A friend who works in the legislature mentioned to me today that Frank Buck (D-40), who has run for re-election 17 times now, will once again wear the campaigner hat, and run for re-election in his Dekalb district, squashing the hopes of some Republicans who would've liked to have seen that seat up for grabs this election cycle. An official announcement is expected within the next few weeks.

Earlier in October, the folks over at the "independent" Tennessee Center for Policy Research took House Majority Leader Gary Odom to task for using the State Seal on invitations to a fundraiser. At the time, they said:

"Representative Odom asked for a cool grand each from a bevy of special interest groups on an invitation marked with the State Seal," Johnson said. "Odom's poor judgment sends the message that it's the same old pay-to-play business as usual on Capitol Hill."

Rep. Odom at the time apologized for using the seal and said it shouldn't have been done...now, it appears there is a similar situation on the GOP side, whereby State. Rep. Jim Cobb used his legislative stationery to ask for a "cool grand" for his re-election efforts.

So far, I haven't gotten a response back from Drew Johnson about his thoughts on the matter, so I'll ask the question out loud; will the "non-partisan" TCPR be just as critical over the actions of Republicans, as they are Democrats? Or is the non-partisan status for tax purposes only?

Update: Drew Johnson responds:

While I'm relieved that Rep. Cobb apparently didn't mail fundraising letters at taxpayer expense, if the State Seal is in fact on the mailer, Cobb has improperly used the Seal.

Using the State Seal on a fundraising letter is clearly at odds with the purpose of the Seal as prescribed by the Tennessee Constitution

I have not seen the mailer, but if it does include the Seal, Rep. Cobb should apologize for using the State Seal in such a crass manner. I would hope--and expect--that every member of the legislature would have the decency to refrain from using the Tennessee State Seal for political fundraising purposes.

I applaud the Times Free Press and state bloggers for bringing this apparent misuse of the State Seal to Rep. Cobb's constituency.

While the issue at hand isn't really the State seal in this case*, rather using legislative letterhead, it is still a reasonable response from the non-partisan TCPR.

*ACK corrects this, and says that it is visible on some copies.

"If the name Bill Hobbs is attached to it, you'd better check the facts." - Me.

So seems to be the case in the battle over who loves veterans more, the Democrats or the Republicans. This stems from the Veterans day announcement by the State House and Senate Democratic Caucuses, that they would be introducing legislation, Helping Heroes Act of 2008, to create a new grant for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan battles, to supplement their GI Bill. Bill Hobbs, who recently took a job as Communications Director for the TNGOP, was quick to respond that the Republicans offered a bill to do this earlier this year, and their bill was better.

Now, I realize I'm a little late to the game on this, but considering that the debate still rages on (at least in the comments over at VV), I figured I'd do the best I could in tackling the subject and trying figure out who is right and who is wrong.