Tag: Senate

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The Mackler Moment: A Parable

Marquita Bradshaw (Photo: Darnell Landers)

Can Knoxville state Senator Gloria Johnson, she of last spring’s “Tennessee Three” and a heroine of sorts among Democrats, actually unseat the GOP’s Marsha Blackburn in the 2024 U.S. Senate race?

There is an illustrative case — that of James Mackler, a Nashville lawyer and former Iraq war helicopter pilot, who made bold to put himself forth as a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2018 for the seat then held by the retiring moderate Republican Bob Corker.

Meanwhile, out of the Republican MAGA ranks, seeking the same seat, came the aforementioned arch-conservative Marsha Blackburn, then a congresswoman. The then still existent state Democratic establishment, two years into the Trump age, didn’t trust a novice Democrat like Mackler, no matter how promising, to take on Blackburn, so talked Tennessee’s recent Governor Phil Bredesen, an old-fashioned conservative Democrat, out of retirement to become their candidate.

Mackler dutifully withdrew, biding his time.

History records that both Bredesen and Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, the last two name Democrats to carry the party banner into battle, were both routed in 2018, Bredesen by Blackburn (who would end up a cover girl on The New York Times Magazine) and Dean by Bill Lee.

Mackler was still on the scene and considered it his time to take on the next Senate race in 2020, where he would be opposed by the GOP’s Bill Hagerty, a former ambassador and state economic development commissioner. What was left of the Democratic establishment, in something of its last go-round, thought Mackler was right and timely, also, and got behind him.

Alas! Mackler and the party establishment withheld their considerable fundraising receipts from a five-way Democratic primary, hoarding them for the forthcoming race against Hagerty, and never even got to the general election. Mackler was upset in the primary by one Marquita Bradshaw, an environmentalist from Memphis who had no ballyhoo whatsoever and had raised virtually no money.

What she did have was an emergent standing among Memphis Blacks as a progressive candidate (though a nonmember of the now-expiring party establishment).

What she had was enough to win 35.5 percent of the primary vote, outpolling poor Mackler, who had 23.8 percent. Between the primary and the general, Bradshaw upped her campaign kitty from $22,300 to $1.3 million (a major-party nomination is still worth something), but lost to Hagerty, once again polling 35 percent.

Jump to last week, when the Beacon Center, a conservative think tank, released the results of two Emerson College polls — one measuring incumbent Blackburn running for reelection against Gloria Johnson, another matching her against Bradshaw, regarding the Memphian, once again as a prospective Senate candidate.

Beacon had Blackburn running ahead of Johnson by 49 percent to 29 percent, with the balance undecided. Against Bradshaw, Blackburn’s margin was smaller, 48 percent to 36 percent.

What Beacon did not do was match the two Democrats against each other, testing what might happen in a primary encounter.

But, given the example of Mackler, the already actively campaigning Johnson might wonder, as do we. Might she suffer an unexpected defeat to Bradshaw, a la Mackler?

Word from the Democratic establishment (yes, it still exists, though barely) is that Johnson has digested the lesson of Mackler and will pour a generous amount of the substantial funds she has already raised for a primary contest.

That will take pace in August, and we shall see what we shall see.

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Senate Hearing Experts Warn of Holiday Dangers

(Credit: U.S. Senate)

A Tuesday Senate hearing on holiday toy safety found a massive increase in button battery-related injuries in small children last year and reviewed legislation to reduce them. 

Button batteries are those small, silver, coin-shaped batteries that power a range of small devices like watches, hearing aids, television remotes, garage door openers, and more. From March to September 2020, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission discovered a 93 percent increase in button battery-related injuries in children aged 5-9. The injuries mostly involved ingestion, but some involved children placing a small battery in their nose or ear.

During the seventh-month time period, most children were at home as Covid kept many schools closed. Their parents were likely home, too, and distracted by balancing home life, work, and, maybe, teaching their children. 

“Having kids around products with coin batteries with distracted parts goes a long way to explain the increase,” Dr. Benjamin Hoffman with the American Academy of Pediatrics said during Tuesday’s hearing. 

