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Election clouds parted for this community and region

by Barry Henderson

In Tennessee, the election day’s story of stories was the shift in the state Senate majority from Democrat to Republican, the first time since the aftermath of the Civil War that Republicans have held that majority through election. That should be good for East Tennessee, where legislators are predominantly Republican, but it may well fail to change the Senate leadership all that much.

In Knoxville and Knox County, the most pleasant election surprise was the ease of survival of the $30 wheel tax increase in a referendum that sought its repeal.

That the wheel tax hike prevailed against the threat of a property tax increase to raise the same amount of county revenue is reassuring evidence that all decisions on taxation should be made by elected officials and not be put directly in the hands of the voters.

Legislatively, the Knox County delegation will have the same balance of Republicans over Democrats as before, with Jamie Hagood leaving the House and assuming the Senate seat vacated by the retiring Ben Atchley, and Parkey Strader, Frank Nicely and Stacey Campfield handily holding for the GOP the House districts left open by Hagood, Steve Buttry and H.E. Bittle. Harry Tindell and Joe Armstrong, the incumbent Democrats, also kept their seats.

Hagood, who won the Senate job by a 3-1 margin, said after her election that she couldn’t hope to fill Atchley’s shoes. That’s true, in that the veteran had clout and statewide respect that could only have been built over decades of demonstrated good judgment and bipartisanship.

The 17-16 Senate majority gained by the Republicans is important to them symbolically, and it may move specific legislation in different directions on the Senate side, but Lt. Gov. John Wilder, who has held the Senate chair longer than any other Tennessean, won reelection and appears to have the votes to retain that chair. Four incumbent Republican senators, including Knoxville’s senior senator, Tim Burchett, actively campaigned for Wilder in his West Tennessee district against a strong Republican threat there.

They had solid reasons. Wilder led a bipartisan coalition in the Senate and never asserted the Democrats’ potential power there. He split committee chair appointments equally between the parties, winning the undying loyalty of some Republicans in the upper chamber. Things could change by the January election of the Lt. Governor by the Senate, but even Sen. Ron Ramsey, chairman of the Republican caucus, would not commit to seeking the lieutenant governorship once the election results and his party’s slim majority were clear. The pressure the Republican senators will feel from within the party to oust the 83-year-old Wilder will be tremendous, but it’s far from certain that the party’s efforts will have sufficient effect to take the chair away from him. If they should, speculation is strong that Wilder will retire forthwith from his seat. The wily old Senate speaker, widely called simply “Gov. Wilder,” has had a stock answer to controversial Senate votes, saying, “The Senate is the Senate.” Without its chair, it’s believed he’d concede that it isn’t anymore.

House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, also the longest-serving speaker that the chamber has had, was also reelected in his home district, leaving control of the House in Democratic hands. His win, also against a strong Republican challenge, insures that Tindell and Armstrong will continue to have strong influence in House matters. The House freshman Republicans will have their work cut out for them in dealing with the Naifeh Democrats, but their best hope for gaining stature quickly may be in the cozy relationship Phil Bredesen, the Democrat governor, has built with the state’s influential Republicans. Bredesen campaigned for some threatened House Democrats this year but stayed pretty well clear of the Senate races in most cases, leaving his bipartisan reputation and the support it’s achieved for him fairly well unsullied.

Bredesen, who has convinced the Republican establishment that he understands the business of government, as well as the politics of it, needs to maintain bipartisan backing if he wishes to succeed in grappling with TennCare and other state budget issues that have strapped the state.

As for Hagood, the first words out her mouth in a Wednesday morning radio interview about her priorities in her new office were, “economic and community development.” That should be gratifying to the people who opposed her, as well as those who backed her Senate candidacy. Knoxville sorely needs more help from Nashville in coping with its development needs.

She also mentioned education quickly, as well she should. All of the candidates for election to legislative seats in and around Knoxville trumpeted their support for education. That is the key to development doors. It is the future. Don’t let the lawmakers forget it.

November 4, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 45 © 2004 Metro Pulse