County Commission Fiasco Part XLIII

My Fellow Wigshoppers,

I have once again decided to take up the mantle of local politics junkie and make a few short comments on the soon to be shenanigans that the commission will undertake.

OK, I’m sorry that starts the tone off rather one sided. But honestly, tomorrow when the commission meets to appoint fill-in commissioners: a sheriff, a trustee, a clerk, and a register of deeds; I don’t really think they’ll do right by everyone.

To begin chairman (or former, since he resigned) Scott Moore and fellow commissioner Paul Pinkston had been scheduled to begin a trial tomorrow to determine whether or not they should be kicked off commission for lying during the Open Meetings Fiasco that got 9 commissioners kicked off. Anyways, the long and short is that Moore put off the date until tomorrow, by avoiding the prosecuting attorney and his efforts to begin the trial.

Basically Moore and Pinkston get to pick new commissioners tomorrow instead of possibly getting thrown out of office. Yeah, that makes us real confident in their commitment to what’s best for Knox County.

Also, the criteria for the new appointments is basically nil. Each commissioner more or less gets to say yes or no based on “gut feelings” and any other personal criteria they might have. Ivan Harmon, a commissioner for the 3^rd district, has said he will not support anyone who makes the current commission, “sound like crooks”. Well I’m sorry Mr. Harmon, no one trusts you guys and if that’s your criteria I don’t want people you support in there because they’ll probably be no different from what we’ve had.

Commissioner Lambert, who I’ve worked with and like, has a cute system of checks and x’s that he uses when people say something that he does or doesn’t like. Now does this sound like a great way of selecting people who will direct this county for the next few months?

Come hell or high water we will have 12 appointments tomorrow. In the eyes of this citizen things don’t look much brighter than they were.

And get ready, the next one of these rants is going to be on red-light cameras again. The News Sentinel had an editorial showing its complete disregard for people's concerns and justifying the auctioning off of law enforcement because it brings in revenue.