Oscar Brock Congratulates His New Chairman
Posted on May 30, 2009 at 10:26 pmA letter to new TNGOP Chairman Chris Devaney from his vanquished opponent Oscar Brock:
Dear Chris,
I would like to offer my sincere congratulations to you, Mr. Chairman. You ran an excellent campaign, you worked your heart out, and the results are clear evidence of your work ethic and conviction to elect Republicans. Well done!
Eric Swafford, a current and future leader for Republicans across Tennessee, deserves much praise for his courage to offer himself up to be the leader of our party.
You’ve accepted a heavy burden as you lead us into the 2010 election cycle. You know better than any the importance in having majorities in both houses as we head into redistricting. There is no Republican in Tennessee that is wishing you more success over the next 18 months than I. We eagerly await election results on November 2, 2010, showing solid Republican gains in the State House and regaining control of the governor’s mansion.
You’ll perform excellently. I know that you’ll make us all proud that this day, May 30, 2009, you became our chairman.
Godspeed, Mr. Chairman, and good luck.
Oscar Brock
State Executive Committee Member
District 10
Bredesen On The Cultural Divide On Guns
Posted on at 4:36 pmNewsweek’s Jon Meacham speaks with our governor about his veto of the guns in bars bill and the upstate New York upbringing that taught him that guns and alcohol don’t mix:
Bredesen is trying to find a middle ground between those extremes, as is Obama. The reflexive liberal reaction is to deplore any compromise on guns, but Bredesen’s musings on the issue bear consideration. “There seems to often be a presumption that the rational norm is a European-like careful regulation of guns, and that people who feel differently are a cultural phenomenon that needs explaining,” the governor wrote me in an e-mail. “I would suggest that it is cultural on both sides: that strong anti-gun advocates can be just as culturally biased and irrational as the most avid gun-toters. I enjoy pointing out to my more liberal friends that when they want to (e.g. choice v. right to life issues) they can happily find justification for their (and my) position in rights emanating from implied privacy rights lurking in the penumbra of our Constitution, but where they disagree (e.g. on guns) they are perfectly happy to wave off or reinterpret the clear language in the Bill of Rights.” He wrote these words near a gun cabinet that still holds his .22 from that distant birthday—a reminder, in a way, that if you are going to have a gun, you need a Mr. Natoli.
Gibbons Gives It Up For Newly Christened TNGOP Chairman Devaney
Posted on at 4:03 pmA press release from gubernatorial candidate Bill Gibbons:
“I congratulate Chris and believe he will be a very strong leader of the party. I know he will help focus our party and its candidates on the real challenges facing our state.
“Oscar Brock and Eric Swafford have my respect and appreciation for their ideas and effort for the party. I look forward to working with Chris, Oscar and Eric along with other Republicans across the state to increase margins in the House and Senate, and to win the governor’s office.”
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Devaney Wins: The Official TNGOP Press Release
Posted on at 3:31 pmFrom the desk of TNGOP Communications Director Bill Hobbs:
NASHVILLE, TN - The State Executive Committee of the Tennessee Republican Party elected a new party chairman Saturday, selecting Chris Devaney, U.S. Sen. Bob Corkers state director and a former executive director for the Tennessee Republican Party.
Devaney becomes chairman immediately, replacing outgoing Chairman Robin Smith, who served as the party chairman for 22 months and led the party to a historic victory in the November 2008 elections.
The election of 2010 is the most important for our state in generations, Devaney said, and we will be focused on building our majority in the General Assembly and electing a Republican governor.
In the worst political climate for Republicans in decades - in a year that would see Republicans lose the White House, lose both houses of Congress, lose 100 state legislative seats across the country, and lose the majority in three state legislatures to the Democrats - Chairman Smith lead the Tennessee Republican Party to winning a majority in both houses of the state legislature for the first time since the elections of 1868.
In remarks to the committee before the vote, Smith stressed that there is work left to be done keeping the Republican majority in the legislature, and electing a Republican governor in 2010 - and that the party must never stray from its principles.
“I love working with the grass roots,” said Smith, pledging to remain a Republican activist even after she leaves the chairmanship.
The Republican victories of 2008 ushered in a new era in Tennessee governance. Not only do Republicans have a majority in the state House and state Senate, for the first time the party also holds the state’s three constitutional officer seats and have a majority on all 95 county election commissions and the State Election Commission.
SEE ALSO: Devaney is the new TNGOP chairman.
Chris Devaney Is The New TNGOP Chairman
Posted on at 2:19 pm
Sen. Corker’s State Director Chris Devaney was elected chairman of Tennessee’s state Republican Party at the downtown Sheraton today in a squeaker of an election defeating current party treasurer Oscar Brock on the second ballot 28 to 25 with one write-in vote.
A third candidate, Rep. Eric Swafford was eliminated on the first ballot. Devaney will succeed Robin Smith in the role.
