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In the hands of mice?

What a difference a summer makes. This past Memorial Day, a new era of city-county cooperation seemed to have dawned, downtown Knoxville’s momentum showed signs of reaching sustainability, Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam still had that honeymoon glow, and Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale was being touted as the next governor of Tennessee. As Labor Day approaches, however, both the city and the county are taking stock of a plethora of diverging interests, the new downtown cinema remains in limbo even as the death of the proposed new downtown library is being mourned, Mayor Haslam is beginning to feel the heat of unsatisfied campaign promises, and Mayor Ragsdale’s political career is on life support.

So what happened to bring about such a drastic change in our state of affairs?

While it would be easy to point the finger at the referendum crowd (the “peasants with pitchforks” as they have been described), that answer is too easy. The real answer is that our leaders have been acting, to paraphrase Steinbeck quoting Robert Burns, more like mice than men.

Knoxville and Knox County have always had their share of “cave people,” an acronym for “citizens against virtually everything.” The fact that this faction remained relatively quiet while both City Council and County Commission passed tax increases should have been more surprising than the fact that they eventually reared their collective heads.

Listening to remarks made against the county wheel tax in recent weeks, one was apt to feel a strong sense of déjà vu. “We ain’t against no library,” stated one opponent, “we’re just against payin’ for it.” “Mike Ragsdale don’t get it,” exclaimed another. “If we wanted to live in a high tax area, we’d all move to Massachusetts.” And how can we forget this nugget of intellectualism: “Why should I care about [overcrowding at] Farragut High School when I live in East Knox County?”

It was enough to make one reminiscent of the days when former County Executive Dwight Kessell and former Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe frequently engaged in political Battle Royales, to the long-term detriment of their respective constituencies. (To be fair to those two, one must acknowledge that such turf wars have been the rule in local politics rather than the exception and pre-date their tenures in office by many decades).

But, as recently as early summer, all that seemed to be changing. Was it all simply an illusion? Had those of us who longed for progress and cohesion between the city and county been suffering from some form of naïve dementia brought on by wishful thinking? Had it all been a pipe dream to think that Knoxville could shed its stagnant reputation and embrace economic development, education and general progress?

At the risk of seeming quixotic, we would argue that it was not. But it will take strong leadership to right this waning ship, and that means a willingness on the part of Ragsdale and County Commission to fight for what they believe in. This spring, County Commission approved the budget, funded in part by an increase in the wheel tax, proposed by County Mayor Ragsdale by a vote of 16-3. Confronted with a movement for a county-wide November referendum on the subject, however, many of the county commissioners who voted to approve the budget are now running for cover and blaming Ragsdale for putting their Commission seats in play during future elections.

Instead of shirking their responsibilities, these commissioners would do well to show leadership by standing by their votes. No amount of persuasion or cajoling by the Ragsdale administration alleviates them of their responsibility to cast their votes according to what they think is best for Knox County. Reversing direction while blaming Ragsdale only serves to expose their lack of leadership, thus calling into question whether they do, in fact, deserve to represent us.

If, as we believe, Mayor Ragsdale and the Commission had it right when they initially submitted and approved the budget, then they should be willing to fund it—even if that means a property tax increase rather than an increase in the wheel tax. Metro Pulse has been very hard on Mayor Ragsdale of late for the mistakes he has made in framing the library debate, but let us not forget that—prior to this misstep—he had shown a great deal of promise for forging consensus where it had traditionally been lacking. Still, in our view, his refusal to date to recommend a property tax increase to fund his budget if the wheel tax is repealed in November calls his leadership into question more than any prior lack of salesmanship. Either he is willing to fight for his budget and all that is contemplated by it, or else he is not.

If it is true that Ragsdale has designs on higher political office, then he should follow the example of Gov. Bredesen who, as mayor of Nashville, did not let the fact that initial public support for a new downtown library was less than 20 percent keep him from fighting for what he believed was right for the city. In many ways, the wheel tax debate is Ragsdale’s and, by extension, County Commissions’ opportunity to show us that they deserve the positions they hold. For Ragsdale and those commissioners who approved the budget to salvage their political bona fides, it’s time for them to stop acting like mice. Or, to use the colloquial term, it’s time for them to pick up their own pitchforks and fight.

September 2, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 36 © 2004 Metro Pulse