Lance for Chattanooga

Anyone who thought it's time to slack off after the big election hasn't looked at the calendar lately. Just around the corner -- in March, 2009 -- are the Chattanooga city elections. The mayor's office and city council posts are all up for grabs, and the campaigns are just starting to swing into gear.

Now, those of you who were counting on Tennessee Ticket's Joe Lance to keep you informed about all the races were probably disappointed to learn that you'll have to find another source for Joe's special brand of local political coverage. But you also might have been thrilled to learn that he's backing away from his blog because he's making his own run for the mayor's office.

Last night, Joe had his campaign kickoff, and I swung by and took a few photos while enjoying the crowd. The turnout was good, the people were engaged and lively, and Joe made a few remarks about his goals for government, prominently featuring the ideal of citizen participation. Hopefully he will be able to mount a vigorous campaign, and give Ron Littlefield a run for his money!

Joe for Mayor!

Well, Ron Littlefield finally has legal opposition! Go Joe!

Barack Obama Adultery and Bigamy!

Not really.

But can you imagine the news coverage if it was true?!? It would be huge. It's not, however, something I concocted from thin air. The story is true, only John McCain is the guy who cheated on his first wife and then married his second wife before the divorce was final with the first wife, who he dumped because she was a cripple and not as rich as the trollop he would ride into the Senate. No kidding. But watch and see how nobody cares about the story, even though the news media would be lapsing into a collective case of apoplexy if Barack Obama had done something even half as bad. Damn liberal media! Oh, yeah -- and then McCain lied about it all. Yet again, you gotta love those Republican family values.

It's been a newsy weekend! I posted a couple of stories yesterday morning, but there's more!

• Jesse Helms: Not everyone believes the man who brought us so much negativity, hate, and prejudice deserves the half-staff treatment. A few are even willing to take a stand. Others feel obligated to give him a hat tip.
• Gina Gray got fired from her job at Arlington Cemetery because the Pentagon doesn't want you to know that in a war, soldiers die. Will the Army do the right thing?
• The Chattanooga Green Report calls for more buses and more recycling! Maybe instead of spending money on a stupid raccoon, we should spend it on actual incentives?
• Their design is great, but so is the heavy-handedness. More and more, it's getting hard to like Apple Computer.
• Via Craig Hickman, an awesome tennis blogger I only just discovered, check out the ITF's new book promoting the Beijing Olympics.
• Pam directs us to Women We Love!
• Barbara talks about Megachruches and Hamas
• Bush is still embarrassing us around the world. And then there's sleaze and those pesky little war crimes. Only six more months (at best!).
• McCain: oh, where to begin?!? He's had such a bad week (though you'd never know it from the American press coverage!). More campaign shakeups, and it turns out that his homophobic campaign chairman has sex with men (now there's a surprise! Yet another self-hating gay Republican!). And he, along with a lot of Republicans, hates birth control -- doesn't want to talk about it, doesn't want to improve access to it. This story won't go away! Also, the fallout from the Gramm idiocy continues -- the hypocrisy, lies, and questions about leadership and credibility. He's been caught lying (or is it just memory problems?) about his experience as a POW (which, btw, he doesn't want to talk about, unless he's exploiting the experience to scare up some votes). And through it all, the poor thing is trying to learn how to open a web browser (which isn't necessarily a dig at his age, but does bring into question his competence). So much for the press to ignore!

And finally, check out this cool experiment in physics and sound (the tray, which contains a mixture of corn starch and water, is sitting on a speaker while the music plays):

Tuesday hodge-podge

I've been reading these internets today and have a random sampling of interesting tidbits found in these here tubes:

