In The Name Of The Father: NewsChannel5’s Jennifer Kraus Speaks Out At Oak Hill Forum

By Kleinheider Posted on August 13, 2008 at 7:36 pm

Oak Hill residents hoping for a reprise of the shouting matches at the last Board of Commissioners meeting at last night’s Mayoral Forum may have come away slightly disappointed.

The meeting, called by Mayor Tommy Alsup to address the concerns of Oak Hill residents in the wake of the disputed resignation of Bill Kraus and accusations of a “shadow government” by one of Oak Hill’s Commissioners, was a much needed political maneuver on the part of the embattled mayor.

In a methodical, bullet by bullet, PowerPoint presentation, Alsup addressed many of the allegations leveled against him. Alsup defended the infrequent, yet controversial practice of issuing checks from the City of Oak Hill bearing only one signature, his. Alsup projected onto two screens in the Woodland Hills Church Of Christ auditorium checks, also bearing only one signature, checks signed by Bill Kraus as well as some by former Mayor and current Commissioner Chip Throckmorton. Both are Alsup detractors.

Alsup also defended his hiring as a consultant, lobbyist Rob Ikard, to repair relationships with state officials outside of Oak Hill which had been damaged by Oak Hill’s prominent opposition to the so-called Bredesen Bunker.

However, the highlight of the evening’s festivities was the appearance of NewsChannel5 Anchor and Investigative Journalist Jennifer Kraus, daughter of former City Manager Bill Kraus. Kraus the Father was not at the forum on the advice of counsel, John Herbison, who has reportedly sent a letter requesting that Kraus be reinstated as City Manager.

Despite the absence of both him and his attorney, his side of the story was not without representation.

While Mayor Alsup repeatedly demurred from answering questions from the audience about the retirement of the City Manager citing the advice of counsel, Kraus the Daughter seemed less restrained.

Appearing at the forum as a “private citizen and resident of Oak Hill”, Kraus expressed “deep appreciation and gratitude” for the support of her father by many in the community and said that her father would “strongly disagree” with much of the defense Mayor Alsup had laid out.

Kraus took issue, in fact, with the very nature of the gathering. She told the assembled Oak Hill citizens, in a cautionary tone, that this forum was not a “public meeting” on the record like other Board of Commissioner meetings and as such nothing being said or done was either official or binding.

Kraus asserted that Mayor Alsup was in the wrong when, she says, he took unilateral action in a meeting with her father about his resignation leaving the other two commissioners out of loop. Kraus contended that the law is not in any way clear on whether a City Manager can endorse and contribute to a candidate for Commissioner.

Kraus the Father’s signature on a post card supporting incumbent Tommy Jacobs, as well as his financial donation, was the stick Alsup is allegedly to have held over his head when he resigned.

The law seems to be ambiguous as to whether Kraus’s action was or was not permissible. The oft-cited part of the state code T.C.A § 6-21-106 would seem to support the assumption that the Kraus was in the wrong in supporting Jacobs. A competing code, T.C.A § 7-51-1501 would seem to say the opposite. And the code on what to do when the codes contradict each other, um, I don’t even what to talk about.

Adding to the intrigue is the fact that, while the Oak Hill Charter reads exactly as T.C.A. § 6-21-106 does, the commission passed a ordinance in 1998 (similar in language to the wording at this link) which seems more in line with T.C.A. § 7-51-1501.

Regardless of the legality of the action, Kraus the Daughter argued that there was never a board vote either firing or officially accepting her father’s resignation so that, having rescinded his retirement, her father is still the City Manager of Oak Hill.

Alsup repeated what he has maintained all along, that Kraus was not forced to retire and that other Commissioners were kept apprised of his actions. However, Alsup stopped short of a full point-by-point rebuttal of Kraus, again, citing advice of counsel.

“I’ve already ventured too far,” Alsup explained to the crowd in his response to Ms. Kraus.

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Tags: Bill Kraus, Bredesen Bunker, Jennifer Kraus, Mayoral Forum, Oak Hill, Rob Ikard, Tommy Alsup