The campaign was briefly marred by accusations of financial mismanagement on the part of the current chairman as well as former Executive Director Devaney. Current Chief of Staff Mark Winslow was eventually moved to send an email to SEC members squashing the whisper campaign.
On the endorsement front, former Congressman Van Hilleary and National Committeeman John Ryder blessed the candidacy of Brock implying that other candidates might be biased in the upcoming governor race.
Devaney, meanwhile, boasted former Gov. Winfield Dunn as a supporter.
Devaney was a top aide to former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson and served as Executive Director of the Tennessee Republican Party under chairman Bob Davis. He and his wife Heather have four children and live in Chattanooga.
UPDATE:
Dru Fuller (FT: Devaney photo)
Andy Sher
The Associated Press
Chattanoogan
The official TNGOP release
TNGOP Chairman’s Race: First Ballot
Posted on at 2:02 pmNo one reaches the required 28. Rep. Swafford’s name will be dropped and Oscar Brock and Chris Devaney will go head to head.
Twenty Eight Votes
Posted on at 1:25 pmThere will be 54 TNGOP State Executive Committeemen voting for TNGOP Chairman out of 66 eligible today at the downtown Sheraton. That means just 28 votes takes the prize.
Follow the action here and here.
Foodie Vote Could Favor Devaney
Posted on at 1:22 pmFrom Gregory Gleaves from the site of the TNGOP chairman’s race:
SEC member says “better attendance and better food at Devaney’s reception”
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Prominent Past Wamp Supporter Wishes Zach Would Drop Governor’s Bid
Posted on at 12:38 pmFrom Adam Crisp:
Mr. Probasco said experience played a role in his decision, but family ties were a part of the process, too.
“I would love to see (Mr. Wamp) … step out of this race and maintain his congressional seat for at least another two years,” said Mr. Probasco, a retired SunTrust bank executive. “He’s built up real seniority in Washington and could be so terribly effective there.”
Often family ties matter in politics, but so does the appearance that one candidate is better financed than another, said Dr. Bob Swansbrough, a University of Tennessee at Chattanooga political scientist.
“You have to question whether these backers see Mr. Haslam as the better or most viable candidate,” Dr. Swansbrough said. “They like to bet on the winning horse. His family has considerable fortune, so on their own they can raise significant amounts of money, and so many times that matters in statewide races.”
TN Firearms Association On The Warpath
Posted on May 29, 2009 at 11:57 pmThe Tennessee Firearms Association is seeking to publicly identify each law enforcement officer and prosecutor who attended Gov. Phil Bredesen’s veto of a bill to allow people with handgun carry permits to take their weapons into bars and restaurants that serve alcohol.
SEE ALSO: Richard Locker
Haslam Thinks Speaker Williams Should Be Allowed To Run As Republican
Posted on at 10:02 pmTom Humphrey reports:
“While I didn’t like the whole process involved in his selection, I don’t think throwing someone out of the party is the answer,” Haslam said in a brief interview Thursday at the Legislative Plaza.
“I just don’t think it’s wise to throw somebody out of the party who wants to run as a Republican,” he said, adding that Republican voters can make such decisions.
Two-Time Loser And The Redistricting Guy Endorse Oscar Brock For TNGOP Chair
Posted on at 9:47 pmIn a letter to members of the state Republican Party Executive Committee, Former Congressman Van Hilleary and National Committeeman John Ryder endorse Oscar Brock for TNGOP chairman and, in so doing, strongly imply that one of the other candidates (Chris Devaney) has a preference (Bill Haslam) in the upcoming gubernatorial primary:
Finally, we must have a chairman who will be an unbiased, honest broker with our state party’s resources during the upcoming primary elections. This will be especially true for what will no doubt be a hard fought Republican Primary for governor next year. Oscar Brock will absolutely be that chairman on whom we can count to be neutral in all primaries, but ferocious in the general election for our Republican nominees to all offices.
The election is tomorrow at the Sheraton downtown at 1:00pm. Candidates include Brock, Devaney as well as Rep. Eric Swafford.
UPDATE: Rob Huddleston in the comments:
You miss an interesting point here. John and Van are only a matter of months removed from a tense contest for the National Committeeman spot, which both of them had held previously.
For both of them to come forward and endorse Oscar Brock is impressive. Basically, every member of the SEC voted less than a year ago for either John or Van. Will such an endorsement on the eve of the vote carry any weight?
Every Waking Moment
Posted on at 4:00 pmIf you’re so clueless you don’t even remember you’re carrying a deadly weapon maybe you should leave the [fudging] thing at home.
~ Southern Beale
The difference between Beale’s attitude about guns above and the one expressed by John Danneskjöld here I think reveals the unbridgeable chasm between active gun owners and the ‘civilian population’ on issues such as ‘guns in bars.’
Guns have been so fetishized and derided in our politically correct and increasingly suburbanized culture that they have transformed into this huge monster that clouds what firearms really are and always have been
To rural folks who grew up with guns in their house, firearms are just a way of life. You learn what they are, how to use them safely, and what not to use them — for ever.