• Hello. I'm Billy Blades. And so are you.
• Today the Iraqi government says that they want the US out of Iraq -- including our military bases. This flies in the face of all of John McCain's plans for permanent bases in Iraq and a 100-years war. What will he doooo?!?
• Speaking of John McCain, the old coot thinks that he's much more highly regarded among vets than he really is. And btw, only people who have served have the right to question McCain's judgment -- oops! Make that: only people who have served AND who also agree with John McCain! And he doesn't want to talk about being a POW -- unless it's in a freakin' campaign commercial. Seriously?
• You've probably heard that those inbred polygamists who got busted earlier this year for letting old men knock up their daughters while they're still little girls have their own clothing line. It turns out they let their daughters dress like flashy harlots.
• Remember when there were only 3 channels on TV (well, four if you were lucky enough to live in an area with a PBS station)? Have things changed all that much? Not really.
• Now here are a couple of stories that made me laugh out loud today: 1) That the man who never read a book might pretend to write one. and 2) That there are people out there who would consider it appropriate to put the same clueless moron, who can't even quote Jefferson properly, in a classroom. With children.
• And speaking of George Bush, his buddy John McCain hates bloggers. Yeah, that whole free-flowing information thing sure does put a real crimp in the old bullshit spewer, don't it?
• Those wacky internetizens are not done with Jesse Helms yet. They're questioning his patriotism, calling him irrelevant and defeated, and remembering when his house was condemed! Oh, and Mike Huckabee loved and admired him.
• Charlie "110% Heterosexual" Crist is still in the news and Chris Matthews doesn't love him.
• Are you a quilter? How about quilting for our nation's wounded heroes?
• A guy in Cleveland, TN has figured out how to run a car on Chattanooga's greatest natural resource (more here)!
• A Norwich woman spent the morning with a bat in her bra (via BoingBoing).
• Are you ready to wear a bracelet when you get on a plane? One that zaps you with a shock if you don't behave?
• Here's the latest from the awesome Improv Everywhere troupe!
• Worst. President. Ever.
• six-course lunch and 18-course dinner?!? Sheesh!

Jenna's Wedding Day Links

Here's a bit of what's going on out there on the net this weekend!

• Check out the weather forecast in Crawford, TX. According to John McCain's chief spiritual advisor, John "America is Damned" Hagee, this clearly means that God hates the Bushes.
• Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens was in Chattanooga yesterday to speak at the 68th conference of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. Check out the comments he made regarding the use of lethal injections: [H]e suggested that the recently-euthanized Kentucky Derby horse Eight Bells had probably experienced a more humane death than those who die on death row. "I had checked the procedure they used to kill the horse," Justice Stevens said, expressing surprise to learn it is against the law in Kentucky to kill animals using one of the drugs in a three-drug lethal injection cocktail that many believe is cruel to humans.
• Now that he's staring down the barrel at his reelection prospects, Chattanooga's Mayor Littlefield apparently is having second thoughts about the drastic cuts he's made to the curbside recycling program.
• Jesus! vs Darwin!
• You gotta love those family values republicans. It seems as though every week, another one finds his way out from under his rock...
• Would you crash this poll?
• The columnists speak of the end of the primary season: Eugene Robinson and Paul Krugman on the divisions in the Democratic party
• Cindy Lou: show me the money!

Mabee Responds

Dale Mabee wrote a letter to the Chattanoogan in an attempt to defend the sweetheart deal he got from the city on some land downtown. No mention of the interest-free financing he got from the mayor.

I think this story has legs, so I'm sure there will be more. Developing...

More on the Mayor

An editorial from today's Times Free Press:

Audit time for the mayor

Mayor Ron Littlefield and his chief of staff, Dan Johnson, persistently pursued six months of painstaking audit work in an unsuccessful attempt to find something wrong with RiverCity's management of the Corker administration's stunning 21st Century Waterfront initiative. The only thing worth noting out of that political exercise was that the city unwisely rejected RiverCity's proposal to fix the flaking cladding on the Market Street foundation, which would have allowed The Passage to reopen this spring.

Oh, the Unbelievably Hypocritical Littlefield Sleaze!

Get the details here, here and here.

Today's Times Free Press features a well-researched expose of Worst Mayor Ever Ron Littlefield's unbelievably corrupt back-room deal that gave his long-time buddy Dale Mabee the keys to City Hall, and apparently the city coffers as well. The highlights from the newspaper read like a subpeona[...]

Ugh. Could there possibly be a Worst Mayor Ever?!? So, are all you citizens listening? Have you called your city council members yet? Get busy, people...

