Oops: TNDP’s New Treasurer Gave To GOP And Pinkston Spanks Chip

By Kleinheider Posted on February 21, 2009 at 7:29 pm

Erik Schelzig reports:

Campaign finance records show the newly named treasurer of the Tennessee Democratic Party has made heavy campaign contributions to Republicans, including to Gov. Phil Bredesen’s opponents in the 2002 and 2006 elections…

…But Forrester has already been rebuffed as he sought to gather contributions for the Governor’s Roundtable event traditionally hosted by Bredesen to raise money for the party.

“Apparently he was making fundraising calls to raise money under the governor’s name,” said Bredesen aide Will Pinkston. “And I’ve spoken with him about that, and advised him that that’s not appropriate without asking him first.”

Pinkston said it is unclear whether Forrester will be able to unify Democrats behind him.

“Chip showed from the executive committee vote that he has the ability to generate excitement in the party ranks, and he definitely can appeal to certain people,” he said. “Whether that translates to mass appeal for the party, or whether everyone locks arms, remains to be seen.”

PREVIOUSLY: Bill Freeman named TNDP Treasurer.

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Tags: Bill Freeman, Chip Forrester, TNDP, Will Pinkston  

He’s Not Campaigning For The Job, But We Do Hear Washington Is Lovely This Time Of Year

By Kleinheider Posted on February 16, 2009 at 6:47 am

Senior advisor to Governor Phil Bredesen, Will Pinkston, takes it upon himself to defend his boss against an attack on his health care record in the webspace of Congressional Quarterly:

Powers’ critique of Bredesen is startling, both for its ferocity as well as its lack of understanding of events surrounding the Volunteer State’s Medicaid restructuring in 2005. Powers’ treatise is beset by major errors of both commission and omission. He mischaracterizes Bredesen’s longstanding philosophy on the need for universal health care at the federal level. And he altogether ignores, or at least distorts, the facts about what happened in Tennessee’s Medicaid program, known as TennCare. Because Powers failed to put the situation in proper perspective, please allow me to do so.

(TFJ: Jeff Woods)

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Tags: HHS, Phil Bredsen, Will Pinkston  

The Power Of Phil

By Kleinheider Posted on September 14, 2008 at 9:05 pm

Andy Sher reports how our Governor ranked in the Institutional Powers of the Governors index:

A top Bredesen aide, Will Pinkston, downplayed what the index says about Tennessee’s governor.

“It’s tough to realistically assign values to governing power,” Mr. Pinkston said in an e-mail. “Even if you pick a few categories to look at, there are still lots of intangible things to consider, like a governor’s ability to work across party lines or his management and life experience.”

Gov. Bredesen, a Democrat, earned 3.8 out of a possible 5 rating while Republicans Perdue and Riley respectively earned ratings of 3.2 and 2.8. The national average is 3.5.

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Tags: Governor, Phil Bredesen, Tennessee, Will Pinkston