Governor Concedes He Wasn’t Likely To Help TNDP While Freeman Was Treasurer
Posted on March 30, 2009 at 7:27 amThe Governor expresses his distaste for former Democratic Party Treasurer Bill Freeman:
Gov. Bredesen acknowledged that inclined him not to help the party with fundraising.
“The person they chose to be the treasurer worked very hard against me,” Gov. Bredesen said. “So he’s not somebody that immediately when he calls up and says, ‘I now want your help raising money,’ that you say, ‘Oh, OK.’”Gov. Bredesen’s comments to the Times Free Press were made Thursday and have not been previously published.
By Friday afternoon, with news out that state Democratic fundraising took a tumble in February, Mr. Freeman called it quits and acknowledged in a news release that his resignation stemmed in part from “opposition” to his appointment by “some of the Democratic establishment.”
“As I’ve made fundraising calls in the last month, several longtime donors have expressed their concern to me that Governor Bredesen was not as supportive of me as I had hoped,” Mr. Freeman said in a statement.
The Setting
Posted on January 26, 2009 at 3:57 pmThe sage of Cordova on the vote Saturday that made Chip Forrester the new head of the Tennessee Democratic Party
Appropriately, the vote Saturday was taken in the very House chamber where the Democratic minority had staged its coup two weeks ago. And, if that previous vote - whereby 49 Democrats plus Williams had narrowly overcome a regular GOP bloc of 49 — had been a patent maneuver to forestall Republican control of the chamber, the one on Saturday could be regarded as a proper sequel
Both events were directly related to the Democrats’ unexpected debacle in last fall’s election, when Republicans grabbed off enough seats to take a 50-49 edge in the state House, becoming the majority party there for the time since Reconstruction. (In 1969-70, the GOP had held the Speakership and majority leader position - the latter being Memphian Tom Avery - but that was the result of a 49-49 dead lock, with an independent casting his lot that session with the Republicans.)
Considering that the electoral trend in 2008 proved overwhelming nationwide, for both Democrats in general and presidential candidate Barack Obama in particular, the GOP victory in Tennessee’s legislative races, if not a Perfect Storm, owed a great deal to some freak political weather. A last-minute touchdown in East Tennessee by GOP candidate John McCain, who was aiming at a Southwest Virginia audience; a hoarding of campaign funds by over-confident Democratic loser Nathan Vaughn; political advertising that was widely regarded as sub-standard; a feckless statewide election strategy that was deemed likewise.
But a major factor was what, in retrospect, seems an inexplicable aversion on the part of party leaders - notably Bredesen and potential gubernatorial successor Davis - to the idea of campaigning within the state by charismatic standard-bearer Obama.
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Seeing The Income Tax Tree Though The Forrester
Posted on January 25, 2009 at 6:20 pmThe Tennessee Republican Party welcomes the Tennessee Democratic Party’s new chair:
NASHVILLE - The Tennessee Republican Party will continue to oppose creation of a state income tax even though the Tennessee Democrat Party has just elected a new chairman whose idea of “change” is the state taking more of it out of your pocket via an income tax.
In 1999, as a member of his party’s executive committee, new TNDP chairman Chip Forrester voted for a resolution calling for creation of a state income tax of 2.5 percent, to raise an additional $2 billion for a state government that had already proven unwilling to live within its means.
By contrast, the Tennessee Republican Party came out firmly and unequivocally against the proposed state income tax in 1999 - and has remained staunchly opposed to it.
“The Tennessee Democrat Party for years has tried to hide its pro-income tax stance, knowing that most Tennesseans, including many of their own voters, oppose the tax and believe the state’s budget problems are caused by too much spending, not by too little taxes,” said Bill Hobbs, communications director for the Tennessee Republican Party.
“By choosing as chairman someone who advocated for and voted for a state income tax, the leadership of the Tennessee Democrat Party has done the people of Tennessee a service: they have clarified for all to see that the Tennessee Democrat Party wants an income tax. When Chip Forrester and the liberal candidates he will recruit to run for the state legislature promise ‘change,’ what they really will be planning is a return to pushing ideas that Republicans and most Tennesseans rejected a decade ago.”
