August 18, 2008
Blackburn-Leatherwood Race was Only Part 1
The Commercial Appeal investigated the burning question of why four local mayors (Bartlett, Arlington, Collierville and Germantown) backed Tom Leatherwood in his quest to unseat the very popular and firmly entrenched Marsha Blackburn for Tennessee's seventh Congressional District.
The CA has determined that these local leaders chose Leatherwood because they have an "uneasy relationship" with Blackburn. This probably due to the fact that the 7th Congressional District is the most gerrymandered in Tennessee, twisting it's way across parts of 15 counties from Mississippi to Kentucky. So it is tough for Blackburn to maintain a close relationship with voters and elected officials across her entire district.
But the real story is that Blackburn, the popular incumbent, raised record amounts of campaign cash and outspent Leatherwood nearly 10 to 1 just to win by a 3 to 1 margin.
The result is that Leatherwood has positioned himself nicely to take Blackburn's spot when she steps down to run for governor. And he's warned her that she had better clean up her act before she does so.
Wins all around . . . eventually.
June 4, 2008
Leatherwood Speaks Out
Congressional candidate Tom Leatherwood was a guest on the call-in radio program, The Mike Slater Show, which has posted some audio clips of the Q/A session.
My favorite clip includes a segment in which Leatherwood compares Blackburn to Kerry:
She talks in here, quoting from the article she wrote, she supports a one-year moratorium on "wasteful" budget earmarks and pork barrel projects. Why a one-year moratorium on "wasteful" budget earmarks and pork barrel projects? They need to be eternally eliminated. They shouldn't have crept in to a so-called "conservative" Republican-controlled congress to the extent that they did to begin with.
Marsha has now signed the pledge opposing earmarks, but to me it is just very Kerry-esque where he voted against the war before he voted for it, or voted for the war before he voted against it. Well, she was for earmarks before she was against 'em. I mean, they're just wrong.
Snap!
I put the quotes around "wasteful" above because Leatherwood emphasized the words when he said them. Now to be fair, I read the article that Leatherwood quotes and I took the word "wasteful" in a more generalized fashion, as in all budge earmarks and pork barrel projects are wasteful. On the other hand, even if that was her intent why only a "one-year moratorium"?
Perhaps Leatherwood is right and Marsha has gotten a dose of Potomac Fever after all.
In other news, the Commercial Appeal has an article on a Leatherwood appearance in front of a tough crowd, which finishes up with a rather weak (and untrue) come-back by a Blackburn spokesman.
Also, Tom Leatherwood has picked up the endorsement of 11 Smiths for Huckabee.
May 23, 2008
Marsha Fights Backs by Digging for Dirt
Tennessee's 7th Congressional District runs from Mississippi to Kentucky, giving new meaning to the concept of gerrymandering.
Marsha Blackburn has represented District 7 for the past five years, and was appointed assistant majority whip almost as soon as she arrived in Washington. In short, she is a vote-getting rising star in the GOP sky. [She was also voted the "hottest woman in U.S. politics" in a 2006 Internet poll.]
Thus one would think that Blackburn would have little to fear from a challenger, particularly one that has been limited to Shelby County public service for the past seven years.
But Tom Leatherwood has thrown down the gauntlet and Blackburn is taking it very seriously indeed. Because she seems to be most vulnerable on ethics and funds mismanagement, Blackburn is attempting to find similar skeletons in Leatherwood's closet by examining everything imaginable:
A volunteer for Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn's campaign has asked the county for thousands of pages of documents about Republican primary challenger and Shelby County Register Tom Leatherwood.
In a letter dated April 25, Nashville resident Tyler E. Jones requested every e-mail Leatherwood has sent since taking the register's office in 2001, what kind of county vehicle he drives, travel expenses and purchases he's charged to the county credit card and a copy of his official schedule. He also requested information about the register's office, including budget numbers and contracts since 2001.
In the letter, Jones said he was authorized to spend up to $1,000. The county charges 25 cents a copy.
