Barnes To File For Recount Monday
Posted on August 24, 2008 at 11:29 pmThe man Senator Rosalind Kurita beat by 19 votes will wait until the eleventh hour to file:
Barnes had earlier said his petition to the Tennessee Democratic Party Executive Committee would be filed by Wednesday or Thursday of the past week.
“We’re still working on getting people with affidavits to come forward to tell of the irregularities they saw and experienced,” Barnes told The Leaf-Chronicle.
Over the past couple of weeks, election commissions in Montgomery, Cheatham and Houston counties have all certified the Aug. 7 election results, showing that incumbent state Sen. Rosalind Kurita defeated Barnes by 19 votes.
The combined vote across the three counties on Election Day was 4,477 votes, or 50.06 percent, for Kurita, to 4,458 votes, or 49.93 percent, for Barnes.
Kurita has maintained that the vote speaks for itself, and that Barnes threatens to divide local Democrats by contesting the election.
“It is my hope that calmer and wiser heads will prevail,” Kurita said Friday.
Barnes, by rule, had five days from Monday, when the last vote in Montgomery County was certified, to contest the election. That means today is the fifth day
“Technically, the civil procedure deadline is (today), but because it’s a Saturday, we’ve got until Monday to file,” he said.
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There Shall Be A Recount
Posted on August 19, 2008 at 6:07 amSenator Rosalind Kurita’s primary challenger has confirmed officially that he has requested not only a recount by has asked for the TBI to investigate irregularities:
Barnes is challenging the results and calling for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to investigate the matter. The election results were verified Monday in Montgomery County.
Kurita should head back to the state Senate, but her opponent is not giving up. He contends that she broke the law and poll workers misinformed voters.
“It was perceived by many people as the race that would determine whether the Democrats or Republicans control the state Senate,” Barnes said.
“But for those irregularities, we could have had a different outcome in this race,” he said.
Those irregularities? Barnes, who is also a Democrat, has affidavits from voters claiming they were misinformed by poll workers.
SEE ALSO:
Theo Emery
Jimmy Settle
Photographer: Your Committee Owes An Apology, Senator
Posted on August 17, 2008 at 7:04 pmThe campaign of state Senator Rosalind Kurita stands accused of copyright violation:
Safco said she was surprised when she got a negative campaign ad in the mail from Barnes’ opponent, Sen. Rosalind Kurita, that featured a familiar photo.
“The first thing I thought is, ‘How did she get those pictures, and why didn’t anybody call me?’” Safco said.
Safco doesn’t know for sure how Kurita got her photos, but said she assumes they were probably taken off of Barnes’ campaign Web site.
Safco called Kurita’s campaign office.”I explained the situation,” said Safco. “They were using images that belonged to me. They did not have my permission to use those images.
“She claims Kurita’s campaign then referred her to a Nashville advertising agency. Safco said that agency won’t return her calls.Kurita sent a statement to Channel 4 News saying that candidates for office have a very broad freedom of speech, and have the freedom to get their campaign message out.
Calls to Barnes and the Nashville advertising agency were not immediately returned.
Safco insists that this is not about politics for her, and that she only wants her copyright settled. Safco said anytime someone uses her work for their gain, she should get paid. Safco has requested $500 from Kurita and an apology.
“I think that would take care of it for me,” Safco said.
Barnes & Ignoble: Kurita Vexed By Plans To Challenge Election Result
Posted on August 16, 2008 at 12:45 pmTim Barnes has decided to call for a recount and the state senator who narrowly defeated him by 19 votes in the 22nd District Senate race is not pleased:
Kurita declined to listen to Barnes’ claims, saying the results speak for themselves.
“I won. It’s over,” she said Friday while in Memphis at a Governor’s Energy Task Force meeting.
“(Barnes) can do or say whatever he wants,” she said.
Barnes also said he has at least one affidavit from a voter who saw Kurita entering a polling place and walking into a room marked “No candidates allowed” with her deputy campaign manager.
Barnes said the sighting happened about 2 p.m. Election Day at the Harpeth High School in Kingston Springs.
