The FONCE Is Dead
Posted on May 14, 2008 at 7:00 pmFifteen million dollars worth of “technical correction” just went out the window according to John Rodgers:
The provision would have eliminated a tax break for commercial real estate holdings of Family Owned Non-Corporate Entities, or FONCEs. A limited liability company is a non-corporate entity.
Business lobbyists and some like-minded lawmakers have targeted that section of the Bredesen administration’s so-called “technical corrections bill,” saying it would be a tax increase on some small businesses.
The administration says it would only hurt wealthy families.
But apparently the business lobby won the fight as the provision was taken out of the technical corrections bill today.
SEE ALSO: Whitehouse on FONCE
Tom Humphrey
WPLN
Andy Sher
Budget Breakdown
Posted on May 7, 2008 at 12:18 pmTom Humphrey breaks down the proposals the Governor outlined in his press conference today at the Capitol:
Gov. Phil Bredesen is proposing elimination of 2,011 state government jobs, roughly 5 percent of the executive branch work force.
He’s hopeful that most of the reductions can occur through voluntary buyouts.
The governor said in a press conference this morning the layoffs will provide about $64 million of the $468 million in cuts needed to trim his original budget plan, outlined earlier this year.
The $468 million figure is the low end of the shortfall projected by the State Funding Board, whose economists said it could grow to as much as $580 million.
Bredesen said his planned cuts would need to be revisited if the most optimistic deficit projection falls through.
He said he has asked higher education to make $55 million in cuts but will let the University of Tennessee and Board of Regents systems decide specifics.
SEE ALSO:
John Rodgers
Andy Sher
WSMV
AP
Cara Kumari
WKRN
permalink | Comment on this post
Superdelegate Bredesen Leaning Towards Clinton?
Posted on April 28, 2008 at 8:32 amI had always got the feeling that Gov. Bredesen was, at root, an Obama man. Jackson Baker reports differently:
Bredesen is widely believed to be tilting toward Senator Clinton, and he has acknowledged in the past that most of his advisors lean that way.
If he is a Clinton man, he would certainly seem to be a reluctant one, if this 2005 interview is any indication.
Phil Has The Power
Posted on April 24, 2008 at 11:12 amJohn Rodgers links up to The Nation who accuses our honorable Governor of hypocrisy for complaining out the drawn out divisiveness of the Democratic primary when he could so easily step up and endorse a candidate and help put an end to the madness:
Here’s a thought: if Bredesen is worried about how a nasty, prolonged contest is damaging the Democratic Party and wants to bring it to a conclusion, why doesn’t he, as a prominent superdelegate, endorse a candidate? Superdelegates, after all, have the power to end this race now if they wanted to.
Phil’s Veep Angle
Posted on at 10:28 amJeff Woods thinks there is no doubt that our Governor is angling for a spot on the Democratic ticket:
Bredesen seems pretty serious about landing the veep spot. He’s remained uncommitted even after Clinton swept Tennessee’s primary. And unsolicited, he’s offered himself as a party leader to settle the nomination fight, making the rounds of TV talk shows to propose a superdelegate convention in June. He holds obvious advantages for the Democrats as a Southern governor.
If Bredesen does want the job why not step out and endorse Obama? Wouldn’t that help his cause more than sitting on the sidelines?
Now would be the perfect time. It would have the effect of muting the John Tanner endorsement of Hillary yesterday and it would allow Obama and Gore operatives play up speculation about an Al Gore endorsement of Obama to reporters writing the story. A good little bump for Obama and chit that Bredesen can cash out in his Veep interview.
permalink | Comment on this post
Home Invasion Or Not, A Deadline Is A Deadline
Posted on April 21, 2008 at 7:00 amChattanooga Times Free Press reporter Herman Wang finds the time to file the story he was working on when his home got invaded on the buzz of a possible Phil Bredesen Veep run as well as other Tennessee connections to the Vice-Presidential search on both sides of the aisle:
Ten Mile, Tenn., native and Washington attorney A.B. Culvahouse Jr. is consulting Sen. McCain in his vice president search, according to The Associated Press.
