Metro Pulse/Ear to the Ground

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Buying Votes?

Everybody knows fundraising counts for much in a political race, whether as a predictor or as propellant. In nearly every city contest Tuesday—mayoral, City Council, and city judgeship—the first, second, third, and fourth finishers lined up in exactly the same order in which they reported raising money.

The proportions, however, were markedly different. Comparisons of fundraising totals swung much more widely than voting tallies. In most cases, including the mayoral race, the runner-up seemed to earn many more votes per-dollar than the winner.

The only exception to the fattest-purse-wins rule was the 5th District exhibition match between Bob Becker and Tim Wheeler. Wheeler raised about 20 percent more money than Becker, but Becker got more votes—albeit fewer than 140 more; it could go either way in the November general election run-off.

The cynical way to look at the situation, of course, is that money buys votes, and there's surely some truth to that; some vote based on name recognition, which is earned through bumper stickers and yard signs and TV and newspaper ads. But considering that wealth is partially mitigated by donation caps, it's also an early gauge of a candidate's popularity.

Go East, Young Mayor

Mayor Victor Ashe has planned up a new "transition office" for his successor. "I want to ensure that this transitional period goes as efficiently as possible.... This office space, along with the cooperation of the various department directors, should help Knoxville's 69th mayor be as prepared as possible when taking office on December 20, 2003.... This is the first time in 28 years that the city has provided office space to a Mayor-elect," Ashe said in a press release Monday. So can we expect to see Mayor-elect Bill Haslam setting up shop in the City County Building where the crack mayoral staff will be close at hand? Naw! Bill'll be tucked away in two offices over at 917 East Fifth, along with some police department, pension board and parks and recreation outposts. The 68th mayor is due to take off for another round of globe-trotting before he says adios to the perks of office, so maybe Haslam can sneak in and measure for drapes while Ashe is off visiting Korea and Greece.

Victor's Campaigning

And speaking of the current mayor, he's vowed to stay out of the current city political races, save one. He's been blasting out emails to a long list of reliable supporters directing them to respond to the News Sentinel's on-line editorial "polls"—most recently, the one about whether we should have a referendum on using public funds to help finance a new downtown hotel. Ashe has turned his attention to the petition drive for the referendum, which has been mounted by the management of the existing downtown hotels. He's supplying talking points, among which are his contention that the convention center's operating costs will be increased if a new hotel is not built, triggering tax hikes and the transformation of the $160 million facility into an exhibition hall. He also takes a roundhouse swipe at Holiday Inn owner Franklin Haney.

"It is hard to find many persons who truly believe Franklin Haney's oft-quoted promises to upgrade the current Holiday Inn at the World's Fair Park. He has made repeated pledges over the past 5 to 6 years and none have been implemented. Nevertheless, he continues with these periodic promises in the hope a new reporter will be there to write it up and not recall his past empty promises for upgrades. Haney and the other hotels downtown are spending as I email over $50,000 in the current petition drive to force city taxpayers thru their city government to come on hands and knees to the Holiday Inn to pay them to upgrade or acquire the facility itself at a high cost. All the persons you see circulating these petitions are being paid per signature. They are willing to let taxpayers pay more to keep the doors open at our new convention center..." Meanwhile, the petition carriers were circulating all over town on election day.

Water Sports

South Knoxville City Councilman Joe Hultquist didn't think sending a measly $2,000 out of his last year's discretionary 202 Fund to the beleaguered folks at Burnett's Creek was such a big deal when he decided to do it last June. After all, residents of that community have been hard up for water since 2002, when they learned a city contractor had dumped toxic waste into a neighboring sinkhole about the time they discovered their wells had been contaminated. They've been drinking bottled water while awaiting the opportunity to hook up to water lines that are being run into the area, and Hultquist wanted to help defray some of the costs. Until it was cut out of this year's bare-bones budget, each member of Council had $40,000 a year in discretionary money to spend on community projects, and $2,000 was peanuts. A $22,500 appropriation for South Knoxville waterfront planning and a small grant to the Boys' and Girls' Club were also approved that night. Mayor Victor Ashe clearly opposed the Hultquist request, and prompted Vice Mayor Jack Sharp to read a "proposed amendment" attaching legal strings to the money for Burnett's Creek. Hultquist refused to accept the hostile amendment, which after some argument failed on a 5-4 vote, opening the door for approval of Hultquist's request. At the meeting, Hultquist asked Law Director Michael Kelley why the checks for the three above-named projects hadn't been written. Kelley said he'd been real busy. Ashe was out of town, so Hultquist asked Finance Director Randy Vineyard if he wanted to explain why the money hadn't been disbursed. "Nope," said Vineyard. Hultquist says he doesn't plan to abandon his efforts to spring the money, which he says "has de-materialized."

"Somebody's playing games," he said.