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Where in the World is Victor Ashe?
In August, voters at campaign events thought they heard Mayor Victor Ashe make the following promise:
"If you re-elect me you'll have the hardest working mayor you've ever seen."
Turns out what he really must have said was "If you re-elect me, you'll hardly ever see the mayor working."
In October, the re-elected Ashe missed both City Council meetings, and will miss the first November meeting, as well, in favor of trips to exotic climes like Havana and Nepal. Several city employees, including Service Department chief Bob Whetsel and City Architect David Collins are accompanying Ashe on the month-long Asian jaunt. Collins might be considered a two-fer, since he is a County Commissioner who will also miss the October Commission sessions as well.
Ear is pleased, however, to debunk a report that on the morning of his departure Ashe was seen in the airport wearing a pith helmet.
Political Football
ESPN announcer Mike Gottfried, who worked the Memphis and Auburn games at Neyland Stadium, was back in town last week to speak to the Quarterback Club. He turned down an offer of security, saying that he feels comfortable here, and walked to the stadium from his hotel without incident. He lunched at Regas Monday with Quarterback honcho Jeff Hagood.
Gottfried and his announcing partner Ron Franklin have both distanced themselves from the locally-unpopular ESPN.com "Tutorgate" story, and have been publicly critical of its reporting.
Political Football, Part 2
Even though he appeared on this page just a week ago, it's hard to keep Lloyd Daugherty out of the column when he does things like calling up the Hallerin Hill radio show to eviscerate state GOP head Chip Saltsman.
Saltsman, who appeared on the WNOX morning talk show to promote Republican party unity, was attempting to pooh-pooh a question about whether Governor Don Sundquist's state income tax proposal was "tearing the party apart."
Saltsman denied any such internal warfare, and called the income tax fight "just a little family disagreement," and said that Republicans are united on the big issue—keeping Al Gore out of the White House in 2000.
That's when Daugherty, who heads the Tennessee Conservative Union, dialed him up and said that other things matter, "...like electing people who keep their word..." (a not-so veiled shot at Sundquist, who, in the best tradition of Tennessee governors, never intimated his support of a state income tax while he was running for re-election).
Saltsman called Daugherty a part-time Republican "who spreads hate and discontent." This is mild compared to other recent descriptions of Daugherty. A Sundquist aide called him a "dinosaur" a month ago, and a couple of weeks later, the governor called Daugherty a "Neanderthal."
Daugherty claims to be flattered by the attention.
"From a dinosaur to a Neanderthal to a part-time Republican—at least I'm moving up the food chain."
Whozzat Hepcat?
We almost didn't recognize Pete Crowley Friday evening at the "On the Town" show on Market Square. The clean-cut, button-down wunderkind who has been serving as both economic development officer of the Superchamber and executive director of the CBID was tieless and sporting an artsy Van dyke. We should have known something was up. It was announced yesterday that Crowley is apparently part of his transition; he's leaving his dual posts for the greener, better-fertilized pastures of HGTV.
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