Candidate forum set for April 10

Elaine Davis, a former County Commissioner and current member of the county's Ethics Committee, is hosting a county candidate forum on April 10 at the Knoxville Expo Center on Clinton Highway.

The moderators are Mike Howard and David "Shyne" Thompson of "The Rude Awakening" Morning Show on WNFZ Knox Talk Radio 94.3.

Here's the layout:

• 4-9 p.m.: Candidates or reps are present at their booths for meet and greet
• 5:30-6:30 p.m.: The town hall meetings focuses on County Commission races.
• 6:30-7 p.m.: Introductions to the candidates who are running county-wide seats, like mayor, sheriff, trustee, etc.
• 7-8:30: Focus on school board races.

The event is free and open to the public.

Some applicants question ethics panel

The county's ethics committee met this morning to go ahead and rubber stamp the reappointment of two sitting members.

And this hasn't gone over too well with a couple of folks.

You see, 25 people applied for the two open spots (five didn't bother showing up to today's meeting) and, quite frankly, it appeared that no one – other than the committee members – really had a shot.

I'm not saying that's the case, but, you know . . . appearances and all that.

One person called it “a farce” and another person said “the whole thing was disgusting.” A third walked out of the room, mumbling that “it was a monumental waste of time.”

And several have now dubbed it the “unethical committee.” (Yes, I know. Not real original.)

Soooooo . . . . what happened?

Glad you asked.

The committee has three open spots – two that it gets to fill and one that the Knox County Commission has to fill in the upcoming weeks.

The 20 people – including board chairwoman Elaine Davis and board member Mae Killebrew-Mosley – each were given two minutes to state why they should get the pick. (Board members said they reviewed the applications/resumes before the meeting.)

During the first round of nominations, the board picked Davis and Killebrew-Mosley. Now keep in mind that only the board – no one from the public – can make nominations.

Davis in a 5-1 vote was picked. And yes, she voted for herself. (Killebrew-Mosley also voted for herself.)

In the second round only Killebrew-Mosely received a nomination.

As one person told me: “They didn't even make it look good.” Heh.

Just before the meeting closed, Davis said: “I'm incredibly amazed and appreciative of the number of people and the quality of people who have shown up today.” She suggested that the committee increase its size. (They've been talking about making like this for almost two years.)

In the meantime, officials said they'd turn the remaining applications (and there are some good ones in the batch by the way) over to the county commission to look through. The person who had the post that's set to expire is not applying for it.

Ethics chair opposes law director plan

Knox County's Ethics Board Chairwoman Elaine Davis yesterday sent an email to a bunch of local big wigs that was addressed to the charter review committee.

She's against a possible proposal to let change the county law director's seat from that of an elected position to an appointed one.

Here's the email:

Dear Charter Review Committee Members,

Unfortunately due to prior commitments, I am unable to speak before the committee tonight during Public Forum. I appreciate the Chair allowing for me to speak to you at your last committee meeting on April 11, 2012. Due to time constraints, I was unable to fully express my concerns.

I am writing in reference to the April 25, 2012 Agenda item no. 9. (8.) under the Discussion heading with reference to Section 3.08-Appointment of Law Director. "Appointment of Law Director by the Mayor effective September 1, 2016. Other branches of government will be allowed to hire on a contract basis an attorney to represent their interests."

I am writing concerning a potential conflict of interest with the appointment of the Law Director and the Ethics Committee. As you may or may not be aware, the process in which ethics complaints are initially received originate with the Law Director's office. Either a sworn complaint is received by the Law Director or a complainant may call the office and speak with the Law Director who then discerns the validity of the concern as to whether it may rise to an ethics violation. The committee as a whole is made aware of sworn complaints that are received however any calls that are made to the Law Director's office and those conversations with complainants are not. This is an appropriate process. I believe, that any verbal complaints received, the Law Director deftly handles and gives appropriate instructions to that citizen based on their complaint and situation.

However, if the Law Director is appointed by the Mayor and can be fired by the Mayor at the Mayor's discretion, my concern is that this allows for any complaints received about the Mayor or any of the Mayor's staff to be manipulated to never rise to a violation or be determined to be a credible complaint, be used to warn any wrongdoers and cover up any malfeasance, or conversely retaliate against any political enemies. In my opinion, the Law Director's loyalties would lie with the Mayor instead of remaining independent.

