We had an opportunity to speak with James Carville for a few minutes before his keynote address at the Knox County Truman Day Dinner tonight. Here's what he had to say...

Knoxville News Sentinel:

A proposal that would require a paper record for voters’ ballots in Tennessee passed the Senate.

The measure was unanimously approved today. The House passed the companion bill 88-6 earlier this week.

According to the report, some details between the two bills must be reconciled before sending to the governor. It requires changes in place no later than 2010.

This is pretty good news for Tennessee voters.

I have just received word from the Director of Online Communications for the Democratic National Convention Committee that KnoxViews/TennViews has been selected as the official credentialed Tennessee blog for the August 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Part of the deal is that yours truly will be seated alongside the Tennessee delegation on the convention floor ("one of the best seats in the house") to live-blog the greatest political event in recent history.

Developing...

UPDATE: DNC Chairman Governor Dean Announces Blogs Selected For 2008 Democratic National Convention 'State Blogger Corps'

"Similar to the record-breaking voter turnout our Party has seen during the primary season, the demand for these coveted blogger positions is yet another indicator of the tremendous interest in this historic Convention," said Governor Dean. "The Internet has played a critical role in connecting Americans to elected officials and candidates seeking office. The DemConvention State Blogger Corps will continue to foster this dialogue - in all 50 of our states and our territories too - as we head towards this year's historic election and elect a Democrat to the White House."

Follow the link for the full press release and list of blogs.

UPDATE: Square State, the official Colorado blog, interviews Howard Dean about the State Blogger Corps.

UPDATE: Howard Dean welcomes state bloggers:

Michael Silence confirms apology posted on a blog without attribution.

Bob Tuke is marching across the state of Tennessee (wearing his Marine combat boots from Vietnam) to meet and talk with voters and to emphasize the need for someone in Congress who has "fought in combat and understands the difficulty of ending a war with minimal casualties and maximum honor."

He also intends to highlight the natural beauty of our state and our obligation to be good stewards of the environment, and to demonstrate his commitment to the voters of Tennessee.

Read the full press release after the jump...

Gov. Bredesen yesterday outlined his proposal to cut the state budget by $468 million. Here's a summary:

• BEP fully funded, with an increase of $59 million for the inflationary costs for both pre-K and the traditional K-12 system. No new pre-K classrooms or BEP expansion, savings $109 million. Every teacher and every classroom is funded, with inflation.

• Higher education cut $56 million (4.1%). UT and the Board of Regents will oversee budget cuts without raising tuitions.

• Forgoing $35 million addition to rainy day fund, eliminating planned $80 million TennCare expansion for a new medically needy program.

• $229 million in reversions back to general fund from departments.

• No state employee salary increases. Reduction of workforce by 5%, approx. 2000 people. Voluntary reductions through buyout program, funded by one-time expenditure of $50 million from reserve funds. Only offered to employees whose department head has committed to permanent reductions. If buyouts do not achieve the necessary reductions there will be layoffs this summer.

The Governor's office says the proposal protects pre-K-12 education and that cuts are based on "asking for no new taxes, matching recurring revenues to recurring expenditures to ensure long-term financial stability, and preserving the state’s Rainy Day fund to ensure the state can weather an economic downturn of undetermined length."

Democratic Senate candidate Bob Tuke's campaign remarks on Sen. Alexander's energy proposals:

Nashville: Senator Alexander has attempted to reinvent himself and his anti-environmental voting record with his proposal for a "Manhattan Project" on alternative energy sources, an election year stunt aimed at covering up the truth about Senator Alexander's close ties and vested interests with Big Oil.

Rest of the press release after the jump...

America faces a housing crisis that it has not seen the likes of since the great depression. Hundreds of thousands of families have lost their homes due to the mortgage crisis in the past year and more are at risk if we don't act now. That is why the US Senate must support some version of the Foreclosure Prevention Act, which passed this past week in the US House. This legislation, which is on its way to the Senate next week has been threatened with veto by President Bush.

They're kidding, right?

WATE Knoxville:

A proposal that would restrict credit card solicitations to students on college campuses is headed to the governor for his consideration.

A compromise allowing solicitation on game days saved the bill from the GOP.

Rep. Campfield:

The Gov is killing the drunk driver licence [sic] revocation bill. He is saying he can not afford the 75 employees needed to process the information. I started to wonder. 75 people to type in a revocation of someones [sic] licence at the DMV? How many drunk drivers does the state catch in one year?

