Meeting "sprawl"

Urban sprawl is a much-discussed topic these days, but I'd like to take a whack at "sprawl" of a different sort - meeting sprawl, especially as it applies to meetings of the Knox County Commission.

The last two commission gatherings went on long enough to fit in a double feature, Gone With the Wind and Titanic, with a Three Stooges mini-festival thrown in gratis. Granted there's been a lot to discuss, and the public urge to speak up during commission meetings has grown, commendably so. (We all should have been speaking up earlier.) But when committee meetings, committees, mind you, not the full body, begin to consume half a day, it's time to step back and ask what's going on.

Part of the problem is the effect that closed-circuit television has on our local legislators, especially now that they realize someone other than spouses, first cousins and their barbers may be watching. Televising the proceedings is a good thing; hearing phrases like "for the people at home" or "to explain to viewers" over and over, as if listening to a group suffering as a  body from a mild form of Tourette's syndrome is bad. To this observer, often it smacks of pandering, which just ain't becoming. Mixing deliberations with electioneering can lead to delusions of victory.

Another, more serious problem is delays caused by not doing your homework. (And I don't want to hear that the dog ate it.) Just today, several commissioners pled ignorance on an issue that has been in Knox County's face for the better part of a year, the nine proposed charter amendments prepared by the "Knox County - One Question" steering committee.

The issue at play isn't if or to what extent you agree with the amendments. What should concern every Knox County voter is whether or not his or her representative truly is ignorant of this topic and thus "needs more time to study this" (another phrase often heard at commission meetings). If that is indeed the case, if pleading ignorance is an honest declaration and not just a delaying tactic, then - to borrow Commissioner "Lumpy" Lambert's recent suggestion - you, sir, should resign. You are derelict in your duties, and we're mad as hell and we're not going to take this anymore!

All right, then.     

Rumor has it

Recently a number of posters to local blogs and forums have been tossing about the names of elected officials and county government employees allegedly involved in extramarital hanky-panky. Indiscreet doesn't come close to describing the nature of some of the comments; libelous is a much better fit.  

Before you post, consider this twist on a familiar proverb: "It is better to keep silent and be thought a fool than to speak and become the defendant in a libel suit."

You heard it here first

We can't keep the lid on this any longer, so here goes. Confidential sources tell us that yet another name has emerged in the Knox County Clerk appointment drama. Citing a "prior commitment" that will keep him from attending the Feb. 20 County Commission appointment shindig in person, Byron "Low Tax" Looper nonetheless made clear his intention to stand for the appointment.

"I was going to stay out of this until Amy Henley Vandergriff reneged on her commitment not to seek the appointment," Looper said. "I'm not sure who her political handlers are, but that was a boneheaded idea,and I know something about boneheaded ideas."  

Looper promised to bring swift changes to the clerk's office "by any means necessary."

"I believe in letting the people speak," he added, noting that he took a stand on term-limits "as early as 1998."

Economizing the clerk's office operations will be his first step, Looper said, including eliminating unnecessary office space.

"I can start with myself," Looper concluded. "I won't even need a desk; I can work from home."

Feeding Frenzy

Although blood has been in the water for months, the great majority of the local sharks were merely cruising prior to the announcement of Cynthia Finch's resignation on Feb. 14. Now an attack worthy of the U.S.S. Indianapolis tragedy has begun, and it threatens to obscure the greater issue that underpins the Finch scandal, the corruption and ineptness that will be the legacy of Mayor Mike Ragsdale's administration.

Surely Finch has earned this opprobrium, but one is hard-pressed to believe her conduct would have been tolerated even briefly under an administration possessed of any but the most bankrupt ethical standards. Finch becomes the fourth Ragsdale vassal to be plowed under, joining Margie Loyd, Requitta Bone and John Werner in the Hall of Shame. His Highness, meanwhile, pleads ignorance of the circumstances that brought his former aide to such a sorry pass: "I wasn't in that meeting and I haven't had an opportunity to discuss it, but my understanding is she tendered her resignation on her own."

(The bitter laughter you hear in the distance is coming from Werner, who must have been morbidly amused at such unabashed prevarication. Those of us who cover local politics week in and week out are neither amused or bemused any longer; we've become accustomed to his (dishonest) face.)

A football coach (maybe Lombardi himself?) warned players who wanted to hot dog it after a score: "Act like you've been there before." That's sound advice for locals who'd like to see this Mayor take an early exit. Dumping Cynthia Finch isn't the objective - it never was. Eyes on the prize, lads and lassies, eyes on the prize.