Pounds Of Flesh: Running Up The Score On Kurita
Posted on October 1, 2008 at 2:42 pmThe Tennessee Democratic Party has sunk to a new low this afternoon. After apparently just discovering that tonight’s Rosalind Kurita fundraiser featuring Republican luminaries from the state Senate was being held at Justin Wilson’s Cherokee Equity Corporation, the party released this statement.
NASHVILLE – Rosalind Kurita has shown her true political stripes by putting her career ahead of her principles. Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Gray Sasser released the following statement in response to a fundraiser for Kurita tonight at the Cherokee Equity Corporation. Cherokee Equity Corporation board member Justin Wilson, in his capacity as Deputy Governor to Republican Govenor Don Sundquist, was one of the architects behind Sundquist’s disastrous state income tax plans.
“Rosalind will say or do anything to help her floundering campaign. Kurita now sides with the income tax proponents of the Tennessee Republican Party for her personal career advancement and for no other reason. Today, we find that she has cast her lot with Don Sundquist and the income tax wing of the Tennessee GOP. She is so desperate to fund her campaign that she will cozy up to any special interest
Please. Like the architects of Tennessee’s state income tax were all Republicans, right?
In fact, one of the big ones, if I remember correctly, was former State Senator Bob Rochelle, who happens to be the lawyer that defended Kurita at that tribunal where the Democratic Party overturned her certified election.
Why not include that in the release? It would certainly bolster the argument-by-association that the Democratic Party is making here, would it not? Is it that Bob Rochelle is too big to mess with? Too much in the good graces of “the club” so to speak, whereas Kurita has been suitably separated from the herd so much that she deserves no courtesy for years of service as a Democrat, is that it?
Followers of Tennessee politics know that Kurita had nothing to do with the income tax. She voted against it.
That opposition, and her love of the guns, are about the only “Republican” things about her. Which is why this all out assault on a lifetime Democrat is so preposterous.
Rosalind Kurita is a progressive populist. She is a nanny statist. She views government as a force for good. The woman is securely within the Democratic ideological spectrum.
Yes, she voted against a Democratic Speaker. So what?
Everybody and their momma knew that Wilder was past his expiration date. Everyone. Nobody, however, was man enough to pull the trigger. Why? Because, under Wilder, Democrats had power.
The only way keep that power was to nominate Wilder, who was capable of peeling off then-Republican Mike Williams for that magic 17.
Democrats love to paint Kurita’s vote against Wilder as a craven power play. Was the power she would gain for her issues and her district by voting for Ramsey an attraction for her? I’m sure they were. No politician walks around trying to get themselves marginalized and she had sat on the Democratic bench quite a few years getting ignored.
But accusing her of a power grab is a bit of the pot calling the kettle black.
John Wilder, essentially a Dixiecrat who stayed in power by ceding a good portion to Republicans, needed to go. The Democratic Party could keep stumbling along in the Senate on the back of, a legend no doubt, but a doddering old man. Or, it could cut loose of the Dixiecrat, let the Republicans have control for a time, and grow a new Democratic Party based, not on power or the good ole boy network, but on progressive ideals.
Kurita saw the opening to drive a stake into the heart of the old Tennessee Democratic Party and she took it. Her vote for Ramsey was a conservative vote, but it was cast for reasons both personal and progressive.
Deep down many Democrats know that Rosalind Kurita is not the crypto-Republican they have painted her to be. They understand why she did what she did, whether they agree with it or not.
If Democrats and Kurita had gotten together and agreed to let the past be the past and work towards the future of a new Democratic Party, all of this would have been unnecessary.
Rosalind Kurita, after all, is a populist, pro-choice on abortion, good government Democrat. She obviously is a bold woman, she wasn’t going to stay put as Ramsey’s pet Democrat for very long.
But because she stood up, after years as a good foot soldier, and attempted to grab a little something for her agenda and in the process free the party of the Old Ways, Senator Jim Kyle got mad and he just couldn’t just let it go. When overtures were made to smooth things over, Kyle, time and time again, chopped up the waters.
It is my belief, and only my belief, that Rosalind Kurita would have voted for just about any Democrat for Speaker except Jim Kyle next year had she been elected as a Democrat. Joe Haynes, Lowe Finney, anyone — she would have voted for them. That is purely my speculative belief but I do not believe it is an unreasonable one.
So, when people call Kurita selfish, it always hits me as curious. Did she vote against Wilder for totally selfless reasons? No, of course not.
But this Jim Kyle-driven assault on Kurita stems from one fact and one fact only. Jim Kyle wants to be speaker. Democrats could have gotten a Democratic speaker (assuming the other numbers were there) with Rosalind Kurita, that much is clear to most political observers, it just wouldn’t have been Jim Kyle.
So, even if one grants that what Kurta did in 2007 stemmed from personal ambition, one must also grant that the political destruction of Rosalind Kurita was motivated by ambition as well — Jim Kyle’s ambition.
Of course, this is all a moot point now. What’s done is done. The Democrats threw away a perfectly good Democrat, a Democrat who had the strength to do what was necessary to “refresh that tree of liberty” and give the party room to grow.
Now, Kurita has been driven out, into the arms of the Republicans, a party with which she has little ideologically in common with. If she somehow manages to win now, with Republican money, managers and a bad taste her mouth for the Democratic Party, there is no chance in hell of her voting for a Democratic Speaker.
The thing is, it didn’t have to be this way. There are Democrats who know this. Not all of them, but many do. Yet they continue even after the deed is done, even after Rosalind Kurita has been stripped of her election, to pile on.
The game is the game, for sure, but this woman was a Democrat until they threw her out. She could have run as an independent, or even a Republican, and won easily. But she didn’t, she entered the Democratic Party primary. Just about the only place she could possibly lose this election. I think some grassroots Democrats currently following the cues of their leadership need to ask themselves why she did that.