“All I can tell you is we’re dealing with a state senator for 12 years who knows the rules and chose to violate them,” Barnes said, adding that he would never do such a thing.
“I would never intrude on a place where people are voting,” he said. “I am appalled at the lack of respect for the sanctity of the polling place.”
Kurita refused to listen to Barnes’ claims.
“I’m not going to listen to any accusations he may make,” she said. “I don’t even want to hear them. He can make any kind of accusations he wants. The fact is I won the election. It’s time to move on.”
Kurita said she has not spoken to Barnes since the election.
“It’s been a week now, you think you would have heard,” she said, adding that he was “grasping to find anything.”
Barnes also said he has affidavits from voters claiming to have received harassing phone calls at odd nighttime hours from people claiming to be part of his campaign.
Additionally, Tennessee Journal reports that Senator Kurita has retained former state senator Bob “The Reptile” Rochelle to represent her if the election is contested.
Tim Barnes Doesn’t Want To Be Left Out Of All This Recount Fun
Posted on August 14, 2008 at 8:01 amWhile Rep. David Davis is getting a lot of ink for his increasingly likely intention to challenge his election result, Tim Barnes wants us to know that he too believes interlopers affected the outcome of his race against Rosalind Kurita:
Tim Barnes, who lost by 19 votes in the state 22nd Senate District Democratic primary, said in an interview that there are reports of a similar effort to have Republicans vote for his opponent, Senate Speaker Pro Tempore Rosalind Kurita of Clarksville.
Both Barnes and Davis say such activities violate a provision of state law that says a voter can vote in a party primary if he or she is a bona fide member of the party or declares allegiance to the party and states an intent to affiliate with the party.
“I think that statute is designed to prevent the very situation that Mr. Davis complains of in his race and that I complain of in my race. That is not letting the other party play the role of spoiler,” said Barnes, an attorney.
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You Mean If Someone Other Than The Partisan Of the Partisan Showed Up?
Posted on August 8, 2008 at 11:49 amChristine Anne Piesyk bemoans the turnout in Montogemery’s primary election day and implies that the squeaker primary between Rosalind Kurita and Tim Barnes would have been different had there been more of an impressive display of civic engagement.
The tally may have been different, but the result would have likely been very much the same. Low turnout in a Democratic primary means, usually, only the very partisan, activist voters showed.
For Rosalind Kurita, after voting against her party in the legislature on key votes, like Speaker, this would not have really been her crowd. The more people who showed up to that election the safer Kurita would have become.
Apathy is not always working against agents of change, sometimes, they depend on it.
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Like Jobu’s Rum: It Is Very Bad To Try And Take Ros’s Seat
Posted on August 7, 2008 at 8:21 amClarksville Online again knocks the negative campaigning of Senator Rosalind Kurita, displaying both the television ad and the mailer produced by a noted Nashville political consulting firm:
The ads in question, was likely designed by the Nashville firm, Fletcher and Rowley, whose company logo is “It’s all about winning!” The postcard dealt not with the heated issues of the campaign or the issues — everything from the economy to health care to jobs — that challenge residents across the district and the state. Instead, it targeted the kind of legal services offered through Barnes’ law practice. Although Barnes’ legal practice is rooted in family and adoption law, he, like many other attorneys in every city and county in America, has defended people facing charges that may include driving under the influence, spousal abuse/domestic violence, and other crimes. But that is far from the whole story.
This eleventh hour ads came across as a rant against both the lawyer and his clients; by denegrating the former, defendants are also deemed not worthy of being afforded a defense as guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. Without the dedicated work by prosecution attorneys, defense attorneys, and judges, there is no justice under the law. Not every defendant is guilty, or found guilty under the law. No individual is less worthy of defense than another.
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Why You Gotta Go And Do That Tim Barnes?
Posted on August 5, 2008 at 2:03 pmSome enterprising young Kurita supporter has posted a clip of State Senator Rosalind Kurita getting rudely rebuffed trying to shake the hand of her Democratic primary opponent Tim Barnes:
Democratic Senator Rosalind Kurita Fights Back
Posted on August 4, 2008 at 11:14 amAs we mentioned last night, Senator Rosalind Kurita has gone negative in her Democratic primary race for her state Senate seat.