I did some simple math, lets just say it takes all of ten minutes to type one in. That is 6 per hour x 8 hours in a day x 5 days a week x 50 weeks a year x 75 employees that totaled 900,000 DUI arrests in one year. I did not realize that almost 1/6 of the states total population of 6 million (That includes every man, women, child and elderly person of the state. some who I doubt drive at all) get arrested every year for a DUI! Look out, our roads are more dangerous then I thought.

Fortunately, the Tennessee legislature doesn't pass bills based on simple-minded calculations such as these. Bills must have a "fiscal note" explaining the financial impact of the legislation.

The bill in question is HB4213/SB4196. The fiscal note for HB4213 says there are "34,000 DUI arrests and approximately 27,000 convictions per year," which answers Campfield's first question.

It goes on to say:

To implement the provisions of this bill [Department of Safety] will require the following additional resources: 44 additional positions in the Driver License Issuance Division; 17 additional positions in the Information Processing Division; two additional positions in the Human Resource Division; two additional positions in the Fiscal Services Division; three additional positions in Information Resources; and seven additional positions in the Legal Division. The total number of positions required is estimated to be 75.

It also estimates that three additional Chancellors with two support positions each will be needed to handle appeals, plus one additional Court of Appeals Judge with a staff of three support positions.

This bill appears to be a more comprehensive replacement for HB2882, which Campfield co-sponsored. The fiscal note for HB2882 says the Department of Safety would need 35 additional employees and that the Attorney General would need two additional lawyers and a paralegal.

So Rep. Campfield doesn't even read or understand the legislation he cosponsors and supports, or he would know that there is a lot more to it than hiring someone to "type in a revocation of someones [sic] licence at the DMV."

Drafting legislation is complicated business best suited for adults. Perhaps the simple-minded ought to find more suitable work.

At the end of April, the Commercial Appeal ran an important report about guns in the Memphis public schools - 162 incidents over five years. Even with no fatalities and only a few actual woundings, this is a jaw-dropping number - close to one a week during the school year.

Six of the incidents happened at a school I once attended. One happened where my mother taught remedial reading many years ago, another where my father taught math even more years ago. Three guns were found at the high school that I could see from the dining room of the first house I really remember.

I have to wonder how many guns are not being found. Metal detectors only managed to find eight of the guns. Tips led to most of the confiscations. Many of the violating kids started as victims. How many gang members are too intimidating for anyone to rat on? How many of them carry a gun every day without the school system finding out?

At WBIR

UPDATE: Guess it's over? Is there an archive?

UPDATE: WSMV liveblog (by way of ACK).

UPDATE: Tom Humphrey: 2000+ layoffs.

The Donkey’s Mouth:

A routine bill to reauthorize the continued existence of approximately 60 state agencies and departments is now being held hostage by Senate Republicans in the Government Operations Committee. Ramsey says he will not allow the bill to pass unless the state changes the way it elects justices to the Supreme Court in a way that allows Ramsey to appoint activist judges to the panel. "[This bill] is the hammer that I have. I’ll admit that," Ramsey told the Tennessean.

When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. How'd that work out for Newt Gingrich?

Medical Malpractice Notice and Certificate of Merit Bill Sent to Governor

The legislation creates a significant hurdle for filing medical malpractice actions in Tennessee. Attorneys now face a financial penalty for filing cases without consulting an expert before or shortly after filing suit.

Previous discussion here. The limit on damages did not make it in to the final bill. That's next.

(By way of ACK)

Progressive Nashville:

Noted economist Phil Valentine says all this talk about a recession is nonsense. We haven't recorded two consecutive quarters of negative growth, so we should spend like drunken sailors lest our pessimism create a recession.

Thank heavens Valentine doesn't have control of anything more dangerous than a cough switch.

Yes, wingnut radio talk show hosts are the first place I turn for financial advice.

Some believe we can talk ourselves into a recession, or spend our way out of one. I'm not so sure the borrow-and-spend approach is working. What do you think?

The Tennessean

"The blatant prosecutorial misconduct in this case shows two things," Gilbert S. Merritt, the presiding judge on the panel, said in an interview after the ruling.

"First, the local district attorney in East Tennessee should never have prosecuted House in the first place, but certainly should have released him more than 10 years ago once he received the exculpatory DNA evidence.

