BOE member's friend jumps the gun; solicits campaign funds too early

Karen Carson

Seems that in the past couple of days, a lot of folks spent some time talking about an email sent out by a former school board member, hoping to raise campaign coin for a current school board member who wants to run for a state seat.

Me? I spent my time watching Mick and Keith tear up Ohio Stadium. And it was awesome. Heh.

Anyhoo, there’s the deal:

Knox County school board member Karen Carson plans to run for the 14th District state House seat that was recently vacated by Ryan Haynes, R-Knoxville. More than likely the primary will be held on Aug. 12 with the general election on Sept. 29.

(Don’t hold me to it, but for what it’s worth, I believe Carson once told me she is Republican.)

Now, here’s the problem:

Diane Jablonski, a former school board member who also sat on the county’s charter review committee, sent an email out on Friday evening to a number of folks, soliciting campaign dollars for Carson’s eventual campaign. (And, yes, for those asking, Superintendent Jim McIntyre was copied on the email although that shouldn’t mean anything one way or the other.)

This is the email:

My friend, Karen Carson has decided to run for the vacant state representative seat, previously held by Ryan Haynes, This will be a very short campaign and Karen needs our help now. Karen has served our district with excellence as the 5th district School Board representative. She has been Board chair and as such represented the entire county. She is also an emergency room nurse at Children's hospital and I cannot think of anyone would rather have attending to my child. Her knowledge of a broad scope of state issues is beyond most other candidates. I implore you to support her efforts by sending a campaign donation to Karen Carson for State Representative. Please be generous, your donation of $100, $200, $500, or $1,000 can make a huge difference to our area. Karen is still in the process of establishing her campaign; but you can send your donation to me and I will make sure that her campaign gets it!

Jablonski in the past has served as Carson’s campaign treasurer when she ran for her school board seat. However, Carson as of Monday night had not officially appointed a treasurer for a state seat nor had she filed the paperwork.

That means no one at this point should be soliciting money on behalf of Carson.

I talked with Drew Rawlins, the executive director of the Tennessee Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance.

Here’s what he said, though, about it:

“You’re supposed to file an ‘appointment of treasurer’ with our office before you raise money. A person shouldn’t be raising money for someone else to run unless that person has appointed a treasurer. Someone should be appointed as a treasurer before someone raises money.”

He also said a candidate can be assessed a fine up to $10,000 for failing to appoint a treasurer.

Now, let’s not kid ourselves here – no one is getting fined $10,000. Or even $1,000. Or even $1.

Here’s what Carson, who said she was not aware of the email, told me:

“I will say at this point, I have told anybody I’m talking to that I’m seriously considering a run for that seat, but I am absolutely aware that I can’t take a penny until I have a treasurer and it’s filed with the state election commission.”

She also noted that she can’t run for a race until there’s an open seat. (Technically, there’s no election until the governor issues a “writ of election,” ordering one.)

She also said that she hasn’t directed anyone to solicit money “or taken a penny,” and that she’s “very aware of the finance laws.”

So, that leaves us with Jablonski. I reached out to her Monday night (and by the way folks, I’m not even supposed be working).

I asked her about the matter.

Here’s what she had to say:

“Mike I just was so excited about the prospect of Karen running that I totally jumped the gun by sending the e-mail. Karen had no knowledge of the email that I sent. I have resent to my contacts telling them that I had no permission to send the email and that any consideration of support for her run for the seat should wait until she has formally announced and named her treasurer. This is totally an error on my part as Karen had no knowledge of my attempts on her behalf. I have not raised any money thus far, and if I do receive any funds they will be returned with a letter of apology.”

So, there ya go.

Now, all that said, this is going to be one interesting one. There’s not a lot of time to campaign between now and the primary and this race will be the only one on the ballot. And I seriously doubt a lot of people will be hitting the ballot boxes come (special) Election Day.

Of course, I’ll let you know when we have the candidates on Inside Tennessee.

