Newscoma

Over the weekend, during my weekend in Memphis, I met Adrienne Pakis-Gillon who is the democratic candidate running against Brian Kelsey in District 31.  It was a casual introduction where we talked briefly about the state of politics in the state and I found her to be very passionate and vibrant.

After our conversation, and I realize that I can only speak for myself, I found myself pondering why we democrats here in the state haven’t been pushing her candidacy more.  I take responsibility for my own actions here as I haven’t written about her either. She is a life-long democrat and having talked to her, the things that she spoke of gave me pause because she isn’t getting mired down in wedge issues (something Kelsey thrives on) and instead discussed practical solutions to issues affecting her district and the state as a whole.

Remember, not only will she be representing her district, she’ll be voting on legislation that would impact the entire state. And let’s review briefly how Kelsey has been, which has had shades of moving up the political ladder as his main objective.

Let’s take the time machine back, campers, to January when Kelsey was what Kleinheider called the “stuntbaby” and where Jeff Woods reported this as well:

First, Rep. Mike Turner accused Kelsey of making a nervous wreck out of Rep. Susan Lynn by filing an ethics complaint against House Speaker Kent Williams based on his supposed sexual harassment of her.

“Susan Lynn is in the hospital [Wednesday], and in my opinion, I think Brian Kelsey put her in there and I think his behavior is terrible,” Turner told Channel 2. “I think it’s sour grapes.”

Now, Turner and House Democratic leader Gary Odom say Kelsey offered to lay off Williams in exchange for a committee  chairmanship.

In those posts, there is a statement from Kelsey on what he was thinking back in the first days of the last legislative session here in Tennessee.  You can see a time-line here of what happened.

Now, we could talk about Kelsey all day long, but I return back to the issue at hand. As democrats, we need every seat we can get right now. We are looking at redistricting, our state has 10.5 percent unemployment and we need folks in Nashville who can see the big picture and not get mired in wedge issues for personal gain. Kelsey did that this year and I think he will do it again.

We just don’t need to shrug and say “whatever.” The democratic party in this state has done that for far too long. We may not agree on everything, but the one thing is we need to be is united when it comes to not disenfranchising good candidates who would be representing all of our interests in Nashville, no matter where we live. Pakis-Gillon needs voices and bloggers can help with that.

We can support her campaign by talking about her. Kelsey doesn’t need to be just handed a senate seat without a fight. As democrats, I think we need to talking about this race and we need to be lending our voice to Pakis-Gillon.

Although many of us can’t vote in this race, we can still put a flashlight on Memphis right now. We don’t need to be complacent at this point.

You can read more about Adrienne Pakis-Gillon and you can also join her Facebook. Just check into what she’s about and maybe write about it.

Then he can run for president with John Rich.

You’ve seen Hank Williams Jr. with Gov. Sarah Palin lots lately. In fact, Bocephus has been on 10 campaign stops for the GOP ticket — and the guy only does about 20 paid gigs a year.

“I’m quite motivated, cousin,” Hank told me Thursday night.

How motivated?

“You might be looking at the next senator from Tennessee, if this keeps up,” Bocephus barked. “And I AIN’T kidding!”

I only have one comment. Who is he going to take down? Corker or Alexander?

From the “you gotta be kidding me” files.

TENNESSEE RURAL HEALTH ACT: SB4099, sponsored  by Sen. John Wilder, D-Mason, Sen. Roy Herron, D-Dresden, and Sen. Steve Roller, D-Morrison, creates a loan-forgiveness program for Tennessee students studying to become designated types of health care professionals that agree to practice in rural and other underserved areas across the state. Students that enter the program will agree to practice medicine in a “health resource shortage area” for one year for each year of educational funding provided by the program. Recipients will be required to repay all funds received under the program if they fail to practice medicine in a health resource shortage area for the full time required. Health resource shortage areas are designated as such by the Tennessee Department of Health’s Office of Rural Health.

Something we are watching.

I’m just saying.

From an email from the Tennessee Senate Democrats.

Don McLeary is being featured today in the Sunday edition of The Jackson Sun. You remember Don, don’t you, the democrat who was a state senator who jumped parties a couple of years back

Then Lowe Finney beat him in the November 2006 elections. I’ve written about McLeary several times over the years here, here, here and here.

The story is interesting. It’s actually fair on a lot of levels but the thing I’ve said since McLeary made the jump, lost the race and then decided to run against Harris for the Madison County Mayor’s slot is that you aren’t really going to know who your friends are because are you their friend. When you do the sort of whirlwind dance that McLear has done on the local political scene, you make enemies. The story says this:

The same convictions that got him to the state Senate are also what drove him to cast a career-devastating vote against a partisan colleague.

And the convictions that led McLeary to switch parties and give his one-time allies time to groom his replacement in Nashville are the same ones that pushed him to become a surprise candidate for county mayor in the Feb. 5 Republican primary.So far, that run has been met with reluctant support and criticism from some one-time backers, who say challenging interim Madison County Mayor Jimmy Harris should not be McLeary’s battle.

Still, McLeary maintains he has the experience and eagerness to cull the best from a mostly powerless position.

But he also admits that if he loses in February, there won’t be much ability to run left in his legs.

McLeary should have let the fervor die down over his convictions (and I’m sure he has them but I still think that’s the weakest part of the story by the Sun. My first post written about him was called Actions Create Reactions. Two years later, I think I was right on this.) He should have waited before seeking another elected seat if he wanted to stay in public office. I’m not knocking his convictions, I’m knocking his decisions because they were very poorly thought out.

It was dumb politics.

Finney has the Senate seat, most likely, as long as he wants it. The Harris race is a different creature, but he is the incumbent (I admit openly I don’t know a ton about him other than what I’ve read.)

Trust is important in politics because it’s hard to discern. And in partisan politics, loyalty is everything.

The question no one is asking is McLeary loyal to his party and to those voters who put him in the Senate or is he loyal to his own objectives.  Because the voters put McLeary in Nashville as a democrat.

And they took him out.

Just saying.

The Senate 2008 Guru has this:

Tennessee: The Volunteer State’s filing deadline is April 3, and Nashville attorney Kevin Doherty is currently the only Democrat publicly considering a 2008 Senate challenge to Republican incumbent Lamar Alexander. I contacted Mr. Doherty to inquire about his decision-making timeframe, and he personally informed me yesterday:

I hope to have a decision within a week or two.

So we should know by the end of the month. For more information on Doherty’s interesting background (including succeeding now-Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer as student body President of Princeton University), check out this profile by WKRN-2 Nashville’s political blog VolunteerVoters.com.

For those politically minded, you might want to give them a gander.

For those who aren’t, go see this picture of a tuna.

MSNBC is reporting that Trent Lott will be resigning from his Senate Seat.

NBC News has learned that Trent Lott’s in the midst of informing close allies that he plans to resign his senate seat before the end of the year. It’s possible a formal announcement of his plans could take place as early as today.

Anyone know why?