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Who's Out After What?
The word is out that Randy Nichols is thinking about running for governor. And it's true. Knox County's attorney general dropped in on state House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh and U.S. Rep. Bob Clement in Nashville last week to see what some of the state's highest-ranking Democrats think about a possible Nichols candidacy.
"I talked to some people in Nashville, and to some friends here... to get them to thinking whether this is the time we might want to take a step forward," Nichols says.
Unfortunately, Clement said he's got another candidate in mind: himself. "He told me he has formed his own exploratory committee, and is actively raising money."
Naifeh also has a favorite candidate, his old Nashville roommate and state House running-buddy, U.S. Rep. John Tanner. Tanner was a Ned McWherter protégé during his days as a state rep and is now a leader of the southern conservative Democratic "Blue Dog Caucus."
"Tanner was the whole buzz in Nashville," Nichols said. "It was being reported that some of the rich people had gotten together to convince Mr. Tanner to run. Supposedly a number of those people—including Speaker Naifeh—getting on an airplane to fly to Washington to promise to raise a large sum of money for him. I heard $2 million."
Nichols says he has talked to local Democrats who may be thinking about making the race—Doug Horne and Joe Hollingsworth.
"A good healthy primary would help us all—I'm tired of having somebody say if you don't have $10 million you can't run..."
A Lite Touch from the Lighthouse
We've been trying not to pick on the News-Sentinel too much lately, really. But the paper's soft-headed, soft-pedaled softball coverage of the Renaissance Knoxville plan for downtown redevelopment keeps pulllllllling us back in. Latest example: on Wednesday, the paper ran (in the Business section) a story on Regal Cinemas' CEO Mike Campbell's letter to Mayor Victor Ashe, in which Campbell raised questions about the viability of a new downtown multiplex. The story appeared a full three days after the letter was circulated on the K2K Internet forum, and two days after local TV news outfits ran long reports on it; more to the point, the letter itself was sent last week and CC'ed by Campbell directly to News-Sentinel publisher Bruce Hartmann. Even considering Campbell's own motives in sending the missive, there's no way such a starkly worded warning from the head of the largest theater company in the world—regarding a portion of the largest, most expensive city project in decades—could be construed as anything but "news." Unless, maybe, your newspaper was in the midst of a complicated, taxpayer-subsidized land deal with the city government. Or one of your former editors, who had been a longstanding supporter of the downtown plan, was now deputy to the mayor. Or your own parent company had been deeply involved in negotiations about participating in the development deal.
On the Other Hand...
Some pointed commentary on the downtown deal (dubbed "Re-nonsense Knoxville" by some skeptics) came from an unexpected source: the staid, Chattanooga-based East Tennessee Business Journal. On the editorial page of the current issue, writer Jayne Andrews assails the Worsham Watkins proposal on multiple fronts, from its reliance on eminent domain to its focus on tourists rather than residents. She also raises questions about the profit margins of the developers, concluding, "Until that information is made public, along with a complete disclosure of the developer's past business failures—this project needs to be stopped in its tracks." We hear that train a-comin'...
No Scoop For You
The chalkboard at the Soup Kitchen on Market Square usually has information about the day's specials. But in the last couple of weeks, it has greeted visitors with an intriguing limerick:
There once was a girl who served soup
Who was asked by the press for a scoop
For the first time in her life
To talk was great strife
She was speechless as her lip it did droop.
Elaine Graham, owner of the 18-year-old business, which might be displaced by the massive reconstruction called for in the Renaissance Knoxville proposal, has so far been mum about her feelings on the project.
The Heat Is Off
Maybe people were too strapped for cash paying their own bills. In a season when heating costs skyrocketed, a program to help the needy pay their bills has lagged. Although warmer weather has made heating bills more manageable, winter obviously isn't over.
Donations made to Project Help all go toward helping the working poor—those who don't qualify for government assistance—pay their bills. Last month, KUB had collected $112,000. However, $79,000 of that had already been used.
"Right now, they only have about $33,000 to work with," utility spokeswoman Cindy Hassil said a few weeks ago. "We still have a couple of potentially really cold months ahead. So they really need the assistance."
A new way to donate, at Food City checkouts, has also lagged, with only $1,482 being collected as of last week. The Food City program ends March 31; however, donations can be made through KUB bills all year.
March 8, 2001 * Vol. 11, No. 10
© 2001 Metro Pulse
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