They are, in fact, a tool. A dangerous tool to be sure but no more than a circular saw or a chainsaw.
Or a car. How many times when you are in a car do you think consciously, “My God, I am driving a very heavy piece of glass and steel with a tank of highly flammable liquid at high speeds near unprotected men, women and children. This a dangerous vehicle that could kill someone.”
I would hazard to guess not very often. It’s not that you don’t know those things to be true, they have just been internalized. Your brain has moved them to the background.
You know how to drive, you know what precautions to take. You don’t think about the constant danger. You don’t remind yourself constantly that you are in control of something that could possibly kill some one.
Why? Because you are in control. You know how to drive a car just as well as gun owners know how to use a gun and how to keep a weapon safely.
Most permit holders are responsible citizens. If you want to beef up the qualifications you need to hold one, I’m all for that. But don’t let your culturally ingrained prejudice toward firearms cloud your judgment.
Guns are just tools. Only in the hands of tools are they not.
Posturing On Posturing
Posted on at 3:34 pmLast week, Sen. Andy Berke got into the above scrape with Sen. Jack Johnson regarding his joint resolution against cap in trade legislation presently under consideration in Washington.
Now my beef is not with the issue of cap and trade. I really don’t have an opinion on that either way. My issue is with Sen. Berke’s accusation of posturing against Sen Johnson.
Was Johnson posturing by introducing a non-binding resolution on a controversial issue? No doubt. In his district, and in the circles he travels, coming down hard on those tree hugging environmentalist trying to bring down our world economy down pays political dividends.
It was a waste of time and pure politics to offer this resolution up. Indeed.
Here’s my thing though: so was Berke’s renunciation of the posturing. Did he save any jobs or get back any time wasted by going after Johnson on the floor? He wasted as much time and energy in the legislature and in the media with this issue as Johnson did as far as I can see.
Nine times out of ten, if one politician is accusing another of posturing, that exactly what the accuser is doing, posturing. It would be one thing if Johnson was passing something that would be injurious to the middle class as a matter of law. But this was just a resolution.
If it was a bunch of nonsense, as Berke says, then why call attention to it? Why put it in the news?
After all, if there were no debate, the resolution would have been entered into the record and nothing more would have come of it.
By ‘fighting’ Berke wasted more time and gave the issue more play than it otherwise would have. Now how exactly does THAT benefit the middle class?
How does Berke’s action, and his promotion of said action, do anything other than further ingratiate him into a progressive community that holds him aloft as the great white hope of the future?
Sentence Of The Week
Posted on at 2:35 pmNow, however, the legislature is poised– and likely quite happy– to set in motion a series of events in which local governments must now put themselves in a position to have to re-confirm their existing legislation prohibiting guns in playgrounds, but with the added fun of encouraging faux-enraged gun enthusiasts to threaten to “throw out” any local legislators who would dare encroach upon their right to wear a shoulder holster while playing on the monkey bars.
Coming Correct
Posted on at 2:30 pmRep. Brooks on the dreaded Technical Corrections bill:
Technical corrections bill may net $63M closing tax loopholes & adding fees to services. We can’t fix TN budget on backs of small business.
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ICE, ICE, Baby
Posted on at 1:46 pmAunt B. has a problem with this legislation, which says the following:
When a person is arrested for any offense and is confined, for any period, in the jail of the county or any municipality, a reasonable effort to review documents in the possession of the prisoner shall be made to assess the citizenship status of the person so confined. If the keeper of the jail or other officer cannot determine the lawful status of the prisoner from the documents in the possession of the prisoner or if it is determined that the person is not lawfully present in the United States, pursuant to the federal Immigration and Naturalization Act, compiled in 8 U.S.C. § 1101 et seq., the keeper of the jail or other officer shall notify the United States department of homeland security by facsimile transmission or other appropriate means.
Schisms, Schisms And More Schisms
Posted on at 1:44 pmTrashley wants to see the GOP break up and she’s got a few ideas on what to call the pieces:
Constitution Party: These guys have a pretty basic platform. They’re against abortion and euthanasia (but love the death penalty); advocate heavy-handed immigration reform, reducing the role of the federal government, and, uh, acknowledging Jesus Christ as the Creator. Why are they not Republicans? They are not huge fans of Team America: World Police. You’re welcome, uncompromising theists!
Democratic-Republicans: Yes. What eventually evolved into the modern Democratic Party used to be all about states’ rights, low federal spending, strict Constitutional interpretation and (lol) anti-elitism. You’re welcome, most Republicans!
Know-Nothings: Ooh, they hate a Catholic immigrant. Used to be those Catholics came from dirty places like Ireland and Germany, but now they come from dirty places like the rest of the Americas. You’re welcome, nativist Protestant racists!
Dixiecrats: Old-school Thurmond-loving Southerners who felt that all that pesky civil rights shit was getting in the way of, you know, being crazy racist assholes. You’re welcome, disconcertingly large swaths of white America!
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