Leatherwood, meanwhile, is nonchalant about Blackburn's investigation, pithily returning fire:
Leatherwood said he doesn't use the county e-mail for personal messages, he gave back his county credit card and passed on a county-funded car. He drives his own Ford Explorer to work, he said.
"It's anybody's right to request this information," Leatherwood said. "I'm not concerned about what they might find. I know that they will not find any corruption on my part. ... They will not find any gross negligence where I lost track of hundreds of thousand of dollars entrusted in me. Both of those things have happened in her campaign."
Leatherwood, of course, is referring to the recent revelations about Blackburn's campaign fund mismanagement and nepotism:
Rep. Marsha Blackburn's campaign committee has made dozens of mistakes in its financial reports through the years, even misreporting the payment of a fine assessed by federal regulators for errors her committee made.
The Brentwood Republican's campaign bookkeeping problems came to a head in April when she announced that an audit she initiated of all her campaign finance records had caused her to refile all 32 periodic reports she has made to the Federal Election Commission since she first ran in 2002. More than $440,000 in campaign donations and disbursements had not been reported or were misreported, she said. . . .
Ten times in just more than two years, the commission reminded the campaign it was supposed to separate individuals' contributions from those received from political action committees. . . .
Since she began running for the House, Blackburn has paid her daughter and son-in-law, a company they both owned and one her daughter now runs by herself, MK Fundraising and Events, $317,623, according to an analysis of campaign data compiled by Congressional Quarterly.
Incumbents are hard to beat and this race is an uphill battle for Leatherwood. You also have to consider the fact that Leatherwood raised less than $25,000 in the first quarter of 2008 and ended with less than $5,000 cash-on-hand, while Blackburn raised over $620,000 and ended the quarter with about $800,000.
Still, if Leatherwood hadn't had a penchant for tilting at windmills he never would have won his first race, when he tackled 27-year incumbent Leonard Dunavant in a race for the Tennessee Senate. And we all know windmills can be toppled -- just ask a guy named Obama.
March 27, 2008
Mickey White Just Doesn't Understand
Mickey's on another rant (I know, that's no surprise) over at Blue Collar Republican. This time, he lumping congressional candidate Tom Leatherwood in with (and I quote) "Marsha 'Queen of Pork' Blackburn".
Yep, Mickey's taking Tom Leatherwood to task while Tom's a candidate who hasn't yet had the opportunity to do any federal pork barrel spending.
And at the local level as Shelby County Register, Tom Leatherwood actually reduced costs, lowered fees, and radically increased services. Just take a look at the Register website that came about due to Tom's leadership. [I often use the GIS feature, and you can too. For instance, here's the house that the mayor of Bartlett lives in. Neat, huh?]
That's right, Tom Leatherwood succeeded in pulling Shelby County into the 21st century, and did it while keeping the Register of Deeds a profit center for the county. Not bad for a civil servant these days.
Now then, let's examine Mickey's "Queen of Pork" accusation leveled at the sexiest woman in congress.
When it comes to measuring pork and looking out for the taxpayers, I have two favorite sources: the Citizens Against Government Waste and the Club for Growth.
According the Citizens Against Government Waste, there were 44 critical spending bills in the 2007 congress, of which Marsha Blackburn voted what they consider to be "the right way" on 43 of them. She has a 98% rating for 2007 from CAGW, earning her the label "Taxpayer Hero". In fact, she could have voted the "wrong" way another eight or nine times and still been considered a Taxpayer Hero.
Marsha enjoys a lifetime rating of 91% from the Citizens Against Government Waste, putting her solidly in the middle of the "Taxpayer Hero" category.
Turning now to the highly respected Club for Growth, let's examine the 2007 Club for Growth RePORK Card where Blackburn earns a score of 94% for her voting record last year.
When Mickey says "Queen of Pork", he means every single member of congress because they don't go up there and consistently vote "no" on every single appropriations bill that ever comes up. Mickey, I love ya like a brother -- OK, maybe more like that crazy uncle that got put in a home a few years ago and nobody talks about anymore at the family reunions but everyone still has a few fond memories.
