May

7

Council at its worst

By Nate Rau | Filed Under City News, Metro Council, Miscellaneous, Zoning | 1 Comment 

There’s no nice way to describe how Metro Council looked at its meeting last night when it was voting on BL2008-203.

Forget whether or not Council increased the odds of Department of Justice finding that Metro has violated two federal land use acts. Forget the fact that it went against Metro Law Director Sue Cain’s recommendation that it make a good faith effort to comply with federal law (it’s rare for Metro Council to not follow Metro Law’s recommendations). Forget the fact that the 20-15 vote got at-large Councilman Jerry Maynard so worked up he tried to invoke an obscure Council rule to get the body to re-vote on the matter (an objection from District 22 Councilman Eric Crafton shot that motion down).

Forget all that.. Metro Council just looked downright unprepared.

“If you don’t pay attention to what your attorney says, you’re more than often going to get in trouble,” One Council member said.

One Council member, who asked to remain anonymous, said the body looked “the worst it has since being elected” simply for the fact that it was blatantly uneducated on the topic.

“And I’m not sure whose fault that is,” the Council member. “The Mayor’s office didn’t do a very good job of educating us or taking a stance.”

As the vote was being debated, Council members scrambled around the chamber trying to argue with one another for or against the resolution. District 4 Councilman Michael Craddock gave an impassioned rant that at one point raged against the federal government and at another suggested Councilman Rip Ryman deserves a medal. Suffice it to say, Council looked largely unprepared and unaware of the seriousness of the issue.

“I’d say we were mostly unaware,” the Council member said. “We didn’t even get a copy of the Department of Justice letter about the investigation until we arrived for the meeting.”

And when the possible repercussions into the DOJ investigation include having Metro’s federal education dollars frozen, it’s obviously a weighty issue. Not to mention that Metro has already all but admitted it violated the Fair Housing Act when it entered into a damages-only trial with Teen Challenge.

It bears mentioning that the City Paper has reported on the DOJ investigation four times since it began in February.

And don’t think the matter is going away soon. Next week Ryman gets interviewed by the DOJ, the Teen Challenge lawsuit is about to be settled, and other land use issues like Men of Valor are coming down the pipeline.

May

6

Memphis basketball team to get honored on House floor

By John Rodgers | Filed Under State Legislature | Leave a Comment 

University of Memphis Coach John Calipari and members of his national runner-up basketball team will be honored this afternoon on the state House floor.

May

2

Corker to speak to downtown Rotary Club Monday

By John Rodgers | Filed Under Bob Corker | 1 Comment 

Sen. Bob Corker will speak to the Nashville Rotary at 12 p.m. on Monday at the Wildhorse Saloon.

May

1

Senate passes open records bill

By John Rodgers | Filed Under State Legislature | 1 Comment 

The state Senate gave its unanimous approval this morning to the first major changes to the state’s open records law in 25 years.

Among other items, the bill gives governmental entities five days to respond to open records requests. There currently is no time limit.

In addition, the bill creates an Office of Open Records Counsel to provide advice for obtaining open records as well as issuing informal advisory opinions.

While the Senate passed the open records legislation, there are major differences with the House’s version of the bill.

Those differences include the House’s version having a notifying provision to inform public officials when an open records request is made that they are the subject of. Rep. Mary Pruitt (D-Nashville) pushed that through in a House subcommittee in recent weeks.

The House bill is scheduled next for the Finance Committee.

May

1

Summitt honored on House floor

By John Rodgers | Filed Under State Legislature | Leave a Comment 

UT Women’s Basketball Coach Pat Summitt was honored on the state House floor this morning for her 8th National Championship.

Apr

30

Bredesen hints at big companies possibly moving to Tennessee

By John Rodgers | Filed Under Phil Bredesen | 1 Comment 

In a speech to the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce today, Gov. Phil Bredesen said ECD Commissioner Matt Kisber’s “pipeline” is full of companies looking to move to Tennessee, “including some really, really big ones.”

Hmm. Watch out for the incentives included in the so-called “technical corrections bill” that’s up for debate.

Apr

29

Beer ID law headed to guv. - with 1 change

By John Rodgers | Filed Under State Legislature | 2 Comments 

A bill making mandatory carding to buy beer permanent law is headed to Gov. Phil Bredesen today after the Senate approved the measure.

The bill does have one major change, however, that could be a delight for older Tennesseans.

The legislation would not punish beer sellers who sell suds to those customers who “reasonably appears to be over the age of 50″ and don’t present identification.

In 2007, Tennessee became the first state to card everyone purchasing beer regardless of age. That law was set to expire July 1 of this year, but the bill headed to the governor would permanently remove the sunset provision.

Apr

28

John Ford enters federal pen today

By John Rodgers | Filed Under State Legislature | 1 Comment 

Former state Sen. John Ford of Memphis entered a federal prison today in Louisiana to begin serving a five-year sentence for taking $55,000 in bribes as a state lawmaker.

According to The Commercial Appeal, Ford will undergo orientation and a medical screening today before receiving his work assignment Tuesday.

Apr

28

Cooper would’ve voted to save DCS workers, spokesman says

By John Rodgers | Filed Under Jim Cooper, Phil Bredesen | Leave a Comment 

Catching up from last week…

U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Nashville) would have voted in favor of a bill delaying the implementation of a number of Medicaid rule changes if he would have been in Washington, Cooper’s spokesman, John Spragens, says.

If one of the Medicaid rule changes is delayed, the state of Tennessee could forgo losing $73 million in federal funds and having to lay off 160 Department of Children’s Services workers.

Instead of being in Washington, Cooper was teaching former Sen. Bill Frist’s class at Princeton University. Spragens says Cooper knew the bill, which came up somewhat unexpectedly, would pass overwhelmingly and he made statements for the Congressional Record indicating his support.

Besides Cooper, the four other Democrats in the Tennessee Congressional delegation voted for the bill while all four Republicans opposed it. The GOP’s opposition irked Gov. Phil Bredesen.

Apr

28

Pruitt’s opponent attacks her over open records move

By John Rodgers | Filed Under State Legislature | 1 Comment 

Lisa Leeds, an libertarian running as an independent against Rep. Mary Pruitt (D-Nashville), criticized the longtime Nashville lawmaker for her change to an open records bill that sunshine advocates say could lead to “intimidation” from public officials.

A few weeks ago, Pruitt successfully amended an omnibus open records bill to require elected or appointed officials be notified of records requests that they were the subject of.

Leeds says that’s not right.

Mary Pruitt, the current representative for Tennessee House 58, has suggested that would require government employees to tell fellow public officials about any requests for information that involved them.

These alterations to Tennessee’s open Record Laws directly oppose the original intent of open record laws.   Ironically, the legislature is making these proposals in laws that were being proposed to make it easier to get public records.

Lisa Leeds believes the law should simply state that when someone request information from the government, they should get the information without any hassles or questions.

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