Oak Hill Mayor On City Manager’s Rescinded Retirement: “There Will Be No Vote.”
Posted on June 30, 2008 at 9:07 pmIt would appear that the rumors that William Kraus was attempting to rescind his retirement as Oak Hill City Manager were true. As reported in the Tennessean, William Kraus, who resigned his position as City Manager on June 18, will attempt to force a vote on his retirement at the next Oak Hill Commissioners meeting on July 17.
At issue, are political actions Kraus made in support of since defeated Commissioner Tommy Jacobs which would appear to be illegal based on Tenn. Code Ann. 6-21-106. Kraus asserts that he cleared his political action in support of Jacobs on two separate occasions with the City Attorney. Both the City Attorney and the Mayor of Oak Hill reject his account.
In a letter to Oak Hill residents dated June 21, Kraus recounts the circumstances that lead to his retirement:
[O]n June 16th, the Mayor ordered me to his house where he and the City Attorney told me that I had violated a little known state statute that forbids the City Manager from assisting a candidate for the Board of Commissioners. The Mayor then told me that I had to either resign or retire immediately. Keep in mind, that the Mayor was acting alone, and as I later learned, without the knowledge or consent of the other two commissioners - Commissioner Ray Throckmorton and former commissioner Tommy Jacobs.
I agreed to retire though, despite being advised by five well-known and renowned attorneys in town who all agreed that forcing me to leave my position for this sort of violation was totally unnecessary.
Mayor Alsup disputes the above accusation as well as the contents of the letter in their totality. Alsup explained to Post Politics that there was no forced retirement. Alsup asserts that Kraus was simply made aware of his violation of the code, and instead of facing the very vote he now seeks, Kraus elected to resign.
“Dr. Kraus was advised of the illegality of his actions and that the consequences for such actions could be dismissal by the board. He chose to resign,” explains Alsup.
Alsup also disputes Kraus’ allegation that a political operative was hired by the City at $60,000 dollars a year. The operative in question, Rob Ikard, the former Tennessee state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, is an independent contractor. He works on a per project basis for which he can be paid no more than $10,0000 per project according to City regulations. No more than that amount has been paid per project to Ikard according to Alsup.
The forcing of a vote of the Board Of Commissioners is an interesting route for Kraus. There are only three commissioners in Oak Hill, two of which have signed a statement addressed to the Citizens of Oak Hill that states, among other things, the following:
Kraus chose to resign effective June 18, 2008, and is no longer an employee of the City of Oak Hill.
Bill Kraus did a lot of great things for the City of Oak Hill. However, we could not ignore what we were advised was a violation of state law.
They say every battle is won before it is ever fought. In the case of Bill Kraus, this would seem most definitely to be case.
“Dr. Kraus resigned and we accepted that resignation. He no longer comes into the offices. He no longer serves as City Manager. An interim city manager has been appointed and we are actively seeking a permanent replacement,” explains Alsup, “There will be no vote.”
William Kraus dodged a bullet when the town of Oak Hill allowed him to stay on as City Manager after it was revealed that he had a felony conviction in his past. At this point, while the will to rescind exists no way to do so does. The clock has run out.
There will be no vote.
UPDATE: Dr. Bill Kraus responds:
I am now advised by an attorney that specializes in employment law that my initial “forced” retirement, dated June 18th was never legally acted upon by the Board of Commissioners at their monthly meeting on June 19th. Thus, in his opinion, I am still City Manager until the July 17th meeting which is the next legally constituted meeting.
In the meantime, the telephone and email response to my letter of June 21st has, to put it mildly, been overwhelming and I am truly grateful. I am in the process of preparing a letter to the Board of Commissioners requesting that they take the legal action that they have not, to date,taken and that the Board meeting be relocated to larger facilities to handle those who do want to attend.
Don’t Waste His Time
Posted on at 4:17 pmGov. Bredesen wants to know just how serious the Barack Obama campaign is about Tennessee before he starts going out on a limb:
“If it seemed to me that Obama were competitive, then I would feel, as an American citizen, I would like to work really hard to bring Tennessee into his column,” Bredesen said in an interview from a Democratic Leadership Council meeting in Chicago.
“If he was not competitive, not campaigning in Tennessee, I probably would put my attention on the other races,” Bredesen said, adding that campaigns for state legislative seats “have a direct meaning to me.”
