Haslam Now Slated To Meet With Conservative Bloggers In July

By Kleinheider Posted on May 12, 2009 at 10:00 am

Got off the phone with Tennessee ConserVOLiance main man Ken Marrero a bit a go regarding Le Affaire Haslam.

Marrero wanted to make it clear that he was not purposefully trying to stir the stew when he fired off an email to members of the ConserVOLiance that the Haslam campaign seemed less interested than other GOP gubernatorial candidates in meeting with members of the conservative alt-media.

“I didn’t want to make out like we we were wining or anything like that,” explained Marrero, “But at the same time I felt like I had an obligation to [the ConserVOLiance] to keep them informed.”

After he sent the email to members, one of the members, John Scott, expressed an interest in writing about it on his blog. While the intention of the email was not to shame Haslam, he gave permission to Scott to write about the email.

Marrero said the email was not sent in haste as discussions had been ongoing for sometime but he was not getting prompt responses from the campaign.

Marrero said he his first contact with the Haslam camp was in March at the meeting of the center-right First Tuesday gathering where Haslam was the speaker.

Having successfully setup meetups with Zach Wamp, Marrero was actively looking to secure the appearance of the other candidates before his group. He had “ins” with the other campaigns (Ramsey and Gibbons) but did not know anyone in the Haslam camp. At the first Tueday gathering, he saw Jeremy Harrell, Haslam’s campaign manager, who he remembered from the Lamar Alexander campaign in ‘08.

Marrero says Harrell gave him his new business card and promised to get in touch. They did talk, Marrero reports, but dates were always tentatively discussed and could never get confirmed. Marrero gave one example of having been given potential dates for meetups in May on a Friday with instructions to call and confirm those dates on Monday. Marrero says he did call the following Tuesday and never heard back.

Regardless of how signals got crossed in the past, Marrero reports a happy ending. While May dates could not be worked out so late in the month, Marrero and Harrell have spoken this morning and agreed to three meetups in July, one in Jackson, one in Nashville, and one in Knoxville.

Wamp made the same circuit in March, followed by Gibbons in April. Ramsey is slated to appear before the group in June.

“I’m excited to let you know that we will be hosting forums with Mayor Haslam in July in Jackson, Nashville and Knoxville. I will likely have those dates across the next week and will get them to you as soon as I do,” Marrero relayed in an email.

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