Tag Archives: Gabrielle Giffords

I know what your elected officials did last week

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Because I clearly hate myself, I am going to try writing a weekly digest that highlights key moments in our elected officials’ public lives. If you have an idea for a catchy series title, provide it below.

In the state House of Representatives, Deputy Speaker Steve McDaniel (R-Parkers Crossroads) introduced a bill that would change the rules and prohibit last-minute floor amendments, even though when Democrats controlled the Legislature, Republicans—including Majority Leader Gerald McCormick—had a lot of fun introducing such surprises. Tom Humphrey explains.

Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris (R-Germantown) championed a new state law that prohibits the Memphis City Schools system from immediately dissolving if a referendum scheduled for March 8 passes. Fellow Shelby County Senators Beverly Marrero and Jim Kyle, both Democrats, argued against it. Kyle shrewdly (if unsuccessfully) used the typically Republican argument for more local control over local matters. Norris countered that the Memphis school system is “a special special school district” and that the state has an overriding responsibility to make sure adequate education is provided. From the Memphis Flyer:

The bill, a response to the ongoing controversy over school-system merger and/or special school districts in Shelby County would restructure public-school education in the county and allow a merger of Memphis City Schools and Shelby County Schools in such a way [that might create] one or more special school districts.

Governor Bill Haslam created a little distance from some of his fellow Republicans in the General Assembly by suggesting that if immigration reform laws are too harsh, they might prevent international businesses from choosing Tennessee. Sen. Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro) said that he will work with the governor to address some of these concerns.

U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann invoked Mark Winslow‘s favorite British prime minister during a floor speech on behalf of small businesses. Meanwhile, Fleischmann’s chief of staff, Chip Saltsman, was quoted in a Politico article on the backlash suffered by former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum after Santorum made some admittedly gauche remarks about potential 2012 rival and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. “’One thing they don’t like in a Republican primary is attacking other Republicans,’ (Saltsman) said. ‘That’s not the best way to make a name for yourself.’” Is he perhaps citing a lesson learned?

Fleischmann also granted this blog an exclusive interview last week, the results of which are posted here.

U.S. Senator Bob Corker kept all of his committee assignments, which are Banking, Energy, Foreign Relations, and the Special Committee on Aging, of which he is the ranking Republican.

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander will make another attempt for the party’s whip (my hair back and forth?) position in the Senate, following the announcement that Sen. John Kyl (R-Ariz.) will retire. Side note: some Arizona Democrats are pushing for U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords to run for the open seat. Um, what? The courageous lady is amazingly recovering from being shot in the head. She ordered toast with breakfast. One step at a time, please.

Political violence in Tennessee: It’s all crazy

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Newscoma took the time to remind us Tennesseans of one of the most violent and bizarre attacks on a politician we have known in modern times: the 1998 murder of former Sen. Tommy Burks by his campaign opponent, Byron “Low Tax” Looper.

Looper had been indicted on a variety of charges for official misconduct in the months before the murder but was still seeking the senate seat and went as far as to change his middle name officially to Low Tax. At the time, he was a mild blip on the radar for newsies like myself who basically saw him as a self-promoting clown and ringmaster of the politically bizarre.

Little did we know that he wanted to win so badly that he thought the only way he would see the inside of Senate Chambers was to get rid of Burks, which was his plan, people. Kill Burks, become a senator and rule the land I guess. The strategy that Looper basically had, or at least was discussed in court, was that if Burks was dead, then Looper could win as he would be the only person on the ballot.

Burks’ widow, Sen. Charlotte Burks, won the seat after a write-in campaign and has served in it since.

Ten years later, in 2008, two neo-Nazi skinheads—one from Bells, Tennessee—were caught plotting to assassinate then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama and to murder dozens of African-American schoolchildren in Memphis.

Two-hundred two years before that, Andrew Jackson killed Charles Dickinson in a duel, after Dickinson reportedly said some mean things about Jackson’s wife.

People commit violence for all different kinds of “reasons,” apparently. And, just as in the case of Jared Loughner, who is accused of killing six and wounding several others, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, there is most often a high degree of mental instability involved.