“I don’t tilt at windmills. I find things I can actually do and then put leverage behind them,” he said. “I’m not going to waste my time where nobody else is doing it.”
Obama And Clinton Talk It Out
Posted on at 4:08 pmFrom Bill Clinton:
Well this was a little long in the coming but it finally happened — Barack Obama and Bill Clinton shared a little quality phone time earlier today. Obama communications director Robert Gibbs said Obama made the call and the two men talked for about 20 minutes as Obama rode from Kansas City, Mo., to Independence.
Obama asked Clinton to campaign with him, and for him, and Clinton agreed, though spokesmen for the men didn’t break out who spoke long during those 20 minutes.
Rep. Davis Carries It Like Campfield
Posted on at 4:00 pmFrom Angelia:
Granted, I believe a great many of those bills Davis’ has backed fail to adequately address the issue of illegal immigration - and may even compound the problem. But limiting citizenship to children born in the United States? Doesn’t this just conjure up an image of stodgy old men, pacing their offices with jowls a’flapping whilst they mutter to themselves: “”Who’s idea was it to have a Fourteenth Amendment anyway? Nothing good has ever came of the 14th Amendment!”
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Obama On Patriotism
Posted on at 3:21 pm(via Braisted)
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If You Want To Make An Omelette You Gotta Break Some Eggs
Posted on at 2:59 pmSean Braisted reviews the latest chapter in the Nashville Scene’s anti-Waller crusade:
The picture painted by Jeff Woods is one of the villain in a John Grisham movie…and while that may or may not be accurate, it certainly could lead some intrepid reporters to ask Mr. Stewart specific questions regarding where he stands on certain environmental regulatory issues.
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You Gotta Fight For Your Right…
Posted on at 2:44 pm…to Party:
The Libertarian Party has filed lawsuits in Ohio and Tennessee against what it says are unconstitutionally restrictive ballot-access laws.
Not Everyone Is On Board: HuffPo On The TNGOP
Posted on at 2:38 pmThe Huffington Post gets knee-deep into the story of the Tennessee Republican Party and the communications shop of Bill Hobbs:
Much of the Republican bile directed Obama’s way has come, observers say, from the state GOP’s communications director Bill Hobbs. A conservative activist and quasi-journalist, Hobbs is known as a somewhat controversial figure. In February 2006 he resigned from Belmont University in Nashville, where he was serving in the communications department, after posting a cartoon of a stick-figured Prophet Mohammed holding a bomb. The drawing, entitled “Mohammed Blows,” was meant to spotlight the media’s unwillingness to publish the infamous Danish cartoons on Islam.
The firing did not dissuade the Tennessee GOP from offering Hobbs a job, nor did it dissuade Hobbs from pushing the political envelop, which he has done with regularity since taking over the new post.
“I think that [Michelle Obama] video, which we put up on YouTube, struck a nerve. It struck a nerve with Democrats and they squealed and they squealed really loud, and it caused a big storm in the media,” he told the Huffington Post. As for whether a candidate’s wife should be off limits, he added, “It doesn’t matter if the campaign surrogate is married to the candidate or not. What campaign surrogates say on the campaign trail during the course of the campaign is fair game.”
But not everyone has been on board. And the reaction to Hobb’s work has become a telling illustration of just how difficult it has been for conservatives to settle on a line of attack against Obama. Tennessee’s two Republican Senators expressed reservations, with a staffer for Bob Corker demanding that the Michelle Obama spot be taken down, and a spokesman for Lamar Alexander suggesting that “there are probably better ways to communicate our pride in America.”
“You’ve got the more centrist, moderate Republicans who are frankly embarrassed by Hobbs,” said Ken Whitehouse, a political reporter for the Nashville Post. “I’ve got Republican members of the state legislature who are biding their time, keeping their mouth shut, but don’t like what he’s doing because he is drawing attention to himself and not the message. But at the same time you have people who want to fight and love him for it.”
Barack Obama: Made People Go From Welfare To Work And Cut Taxes
Posted on at 2:31 pmBarack Obama’s is campaigning in Republican states as a Republican:
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Congressman Or Congresswoman: A Titular Examination
Posted on at 1:58 pmMarsha Blackburn has developed, consciously or not, into a bit of an anti-feminist icon. While never one to underemphasize her femininity in dress or appearance, she has made quite a reputation for herself in conservative circles through her choice of title.
