Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Are you serious or not, Roddy?

(Disclaimer: I just know I’m going to get flamed for this post. But, the story was really bugging me. And, whatever. I’m moving out to the county and voting for myself in the city race as a write-in candidate anyway. Cause, you know, apparently no one really cares where you live and vote in Knox County. Certainly not our state leaders. Certainly not our election commission. But, wow, I digress. What follows is my latest nonsense. If you want, skip it and scroll down to my next post for some really cool salary suit information.)

And I thought Knoxville mayoral candidate Mark Padgett was stepping in it left and right.

You know, accepting some donations maybe he shouldn’t have. “Using” the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley. Somehow forgetting to pay his business license. (By the way, you paid that yet?)


But I finally got around to reading Georgiana Vines’ story about Marilyn Roddy.

Apparently, she’s mulling a shot at the state Senate seat Jamie Woodson is giving up.

She’s going to pray about it, too. Divine Intervention, I guess.



So, let me get this straight now. There’s a chance, that she’ll run for a new seat, after she’s campaigned for the mayoral one, and raised a bunch of money – a bunch of money - doing so. Now, she can't use that coin to run for a state race (the law won't allow it). But still, what do you say to your supporters?



If it's true, well, I don't know. It all sounds kind of self-serving to me.

Still, what do I know? I hang out on the county’s side of the Deathstar. And no one over there is self-serving. Nope.

So, I probably have no idea what I’m talking about.

In the meantime, if she does bail on the mayor's race, I just ask her not to use this one line. Please. Do not say: “I can better serve the people of Knoxville and Knox County as a state senator.”

Because it’s tired. Almost as tired as wishy-washy politicians.

And that's not you, right? You do believe you can win the mayor's spot. Right?

So, uh, prove me wrong and stick with the that one. And keep it exciting.

Because Padgett hasn’t stepped in it lately.

UPDATE: Roddy to make formal announcement on this mess at 3 p.m. today.


Anonymous said...

Some say Roddy had an internal poll done by Tyler Harber's group in Virgina and she placed third. Since only the top two go to the runoff, she had no choice put to bail.

It is a little curious how the daily paper has the third day of "Janous on the lam" but has put out of sight the biggest story in Knoxville. Isn't this the biggest local story today?

Why do they do that Mike?

Paul said...

Hey Mr. Donila, I tried to post this at the Sentinel:

Why is Dan's website banned? That is weird.

This is what Dan said:

The key element we need to look at is the campaign disclosure form of mayoral candidate Marilyn Roddy's is page 12 of her latest campaign finance disclosure done in April. On 03-28-2011 "Public Opinion Strategies LLC" received $10,000 for political consulting. Looking at the time frame it being almost exactly 3 weeks later I am speculating that an independent poll was taken and the results were similar to others that have already been done.

According to my sources recent polling data reveals that she was currently in third place. Madeline Rogero and Ivan Harmon respectively in first and second place. Right now the margin is very thin between first and second. Mark Padgett being new to the community of politics was in a respectable but distant fourth place. However that was to be expected considering he is new and now developing a following.

Mike Donila said...

Anon: Even I don't understand story placement in our sometimes. But, I think in this case, our reporter got the information later in the evening, so it didn't get a better placement.

On a side note, if she does go for the senate seat I'm pretty sure that will be on the front page. But I'm just guessing.

Paul: I'm not aware that Dan's website is banned on the Sentinel page. (I can find out why or why not.) I know he's not banned here.

While I don't necessarily agree with Dan that Roddy is in third place - I'd say she's in second - Dan is correct about the political consultant expenditures. And makes a good assumption that - with those numbers - she might have a better chance in another race.

Dan Andrews said...

I'll bet you a lunch my #s are correct.

Anonymous said...

I'd say Roddy WAS in second place. Not so sure about this morning.

BTW, Padgett HAS stepped in it latest. At the UT forum this week he said the "Marble City project" was the most important project for the City." Most folks went "huh?"

For good reason. There is no Marble City Project (and BTW, that's a name usually used to refer to the Sutherland Avenue area). There's a Marble ALLEY idea, which Buzz Goss has proposed for the area along State Street between downtown and the old city. However, at the moment it's just an gleam in Buzz's eye.

Bill Lyons confirmed that it is NOT a city project. But Padgett thinks it's the most important one - said it ranked ahead of Magnolia and Broadway/North Central (which ARE city projects and are already underway, to varying degrees).

Guys just has way too much catching up to do to run a credible race, IMO. (Understandable, he's only lived in the city since last May.)

Anonymous said...

Ok, that's supposed to be "stepped in in LATELY."

Excuse other typos. Brain faster than fingers today.

Anonymous said...

Weee, Rogero supporters go wild. Until they do some polling. Don't get too excited. This ain't a great time to be dragging Cesar Chavez around.

Anonymous said...

Rogero doesn't need to do polling. Roddy did it for her.

BTW, where do Roddy supporters go? Harmon doesn't seem like their type, Padgett is a Democrat, and Rogero is both a Democrat and not their type.

Do they recruit their own new candidate?

Mike Donila said...

There is some talk about recruiting someone new; and I've even heard Brown's name mentioned, but I don't know about that one.

I also wonder if it's too late to jump in.

Brian Paone said...

It's not. Here's the city election calendar:

Last day to qualify appears to be June 16, if I read this correctly.

Anonymous said...

It's not too late. Deadline is not till mid-June sometime.

Brown promised not to run - that was part of getting appointed interim mayor. If he changes his mind, it's gonna look rather bad. And remember what happened to Michelle Carringer..

Mike Donila said...

Oh, I meant, I wonder if it's too late, meaning everyone else has already started campaigning and raised money. Anyone who jumps in now (unless they've got a lot of personal money) would be at a huge disadvantage.

You're right about Brown and his promise. That could hurt him.

Brian Paone said...

Given the current mayor's performance, I'd be more than happy as a voter to sign a petition asking him to run and releasing him from that promise.

Since the promise was voluntarily given, and not demanded by the voters via ordinance or petition, I'd argue that a petition with a significant number of signatures would be sufficient to allow him to run with a clean conscience.

Let's say, as a starting point, over half of the number of voters that turned out for the last election?

...interesting general question, too. What's a sufficient mechanism for releasing a public official from a promise made, if enough voters find said promise to be detrimental to what they want out of said public official?

Anonymous said...

Donila - oh, I agree it's awfully late to jump in campaign and money-wise. But it's legally possible.

Paone - I repeat: look what happened to Michelle Carringer.

Also - and I want to put this delicately because I like Mayor Brown - the Mayor is getting LOTS of help from his senior directors.

Brian Paone said...

Carringer jumped into it with VERY little support, and didn't bother to do a fair and reasonable amount of homework on that decision.

I'm willing to bet Brown's not that sloppy. But I'm just about as certain Brown won't run anyway.

Which is sad. He's doing one helluva job, despite what Pam Strickland and Neal's bunch think.

(If I were born 20 years earlier, I'd be playing the hell out of the race card right now. But I'll be nice to Nealy and Pammy.)