum, would be considered void and of no effect.

Hornback got a similar email. Check it out right smack here. Jarret also reiterated to him the 48-hour thing.

Oh yeah – almost forgot. Broyles and Shouse did meet for several hours. They were joined by Commissioners Richard “The good doctor” Briggs and Dave Wright. In addition, radio talk dude Hubert Smith and Dan “the man” Andrews were there.

The group talked about audit stuff and then the proposed Carter Elementary School.

Anyhoo, I talked to Wright about the meeting and he said “it wasn’t kosher” that Broyles didn’t give more than 48 hour notice. He said “someone” called him Saturday to give him a heads up about the meeting.

Commission Chairman Mike Hammond agreed.

“I want to talk with Joe Jarret about this,” he said. “We need to get some clarification. When we do these things, someone has to take notes and there has to be an agenda. It’s probably time to have Joe weigh in on this again and refresh us.”

He also said he wants to put it on the chairman’s luncheon next month. (The commission meets for lunch between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on commission meeting days. Yes, they are adequately notified.)

Commissioner Jeff Ownby, who was with Wright and Hammond when I approached them about this, said he didn’t get a notification until 7:50 p.m. Friday, but he didn’t see it until Saturday.

Shouse said he got his some time Friday but he’d “prefer a 72-hour” advance notification.

None of the commissioners I spoke to said they felt there was a violation, but they weren’t exactly thrilled at the timing of the email.

I also talked very briefly with Amy about it. She didn’t seem concerned, and said that she had a number of email addresses on hand, so she sent them out as soon as she could Friday; and then later that night – when she had rounded up all her other addresses – sent out another email. (She also made a comment during the luncheon that the meeting was "sunshined".)

So, you can decide whether the commissioners violated the Sunshine law. Keep in mind that it wouldn’t just be Broyles. Although she sent out the email, three other commissioners attended the meeting.

I’m just glad they didn’t vote.

Credit goes to the rogue for pointing this out. Also, Dan Andrews has a video of the meeting but was having problems uploading it to Youtube, since it was too large of a file. He said he might be able to upload it later. If so, I'll post a link to it.

If it's as riveting as most commission meetings, I'm sure you'll all watch it.

Heh.

Ballard: 'I'm the hero, not the goat'

The story that's been trickling around the Deathstar since last week is that Knox County Property Assessor Phil Ballard, left, reinstated his travel allowance on the backs of his lower paid employees.

Ballard says that's not the case.

“I'm the hero of this story – I'm not the goat,” he told me last Friday when I asked him about it. “I saved jobs.”

Here's the deal:

A state grant somewhere in the neighborhood of $433,429 that the department used to receive apparently expired. (It was some kind of reappraisal thing or something to pay for some folks who work in the field.) So, the administration told Ballard it'd pick up the bill. But, officials wanted something back.

So, Ballard was told to cut $70,000 from his budget. County Mayor Tim Burchett really didn't care where the cuts came from – he just wanted them made. Hey, that's a fair deal right? I give you $433K and you give me $70K. Doesn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense, but anyway.

Ballard's people met with the mayor's finance people and tell them that maybe the staff could reduce its hours from 37.5 to 30 hours per week, which would enable them to keep their benefits. (By the way, the whole idea of cutting hours was apparently based on county Commissioner Mike Brown's proposal that never got further than an email sent to the his fellow buds on the dais. But I digress.)

Now, Ballard says he held two meetings and asked for volunteers. He said six folks said they wanted to do it while another three said they “preferred to say but would cut their hours if it comes down to it.” (I keep hearing there was a tenth person wholater refused.)

OK, in the meantime, Ballard says before that he say cut his auto allowance from $7,200 to $3,600 – about the same as the county commission's allowance (and if you recall, commissioners made a big rumble about reinstating all of the mayor's cuts, but really only reinstated their own gas money.)

Soooo, Ballard says The Big Dog (that's Mayor Burchett to you) without telling him cut his auto cut down to ZERO. And he didn't find out about that until Burchett publicly unveiled his proposed budget back in mid-May. (That mayor. Funny guy. Heh. Didn't tell Ballard he took away his allowance. Heh.)

Anyhoo, Ballard says he made the savings when he made the salary cuts. Now, human resources records show that if he reduced the salaries to 30 hours, then it would save $61,900. That's not the $70,000 that the mayor asked for, but whatever. Maybe there's some Social Security contributions or something thrown in.

(By the way, the nine people make between $28,000 and $48,000, as I recall, according to some documents that I don't have in front of me at the moment.)

Anyway, Ballard then goes and talks to the fine folks in the county's finance department and asks if he can reinstate his auto allowance. They tell him: “Sure.”

So he does.

Truth be told, Burchett really doesn't have the power to cut his allowance. And Phil mentioned that many, many, many, many times in our conversation. But, I was curious why he didn't just file for mileage reimbursement, like almost all of the folks in the executive branch and some of the fee officers now do.