Other Tennessee and Georgia lawmakers offered other names they would like to see considered as vice president.
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Rep. Nathan Deal, R-Ga., said they favor having former presidential candidate Mitt Romney on the Republican ticket, citing his business experience and tenure as a former Massachusetts governor.
Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., said former Rep. J.C. Watts and former presidential candidate and Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson should be on Sen. McCain’s short list.
permalink | Comment on this post
Do They Really Run?
Posted on April 18, 2008 at 7:50 amGovernor Phil Bredesen responds to the assertion, made by Rep. Rob Briley and others, that meetings of Judicial Selection committee be open to the public:
“I know it might be uncomfortable for a judge from now and then to have some incident in their past talked over, but, ya know, gosh, that’s the way of things in public life,” Bredesen said earlier this month. “Anybody who runs for public office, anybody who’s in an election has that kind of scrutiny.”
Then again some folks say that the retention elections that judges go through don’t really amount to “running for office.”
SEE ALSO: Stacey Campfield
permalink | Comment on this post
Someone Saying “No Cause For Alarm” Often Leads Me To Be Alarmed
Posted on April 17, 2008 at 7:21 pmGubernatorial spokeswoman Lydia Lenker gives the heads up on the hole in the Governor’s schedule:
The Governor is getting some sunspots on his face removed. As you may recall, he’s had this routine procedure before. No cause for alarm.
permalink | Comment on this post
Fitzhugh To The Rescue
Posted on at 6:54 pmRep. Craig Fitzhugh’s Finance Committee will consider legislation which will appropriate state funds to protect workers in the State Department of Children’s Services from losing their jobs over changes in federal guidelines:
House Finance Committee Chair Craig Fitzhugh (D-Ripley) announced his committee will consider contingency legislation appropriating $70 million in additional Department of Children’s Services funding if steps at the federal level fail. The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (DCS) faces a $73 million withdrawal of federal funds due to a recent rule change by the Bush administration that slashes federal reimbursements to states providing key child protective and welfare services.
permalink | Comment on this post
Post Politics: 2 April 2008
Posted on April 8, 2008 at 9:38 amAl Gore confidant Roy Neel dismissed speculation that Gore might step up as a compromise candidate at a fractured Democratic Convention during a “Kitchen Cabinet” meeting of Nashville progressives.
Our Gannett-owned daily fell prey to a bit of April Fool’s mischief by a local progressive radio duo’s farcical press release about a joint venture with conservative talk maven Steve Gill.
Tennessee Republican Party spokesman Bill Hobbs was told to cough up $200 to procure a copy of a tape capturing the construction going on at the Governor’s Executive Residence. Department of Finance and Administration spokeswoman Lola Potter subsequently relayed to Hobbs that the state has no obligation to release the tape to him under open records laws as the tape is in the possession of the contractor.
Salemtown blogger Mike Byrd reports that police tell him that they are investigating alleged prostitution by residents of the Union Rescue mission.
Former School Board member Kay Brooks discusses the departure of incumbent Marsha Warden from the District 9 race for the board. Councilman Eric Crafton has picked up papers to run for that seat. Alan Coverstone, a blogger and an economics and government teacher at Montgomery Bell Academy, has also picked up the necessary papers to make the race.
Two bloggers from the left side of the aisle note and take issue with the appointment of an attorney who resides in Belle Meade, a satellite city not subject to Metro zoning laws, to the Metro Zoning Board of Appeals.
And finally, a blast from the past. While our Governor has as of late struck a pose as an impartial, uncommitted superdelegate in search of closure in the Democratic race for President, he did not always seem as such.
In 2005, Phil Bredesen had this to say about the imminent Hillary Clinton campaign for President:
“People love her or they hate her and I don’t know in the end how all that plays out. But I sure hope there are other people who would step forward.”
Recent Comments
There...
Couldn’t they impeach Bredesen for not getting...
Please,...
Have you...
David...
Re:...
First lesson: Democrat is a noun....
No red, Each...
Ah, Jeff, As...
...