After voting for a Republican Speaker in 2007 and refusing to commit to supporting the Caucus candidate in 2009, several of Kurita’s Democratic colleagues have lined up with money and district visits to help Tim Barnes defeat Kurita.
Until now, Kurita had been running warm and fuzzy media not even mentioning her party affiliation or her opponent. Not anymore. Ros has unleashed the dogs:
You Come At The Queen, You Best Not Miss
Posted on July 26, 2008 at 5:52 pmA young Democrat takes out his frustrations on Senator Rosalind Kurita:
Kurita Wants A Crackdown On Employers Of Illegals
Posted on July 24, 2008 at 2:14 pmClarksville Online recaps a debate between state Senator Rosalind Kurita and her Democratic challenger Tim Barnes:
How to deal with illegal aliens? Barnes: Get the Feds to do their job. Kurita: I have a serious problem with just wishing it on the Feds. Stiffen fines on people who hire them. Documentation and tax paying should be required of all working peoples.
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Senator Thelma Harper Abandons Senator Kurita
Posted on at 6:57 amSenator Thelma Harper comes out full bore against the woman who made Republican Ron Ramsey Speaker of the Senate:
Harper addressed the audience with the kind of fire that has made her one of the most powerful senators to ever represent Tennessee. but the sadness in her voice could also be heard every time she mentioned the name of the current senator Rosalind Kurita.
It was Thelma Harper who some time ago came to Clarksville to lend her support to a young up and coming candidate from Montgomery County. It was Thelma Harper who walked these same streets with Kurita and it was Thelma Harper who welcomed her with opened arms when she arrived for her first day on Capitol Hill. Senator Harper, the first African American woman elected to the Tennessee State Senate, knew how it felt to not only to be a minority but also what it meant to be one of the few women senators serving her state and country on capitol hill.
On this night, Thelma Harper told a story of how Rosalind Kurita crossed party lines and cast a vote giving the Republican Party control the Tennessee state senate. It was a speech about trust, a word Senator Harper repeated several times during her emotional speech.
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Wilder’s Last Letter
Posted on June 25, 2008 at 9:17 amFormer Lt. Governor John Wilder pens an interesting farewell letter sent to state newspaper editors weaving, once again, the power of cosmos into his rhetoric:
“We need statesmen,” Wilder, of Mason, said in the letter as he referred to the vote. “We do not need 17 Republicans and one independent Democrat, Kurita, letting someone vote them (as a block). I feel bad about this statement, but it is the truth.”
He described himself as a “Jeffersonian Democrat.”
“I would not have been state senator and speaker of the Senate if it were not for the African-Americans and Independent Republicans,” he wrote. “Democrats made the most difference, but it would not have been enough because my district is 60 percent Republican.”
SEE ALSO:
John Wilder’s retirement speech
Wilder’s final battle for the Tennessee Plan
Wilder on the cosmos
Keeping The Fire Going On The Kyle/Kurita Feud
Posted on May 19, 2008 at 5:11 pmJohn Rodgers reports that Senator Rosalind Kurita had a bit a fun today needling Senate Democratic Majority Leader Jim Kyle. The Rodgers report is sort of disturbing in and of itself considering Kurita’s role in electing Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey but the fact that it was Jim Kyle’s bill compounds the issue.
Kyle beefed with Kurita in the press recently with Kyle’s attempt to play up the talk that Kurita had proposed an amendment to outlaw attorney’s advertising their expertise in DUI cases because her primary Opponent, Tim Barnes, is DUI Lawyer.
That was certainly not the first time, however. While many Democrats have either forgiven or attempted to forget Kurita’s vote for Ramsey, that vote on January 9th, 2007 seems to be a sin Jim Kyle will not forgive.
