Naming Names: TNGOP and Democratic Leader Want To Know Whose Info Was Accessed By Politically Connected Trooper
Posted on August 17, 2008 at 4:49 pmThe Tennessee Republican Party joins Democratic state House Majority Leader Gary Odom in requesting an investigation into the developing scandal surrounding unauthorized background checks made by a state trooper with a political history. The Party believes that records may have been accessed for political purposes:
It seems there is was not a coincidence that the information about Oak Hill City Manager, Dr. William Kraus, was released publicly about his background immediately after the citizens of Oak Hill challenged Governor Phil Bredesen on the waste of taxpayer money to build an underground entertainment facility at the Executive Residence.
A Distinction Without A Difference
Posted on July 15, 2008 at 10:38 amRob Huddleston on the reporting of a public record:
A.C. at Post Politics won’t reveal his source. As a former MSM journalist, I can respect that normally. Here though, it seems silly. A.C. is protecting a source who gave him information about a public document that anyone can access. Sorry, but is that really a source of great information? Perhaps someone will reveal to me that it’s only 48 days until it’s Football Time in Tennessee - should I anonymously let y’all in on that piece of public knowledge? If there is a reason that A.C. is protecting his source for their actions this time around, then it’s journalistic integrity. If A.C. is keeping their name out of the press for some future information that might not be a public record, that’s opportunism. There is a genuine distinction.
SEE ALSO: Silence
Pigs That Don’t Fly Straight
Posted on at 8:12 am
Andy Sher shares this report on the fallout which followed the release of a letter from the TNGOP’s Chairwoman to Governor Phil Bredesen regarding her service on Tennessee’s Human Rights Commission.
The TNGOP maintains that the release was a part of a coordinated smear effort. At issue is the inference by Post Politics that the letter could be seen as an effort by Smith to remain on the Human Rights Board:
In an interview Monday, Mrs. Smith and her communications director, Mr. Hobbs, said part of her charge about a “smear” was based on the suggestion she was trying to bargain for reappointment.
“You know what?” Mrs. Smith said. “I’m not going to get in the mud with the pigs because the pigs will enjoy it and I’ll get muddy, too.”
PREVIOUSLY:
The release
The reaction
A comedic performance
An accusation
An admission
TNDP Made Public Records Request Of Smith Letter
Posted on July 14, 2008 at 3:05 pmFrom the word processor of Tom Humphrey:
NASHVILLE - The state Democratic Party has acknowledged obtaining an email that state Republican Chairman Robin Smith sent to Gov. Phil Bredesen through an open records request last month, then making copies available to others.
But Democratic Chairman Gray Sasser says the move was a matter of curiosity, not an attempt to smear or embarrass his Republican counterpart, as Smith has said.
In response to an inquiry from the News-Sentinel, Bredesen spokeswoman Lydia Lenker said that a review of records today shows that the Wade Munday, the state Democratic communications director, requested copies of any email to the governor from Smith on June 13. The administration provided the document on June 18, she said.
SEE ALSO:
Bill Hobbs wants more
The letter
The reaction
The Youtube
Audience Participation
Posted on at 1:36 pmTNGOP Communications Director Bill Hobbs weighs in on his estimation of the good, the bad and the ugly that came from the public release of his chairwoman’s email to the Governor of Tennessee:
But at least now we know where the Bredesen administration stands on whether personal emails on state computers are to be released or not. If it might make the administration or especially the governor’s wife look bad, it’s personal and not subject to the state’s open records laws. But if the administration thinks releasing the document will hurt a political rival, the personal is made political - and public.
That’s what happened last week. The administration released a political opponent’s personal email in order to participate in a Nashville media outlet’s baseless smear of one of the administration’s political opponents, a smear based on a fallacious linking of two unconnected events and a deliberate misrepresentation of the content of the email - reporting the email said one thing when it clearly said the opposite.
Fighting The Smears: Chris Crocker Defends TNGOP Chair Robin Smith
Posted on at 8:13 amOkay, it’s a look-alike, but this YouTube, based no doubt on the revelations in this post, is truly a piece of polemical fine art:
Obama Calls Out The “Low-Class” Tennessee GOP On Good Morning America
Posted on May 19, 2008 at 8:04 am“Whoever is in charge of the Tennessee Republican Party needs to think long and hard about the campaign they want to run.”