SEE ALSO:
Jeff Woods
R. Neal
Chip Forrester Wins TNDP Chairman’s Race
Posted on January 24, 2009 at 2:13 pmForrester defeats establishment candidate Charles Robert Bone by a vote of 42 to 25 to become the head of Tennessee’s Democratic Party.
UPDATE 3:30PM: In his acceptance speech, while thanking Charles Robert Bone and extending the requisite olive branches to the establishment that tried to derail his candidacy, Forrester made abundantly clear who he was and what he was about. This was not a man interested in painting in pale pastels. This was a man looking to create from a palette of bold colors and stark contrasts.
Noting that he was “still high” from his trip to DC for the inauguration of Barack Obama, Forrester announced he was “putting Tennessee Republicans on notice” calling out Robin Smith, Bill Hobbs, Jason Mumpower, Chip Saltsman and others explicitly by name as purveyors of racism and demagoguery. Their attacks on the party and their candidates would no longer go unanswered.
“When you lie, we are gonna call you out as liars,” stated Forrester.
If there was any doubt about who was the establishment candidate and who was the candidate who wanted to shake things up, Forrester put it rest with his impassioned speech. While Tennessee may have rejected Barack Obama’s message of hope and change at the ballot box, today the Tennessee Democratic Party gave it a great big bearhug by overwhelming electing Forrester over the objections of the party fathers.
UPDATE II: See Andy Sher for reaction from Robin Smith and notation of the presence of aides to Rep. Bart Gordon and Rep. Lincoln Davis at the vote.
UPDATE III: State Senator Eric Stewart twitters about this thread.
SEE ALSO:
The official press release
Chip Forrester’s acceptance speech as prepared for delivery
Sean Braisted
Mancini Twitters
Christine Buttorff
Jeff Woods
GoldnI
Dru Fuller
Ben Vos
Newscoma
The AP
Tennessee Democratic Money Ready To Pull A Cartman
Posted on January 21, 2009 at 8:48 amWoods gets into the chatter on the race to replace Gray Sasser as head of the TNDP:
“The money people are on Charles Robert’s side,” one insider tells Pith. “Seriously, if Chip gets the chairmanship, they’re pulling out. They’re done with the party. I think you’d see the governor’s office bail out and the congressionals bail out. So I don’t know where Chip would get his money, I really don’t.”
Forrester jumped into the race early–the day after the Nov. 4 election–and appeared to have locked down a majority of the committee. He is the party treasurer and himself has belonged to the committee since 1988.
But many party leaders see Forrester, 54, as a flake. He wears a bow tie, although he’s promised to drop it if he wins. Beyond matters of image, he pissed off many Democrats by challenging Bob Clement for Congress in the party primary in 1992.
Chip Forrester Writes Tennessee Obama Supporters
Posted on January 16, 2009 at 8:36 pmThe grassroots TNDP chairman candidate makes a grassroots appeal:
I am looking to you to walk through the open door of the Tennessee Democratic Party after January 24 and do what Barack Obama did for our country and help us Take Tennessee Blue.
The executive committee members, county parties and I want your help, need your help and ask for your help. We reserve a warm seat at the table for you and your group. Please come and sit with us January 24 and help us make the change we must! 2010 is too critical to the future of all Tennessee Democrats and the country not to.
I’ll see you on January 24 and then let’s go to work.
Please accept my humble gratitude for your support of me to be your new Chair.
Architects Of Defeat OR What Can Brown Do For Bone?
Posted on January 6, 2009 at 1:22 pmR. Neal throws around a bit of gossip floating around the race for Tennessee Democratic Party Chair:
There is also talk that Bone would install Mark Brown as Executive Director and Keith Talley as the Communications Director. Chip Forrester notes that they are good guys but are also the architects of the 2008 Disaster as directors of the Democratic State House and Senate caucuses respectively.
It appears there is a power struggle going on in Nashville between the old school apparatchik and a more progressive grassroots movement. Is it even possible for Democrats to drag Tennessee into the 21st Century? Can Democrats elect progressive candidates statewide and join the emerging New New South, or do we have to keep running Republican-lite candidates and letting the TNGOP dictate the rules of engagement?
The next couple of years are going to be interesting. By the end of this month we will know the general direction.
UPDATE: Charles Robert Bone responds to the rumors:
I have not spoken with Mark Brown or Keith Talley about a position with the Tennessee Democratic Party. My current focus remains on meeting and talking with the members of the Executive Committee across the State to ensure that, as a Party, we develop, fund and implement an innovative plan that will allow us to be successful in the 2010 elections and thereafter.