While I am not yet certain of who I will support in the primary for the 7th congressional district of Tennessee, but I do know that I am privileged to have the choice between two very fine candidates.
I also know that Tom has picked a very difficult fight and I give him about a 3% chance of winning. Not only is Marsha an entrenched incumbent, she is viewed as a rising star in the Republican party, makes frequent appearances on political talk shows and has about a million dollars in her campaign war chest. She's going to be tough to beat.
But I have to admit that it would be nice to be represented by someone from Shelby County instead of someone from over 200 miles away. The 7th district stretches from Mississippi to Kentucky as it weaves it's ludicrously gerrymandered path across the state and Blackburn is from Franklin, just south of Nashville.
January 6, 2007
Deputy Whip Blackburn
Congratulations to Congressman Marsha Blackburn for being appointed to the leadership position of Deputy Whip. From the newsletter:
Blackburn will work closely with Minority Chief Deputy Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) in communicating with fellow Republican members the goals and strategies needed to oppose the tax and spending policies soon to be introduced by the Democrat majority.
Not bad for someone who first entered the federal scene in 2003.
December 12, 2006
Gov. Frist?
Bill Frist is rumored to be considering a run for Tennessee Governor in 2010. With his name recognition and personal wealth, he'd be hard to beat.
Other names being floated:
The list of possible 2010 Republican candidates could include U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Brentwood, state Rep. Beth Harwell of Nashville, Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam, Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale, state Sen. Majority Leader Ron Ramsey and U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp of Chattanooga. Also, former state Sen. Jim Bryson, who lost the governor's race this year, hasn't closed the door on another run.
Interestingly, even with being stuck on the ass-end of the state in Memphis I recognize all the names except Haslam, but I couldn't tell you whether I'd vote for any except Blackburn.
September 25, 2006
Why I Love Marsha
While my Senators were giving yet another Middle East nation a free trade partner last week*, my Representative was busy protecting our borders.
From my Congress.org MegaVote email:
Recent House Votes
Federal Election Integrity Act of 2006 - Vote Passed (228-196, 8 Not Voting)
This House bill would require voters to show valid photo identification in order to vote in federal elections beginning in 2008.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn voted YES......send e-mail or see bio
Community Protection Act of 2006 - Vote Passed (328-95, 9 Not Voting)
This bill would allow the Department of Homeland Security to indefinitely detain dangerous illegal aliens that cannot be deported.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn voted YES......send e-mail or see bio
Immigration Law Enforcement Act of 2006 - Vote Passed (277-140, 15 Not Voting)
This bill reaffirms the authority of state and local law enforcement agencies to voluntarily participate in the enforcement of immigration laws.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn voted YES......send e-mail or see bio
Border Tunnel Prevention Act of 2006 - Vote Passed (422-0, 10 Not Voting)
This bill would make it a crime to construct an unauthorized tunnel across a U.S. international border.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn voted YES......send e-mail or see bio
* Not that entering into a trade agreement with Oman is something that I am against. It's just that the contrast is so stark, but then again it usually is.
Technorati tags: Marsha Blackburn, Immigration Reform, Illegal Aliens, Criminals Crossing Our Border, Border Security, Border Insecurity.
January 21, 2004
Blackburn on Homeland Security Gun Safety Act
Verbiage received in response to my concerns about S.969, the "Homeland Security Gun Safety Act".Protecting our rights is fundamental. Protecting our Second Amendment rights is something I have taken a leadership role in doing during my entire public life [sic]. This is important because our Founding Fathers believed that the government should not interfere with the citizen's right to keep and bear arms.While I applaud congresswoman Blackburn's position, I believe someone should teach her interns how to proofread a letter.The legislation you mentioned would limit the number of guns an individual could purchase within a month and would also increase the number of steps a gun dealer has to make to sell guns. You can be assured that will not support this legislation [sic] and will work to prevent this bill from moving.