Rosalind Kurita is not even on the ballot. I ask you, if the Tennessee Democratic Party can’t beat a woman who isn’t even on the ballot straight up without resorting to painting her an income tax supporter because of the owner of the venue of her fundraiser, what good is the Tennessee Democratic Party?
The Democrats have taken Rosalind Kurita’s party and her ballot position away from her. Is enough, not enough at this point?
Comments
31 Responses to “Pounds Of Flesh: Running Up The Score On Kurita”
Her vote was a power play, the old woman was bitter after we chose Ford to be our nominee and for the US Senate and not her. (Thank God!) This was not a Jim Kyle driven assault. The people of this distict have been angry with her lack of represenation for years now. The Democratic Party took nothing away from Ms. Kurita. Her actions caused the primary to ruled uncertain and Democrats from across the 22nd Distict overwhelmingly chose Tim Barnes to be the Nomineee.
Isn’t that the point? She used to be against the income tax, just like she used to be pro-choice. But now she has thrown her convictions out the window in order to get elected. She’s now siding with the income taxers and the pro-lifers. Her attorney is the attorney for the National Right to Life. She’ll do anything to feed her addiction to power.
More double standards from Kurita.
I didn’t know her attorney was an income tax supporter too. So, she’s hire a pro-choice, pro-income tax legal team . . .
Not a good move on her part, not a good move.
Boo. Hiss. Kurita.
How long before she starts calling herself a Sarah Palin maverick? Or is she going to let the Tennessee GOP do that?
I’ve never seen the boys so scared. It’s pitiful, hilarious and much deserved. It will be hell to pay back when she wins because the TN Democratic Party will be the Dixiecrat party! Even Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia aren’t making such fools of themselves. She’s a tiny little woman but obviously very powerful.
Disgusting.
Let me make sure it was clear I was referring to the Democratic party for this disgraceful press release.
Party above everything, right? The GOP has crippled itself because of the splintering into the true conservatives vs. the Big Government conservatives. Will we eventually see the Democrats (locally and nationally) splinter into the hard-core leftists vs. the moderates?
Blah, blah, blah. Stop carrying water for Hobbs, ACK, it’s boring.
Will we eventually see the Democrats (locally and nationally) splinter into the hard-core leftists vs. the moderates?
As Kleinheider pointed out, this isn’t an ideological battle, its a personality battle.
Ft. Campell Dem: Kurita wasn’t on the primary ballot against Ford in 2006.
“She could have run as an independent, or even a Republican, and won easily.”
Really? Then how come she only got 19 more votes than Barnes in the Demo primary if she was all the beloved, admired, and highly regarded?
Did they really feel the need to do something that fundamentally dishonest to defeat a write in candidate? What makes this bizarre is that to anyone who pays attention at all to Tennessee politics, it has the appearance of a desperate tactic.
And to think that some people thought McCain threw a hail mary when he didn’t have to. What on earth is Gray Sasser doing?
Looks like they’re still pissed that she helped oust John Wilder. The only person that doesn’t know it yet is John Wilder.
Really? Then how come she only got 19 more votes than Barnes in the Demo primary if she was all the beloved, admired, and highly regarded?
Because, despite what Barnes et al argued, most of the people who vote in Democratic state Senate primaries are pretty active party loyalists and activists.
Yeah, just in this case they were Republican activists.
[...] Yeah, just in this case they were Republican… [...]
[...] Yeah, just in this case they were Republican… [...]
Blah, blah, blah. This has nothing to do with principle or party or anything like that. Kurita is out for herself. Always has been always will be. She cut a deal with Ramsey. It backfired on her. Now she’ll cut a deal with anyone to try to keep her seat. Spare me the pity party.
Really? Then how come she only got 19 more votes than Barnes in the Demo primary if she was all the beloved, admired, and highly regarded?
Because she didn’t have all of us ticked off Republicans voting for then….you can bet…she does now!
All this consernation is coming from people who hold their loyalities to a political party above their alliegence to the United States of America. What these idiots don’t get is if their bickering gets worse and tears our nation apart, there will be no more American political parties to play with.
Idiots.
Either learn to spell, use spellcheck or don’t drink and blog.
[...] AC has more on the local election theft and it’s fall out. [...]
First, very well written post on Senator Kurita and the factors that led to her explusion from the state Democratic Party.
The Democrats speaking up here are choking on the Kool-Aid that the state Democratic Party is pouring out. To read comments like “Kurita is out for herself” are completely ridiculous. It’s the Democratic bosses like Jim Kyle who are out for themselves. “We’re out of power for the first time since Reconstruction. Boo-hoo-hoo.” Democrats love the “change” buzzword this election year. It was definitely time for change in the state senate and entrenched Democrats need to be expelled themselves. Wilder was past his expiration date and a relic of the past. Senator Kurita did what was right regardless of her party in voting against him. Democrats turn on their own so easily.
[...] First, very well written post on Senator Kurita… [...]
Welcome to California! Party purity will be maintained at all costs - and funded. The Politburo is the most effective means to keep your Party ideologically clean and best weapon against traitors.
I agree with ACK on this one. I wish the TNDP had devoted as much time, energy and money trying to get Bob Tuke into the US Senate as they have spent on trying to get Rosalind Kurita out of the Tennessee state senate.
Count me as a Dem who thinks what the party did to Kurita is just shameful. Absolutely astounding. I’d [silly me] thought that kind of back-room politics died a long time ago.
Great post, ACK.
ANOTHER attack on a Dem woman by Dem men! Whats new? Clinton,Farraro,Kurita…….When will Dem women wake up?
freeaddicting game…
i have playes evo……