"Second, the local district attorneys, rather than the Attorney General or the Governor, exercise almost complete control over the system of criminal justice in Tennessee.

"They are frequently mistaken and frequently abuse their power," Merritt said.

Flashback: Nashville Scene, 2005.

The current session of the Tennessee General Assembly is winding down, and while restricting abortion is off the table, coal mine operators are free to continue blasting the tops off mountains, and AT&T got its cable franchise bill passed putting hundreds of lobbyists out of work, there are still a number of important bills pending such as home health care for seniors, lottery scholarships, paper ballots, and more. The Nashville Tennessean has a summary. Oh, and there's that budget thing.

Tennessean: Senator discloses AT&T link after vote

What Ketron didn't mention then was that his wife, Theresa, works for AT&T Mobility, the company's wireless unit, which he had noted on his ethics disclosures this year. Nor did Ketron mention the tie when he acted as an unofficial spokesman for behind-the-scenes wrangling over the bill earlier this year.

[..] Ketron said beforehand that he planned to invoke the rule, and he did, though not from the floor. He declared it after the vote with the Senate clerk's office. Ketron said he forgot to declare Rule 13 earlier amid his excitement over passing the bill.

The article lists other legislators with ties to AT&T, some of whom recused themselves from the vote.

But all that sounds somewhat sounds trivial compared with AT&T's connections to Bredesen and Jimmy Naifeh, who shepherded the bill through. From WBIR:

AT&T has a small army of registered lobbyists -- 28 in all, according to Tennessee Ethics Commission records. Among them is Naifeh's wife, Betty Anderson. Though registered with the state, Anderson cannot lobby for the franchising legislation, according to AT&T.

The company has also enlisted Randy Camp, a former state court administrator and personnel commissioner to Bredesen; Beth Winstead, Naifeh's former assistant chief clerk and Bredesen's former chief lobbyist when he was Nashville mayor; and Anna Windrow, Bredesen's former senior adviser.

AT&T also employs Bob Corney, Bredesen's former communications chief, as a spokesman, and Dave Cooley, Bredesen's former deputy governor, as a consultant.

The article also talks about nine lobbyists for the cable companies, some of whom also have Bredesen ties.

At any rate, AT&T has been pretty successful doing business in Tennessee. Does this mean I might get DSL soon? I've been waiting four years.

Erika Johnson, who worked with acclaimed feminist artist Judy Chicago at the Vanderbilt University invitational in 2006, will create an installation in the Parthenon’s West Gallery. (Link...)

Curtain Erika Johnson

Johnson’s installation is an attempt to address and reconcile these issues. As she states, “Curtain is an installation, a fearful, playful, hopeful attempt at reclamation, an invitation.”

An opening reception will take place at the Parthenon on Saturday, May 3 from 6-8 p.m.

CLARKSVILLE, SATURDAY AND SUNDAY at Customs House Museum (Link...)

Annual Clarksville Train Fest Free Admission!
May 3rd (10:30 am to 4 pm) & 4th (1 pm to 4 pm)
Two locations: The Customs House Museum & L & N Train Depot

Support your local galleries and museums! They are economic engines for your community.

Sherrie

The Netherland Inn House Museum and Boatyard Complex in Kingsport opens Its Season Saturday May 3. The Netherland Inn is open May through October. The Nation's only registered historical site which was both a stage stop and a boatyard. For details see the Netherland Inn page on Art Museum Touring.com. (Link...)

Opening Day May 3! Come and celebrate! Free Admission.

• Fun and Games
• Cake walk
• Bake sale
• Blue grass music
• Col. Hubert Gilliam will give a talk about the Battle of King Mountain
• antiques

Sounds like a day of family fun!

Support your local galleries and museums! They are economic engines for your community.

Sherrie

You need a flowchart to follow this drama in the House as Republicans attempted to pull the SJR127 anti-abortion bill up for a vote. The attempt failed. It's deja vu all over again.

Chattanooga Times Free Press

After little debate, the state Senate voted 29-0 this morning to send compromise legislation that would let AT&T begin competing with cable companies to Gov. Phil Bredesen.

Just checked outside. Didn't see any AT&T or Charter trucks lined up competing for accounts. And still no AT&T DSL, four years later.

"Hometown Tennessee" Exhibition Closes Today, May 1, at the Tennessee State Museum. An exhibition, organized by the Tennessee State Museum, celebrating the history, industry, and community spirit of towns throughout the state opens April 7, at Legislative Plaza in the War Memorial Building.