Having kids around products with coin batteries with distracted parts goes a long way to explain the increase

Dr. Benjamin Hoffman, American Academy of Pediatrics

Hoffman told lawmakers he wanted rules for manufacturers to make it as hard as possible to remove button batteries from devices. He suggested also they add a coat of a bittering agent on removable batteries so children would spit them out if ingested. Though, Hoffman said no hard data exists on the efficacy of doing so. 

To add these protections, lawmakers reviewed Reese’s Law. It would create those standards to make it hard for children to access the batteries in products. It would also create new warning-label requirements to tell of the hazards of ingesting button batteries. 

The proposed law is named for Reese Hamsith. The Texas girl swallowed a button battery at age one and did not live to her next birthday. Reese’s mother, Trista — founder of the child advocacy group Reese’s Purpose — told lawmakers Tuesday of Reese’s ordeal. 

Trista said her daughter swallowed a button battery in October 2020. She then wasn’t “her spunky self” and a doctor diagnosed the girl with croup, her mother said. 

“After returning home we noticed a button battery missing from a device,” she said. “We tore the house apart but couldn’t find it. A quick Google search had us rushing to the emergency room. An x-ray confirmed that she had ingested the battery and doctors performed emergency surgery to remove the battery.”

But the battery created a hole in her esophagus and trachea, allowing food and water into the little girl’s lungs and air into her stomach. The girl died after a surgery to close the hole in December 2020. 

Lawmakers also considered the dangers of a raft of holiday toys, especially counterfeits not made to comply with safety standards, in the hearing called “Hidden Holiday Hazards: Product Safety During the Holiday Season.” Last year, 150,000 toy-related injuries and nine deaths were reported to the federal government, experts said Tuesday. 

Last year, 150,000 toy-related injuries and nine deaths were reported to the federal government.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) told of a Tennessee family that bought a hoverboard as gift online. The hoverboard caught fire and burned the family’s house down. She urged manufacturers, retailers, and government overseers to closely monitor supply chains for poorly made and counterfeit toy products.

“So, these are the things that we watch out for to make certain that the supply chain is going to be safe — and as more consumers are buying from third-party platforms — that they’re going to have the insight into where these products are coming from and why these products might be unsafe,” Blackburn said.

Holiday dangers extend from toys, too, lawmakers were told, to Christmas tree lights, menorahs, and more. From 2016 to 2018, 100 Christmas tree fires and 1,100 candle fires resulted in 30 deaths and 180 injuries, according to federal data. 

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City Council-Supported Gym Tax Repeal Advances to Governor’s Desk

CREDIT: YMCA

YMCA

A piece of legislation that would eliminate a 10 percent tax on small fitness centers in the state and that is largely supported by local officials passed in the Tennessee Senate Thursday.

The legislation, HB1138, would do away with the 10 percent amusement tax on small fitness centers, those under 15,000 square feet. The tax currently applies to gyms and studios providing exercise, athletics, or other fitness services such as cross-training, ballet barre, yoga, spin, and aerobics classes.

If the proposed legislation becomes law, the tax would still apply to facilities such as country clubs, golf courses, and tennis clubs.

The bill passed with a 28-1 vote in the state Senate Thursday, after moving through the House last week with a 95-0 vote. The legislation has to be signed by Governor Bill Lee to take effect.

The move to eliminate the tax was backed by the Memphis City Council through a resolution last month. The resolution, co-sponsored by council Chairman Kemp Conrad and Councilman Ford Canale, passed unanimously.

Conrad said the council is “thankful for the work of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the local fitness community, and Representative Mark White (TN-83) who was a champion for this cause.”

“The repeal of this antiquated disincentive for small businesses and those wanting a healthier lifestyle is a win for all Memphians, and all Tennesseans, whether as operators or patrons of local fitness, wellness, and recreation opportunities,” Conrad said. “We appreciate the state legislature having acted in the interests of promoting healthy activity in our communities.”

Canale, who chairs the council’s government affairs committee, applauded the governor for including the repeal in his proposed 2020 budget, saying “healthier outcomes for Memphians is a priority of ours and we seek to encourage wellness for all citizens.”