As many of us know, the lady prefers Congressman. She introduces herself as such in animated form on her website and is referred to as same many times over on the web.
Blackburn submits that there is no “statement” being made through the practice, Congressman is just what she prefers. As her spokesman says in an April Politico article:
“I have never known her to correct anyone who calls her ‘congresswoman.’ I have also never heard her introduce herself as anything other than ‘Marsha.’”Still, “congressman” is her first choice, Chafin continued. Blackburn signs her official correspondence with that title, and it appears on her website. In several news articles, she’s referred to as “Congressman Blackburn,” with the added disclaimer “her preferred term.”
Later in the article Blackburn even notes that her preference for the term is based on its being grammatically correct. Indeed, a prominent Tennessee feminist voice actually defends Blackburn’s use of the term asserting:
If Blackburn wants to call herself Congressman, it’s stupid to not respect that. It’s a legitimate use of the word and, I would argue, the more appropriate use of the word than just using “man” to mean adult male.Y’all aren’t the only men and we need to stop treating that word as if you have exclusive claim to it.
It was quite surprising then that while listening to National Association of Broadcasters PSA on, of all things, mammograms, Post Politics hears the breasted representative refer to herself explicitly as Congresswoman.
“Hi, I’m Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn. If you are a woman 40 or older talk to your doctor about getting a yearly mammogram.”
Now to the political junkie the slip might just appear an interesting curiosity. But considering how much discussion there has been over her use of the term Congressman as opposed to Congresswoman and what her preference says about her feminism, or lack thereof, isn’t it interesting that the one time she does choose to use the term Congresswoman is in a PSA regarding a prominent “woman’s issue.”
When asked about the use of Congresswoman in the audio, spokesman Claude Chafin tells Post Politics that Blackburn remembered recording the PSA.
“It was a proscribed script. The Congressman has so much respect for the group and their cause. To deviate from the words on the page, she thought, would have been petty.”
Listen to the full PSA:
Don’t Call It A Comeback
Posted on at 1:32 pm Mephistophocles weighs the pros and cons of nuclear power:
I’m on the fence on this one. I understand the problems inherent in nuclear power, but I think they have lessened somewhat since the cold war. With the possible exception of islamic violence, full-out nuclear war is probably less of a threat than it was 30 years ago. Also, new reactors will be far safer now than they would be then, because of more advanced technology and the additional experience that the industry has. Nuclear power is very clean and relatively inexpensive. It would reduce our dependence on oil and natural gas for power, which is certainly a good thing. I think the issue needs to be carefully and honestly revisited.
Nelson Mandela Is Not A Terrorist
Posted on at 1:03 pmSo say the Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle and Bob Corker:
Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker was among the congressional sponsors of a bill that grants the secretary of state the authority to waive U.S. travel restrictions on President Mandela and other members of the African National Congress.
We’re glad to see Congress pass this bill. Unlike President Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, Mandela was a leading architect in his country’s transition to democracy.
He definitely is not a terrorist, and his name should be cleared.
Giving Justice The Finger
Posted on at 12:07 pmJohn Ford has done it in many ways over the years but never quite so literal:
Jury selection in the federal corruption trial of former Tennessee state Sen. John Ford was delayed in Nashville this morning after Ford’s defense attorney was hospitalized over the weekend.
Attorneys in court said Assistant Federal Public Defender Isaiah Gant was admitted into a Nashville hospital Sunday suffering from an inflamed finger. Gant underwent surgery Sunday after his finger did not respond to antibiotics.
SEE ALSO: Grantham Is Talking
Same But Different
Posted on at 11:13 amBruce Barry speaks to the differences between Eric Crafton’s English Only petition and an oft-cited 2006 Arizona ballot measure:
If the “English only” proposal in Nashville looked more like Arizona’s, it would still be morally and politically objectionable as pointless and unnecessary, but it would perhaps pose significantly fewer potentially costly legal risks to the city and its taxpayers.
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Making An Impact
Posted on at 11:07 amA new law in Tennessee makes the option of sending DUI offenders to a “victims impact panel” explicit to judges:
“This is something where the person can’t be ignored. I mean, it, it happens in a, in a room, you can’t sleep through it, you can’t ignore it, its something real, there’s some emotion, there’s some, some… I think it just, it opens some people’s eyes.”