Visitors can examine the past through everyday artifacts such as postcards, patent medicine bottles, and white oak baskets associated with great Tennessee towns. The exhibit will showcase the history of local communities, as well as the museum’s vast collections which document the state’s storied past. It is free and open to the public through May 1, 2008. (Link...)

Support your local galleries and museums! The are economic engines for your community.

Sherrie

Knoxville News Sentinel

Tennessee Chief Justice William M. Barker's retirement clears the way for Justice Janice M. Holder of Memphis to become the state's first female chief justice.

Read more at the link.

Chattanooga Times Free Press:

Tennessee sales tax collections suffered their worst drop in 47 years this month, officials said Tuesday.

[..] Using his numbers, Dr. Fox is projecting as much as a $600 million shortfall, which appears to take into account the $180 million in previously stated reductions.

[..] Commissioner Goetz later said in an interview that the state likely will have to cut "substantially more" than the $389 million.

Analysts blame the shortfall on the slowing economy. In my opinion, lack of consumer confidence is also a factor as people cut back on non-essential purchases.

P.S. But see, this is the great thing about a sales tax. You can voluntarily give yourself a tax cut!

Chattanooga Times Free Press:

Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice William M. Barker will retire at noon Sept. 1 after a 25-year judicial career, according to a statement from the Administrative Office of the Courts.

Looks like Gov. Bredesen will be appointing another Justice. Do you think there will be controversy?

The State of Tennessee House Budget subcommittee of the Finance, Ways,and Means Committee has HB1256 on their April 30, 2008 agenda.

HB1256:

Election Laws - Requires any voting system purchased after the effective date of this act to provide the ballot of record be a paper ballot marked by the voter with appropriate accommodation for persons with disabilities; requires such ballot to be available to voter to verify the vote; requires that secrecy of the voter's choice be maintained. - Amends TCA Title 2.

Sharon Cobb has a list of the House Budget subcommittee memeber to contact in support of the bill.

Mike Padgett says Senator Alexander is engaging in election-year grandstanding about gas prices:

"In five years as a United States senator, he has done nothing that would prevent the pain we’re feeling now at the pump," Padgett said after Senator Alexander announced that he would propose a "Manhattan Project-style" effort to break U.S. energy dependence on foreign producers.

"This is nothing more than an election-year re-invention for Senator Alexander.

"When Democrats put a strong energy bill on the table last year, he made a lot of noise about how he was for its 35 mpg requirement, then he stepped right in line with the White House and threatened to stop the bill in its tracks if it ended tax breaks to Big Oil.

"And if he is really a champion of clean energy, why has he led the charge against wind energy? Meanwhile, he is a big fan of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

"Tennessee voters are too smart to be fooled by this pandering. I ask them to stand with me, and when it comes time to vote on energy legislation, I will stand with them, not the oil industry."

Mike Padgett is exactly right about Alexander's election year pandering.

But Padgett's thoughts on energy policy at his website are a little short-sighted, being focused mainly on the price of gas (which is already artificially low) and helping out Tennessee's farmers by replacing oil with biofuel from corn and soybeans and switchgrass.

We used to feed grains to our horses. Feeding them to our cars is a step back 100 years into the past. Switchgrass is marginally better. But we need to get beyond internal combustion and burning up our natural resources (including topsoil) and competing with our cars for food.

But at least Padgett has thoughts. Bob Tuke does not address energy policy at all on his website.

Democrats are going to have to bring their A game to compete with the GOP machine against Lamar Alexander.

That said, either Democrat will improve by an order of magnitude our current Tennessee Senate delegation, and help give us a fighting chance to start undoing eight years of catastrophic Bush/GOP/Big Oil energy policy.

The League of Women Voters, the Tennessee Womens Political Caucus, the Nashville Section of the National Council of Jewish Women, Planned Parenthood, and the ACLU of Tennessee have banded together to send the Tennessee House of Representatives a simple message: Just say "NO" to SJR127.

The group has also singled out former State Senator-turned-lobbyist David Fowler for fighting amendments that would protect victims of rape or incest and provide exceptions to save a pregnant woman's life, noting that the bill would have a better chance in the House with those amendments.

They also note that justifying the bill on the grounds of banning late term abortions is misleading and a non-issue because the practice is already illegal under federal law.

The coalition issued the following press release today...