For the record, hiring auditors to look into those who use the public's funds is a good thing. But the city charter dictates that they report to the City Council, not the mayor. The City Council controls all the money, so why would you have the people who check the books report to the person whose books they are checking? So you can control what they look at and report, obviously. This reporting structure has been wrong for a while, it just took someone of Littlefield's (lack of) character to misuse it.

It's time for the City Council to look into all of this. It's time for the City Council to bring the auditors under their purview. And it's almost time for a serious candidate to step up and declare that this kind of thing is going to stop.

EPB and Littlefield

Woot! Following yesterday's decision by a Davidson County chancellor, the EPB made this announcement today:

EPB officials said they hope to be offering cable TV service in Chattanooga by the end of the year.

And in other local news, does anyone else think our mayor is being an incredible killjoy when it comes to the Passage?

Mayor Ron Littlefield said a key feature of the $120 million 21st Century Waterfront that is now closed for repairs was never designed to be a play area.

He said The Passage was meant to be a "reverent and reflective place."

It's like he's turning into that grumpy old neighbor who's always growling, "Damn kids! Get off my lawn!" -- a cranky old man who doesn't like seeing the young kids having some fun.

If the Passage is an attraction -- if kids and their parents enjoy playing in the water -- we, of course, should figure out how to keep it a safe and accessible. I don't think it's any big secret that one of big points of the whole riverfront park is to draw visitors to the area. Why is the mayor even entertaining the idea that we might spoil their fun?

Mayor's Stunt Makes Atlanta News

Sigh. Here's the story on WXIA-TV Atlanta. And there's video.

Catch Up!

We've got a debate tonight (#20, and maybe the last one of the race)! I'm pretty excited, as anything might happen -- there will be no opening or closing statements, and no time limits. It'll be chaos! Whoo-hoo!

I've also got a backlog of news and links, since I took a day off, and it was a very newsy day! I'll be adding to his list as the evening wears on, so reload the page for more -- I'll probably keep at it until around midnight. I'm not planning to live- blog the debate, but who knows!?! If things get really wacky, I might have to make a comment or two!

Chris Dodd, the first of the Democratic presidential contenders to endorse, has stepped into Obama's camp. Will Richardson be next to pick a team? (Also, progressives note: Russ Feingold has endorsed Obama.)

People keep talking about how Barack Obama is at a higher risk for potential harm than other candidates/presidents might be, but I'm not worried. Our Secret Service has an awesome record. If they weren't so good at what they do, I'm sure someone would have taken W out by now. If they can keep that unbelievably incompetent, reviled idiot safe, they can protect Barack Obama from a few stupid racists.

Is Peggy Noonan drunk? Or off her meds?

Who is Hillary running against? Which Hillary will show up tonight? The one who hates speeches and rallies? She criticizes Obama for a lack of foreign policy experience, but I'm pretty sure Barack has more foreign policy cred (as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee) than Bill Clinton had when he was running for president in 1992. Besides, look where her supposed experience got her. And while we're at it, which Clinton is running?

Oh, Mark Penn. You're so ugly. But who are you really rooting for? Are you really in this primary race?

Dear John McCain... it's the lobbyists, stupid! Oh, and that pesky law that you wrote! Hypocrisy does not become you (and btw, John, the surge didn't work).

Dear Ron Paul supporters... you won't get anywhere if you don't vote!

The SCLM is at it again. Will they get away with it (Rachel's on it!)? There's a poll here. (And btw, why does CNN suck so much these days?)

One of Romney's valiant warrior sons says that Mitt may flip flop himself back into the race! Maybe he needs to get rid of some more of that pesky money...

... and in non-presidential politics, Chattanooga still has the worst mayor ever! How's this for a hamfisted and stupid attempt at humor?

Do Chattanooga Taxpayers Get Their Money's Worth?

Last year's drastic reduction in Chattanooga's recycling services (for those from out of town: our curbside pickup went from once a week to once a month) has been a disaster for a community that likes to call itself "the environmental city." Every month when I drag all my bags out to the curb (bags of refuse that I've had to live with all month long), mine are the lone bags in my vicinity -- I've never seen any other recycling out there on the curb.

