Saturday, September 05, 2009

Go Vols and Bucks!

Here's to another great season of Tennessee and SEC football.

Go Vols!

And a successful year for Ohio State as well.

Go Bucks!

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posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 12:29 AM 1 comments

Friday, September 04, 2009

Anna Belle remembered today

Anna Belle Clement O'Brien is memorialized in Crossville today, and I remember this in my Examiner column:

Clement O'Brien was the first woman ever to serve as Chairman of a Tennessee Senate Committee, she would chair both the Senate Education and Transportation Committees during her tenure. In 1982, she ran for Governor, but lost the Democratic Primary to then-Knoxville Mayor Randy Tyree. Tyree was handily defeated by incumbent Lamar Alexander in that year's General Election.


Miss Anna Belle, as she came to be known, could really be an extremely partisan Democrat. However, she is largely remembered today as a Lady and a Stateswoman because she did not allow her partisanship to last past adjournment, and was willing to broker deals with Republicans when she knew it was in Tennessee's best interest. She also is remembered for her genteel manner with the people who she both served and worked with.

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posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 10:16 AM 0 comments

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Back To Reality for Tennessee Democrats

Today's Examiner column calls Tennessee Democrats back to reality after their "Jackson Day" dinner with Bill Clinton and Al Gore:

Democratic unity does occur-when voting with Republicans in the Legislature. Major portions of the Republican agenda this past session frequently passed with 18, 19, 20 Democratic votes or more, leaving a 20-22 vote liberal rump as the holdouts. The Democrats crooning about "unity" and decrying the conservative Republican agenda need to remember that much of it passed with Democratic votes.

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posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 10:36 AM 1 comments

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

The States

Today's Examiner column is meant to serve as a reminder that U.S.A. does not stand for Unitary State of America:

So why don't more States stand up for their rights, since the States are the creators of the federal government, and without them, the federal apparatus has no historical or constitutional reason to exist? Largely because the federal bohemoth has become far greator than its creators, the child, as it were, lording its authority over its parents.


Unlike certain liberals and Washington elites, a few of us have come to understand that the idea of States' rights and true federalism help preserve all of that diversity in America that our friends on the Left are so fond of chiming on and on about.

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posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 11:51 AM 1 comments

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Primaries and the Legislature

In an Examiner column today, I deal with the tough issue of legislators campaigning in primaries:

Would Kent Williams have made a deal to be elected Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives if Republican legislators had not campaigned against in such a public way in his 2008 primary?


Of course it is difficult to read anyone's mind, let alone Kent Williams, but legislators getting too involved in primaries can create some on-the-job acrimony where none need exist.

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posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 10:45 AM 2 comments

Stanley Redux

In today's Examiner column I rehash the Paul Stanley intern scandal. The column first appeared here on this blog, and I republished it for The Examiner with some slight reworking to try and put the Tennessee Capitol in context for new readers in advance of the January Legislative session.

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posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 12:09 AM 0 comments

Monday, August 31, 2009

Votes and Patronage

Over the weekend, I reported on Pat Marsh's Republican Primary victory in the special election in the 62nd House District:

Republican businessman Pat Marsh won the Republican nomination in the Special Primary held in Tennessee House District 62 in which Marsh literally crushed all comers in the field. The Primary was needed because of the resignation of Democratic Representative Curt Cobb, who left the General Assembly to take the position of Bedford County Clerk and Master. Marsh will face Ty Cobb II, brother of the resigned former incumbent considered by some to be the favorite due to name recognition, in a special election October 13.

In a bit of Legislative recess redux, I revisit the issue of county election administrators and patronage:

She was a political appointee in a patronage job (despite all legal notions to the contrary that patronage has been "abolished"-those who do not believe patronage is real and functioning can visit any number of small town halls and courthouses in this State), and when a new government takes power at the State level-and in Tennessee, the government really is a function of the Legislature- political appointees should have the reasonable expectation that they might be replaced.

Speaking of the lawsuit(s) by the old election administrators, we haven't heard much from them in several weeks, have we?

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posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 12:18 AM 2 comments

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Shepherd Me, O God

I've never been much on some of our contemporary church music. It often seems far too irreverent for my tastes, even though I know that it is not intended that way.

However, among more contemporary hymnody, Shepherd Me O God (I believe Marty Haugen wrote it) is by far one of my favorites.

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posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 8:34 PM 0 comments


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