Kurita’s Primary Opponent’s Legal Practice Includes DUI Defense
Posted on April 23, 2008 at 8:21 amJohn Rodgers points out that it just so happens that Senator Rosalind Kurita’s Democratic primary opponent is a lawyer who somes takes DUI cases. Kurita, yesterday, attached an amendment to a bill which hampers the ways in which such lawyers can advertise:
In August, Democrats may have their chance for revenge as Kurita will face primary opposition from Tim Barnes, a Clarksville attorney.
Part of Barnes’ area of legal practice includes DUI defense, although he is not a certified specialist.
Barnes advertises that he does DUI defense work, as well as several other areas, in the Yellow Pages, in a local newspaper and on radio stations.
While Barnes says his ads don’t promote what Kurita’s amendment bans — and therefore may not be affected — Barnes said Kurita’s move had “three or four constitutional problems.”
“Even a fundamental understanding of the Constitution would inform somebody that that’s an amendment that you can’t have — that’s a First Amendment right,” Barnes said.
Barnes said the only DUI attorney he could recall who noted a DUI specialty was the late “DUI Mike” Fox.
Kurita said Barnes’ advertising activities didn’t have “any bearing” on her amendment.
“I certainly would not want that to color my intensity on this issue,” Kurita said of cracking down on drunken drivers. “I can’t help extraneous activities.”
SEE ALSO:
Tom Humphrey
CP Editorial
Adam Dread Call Your Office
Posted on April 22, 2008 at 1:27 pmRosalind Kurita just attached a ban on certain advertising to a bill in the state senate which could set up an interesting First Amendment challenge:
Defense attorneys would be banned from advertising their expertise with drunken driving cases under a bill advancing in the Senate.
Sen. Rosalind Kurita, a Clarksville Democrat, successfully added the provision to a bill that would create an online registry of repeat DUI offenders in Tennessee.
Post Politics: 7 April 2008 - Afternoon Edition
Posted on April 8, 2008 at 10:07 amBrentwood’s Truman Bean suggests that Tom Leatherwood’s challenge to Marsha Blackburn for the Republican nomination in the 7th Congressional District may have more to do with geography than ideology.
A close aide to Hillary Clinton has resigned to spearhead the “Vote Both” movement, a push to promote a joint Hillary Clinton/Barack Obama ticket.
The New York Times discusses the rise of an “enlightened survivalism.”
Sen. Roy Herron will be introducing his bill to create a “nonsectarian, nonreligious academic study of the Bible” to the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday.
Les Jones asks this question in light of the recent controversy over the openness of the state’s gun permit database: “[I]f you were a crazy ex-husband who wanted to kill your ex-wife in defiance of an order of protection, wouldn’t you want to know if she has a permit to carry? More importantly, wouldn’t you want to know where she had moved to in order to get away from you?”
A liberal Memphis blogger is dismayed that Congressman John Tanner will not face a challenge in the 8th District Democratic primary but hopes he will use the opportunity to share his substantial war chest to help elect more Democrats around the country.
ORNL and the State of Tennessee will partner to built on of the world’s largest supercomputers with a $65 million dollar assist from the National Science Foundation.
Sean Braisted takes issue with the description of Sen. Rosalind Kurita’s Democratic primary opponent as a political novice.
An interesting debate on the concept of grandparent rights at KnoxvilleTalks.
The Rutherford County Board of Education will provide relief to its contract bus drivers in light of escalating gas prices.
Ron Paul supporter and Libertarian candidate for the state House in District 58, Lisa Leeds, shares her political evolution to the revolution in a recent e-mail to supporters: “I have been involved in some way, shape or form in politics since I turned 18. I worked on the Mondale campaign that year, and other campaigns through the years. In 2004, I worked on the Kerry Campaign and this when I came to see the light I did in fit the mold of a Democrat.”
A state comptroller’s audit reveals that the Sportsmen’s Wildlife Foundation has not been been efficient or effective in “establishing and administering” programs as proscribed by legislation which earmarked monies from the sale of a state specialty license plate. The Sportsmen’s Wildlife Foundation was founded by former state Rep. H.E. Bittle of Knoxville who also sponsored the legislation directing monies for the plate sales to the organization.
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