Recycling isn't increasing in the Scenic City. In fact, people have understandably confessed that the city has made it too hard, and they're ready to heave all of their refuse into the trash -- and who knows how many have already given in to the allure of the landfill? Pitch it all in those ginormous trash cans the city has distributed throughout our neighborhoods, and it will disappear forever! Like magic! No separating! No driving! No storing it for the rest of the month!

Further, this new monthly recycling program hasn't saved the city any money, since more money was put into increasing the number of dropoff centers in the city. And, vacuously enough, $100,000 in taxpayer funds was spent on a (hamfisted) PR campaign, complete with a ridiculous recycling raccoon, meant to convince Chattanoogans that these changes are all a good thing.

Well, they're not a good thing. When you look around at what progressive communities are doing around the country, Chattanooga's efforts clearly are a step backwards, despite silly claims to the contrary:

He said over about a year's time, those using the recycling dropoff center on Access Road went from 795 to 2,058 in a month and at the Patten Center in Lookout Valley went from 370 to over 2,000 per month.

Oy. Well, of course the use of dropoff centers has gone up! Because we no longer have curbside pickup! And by requiring each individual who has recyclables to drive to a dropoff center, you're trading the environmental benefit of recycling with the increased pollution caused by so many individual vehicles putting extra miles on our roads.

And in the meantime, davidm, who did a series of posts about recycling that introduced me to Norcal (and which, sadly, have since been lost to server issues), contacted Josh when he did his research. Josh, who used to live in Chattanooga, now lives in the San Francisco area and gave david the following report:

"Here, they've removed every obstacle to recycling. Recycling day is always the same as garbage day so it's easy to remember. Since you're putting everything out at once, you're more likely to recycle everything you can. No sorting. No special-colored bags.

Unfortunately, our mayor has taken the opposite approach, by making recycling efforts as frustrating as possible. And the mayor's office is so enamored with that absurd raccoon (has anyone spotted that thing lately? Word has it the creature's last appearance was on the mayor's Christmas Card), that he's going to throw away another $100,000 after wasting the same amount last year. It's a great deal for Waterhouse Public Relations, but what does the taxpayer have to show for all that money, besides a rarely-spotted oversized raccoon? And why, if this money was supposedly spent last year to conceive of and develop this PR campaign, is the same amount necessary for this year, to merely continue on with more of the same?

I think perhaps we're not getting our money's worth.

For Chattanoogans

You need to be aware of this news, and then check out this opinion.

It will be a sad day for MLK and Chattanooga politics once this project reaches fruition because there is very little you or I can do to stop it. The lines have already been drawn and the majority of the City Council doesn't care because it's not in their Districts. If this agenda was pushed onto Brainerd or Hixson, the whole city would be up in arms, shouting "Not in my backyard." But as it stands, no one has come to MLK's rescue. They are our neighbors and deserve a stronger vote in the process. I spend a great deal of time in MLK and as far as I'm concerned, it is my backyard.

At the center of this issue lies Ron Littlefield's self-proclaimed "legacy project" - a narcissistic desire to paint himself as the great mayor with a heart of gold. It's no secret that the Farmer's Market campus is his pet project. This is intended to be his one great contribution to the Chattanooga narrative.

Ron Littlefield is going down in history as Chattanooga's Worst Mayor Ever. And this disaster of a project will only add to that legacy, while it tears down a great up-and-coming neighborhood. That is, unless we can figure out a way to stop it. Does anyone have any ideas?

Littlefield Concedes

Rutherford to get no benefits.

Mayor Ron Littlefield said Tuesday afternoon he has concluded that he would lose in court on the issue of benefits for former City Councilwoman Marti Rutherford. Accordingly, he said Ms. Rutherford will not be getting city retirement medical benefits.

Littlefield Lawyers Up

He hired former City Judge Walter Williams.

(And just how much is this sad bit of attempted patronage costing the city's taxpayers?)

"It's almost like he's come over to my side and is actively working against himself."

Thus starts the latest from Billy Blades. And it gets better from there:

Now today's paper has a quote from Ron saying that it is his lifelong goal to be the number three city in the state. Leaving aside the grammatical issues, I think we really must stop to ponder a leader of a city that claims a lifelong aspiration to THIRD PLACE!