“It's hard to keep up with,” Ballard told me. “And I didn't want to get into an argument about whether it's filled out correctly. Sometimes I'm at a store and someone asks me to come by and look at their property, and I didn't want to argue whether I was working or this was private thing or it was political or whatnot. Also, If I did reimbursement it would cost (the taxpayers) more because I drive around a lot – my office covers the entire county.”

Then he said that Burchett's proposal to cut the $70,000 really meant the mayor wanted him to cut two jobs. (Burchett denies this.)

“I'm taking care of my people,” Ballard said. “I saved jobs. This should make me a hero and not a goat.”

The mayor, though said: “It's unfortunate that he chose to take that route when families across the country are cutting back.The government allow him to reimburse himself and (the method) is cleaner and shows where we travel and puts it all on record.”

(Remember, Burchett hates the whole auto allowance thing. I wrote a kick-ass story about it right smack here.)

Ballard's says he technically took a pay cut when he cut his auto allowance in half.

I asked him if he had any savings left over after that, would maybe be spread it around to increase the employee hours, at least give an hour back if anyone wanted it.

He said he might.

Brian Hornback over at Shock and Awe had a post about the issue right here the other day. He's not buying anything that Ballard is selling. He thinks there's something else going on. He doesn't think Ballard is the hero.

He thinks he's the goat.

Me? I just like to throw this crap out there. See what sticks.

Political Leverage done but not Dan

“Parkinson's drains you mentally, physically, financially and emotionally. To give you insight I used to type like 100 words a minute. Now I am down to 10 and use a voice dictation system.” – Dan Andrews

Dan Andrews, left, has always been very kind to me. So when he announced that he was shutting down his blog, Political Leverage, because of his deteriorating health, I felt bad. (And that takes a lot. I really don’t have a conscience.)

I wanted to write a nice, little send-off piece; something witty, something profound about him. Maybe even something kind. Return the favor.

But, words, often, are too small to fill the worth of some circumstances.

So I really don’t know what to say.

When I moved to Knoxville, Dan was one of the first people I met, who hung out the Deathstar, didn’t work there and actually enjoyed it. (The guy loves his local politics.) I didn’t really know a whole lot about him, but he was usually taking pictures, usually talking about current issues. Granted, I didn’t always agree with what he said – or with his angle for that matter – but he did do his research.

Hell, when the mayor said he was going to cut jobs, Dan called it almost on the nose. I’m still scratching my head over the bizarre formula he used, but, wow, he got the numbers right. Dean Rice, the county’s chief of staff, later told me he that he, too, was surprised. (The administration certainly wanted to keep it under wraps until the budget was released.) So, way to go, buddy.

But, I digress.

Like I said, Dan was one of the first folks I met. He’s also the first person – and to this day – only person I’ve met that has Parkinson’s. Sure, I’ve seen Muhammad Ali and Michael J. Fox, in televised interviews, struggle with its effects. And I’ve read about it. But, it’s not until you see the disease upfront, in person, that you realize just how debilitating it can really be.

“Some days I’m fine, some days I’m shaking like a leaf,” he told me the other day.

Dan is in his 30s. That’s not really fair. If it was me, I’d be bitter. And maybe he is. But, he’s never let on. No, he kept pecking away at his keyboard, typing out his blog.

And taking pictures. Some pretty good ones, too.

But, back to his blog. I never really read the local stuff until work mandated that I do my own. So, during the past few months – every morning – I read through a handful of them. And Dan’s was one. (Shock and Awe, Humphrey on the Hill and Knoxviews are some of the others.)

I have to say, it was always interesting. He had surveys, video interviews and some inside baseball that you don’t often find anywhere else. (I suppose that’s what blog are about.) But, he also had a passion to cover minor meetings in the nooks and crannies that other reporters (my paper included) don’t reach. So that was cool, too.

I wish he left all that stuff up. But he didn’t. The only post left is his departing message. I encourage you all to read it. In fact, I also encourage you to read Brian Hornback’s post about Dan if you haven't already.

Here is some of what Dan says:

“My original goal was to have this awesome successful blog that would cover my rising medical bills. Ooops, that didn't happen. With time gas and energy the reverse was happening. This blog was actually costing me money. The thing with Parkinson's is the medical bills don't go down. My pipe dream was I could cover politics and save my life. Ha, ya unrealistic now that I look back on it but hey it was worth the shot.”

He then goes on to write about how the disease is affecting him. Again, please read it.

In the meantime, Dan is going to still to hang at the Deathstar and he’ll still pop up at a political rally or two. And from what I understand, he’ll still work as a freelance photographer. I also told him that if he shoots video, I’ll post some stuff here.

So, that’s cool, too.

As a final note, if you’re feeling a little charitable, why not throw a few dollars over to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

I know I will.