The move has also been supported by Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, Shelby County Commissioner Brandon Morrison, and local small gym owners.

Tennessee’s adult obesity rate was 32.8 in 2017, making Tennessee the 15th-most obese state in the country, according to a report released in 2018. The report, called the “State of Obesity: Better Policies for a Healthier America,” also found that 30 percent of Tennessee adult residents are not physically active, 13.1 percent have diabetes, and 38.7 percent have hypertension.

The study, an effort by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, used body mass index and other data from the Centers for Disease Control to identify obesity rates.

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Politics Politics Feature

Ophelia Ford in Hospital; May Miss Start of Legislative Session

CREDIT: Politopics.com

AP – State senator Ophelia Ford is still in the hospital and a family member says it’s not certain she will be able to attend when the Legislature goes into session next week.

Her brother Joe Ford tells The Associated Press that the senator has been treated for about a month at Methodist Hospital in Memphis. He is declining to provide details on her illness, calling it a “private matter.”

He says Ophelia Ford is receiving physical rehabilitation to improve the movement of her joints and limbs.

As for whether his sister, a Democrat, will be well enough to attend Tuesday’s opening session of the state Senate, Joe Ford says he has “no idea.”

Copyright 2008 Associated Press

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Looking Ahead

“The tide is turning.” That’s Jim Kyle‘s confident declaration about the forthcoming election season in state government. Kyle, the Memphis Democrat who leads his party in the Tennessee state Senate, cites a number of precedents for his belief that 2008 will be a triumphant year for long-suffering state Democrats, who have been seeing their legislative numbers recede for a decade or two.

“Democrats just took over the Virginia state Senate, for one thing. And we’ve got more Democrats running in Republican districts, even in East Tennessee, than we ever had before,” Kyle said Tuesday — the very day that his opposite number, GOP Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey, was due in Shelby County for a meeting of the East Shelby Republican Club.

Ramsey, a Blountville Republican, came with Mark Norris, a Shelby Countian who is currently serving as the Senate Republican leader and who, Kyle and most other observers believe, wants to succeed Ramsey as Speaker and lieutenant governor should the GOP regain the tenuous majority it held for most of this year’s session and should Ramsey go on to run for governor in 2010, as all the selfsame observers expect.

“Oh, he’s running. No doubt about it,” said Kyle of his GOP counterpart’s gubernatorial hopes — though Ramsey’s immediate concerns are likely to be the same as Kyle’s: to gain a majority for his party in next year’s statewide legislative races. (For what it’s worth, the Democratic majority in the state House — 53 to 46, at the moment — is unlikely to be overturned, though the Republicans will surely try.)

As things stand now, the two major parties are tied in the Senate at 16-16. There is one “independent,” former Republican Micheal Williams of Maynardville, who was a reliable ally of (and vote for) John Wilder, the venerable Democrat who was deposed as Speaker early this year when Democrat Rosalind Kurita of Clarksville cast a surprise (and decisive) vote for Ramsey during Senate reorganization for the 2007-’08 term.

Kurita thereupon became Senate Speaker pro Tem, displacing Williams, who simmered quietly for a while then announced in mid-session last spring that he was leaving the GOP. Though he didn’t join the Democrats as such, he aligned with them for procedural purposes, giving Kyle’s party a technical majority by the thinnest possible margin.

When Chattanooga’s Ward Crutchfield, a longtime Democratic pillar in the Senate, was forced to resign after copping a guilty plea as a defendant in the Tennessee Waltz scandal, the Republicans nominated Oscar Brock, son of former U.S. senator Bill Brock, to vie for Crutchfield’s seat.

But Brock was beaten by Democrat Andy Berke in this month’s special election and with a percentage of the vote, 63 percent, that Kyle contends is 10 points in excess of the normal Democratic edge in the District 10 seat.

“That’s one more reason why I think the tide is moving our way,” Kyle said.

