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by Joe Sullivan

There are only two local posts being contested in the Aug. 5 election for which early voting starts on July 16. Amid several Republican primary contests for state legislature seats, voters in South Knox will be filling a vacancy on County Commission and voters in North Knoxville will be selecting a new school board member.

The County Commission vacancy in South Knox (District 9) was created by the death of longtime Commissioner Howard Pinkston. Commission appointed his brother Paul to fill the seat on an interim basis, and a Republican party caucus picked him as its nominee in the Aug. 5 general election. Paul Pinkston’s principal opponent is Pam Maroney Trainor, who is running as a Democrat but had no real party affiliation before deciding to seek the post. Martin Pleasant is also running as an independent.

The North Knoxville (District 2) school board race is a run-off between the top two finishers in a non-partisan primary, Patsy Vittetoe and Indya Kincannon. Neither of them got a majority of the votes cast in February’s four-way primary to succeed Paul Kelley who is retiring after 14 years of distinguished service on the board.

My observations and endorsements in these two important elections are as follows:

Maroney Trainor for County Commission

Pam Maroney Trainor will bring a refreshing change to the stale, clubhouse politics of the Pinkstons. Maroney Trainor is a newcomer to politics but not to community service in South Knoxville where she has lived for all of her 41 years. As the parent of a 12-year old daughter and a 10-year old son, she is president of parent-teacher organizations at both Dogwood Elementary School and South Doyle Middle School. She also serves on the board of Project Grad, the inner city school enrichment program that is chaired by Mayor Bill Haslam.

Maroney Trainor will be a much-needed champion of schools on a body that has tended to neglect them. But she is not a single-issue candidate. She’s also concerned about the safety and integrity of neighborhoods. And as a partner with her husband, Brian, in the catering business they have run for 17 years, she can relate to the needs of South Knox businesses.

Paul Pinkston and his late brother Howard were also partners for many years in Pinkston Motors, whose offices on Chapman Highway also served as a de facto Republican party clubhouse. Howard Pinkston’s staunchly conservative views were usually expressed cordially, but Paul Pinkston is reputedly hot headed. In his most significant commission vote to date, he was one of three on that 19-member body who opposed County Mayor Mike Ragsdale’s recommended increase in the county wheel tax. But then he turned around and voted for Ragsdale’s budget that was dependent on the wheel tax for its funding. So he can be classed as the “don’t tax but spend candidate.”

Kincannon for School Board

Both Indya Kincannon and Patsy Vittetoe are outstanding candidates, and I wish there were a place on the school board for both, because they complement each other.

The two finished in a virtual dead heat in last February’s non-partisan primary in which a crowded field of other candidates prevented either from coming close to getting the majority needed win the race. Hence, the August run-off for this one seat, whereas other school board contests were decided in February.

Vittetoe is a retired educator, having served as a teacher, principal and director of elementary education in the former Knoxville city school system. Since her retirement in 1993, Vittetoe, who is now 64, has remained active in the community and has served for the past few years as a member of the Metropolitan Planning Commission. This gives her a perspective on population growth patterns that the school board has seemed to lack in planning for their impact.

Kincannon, 32, is a super bright young woman who would bring a totally fresh perspective to the board. She has a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University and has worked as a budget analyst for the Arizona state Legislature—in a state that’s in the forefront of performance-based budgeting. Kincannon moved to Knoxville with her husband, who is a UT law school professor, and is the mother of two young children. Along the way she also taught high school Spanish.

While both candidates have a lot to offer, I believe that Kincannon’s skills are more valuable at this time. Budgetary constraints are the school system’s biggest single problem, and Kincannon will bring outside-the-box thinking to bear in dealing with them. This, in turn, should help remove suspicions on the part of County Commission about how well the school board oversees its funding.

Next week: State Legislature endorsements

Editor’s note: Joe Sullivan has contributed to the campaign of Pam Maroney Trainor and also hosted a neighborhood reception for her at his home.

July 8, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 28 © 2004 Metro Pulse