Knoxville Mayor Rogero, Democrats will rally prior to early voting

The Knox County Democratic Party will hold a rally for the Aug. 4 county general election next Thursday evening.
Early voting then starts the following day, July 15.

The rally takes place at 5:30 p.m. at the party headquarters at 311 Morgan St. in the Old City.

Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero will speak at the event, as will the 11 Democrats who are running for county and state office. (The state general election is in November.)

“We are thrilled that 11 candidates have stepped up to the plate to give Knox County residents a choice at the polls in August and November," said Cameron Brooks, Chair of the Knox County Democratic Party, in a statement. "Our message of supporting Knoxville’s working people we hope will have resonance that will lead us to victory this year.”

More information on the candidates can be found RIGHT HERE. 

Brooks hopes to give voters an option during next year's local elections

Cameron Brooks

Knox County Commission posts are typically decided in the GOP primary, but one local leader expects that to change next year.

Cameron Brooks, who was elected Saturday to a two-year term as the Knox County Democratic Party’s chairman, said he’ll begin working to find challengers to take on Republican incumbents in the general election.

In addition, he said his party will focus on regaining the state House District 13 seat, which the Democrats lost last year to Republicans.

“I think we got clobbered in the last race,” he said. “You can sulk and you can point fingers and have a lot of internal dissention and waste time, or you can move forward.”

Knox County holds next year’s local primaries in May and the general election in August. Seven of the 11 seats on the County Commission are up.

Brooks, who works as a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Wallace & Wallace Realtors, said he’ll help continue to build the party, first at the precinct level and then at the district level, focusing, in part, on younger voters.

“We want to show voters that Democrats are about good government, responsible government and improving people’s lives, and if you can be persistent with that, then we’ll be able to turn things around,” he said.

The GOP has a stranglehold on politics at the county level, and often Democrats decline to challenge for an open office.

For example, Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett, the county’s highest elected leader, failed to garner any opposition last year. Nor did Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones. In addition, the Democrats failed to field a candidate in the District Attorney General’s contest – and Democrats held that seat for decades.

Democrats have a little more control in the city – Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero is a Democrat – although the elections are non-partisan.

"We’re going to be really aggressive about recruiting candidates for the County Commission offices coming up in August 2016,” he said. “There’s quite a few seats that are going to be available. We really need to get quality Democrats to run and give voters an option.”

Knox County holds next year's local primaries in March and the general election in August. Seven of the County Commission's 11 seats are up.

Brooks, a former Knox County election commissioner who served as his party’s vice chairman before taking over, succeeds Linda Haney.

On Saturday, the party during its biennial reorganization meeting also appointed Jackie Clay, a program manager with the city of Knoxville, to serve as vice chair.

Shannon Webb was elected to the party’s treasurer post and Emily Gregg was re-appointed to her seat as secretary.

Francis leaving election commission

Dennis Francis (photo by Metro Pulse)

Denis Francis is apparently stepping down from the Knox County Election Commission when his term ends in two months. As you might recall, Francis, a local attorney, was appointed to serve out the term for the seat held by Democrat Cameron Brooks, who left in April 2011 to take a new job (but is apparently back, so that didn't last long, but I digress.)

According to former Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe, who writes a column over at the Shopper, State Rep. Gloria Johnson will make a recommendation for his replacement to the state Election Commission.

Ashe also said that former Knox County Commissioner Mark Harmon and attorney Tammy Kaousias are possible replacements.

I talked to Dennis a little while ago and he said that he doesn't want to stay on board. He said representing the Sevier County Election Commission and dealing with that whole Pigeon Forge liquor mess is keeping him busy.

Plus, he said: “I'm not having that much fun. They horse- (insert bad word here) Mackay, so it's hard to get warm and fuzzy with them.”

Heh. Hahahaha. Nice!

Dennis was referring to commission's April 2011 meeting when, voting along party lines, the commission fired Greg Mackay, the longtime elections administrator, and one of Dennis' close friends.

I asked him: “It's cool, I use that quote, right?”

Dennis: “I've told them that so many times, one more would probably be redundant.”

Hah.

Cameron Brooks resigns from board

As expected, Knox County Election Commissioner Cameron Brooks, left, announced this afternoon that he plans to resign, effective May 9, from the board.

It's because he's moving, though. Not because he's disgusted with some of his peers.

(Although he probably is. Disgusted that is.)

Brooks, a Democrat, was one of two who voted (along party lines) Friday to keep administrator of elections Greg Mackay's job. They lost.

I'm assuming the Democrats on the local Legislative Delegation will nominate another member to serve on the commission (which will be rubber stamped by the state because the state doesn't investigate anything). But, hell, I haven't looked it up. It could be like the county commission and the board just appoints one of its own.

Either way, it won't help the Democrats on the board. They're already outnumbered as it is. (The board chooses a new administrator April 27.)

Still, someone has an opportunity to get some of that goooood county health insurance and a little bit of coin.

Anyhoo, Cameron seemed like a good guy. All the best to him.

Here's the email he sent out:

April 19, 2011
Tom Wheeler
Tennessee Election Commission
312 Rosa L. Parks Avenue
9th Floor, Snodgrass Tower
Nashville, TN 37243

Dear Commissioner Wheeler:

This letter serves as my notice of resignation from the Knox County Election Commission, effective Monday, May 9, 2011. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve the citizens of the state of the Tennessee.

Sincerely,
Cameron Brooks
Commissioner, Knox County Election Commission