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Democratic Election Adminstrator Retained In East Tennessee

By Kleinheider Posted on July 20, 2009 at 7:57 pm

From Jim Wozniak:

ERWIN — Two Republican members of the Unicoi County Election Commission abruptly resigned prior to tonight’s Election Commission meeting, where the elections administrator was retained for a two year term.

Charles Apple and Rick Parshall sent in resignation letters dated today to Mark Owens, coordinator of elections for the state. The letters were critical of chairman Tom Reeves and suggested he had violated the Tennessee open meeting act. With apple and Parshal absent, Reeves and democratic commissioners David Logan and Marvin Rogers voted to keep Bailey as administrator. Her term will last until April, 2011, when she can be re-appointed.

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4 Responses to “Democratic Election Adminstrator Retained In East Tennessee”

  1. dontcallmemikey writes
    July 20th, 2009 8:54 pm

    I think this proves that in East TN, the TNGOP is in trouble. Unicoi is a small county that is very conservative - but not modern GOP conservative. Carter County Republican, perhaps, as opposed to the ‘Spiderman’ Mumpower faction.

  2. jen writes
    July 20th, 2009 9:05 pm

    East Tennessee is ripe for the picking and has been for a while. People here vote on personal relationships and are far less socially conservative than most people think. Run reasonable on guns with a democratic agenda and if you’ve established any kind of network within these small counties you’ve got as good of a chance as any GOPer. Ironically, the more developed less rural E. TN counties are the ones that are stronger for the GOP. The truly rural areas are soft spots.

  3. dontcallmemikey writes
    July 20th, 2009 9:12 pm

    The problem is two-fold - Dems have written this part of the country off for quite awhile, and so has local media (yes, you Hank Hayes).

    Nathan Vaughan proved, tho, that you don’t have to be GOP to win here, and with the heavy effort made by Shipleyites, and the sleaze, he almost won again - and I think, if TNDP wants to regain control of the state lege, the road starts with Vaughan over Shipley and through Matthew Hill … but its gonna take some money and dedication.

  4. jen writes
    July 20th, 2009 10:16 pm

    Agreed. People are also sick of the same families ruling. It’s been too long and even if you’re a GOPer there’s something to be said for sending them a message. It’s time to hold them accountable and the only way to do that is to convince them that our votes as a region will not be taken for granted.

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