I’m out.

Commissioner Ownby's battle with school officials over public records

Commissioner Ownby

Here’s a little bit of inside baseball that was partially discussed in public last night, but didn’t really make the main story, which you can find right smack here.

Anyhoo, the Knox County Commission during its Monday work session agreed to audit the school system’s Physical Plan Upgrades account, something that a number of commissioners say is nothing more than a "slush fund."

The move was actually spearheaded by Commissioner Jeff Ownby, who had to wait roughly 17 days for the school system to compile an open records request that he submitted regarding the account.

During Monday’s meeting, Superintendent Jim McIntyre took exception to the “salacious” allegations that the account was a slush fund and noted that “this is the first time I’ve head of some of the complaints.”

He also said if Ownby had a problem or question, then he should have called.

Well, Ownby isn’t too happy that the superintendent claims he wasn’t exactly kept in the loop. So, he sent me over some emails, detailing the records request.

You can find the emails right smack here.

Now, you’ll note, according to these emails, that Ownby on Feb. 24 asked for the records connected to three years’ worth of spending tied to the PPU account.  He submitted the request to schools finance director Rob McPherson.

Superintendent McIntyre

On Feb. 28, McPherson replied back to Ownby, noting that they were “coordinating” and “segregating” and doing all sorts of stuff to get him that information. Note, that McIntyre is copied on this email.

Ownby says McIntyre was well aware of what was going on.

Now, here’s where it gets ridiculous, and this is where the commissioner got upset.

Ownby didn’t receive his records until March 12 or 13. And, man, if you’ve seen what the school system gave him, you’d cry. Or laugh. Ownby called them “barely legible.” He’s being nice.

Thanks to mild mannered reporter, the good Gerald Witt (whose blog you can find right here), for providing copies of those documents.

You can find ‘em right smack here. (Bring a magnifying glass.)

If you can read them, you probably won’t be able to find any information about Northshore Elementary School. I’m told – and I’m not risking my eyesight to find out – that Northshore isn’t on there. Funny. That’s the info Ownby truly wanted.

So, I hear about all this, and kind of chuckle. Because, on Friday, March 14, I asked the county’s finance department for the exact same information, except I asked for it going back eight years – not just three. Do you know how long it took the county’s finance people to compile it?

Less than an hour.

I kid you not. They sent me over more than 400 pages of records, which included information on Northshore, and you can actually read them.

Heh.

County turns over emails to paper

For more than a year the Paywall Paper has been locked in battle with the county's Law Department in an effort to get a hold of some emails. The county argued that they were private and shouldn't be turned over. The paper said they were public.

They went back and forth, then eventually went to court and - as I recall - a judge said the county needed to turn over 9 of the 13 emails that the paper sought.

So, this afternoon the county handed them over.

You can read them right smack here.

I've glanced through 'em and there's either nothing new (the info connected to Mayor Tim Burchett's 2010 campaign has already been beaten to death) or they appear mostly innocuous.

That's all I'm going to say about the matter. Other than the paper got scooped. Heh.

Mayor Burchett to go creek wading

Ah, I yearn for the days when county communications manager-of-two Michael “Big Sexy” Grider did NOT flood my email inbox with “friendly reminders' tied to whatever the heck Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett is doing.

Heh.

Now? Well now, Jennifer “da Kid” Lightning-something-or-other sends them.

Rambling a bit here.

Anyhoo, tomorrow the mayor will wade into Beaver Creek as part of a "fish assessment activity" during a “Families in the Creek” event.

No, really. That's what the email said, although it spins it as “an educational opportunity for families to explore a local creek and learn about water quality issues.”

I figure that, really, the mayor just got himself a waterproof metal detector and he wants to try it out.

The event, also hosted by the county's stormwater management and par and rec departments in conjunction with the Beaver Creek Task Force, is set for 10 a.m. at the Halls Grenway behind Food City, 7114 Maynardville Pike.