Of course, the Republicans are not sitting idly by without mounting a strategy of their own to gain control of the state Senate. They, too, evidently intend to compete seat by seat, district by district, as Kyle says the Democrats will, and one obvious GOP target is octogenarian Wilder of Somerville, who has so far given no indication whether he will seek reelection to his District 26 seat.

“Nobody knows. He’ll just have to decide how much he wants to be in the Senate for four more years,” said Kyle, who carefully skirted the issue of whether Wilder, who served as Speaker for 36 years until the narrow January vote that cast him out, might have ambitions of regaining the position. As Kyle noted, several other Democrats — not least, himself — might decide they want to be Speaker when the time comes.

Republican state representative Dolores Grisham, also of Somerville, has signaled her desire to compete for Wilder’s seat, and she expects to be strongly funded for the effort. “I don’t have any worries about John Wilder’s seat in a race against Dolores Grisham,” Kyle said drily.

In any case, the state Senate will be technically, and actually, up for grabs next year, and the two parties will both be making serious efforts. That fact may preclude Kyle’s making waves by recruiting a primary opponent for Kurita, whom he still has not forgiven for her vote on Ramsey’s behalf.

“We don’t,” the Democrats’ Senate leader said simply when asked how he and Kurita were getting along. That’s one thing that probably won’t change in 2008.

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Dem, GOP Leaders Differ on Wilder, Kurita, and Who Wins State Senate in 2008

On Tuesday, the two major party leaders of the currently
deadlocked Tennessee state Senate made competing claims about whether Democrats
or Republicans would control the chamber after the 2008 statewide elections.
Upon the defection from Republican ranks last spring of Republican Micheal
Williams of Maynardville, who supports the Democrats in procedural matters,
the count became 16 Democrats, 16 Republicans, and one independent, Williams.

“The tide is turning,” said Democratic leader Jim Kyle
of Memphis in a telephone chat from Nashville on Tuesday – meaning that the attrition factor which had worn away at
his party’s dominance of the Senate for a decade or so had been reversed. As
evidence of a pervasive Democratic trend, Kyle pointed to the recent capture of
the Virginia state Senate by Democrats and to the resounding special-election
victory in Tennessee’s District 10 of Democrat Andy Berke over Republican
Oscar Brock.

The latter victory was all the sweeter, said Kyle, because
it came in the wake of the potentially debilitating resignation from the seat of
longtime Chattanooga Democrat Ward Crutchfield, who had pleaded guilty to
an extortion charge in the Tennessee Waltz scandal.

“We’re going to run in every district, and we’ll win,” Kyle
said.

“He’s dreaming,” said Republican Senate Speaker and
lieutenant governor Ron Ramsey of Kyle’s claims. Ramsey, in town to address the
East Shelby Republican Club, said in fact that Kyle’s departure from reality had
begun with the “nightmare” of his own unexpected victory for the speakership on
January 9th of this year.

Ramsey’s win in January had been thanks to a surprise vote
for him by Democrat Rosalind Kurita of Clarksville, who departed party
ranks and thereby ousted longtime Speaker/Lt. Gov. John Wilder of
Somerville, the octogenarian who had served as Senate leader for 36 years until
this year.

After the “on again, off again” transfer of party power of
the 2007 legislative session, the GOP would regain control of the Senate in
2008, Ramsey said confidently.

The two leaders also had varying viewpoints on whether
Wilder would attempt reelection – and another try at the speakership — next
year. “He’ll have to decide how badly he wants to serve in the Senate for four
more years,” was the cautiously stated estimate of Kyle, who almost certainly
will be a candidate for the speakership himself.

Ramsey was less uncertain. “If he’s living, he’s running,”
the GOP leader said bluntly of Wilder. If Wilder does run, he will likely be
opposed by Republican state Representative Dolores Gresham, also of
Somerville, who has announced her candidacy and is actively sounding out
support.

Ramsey and Wilder also had differing attitudes toward
Kurita. The Republican, who had, as virtually his first act as Speaker,
appointed Kurita Senate Speaker pro Tem (ousting Williams in the process), spoke
fondly and familiarly of “Rosalind,” while Kyle, when asked earlier in the day
how he and Kurita were getting along, said simply, “We don’t.”