Equally as important as the plan itself is the manner in which we go about developing the plan, and ensuring that this process is collaborative and transparent. As a part of this, I think the Party would be well served to publicly post these job openings and conduct a national search to ensure that we attract a diverse and talented applicant pool.
UPDATE II: Senate Caucus Political Director Mark Brown:
I want to confirm that [Bone] and I have not discussed any position at the TNDP. That would be premature, to say the least.
As for the Senate Democratic Caucus, I take full responsibility for our losses; after all, I was political director. We recruited good candidates. We raised more money than the caucus has ever raised. We ran strong races, but we lost. That’s my fault.
UPDATE III: TNDP Treasurer and chairman candidate Chip Forrester:
As I’ve consistently said, I’m not making any staffing decisions before I’m elected chair and I think that it would be unwise for any candidate to be doing the same.
I plan to involve the officers of the Party in these critical decisions as well as reaching out to seek input and advice from a broad range of sources to include the Governor, the Democratic Members of Congress, former Party chairs, key Tennessee Obama supporters, the House and Senate Democratic Caucuses, Democratic activists and others as we all shape the vision and staffing of the Party for the purpose of Taking Back the House in 2010.
While I too have heard that there have been discussions about involving these gentlemen, it just seems to me that we need a fresh approach, a change of how we have been doing things and a rethinking of the politics of grassroots involvement in our state because how the campaigns of 2008 were run and the results speak for themselves.
That is why, one of my first initiatives, as chair will be to convene a statewide Campaign Summit to conduct a thorough post-mortem on all the successful and failed Tennessee campaigns of 2008. It is essential that we look at what we did right and what we did wrong to ensure that as we lay out our plan for 2010 that we bring forward only the best and dispense with the failed. This summit must be a critical, no-holds-barred analysis of 2008. The future of the Democratic Party in Tennessee is too important not to undertake this effort.
I am certain that we have, in this state, men and women who bring talent, expertise and energy to the table for the task of Taking Back the House and the Party will do everything to bring them together.
SEE ALSO: Mark Brown says he would be a wonderful Executive Director.
News To Him
Posted on December 29, 2008 at 4:33 pmBen Vos reports that TNDP chairman candidate Charles Robert Bone was not aware that Governor Phil Bredesen had endorsed him.
UPDATE: Charles Robert Bone responds:
I assume Benintn is referencing my meeting with Kathy Chambers and Jennifer Buck Wallace on or about December 11th. It is my understanding that as of that time Gov. Bredesen had not endorsed me. Obviously, I am “aware” of his endorsement now, as evidenced by the recent letter.
This would make the incident far before the explicit letter of support and only one day after the implicit laying on of hands.
Forrester Rebukes Tennessee Democratic Grasstops
Posted on December 27, 2008 at 12:18 pmFormer Treasurer of the Tennessee Democratic Party and a candidate for chairman of the organization has fired back a response to a letter signed by many of Tennessee’s top Democratic officeholders in support of his opponent Charles Robert Bone:
Our state Party was led this year by the very people who have now signed the endorsement letter for Charles Robert Bone. They set the strategy for this year’s campaign in Tennessee.
Our state Party did not suffer from a lack of funding, I know because as Treasurer I signed the checks. What our Party suffered from this year was a lack of a grassroots organization that involved everyone that believes in and supports the values of the Democratic Party.
You cannot build a viable political party from the top down, no more than you can improve the economic well being of our country with “trickle down” economics as failed Republican administration policies, tragically for our country’s working men and women, have so vividly shown us these past 8 years.
And while I respect everyone who signed the endorsement letter, if these elections have taught us anything, they should have shown us that the “top down” approach does not work any longer in Tennessee.
Read the full letter.
Republican Button Man?
Posted on December 22, 2008 at 7:47 amTom Humphrey notes the new-found enthusiasm a former Democratic Party chair (and current Charles Robert Bone fan) has for the Republican cause:
Ramsey was noting that Randy Button, former chairman of the state Democratic Party and now a lobbyist, gave $10,000 to the GOP at the affair. And he got Steve Buttry, former Republican representative from Knoxville, to sign on with his lobbying firm.
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