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Sale Causes Furrowed Brows?
TVA has a buyer for a minimum of $12 million for its East Tower that sits at the end of Market Square. It is currently jumping through hoops to put the office building up for sale to accept the offer, or one higher should it come along. The buyer is hush-hush, top secret and classified so we certainly don’t know who it might be. But rumor has it the guy measuring for new drapes looks a lot like the guy that bought the downtown post office on Main Street.
As a friend of a TVA board member and Mayor Bill Haslam, perhaps he has a potential tenant off that list of possibilities Haslam said he had in his jacket pocket during his election campaign. An office building with 1,000 new employees would be a major economic boost to supplement the millions in city spending on Market Square and the adjacent parking deck.
Hall Monitoring
Knoxville City Councilman Steve Hall doesn’t say much at meetings and is often on the losing end of a 7-2 vote. But he is certainly busy elsewhere. He has a political talk show on a cable access channel on Friday nights, is a weekly guest on Lloyd Daugherty’s talk show “The Voice” on AM-850, and he is often in the middle of local political campaigns.
In the recent election he was mentor to Stacey Campfield, who won the House seat given up by Steve Buttry, and Randall Parker, who lost against state Rep. Harry Tindell. Hall also supported David Dillon in a school board race against Cindy Buttry, wife of Steve. In addition to just enjoying himself, Hall is attempting to become a major player in Knoxville politics.
This last election he angered the Buttrys and the Tindells. Cindy Buttry won the school board race handily. Harry Tindell had a tougher race than usual, though he kept his seat with a 10 point margin, with support from his father Knox County Commissioner Billy Tindell. Hall can expect a challenge in his next Council race and one suspects the Buttrys and the Tindells will be enthusiastic volunteers for his opponent.
Lenoir Voters Say No
Lenoir City voters rejected a charter change that would have allowed Knox County two representatives on the Lenoir City Utilities Board. The charter amendment was the result of a painstaking negotiation between Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale’s administration and Lenoir City.
West Knox County residents contribute $1 million a year to Lenoir City schools because LCUB has most of its customer base in Knox County. Lenoir City Council endorsed the charter change unanimously, but the voters rejected it.
Knox County is back at the drawing board and may try to get LCUB to contribute to the new school foundation that Ragsdale has formed to supplement the Knox County school system.
Ambassador at Rotary
Knoxville’s Downtown Rotary Club will welcome as its speaker for the November meeting the U.S. Ambassador to Poland. He will discuss the topic “Poland: American’s Strong European Ally.”
Former Mayor Victor Ashe, in town for the day, is on the podium for the Tuesday (Nov. 16) meeting. The re-election of his friend President Bush means Ashe’s tenure as an ambassador just got extended, which means planeloads of his Knoxville cronies don’t all have to plan Polish vacations before Jan. 20; they can space them out.
Worst of Both Worlds
Dr. Jesse Cannon seemed the dream candidate for the Republicans to defeat House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh. As a Republican he would get Tipton County votes and, as a black man, he would get black votes in neighboring Haywood County. Naifeh lost Tipton County in the last election to a Republican opponent, but won with Haywood County black votes.
Naifeh was re-elected because many Republicans in Tipton County wouldn’t vote for a black man, even if he’s a Republican, and Haywood County blacks wouldn’t vote for a Republican, even a black one. Naifeh won both counties.
No Ford in Your Future?
The latest news from the state political grapevine is that Congressman Harold Ford Jr. is reconsidering running for U.S. Sen. Bill Frist’s seat in the next election. Ford was always a long shot, but considering the huge conservative vote for President Bush, it doesn’t look good for a Democrat from Memphis.
Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell is now considered the odds on favorite of the Democrats to challenge potential Republican candidates. Purcell is a former legislator who served as state House Majority Leader before being elected Nashville’s mayor.
He gets good marks for keeping the city on an even keel in the wake of the rather large spending (and debt) of former Mayor Phil Bredesen, who built a football stadium, coliseum and downtown library and brought in professional football and hockey. But Purcell doesn’t have the sexy resume either.
Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker and former Congressmen Ed Bryant are currently declared Republican candidates for the seat.
November 11, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 46
© 2004 Metro Pulse
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