~ Barack Obama on the TNGOP attack on Michelle Obama. (via Braisted)
TNGOP Calls Democrats Cranky Babies For Reacting To A Press Release Designed To Provoke A Reaction
Posted on May 16, 2008 at 4:43 pmThe communications shop of the Tennessee Republican Party responds to the controversy that has erupted over its release of a web video castigating Michelle Obama on the day of her visit to Nashville and attempts to begin a constructive dialogue with its counterpart at the Democratic Party:
The web video showed a series of Nashvillians talking about various reasons why they are proud of America. The video did not “attack” or demean Mrs. Obama, it merely contrasted her remarks with the remarks of several average Tennesseans.
The response from the Left: many angry, often foul-mouthed emails, phone calls and web comments declaring the video racist and worse.
The Tennesseee Democrat Party called the video “deplorable” and “grotesque.” We’re guessing they’re hoping most people won’t have seen it and realize that it was just a light-hearted jab.
What is truly deplorable is that Democrats and Obama supporters are hoping to shield Obama and his campaign and its surrogates from almost any criticism, disagreement or dissent by tagging such things as a “distraction,” as “partisanship, and as “racism and “bigotry.”
“Rather than labeling every criticism of Barack Obama as ‘racist,’ and rather than whining about tough talk from their opponents, the Tennessee Democrat Party might want to ask Mrs. Obama to tone down her language,” said Robin Smith, Chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party. “They also might want to encourage other their party elites to stop accusing fellow Democrats of racism because they didn’t vote for Obama, as became common after Obama’s crushing defeat in the West Virginia primary.”
SEE ALSO: Bill Hobbs cites an online poll backing up the TNGOP’s broadside against Michelle Obama.
As American As A Taco: TNGOP Praises Cinco De Mayo
Posted on May 5, 2008 at 11:42 amThe Tennessee Republican Party celebrates Cinco De Mayo as a reminder of the importance of protecting a peoples’ culture:
“Celebrating ethnic and cultural pride within the context of the American story is as American as baseball, apple pie - and tacos - and Cinco de Mayo has grown in popularity here as more Mexicans have decided to join the American story,” said Robin Smith, chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party. “We honor the national pride displayed on this day of festivity and the importance of protecting a nation’s heritage and culture in order to ensure its ongoing freedom.”
Of course, the Tennessee Republican Party hasn’t always been so high on expressions of ethnic and cultural pride.
In a press release, which was uniformly derided by Tennesseans of all political persuasions two months ago, the Tennessee Republican Party chastised Barack Obama for wearing ethnic garb when visiting a foreign land and chided his parent’s decision to give a young Barack Obama an Arabic middle name.
RELATED: TNGOP spokesman cites study reporting half of all Mexicans in America as illegal aliens.
SEE ALSO:
Sean Braisted
KAG
Post Politics: 11 April 2008 - Afternoon Edition
Posted on April 11, 2008 at 3:09 pmThe Knoxville News-Sentinel reports this morning that former U.S. Representative and mayoral candidate Bob Clement will join up with Knoxville real estate heavyweight Coldwell Banker Commercial Wallace & Wallace. Clement will remain based in Nashville and will not be working in real estate full-time. Clement in January launched Clement & Associates, a lobbying and public affairs group, with offices in Knoxville, Nashville and Washington and joined up with the GOP-heavy Washington lobby shop, The Livingston Group, shortly thereafter.Bill Clinton decides to remind everyone about his wife’s various gaffes on the campaign trail in the hopes of promoting a narrative pitting Hillary against a hostile media.
The Tennessee Holocaust Commission, Sen. Andy Berke (D-Chattanooga) and Rep. Mark Maddox (D-Dresden) will host the Days of Remembrance Ceremony on April 14 from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in the Old Supreme Court Chamber.
Don Williams breaks down the Presidential race using America’s National Pastime.
U.S. Senate Democratic candidate Bob Tuke accuses Sen. Lamar Alexander for being in bed with the Oil Lobby while talking up energy independence and the environment.
Blake Fontenay gets confused as to which Columbia is being referred to in a Marsha Blackburn press release.
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