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Mike McWherter No Go for Senate, Will , er, “Spend More Time” With Family

CREDIT: jb

West Tennessee businessman Mike McWherter,only recently the toast of Tennessee Democrats as their likely U.S. candidate against Lamar Alexander next year, is toast in the other sense of the term now. The former governor’s son won’t run.

Here is McWherter’s statement upon opting out:

“Over the past few months, I’ve been honored to receive overwhelming support by Tennesseans from all walks of life encouraging me to run for U.S. Senate. It’s clear that people want change in Washington, D.C., and I’ve spent considerable time, especially over the past two months, exploring the possibility of running. However, after careful consideration, I’ve decided the timing just isn’t right for me or my family.

“The reality is: the demands of raising millions of dollars in short order and running an intense 12-month campaign simply are not in the best interests of my family right now. With two kids in high school, I had the choice of being able to savor every day of their remaining years at home, or missing a good part of that time on the campaign trail and in Washington. I’m choosing to focus on them.

“While I’ve ruled out running for the US Senate, I continue to be interested in public service and want to do whatever I can to help move our state and country in a positive direction. That includes lending my support to whoever the eventual Democratic nominee should be. Given the dramatic change that’s occurring in our country, and the exodus that’s occurring in the Senate, it’s clear that the time is right for a candidate who has the time and resources to take on Senator Alexander and help usher in change to Washington.

“Finally, to everyone who expressed their support during my exploratory efforts: Thank you very much. I’m fortunate to have had the support of my father, wife and children, as well as Democrat and Republican friends from across the state. I look forward to talking with them in the future as we all work to keep improving our state and nation.”

McWherter’s campaign had been expected to capitalize on the name of his father, Ned McWherter, the former two-term governor.

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Corker Says Constituents and “Common Sense” Come Before Political Loyalties

CREDIT: jb

In a visit to Shelby County Wednesday, Bob Corker, the
Republican who was elected to the U.S. Senate last year over Democrat Harold
Ford Jr. in a tight race that drew ample national attention, made it clear that
partisan issues are the least of his concerns.

Both in a luncheon address to Rotarians at the Germantown
Country Club and in remarks to reporters afterward, former Chattanooga mayor
Corker emphasized a “common sense” approach in which “I strive to make sure that
everybody in the state is proud of the way I conduct myself…to understand issues
as they really are, devoid of some of the rhetoric that surrounds these
issues…[and] the political whims of the day.”

Take his response when asked whether embattled GOP senator
Larry Craig, busted in the infamous “wide stance” airport-restroom case, should
resign for the good of the Republican Party:

Corker said Craig’s predicament was a matter for the
“people of Idaho” and the Senate Ethics Committee. “I don’t try to get into all
the political ramifications of this or that. The way to get a whole lot more
done is to focus on issues.” Somewhat disdainfully, he added, “There are all
these messaging amendments that we do, all about making one side look bad and
the other side look good. Democrats do it, and Republicans do it. It’s a total
waste of time.”

Helping The Med

As to how that even-handed outlook affected his stand on
issues, Corker was explicit. He talked of applying pressure on the
Administration, especially on recent health-care issues he considered urgent for
his constituents. “I know for a fact that I played a huge role in this [latest]
TennCare waiver thing. I have to say I had to put a hold on the Bush
nominations to make it happen. I thought it was important for our state.”

And there was his vote and enthusiastic support recently to expand SChip (the
federal State Children’s Health
Insurance Program) so as to increase funding for Tennessee by $30
million and to permit Medicaid payments for patients at The Med from Arkansas
and Mississippi. Both Corker and Tennessee GOP colleague Lamar Alexander
strongly supported the bill, which passed but was vetoed last week by President
Bush.

“I was glad to have worked out these issues
that have plagued the Med for so long. It’s ridiculous that people from Arkansas
and Mississippi have used the facility for so long and don’t pay for it. What’s
the logic in that?” Corker said, vowing to try to get the Med-friendly
provisions re-established in a veto-proof compromise measure yet to be
fashioned.

