The World According to Oatney

Possible reason for no Harbergate action

The World has received information as to why there was no vote at the Knox County Commission meeting on whether to investigate Harbergate. Apparently, among the Commissioners who supported an investigation, there were only eight solid yes votes. There were several Commissioners who were considering votes in favor of an investigation, but were either undecided or were waffling on the matter. It was determined that it was better to postpone bringing up the whole matter than it would have been to bring it up and possibly not get the 13 votes needed to proceed.

Does that mean the issue is dead? No. For one thing, local bloggers such as myself, Terry Frank, and others will keep pushing until this is investigated in some fashion or form by somebody. Beyond that, I don't think that Gene Patterson has completely given up in his efforts to investigate the story, it is merely a matter of any one of us who is trying to get to the bottom of the whole mess getting the right people to talk and let their names be mentioned.

In addition to pressure from a local blogging community that is becoming more widely read, those who do favor investigating the Harber Affair are determined to try and bring the issue to a head at some point, and there is a rumor circulating that some of these Commission members may be waiting to see how the State Supreme Court rules on the Knox County Charter and-as a result-the related term limits provision. If the Court should rule that the Charter is valid, that would undo much of the Commission itself and may change its face in the very near future.

We shall see...

posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 10:52 AM