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Last One Out Please Turn Off The Lights
Posted on at 9:50 amFrom Senator Bill Frist’s news roundup:
Fred Barnes has an article in the Weekly Standard, called “Very Retiring Republicans – They’d Rather Quit Than Fight.” Mr. Barnes writes about the 30 Republican Members in the House who have already retired, or announced their decision to retire. Read the complete story here.
Interesting article for the interns over at VOLPAC to post considering Senator Frist decided to get out while the getting was good — before the 2006 elections.
That Boat Was So Swift It Got Back Around Behind Them
Posted on at 9:45 amGeneral Wesley Clark’s query as to what exactly about John McCain’s military service record qualifies him to be president draws kudos from GoldnI:
Now, Clark certainly isn’t “attacking McCain’s credentials” as the media has been saying. All Clark said was that he doesn’t understand how those credentials necessarily qualify McCain to be President. Of course, I fully expect the Republicans to go ape-shit over this, but I don’t recall them having any such problems with it, but I don’t recall them having any problems when another Vietnam veteran was attacked even worse four years ago.
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She’s Wondering If An Oilman Is Really The Answer We Need
Posted on at 9:02 amKatie Allison Granju poses a question based on the moves Bill Haslam is making to run for Governor:
Does the fact that the primary source of the Haslam family’s considerable wealth is gasoline sales make it less likely that Bill Haslam will offer progressive leadership on critical transportation planning and mass transit issues? Can a guy whose entire career prior to taking office consisted of trying to convince people to drive more/buy more gas offer vision for a new world and economy that will require radical transformation of the way we get around?
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Esta Semana Con Roberto Mueller
Posted on at 8:49 amTim Chavez thinks the panel for This Week With Bob Mueller is just a touch too pasty:
And for a show to emanate from Nashville with only white folks as experts is just plain insensitive and unbalanced. I’m not talking about me returning to the show. The cost of gas is too high for me to keep driving to near downtown Nashville. Besides, I’m using all my voluneteer miles for Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church on the campaign to pay off the debt there.
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I’m Gonna Make Them A Premise They Can’t Refuse
Posted on at 8:46 amA local political consultant blogs about the effectiveness of creating strawmen:
By asking a question which your opponent cannot possibly answer without accepting your premise (what lawyers would call ‘begging the question’), you have induced your opponent to fight the ideological war on your ground.
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The Politics Of Fortune
Posted on at 8:44 amSlate explains a link between the outcome of elections and the success of corporations:
A recent study by financial economists Eitan Goldman, Jongil So, and Jörg Rocholl found exactly that: Republican companies beat the market by 3 percent over the week after Bush’s victory was assured; Democratic companies lagged almost as badly. Goldman, So, and Rocholl defined “Republican” companies as those with board members who had previously served as Republican senators or congressmen or members of a Republican administration, and with no Democratically connected board members.
Another example: In May 2001, Sen. Jim Jeffords abruptly left the Republican Party to become an independent senator. That decision handed control of the Senate and its committees to the Democratic Party. Seema Jayachandran, an economist at UCLA, studied the market’s reaction and concluded that it was bad news for the share price of large firms that had donated to the Republicans. The gains to Democratic donors were not as large, so the total effect was to wipe $84 billion off the price of U.S. shares.
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An Influx Of Spam
Posted on at 8:44 amBarack Obama supporters seem to have employed an ingenious strategy to keep anti-Obama blogs offline — at least for a few days.
What Erodes Our Manufacturing Base Makes Us Stronger
Posted on at 8:41 amAl From makes the case for a free-trading Democratic Party:
There is no doubt that many Democrats worry about reducing trade barriers. That is at least in part because the Bush administration has given trade a bad name by repeatedly resisting efforts to strengthen the guarantees of health insurance, job training, placement and portable pensions that can help workers cope with change. Under such circumstances, many hard-working Americans who are nervous about their economic futures are understandably wary of additional competition.
But globalization is here to stay. We need to respond with American ingenuity and optimism, rather than fear. Our biggest economic challenge is to create a path toward opportunity and mobility in the global economy. We need to build on the success of our exporters, and find a strategy that helps U.S. workers and businesses beat our competitors. The next president also needs to forge a new social contract that deals with the anxieties that often make middle-class families resistant to trade.