I mean, it's great that Chattanooga is finally gaining population after years of decline. Frankly a lot of hard work went into that--none of it by this poser. But as I read it, I imagined Chattanoogans sitting with their morning paper wondering about the psyche of the man who is supposed to be leading the way to the future, glowing about being the third largest city in Tennessee.

I can imagine the ad agency that handles the Chamber of Commerce account went right to work on a big, "We're Number Three!" campaign.

The punch line here (well, one of them) is that we aren't number three. We're still the fourth largest city in the state. Ron, on behalf of all 168,000 of us: just shut up.

Like a Jon Stewart for Chattanooga, Billy Blades distracts us from how sad the situation is by pointing out the humor that's there. We really have to get rid of this guy. But in the meantime, at least he has his amusing moments.

While I Was Distracted...

Apparently Ron Littlefield continued to outdo himself as the Worst Mayor Ever.

Littlefield Responds

Joe has the latest on the Littlefield-Rutherford saga, and I've added these tidbits to my previous thread on the subject.

City Council Votes Unanimously To Fight Littlefield On Rutherford Benefits

This comment demonstrates just how ridulous this situation has become (from the chattanoogan.com):

A resolution and an ordinance presented by Councilman Leamon Pierce directs that the city administration not be allowed to hire anyone who has resigned and then had an ouster lawsuit filed against them.

Perhaps Rutherford and Littlefield should be asked to foot the bill for all this stupidity, or does their sense of entitlement extend to expecting the taxpayer to foot the bill every time their senses of entitlement get out of control?

The council also hired its own attorney - Roger Dickson - to advise it on the issue. City Attorney Randy Nelson said he could not represent either side in the unusual clash between the council and the mayor.

The Times Free Press also has coverage:

The council also passed a related resolution stating that a "disqualified person" cannot get medical benefits upon his or her resignation. Both the ordinance and resolution were submitted by Councilman Leamon Pierce.

The Public Responds

Ron Littlefield has gone public with his desire to take a corrupt and dishonest politician (Marti Rutherford), who has not been legitimately elected since 2005, and put her back on the public payroll for three days (this is after the city attorney took her OFF the public payroll), so that she can qualify for taxpayer-subsidized health care (assuming she gets credit for the years she was serving illegitimately). That was yesterday's news.

Today, let's check in with the public's reaction:

The Times Free Press is collecting commentary here.
Also from the TFP: Hot topics provide tinder at Littlefield roast

The Chattanoogan.com is collecting responses:

Littlefield Help For Rutherford Shows Mayor's Mindset

The Mayor Did It Right

Recall Mayor Littlefield - And Response

Chattanooga's Little Lie

More Evidence Of Incompetent City Government - And Responses

When Is Insurance Fraud The Right Thing To Do?

What kind Of City Jobs Could Marti Do For The Next 3 Days?

At Least This Mayor Is Open

Now It's Time To Oust Littlefield - And Reply

... and the blogosphere weighs in:

mkelly: Mayor returns Rutherford to city payroll, future benefits to follow

Irresponsible Journalism: Corruption Begets Corruption

         also note the comment Mesh added to this post:

I really like the bit where he explains that he tried to handle the matter "behind the scenes" until it "accelerated." And then opened his letter to the City Council with this:

"I do not wish for you to be caught unaware of my intended action regarding Ms. Rutherford's benefits."

Well, actually, yes he did. But let's not get hung up on details.

Worst Mayor Ever: Oh. No. He. Di-int.

Tennessee Ticket: Another "Worst Mayor"

Tennessee Ticket: Just who are Littlefield's community?

Irresponsible Journalism: "City Employees Are Disgusted"

10K Monkeys: City Council Votes Unanimously To Fight Littlefield On Rutherford Benefits

BillColrus.com: Hillary Ronham Littlefield

Tennessee Ticket: Marti Rutherford to resign more than a month after she, uh, resigned

Tennessee Ticket: Mayor Littlefield blasts council for "vindictive" treatment of Rutherford

Worst Mayor Ever: Spiteful, Small & Mean

Also, the morning press has featured the story this week, though the feature they call a "blog" doesn't allow for linking to individual posts (which is probably why they're rarely cited.)

And from the October 24th edition of the Times Free Press, we hear from the left side of the editorial page (not a peep from the right!):