Additionally, there is a conflict with the language of "other branches of government contracting counsel". The Ethics Committee at one point did have a budget in order to pay for the noticing of its meetings. However, at present, the committee does not have a budget and would be unable to contract outside counsel. As a quasi-governmental body that can make recommendations of violations of T.C.A. to the District Attorney's Office that could result in a criminal charge, it is imperative that the legal advice that the Ethics Committee, a citizen's committee, receives is to be trusted.

To date, I can state that the Law Director has aided in creating Whistleblower Protection and the Process and Rules by which a formal hearing is conducted. Having served on the Ethics Committee during the hearings in which the prior Mayor's administration was found guilty of retaliating against a County employee, I can firmly say that having the Law Director independent of the administration allowed for me to make an informed decision based upon my trust of the Law Director's counsel not political machinations.

I am currently Chair of the Knox County Ethics Committee. Please know that I write this letter to you as a citizen who serves not as a spokesperson for the committee as we have not met nor discussed this matter as a body.

Thank you for your time and attention to these serious matters. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me. Again, thank you for your willingness to serve.

Sincerely,
Elaine Davis

Ethics Committee sub-panel to disband?

You know how local officials like to appoint sub-committees and then you never hear back from them? Yeah, started thinking about that the other day.

Anyhoo, the Ethics Committee meets tomorrow. (There's not a whole lot going on.) But chairwoman Elaine Davis said she might ask for an update from a sub-panel or committee or whatever that the board put together a long time back to look into possible changes to its makeup. (Long sentence, I know.)

You see, Knox County Commissioner Richard Briggs wanted to the committee to consist solely of county residents to avoid conflicts of interest among elected leaders. He also wanted to more clearly define just what the panel is supposed to preside over. And, he wanted the group to serve as a tool for elected officials who want to implement something but want to make sure it's not unethical first - for example, creating an unofficial office account or taking a trip paid for by the private sector.

Right now, the nine-member committee, which includes one commissioner and a Knox County Sheriff's Office representative, investigates ethics complaints regarding county business and employees. If it finds something amiss, it can refer the issue to the district attorney general for a further probe or to the county law director for a legal opinion or recommendation.

To make a long story short, I wrote a story in December 2010 about this issue – find it by clicking right smack here.

The committee formed a committee to look into these suggestions, blah, blah, blah and I don't think it ever met.

And now it looks like the board will disband it.

“We had too many other things going on,” Briggs told me the other day. “With the change in government about a year and a half ago (when the commission dropped from 19 to 11 members and a new county mayor took office), I don't think there has been a single incident that's come up.”

Briggs said he'd still like to see an all-resident board, but he'll hold off at this point, since there hasn't been too many referrals to the committee.

(All that's coming to my mind was that mess about whether a developer got some inside info on the Midway Business Park land, and he didn't bother showing up to the inquiry, which was kind of funny. In a way. But I digress.)

Speaking of which, what ever happened to that committee that was supposed to look into other ways to use the Midway land?

Teachers can still get gifts here. I think.

I was talking to Elaine Davis, the chair of the county's ethics committee, this morning, just checking to see if the board's got anything going on for Wednesday's meeting.

They don't.

Anyhoo, she said she was visiting some folks in Alabama over the holidays and was reading a local paper that talked about state problems about teachers accepting gifts. Apparently, the governor over there in that godforsaken state (yeah – I said it and I don't really care what you think about me saying it) had to come up with a plan, so that teachers could accept gifts and it wouldn't be an ethics violation.

Not sure what article Davis saw, but a Google search popped up this one from the Montgomery Advertiser – click right smack here for it.

Yeah, Alabama. Yee-freakin'-haw. I like your football team. I hope you crush LSU tonight in the Big Game. But your state makes no sense.

By the way, Elaine says she doesn't think it's an ethics violation in Tennessee for teachers to accept gifts, particularly in Knox County.

Because, you know, we don't pay them anything, anyway.