A Woman’s Work Is Never Done
Posted on at 8:40 amClint Brewer asserts that the State House’s Republican Caucus needs help in the run up to this year’s legislative races and there is only one man for the job — a woman:
GOP House Caucus leaders Reps. Jason Mumpower and Glen Casada are passionate, but they apparently are not cut out for leading a political operation to win the House — particularly since that means taking control away from Speaker Jimmy Naifeh.
Press conferences about a conservative agenda, from GOP House members, that are afterthoughts are not going to win elections. These kinds of public pronouncements during sessions on tax plans and the like appear to be the extent of the Mumpower/Casada team’s political leverage. And it is not working.
Case in point, the House GOP is woefully unprepared for this election season based on the cash the caucus has in the bank. As of the end of the first quarter reporting period they were at about $9,000 versus the House Democrats’ well over $300,000.
The real problem is the most astute politician in the State House GOP Caucus is sitting on the bench — former Tennessee Republican Party Chair Beth Harwell. Harwell oversaw the GOP taking over the state Senate and closing the gap in the House — a gap that now sits at only a handful of seats.
Harwell can raise money for the party, knows her way around the state and has successfully recruited candidates before. Tennessee Republicans need to begin asking why the most successful party chair in recent memory is NOT running her own Caucus’ political operation in an election year where the GOP in the state could again go against the national trend.
The Idealism Will Be Gone After November
Posted on at 8:37 amA column in the New Yorker Magazine argues that Barack Obama will have some position shifting to do sooner or later on his signature issue:
Obama, whatever the idealistic yearnings of his admirers, has turned out to be a cold-eyed, shrewd politician. The same pragmatism that prompted him last month to forgo public financing of his campaign will surely lead him, if he becomes President, to recalibrate his stance on Iraq. He doubtless realizes that his original plan, if implemented now, could revive the badly wounded Al Qaeda in Iraq, reënergize the Sunni insurgency, embolden Moqtada al-Sadr to recoup his militia’s recent losses to the Iraqi Army, and return the central government to a state of collapse. The question is whether Obama will publicly change course before November. So far, he has offered nothing more concrete than this: “We must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in.”
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They’ll Make You Famous
Posted on at 8:35 amKatie Allison Granju brings word of a piece of business some of you might be interested in:
MySpace and MSNBC.com are looking for citizen journalists to cover the political conventions this summer.
The social-networking site is teaming up with MSNBC to recruit citizen journalists via a video contest that gives the winners a trip to the Democratic and Republican conventions and the opportunity to have their work seen on MSNBC.com and MySpace Impact, the site’s public-affairs destination.
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Logistics
Posted on at 8:34 amLamar Alexander wants to make sure all those Republican military ballots from overseas get counted this time:
“Part of the problem is that the military is spread out in countries throughout the world, and voting is a very local process handled by individual counties across the country,” Alexander said in a phone interview Thursday. “But the military has great logistics expertise. This bill is a signal from Congress to focus on this issue. It makes the Defense Department part of the process, and that should make a big difference.”
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Primary Problems In District 4
Posted on at 8:26 amToni of the Bear Creek has a few issues with carpet-bagging Congressional candidate Monty Lankford:
Monty Lankford is a millionaire who has hired campaign help from Washington D.C. I guess since Monty doesn’t reside in the 4th District it isn’t surprising he would go outside of Tennessee for campaign help. Kent Greenough is running a true grass roots campaign with only you and other 4th District residents for support.
This Is New
Posted on at 8:25 amClark Stooksbury takes issue with the assertion that “hill people” have been the deciders in recent elections.
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Black & Tan: The Politics Of Pigment
Posted on at 8:16 amSarah Moore takes issue with the charges of racism leveled at Grover Norquist for his description of Barack Obama as “John Kerry with a tan”:
Norquist is a conservative and therefore his injection of skin color must be racist. His job is to remind racist whites that Obama is black. The fact that he endorsed Bobby Jindal for VP in the same interview is not important. Jindal is not a real person of color because he is a Republican.
You know what? I’m just going to say it. Bobby Jindal is Newt Gingrich with a tan.
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