Local Politics

Rising from the Dead? The idea of metro, or unified, government is akin to the character of Jason in the Friday the 13th movies: regardless of how many times or in what exotic ways he’s killed off, it just won’t die. In 1959, 1978,…
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The Choices of Incoming State Rep. Gloria Johnson It’s liable to get noisy in Nashville. Gloria Johnson has three options as she returns to Nashville to represent the 13th District in the state House of Representatives: 1) Be…
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Transitions between election and taking office are similar to decorating the stage for a theatrical production: do it badly and your play is going to cost more, take longer, require re-staging, and cause a cascading set of other headaches.…
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Voters are motivated by many things, but among them two principal factors drive people to the polls: anger over something someone has done or fear of something someone might do. That’s why a political candidate running against the…
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Feeling more uncomfortable by the minute, I sat in a major bank’s executive dining room with a newly-elected political officeholder. As an advisor to campaigns and candidates, I attended at the winner’s invitation. As flattery-laced praise…
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The crowd is gathered as The Walking Politically Dead conducts his funeral march across the room. When TWPD mounts the scaffold - or rather, stage - there are a few calls from the crowd, but the mood is mostly somber.  At times, there is…
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For every action there is a reaction, and in the public arena an emotional reaction often achieves a policy overreaction. Bullying in schools is just such an emotional subject. It seems an easy call to demand officials “do something” about…
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The Tennessee Democratic establishment has the potential in 2018 to “resist” its way into continuing its decades-long slow sinking. The evidence? As of this writing the TDP’s website’s home page urges visitors to “Join the Resistance,” the…
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The number of people who make decisions about who leads the city of Knoxville is getting smaller all the time, which means that the number of people who decide everything for everyone in Knoxville is getting smaller all the time as well.…
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A cardinal rule of political campaigning is to define yourself before your opponent defines you. The campaign for the Republican gubernatorial nomination offers an object lesson for political candidates and would-be candidates: Take care…
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