Corker made a pitch for the Every American Insured Health Act,
a bill he has sponsored that, he said, would modify the tax code so as to
guarantee universal access to private health insurance “but would not add a
penny to the national deficit.”

Contending that “what I’m trying to do is to add to
the equation a real debate, a real solution,” the senator said his proposal had been
“slammed” on the same day by both a conservative columnist and a liberal
columnist, leading him to conclude, “I’m pretty sure we got it just about
right.”

Corker said that executives of key national corporations,
saddled with large health-care costs for their employees, were “waling the halls
of Congress trying to get us to move to a government-run system so they can
alleviate. that expense which makes them non-competitive.” Without some
alternative form of universal access, he said, such a government-run system was
inevitable.

With 800,000 Tennesseans and 47 million Americans lacking
health-care coverage, there was also a “moral obligation” to make coverage universal,
Corker stressed.

Relations with Iran and Syria

As a member of both the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee
and the body’s Armed Services committee, Corker says he is focusing hard on
issues relating to war-torn Iraq, a country he has visited twice, and
neighboring Iran, subject of much speculation these days concerning possible
future hostilities between that country and the U.S.

Here again, the senator stressed his determination to
maintain independence of judgment. “I’ve had some very tense moments with this
administration – in the first two months I was up there [in Washington]
especially. There were some underwhelming meetings.”

Corker is dubious about the current political leadership of
Iraq {“things cannot go on as they are”) but supportive for the time being of
the current military strategy of General David Petraeus, with whom he stays in
contact.

On Iran, Corker said there was “some concern in the
Senate that the president might take action” and emphasized that “he [Bush]would have
to have Senate authority to do that.” Corker reminded reporters that after his
election he had said on CBS’ Face the Nation that diplomatic negotiations
with both Syria and Iran were necessary.

“We don’t want to overplay our hand in Iran,” he said.
“There’s a group of people there who want to be our friends. If we move into
Iran unilaterally others [in the region] will step back from being our friends.”

Corker, who was a construction executive before entering
politics, related the current diplomatic situation to his experience in
labor-management negotiations in Tennessee. “If you don’t talk with your enemies
they remain your enemies. There’s a lot to be learned just to be in somebody’s
presence,” he said.

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Politics Politics Feature

Mike McWherter, Former Governor’s Son, Eyes U.S. Senate Race

CREDIT: jb


BY
JACKSON BAKER |
JUNE 24, 2007

NASHVILLE — The name of McWherter, prominent in Tennessee politics for most of the latter 20th century, will apparently resurface in fairly short order, as Jackson lawyer and businessman Mike McWherter, son of two-term former governor Ned McWherter, is making clear his plans to challenge U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander’s reelection bid next year.

Apparently only one thing could derail Democrat McWherter — a renewed Senate candidacy by former Memphis congressman Harold Ford Jr., who last year narrowly — lost a Senate race to the current Republican incumbent, Bob Corker. “I don’t think I would compete against Harold. But I don’t think he will run,” McWherter said in an interview with The Flyer at Saturday’s annual Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner in Nashville.

Fresh from his his service as treasurer in state Senator Lowe Finney’s win last year (taking back a Democratic seat from Don McLeary, considered by McWherter a “turncoat” after changing party affiliations in 2005), the 52-year-old activist is now focusing on Alexander, whom McWherter sees as a slavish follower of President George W. Bush.

“With one or two exceptions, he’s done everything the president has wanted him to do. He’s toed the party line,” said McWherter, who has recently paid courtesy calls on ranking Democrats, both in Tennessee and in Washington, D.C., informing them of his interest in running next year and soliciting their support. He is getting active encouragement from Gray Sasser, state Democratic chairman and son of an influential former officeholder himself, former Senator and Ambassador Jim Sasser.

There’s no doubt that former governor McWherter remains highly popular among Tennesseans and had considerable crossover potential during his active political career. Both those facts are boosts for Mike McWherter’s chances against a senator who has enormous name identification and, in winning races for governor and senator, has demonstrated appeal across party lines himself.