National, State, and Local Political Observations

With all the turmoil over Japan’s tragedy, many political stories have been knocked off the radar, but within the online community those conversations are alive and ongoing. Often, when visiting other cities I attend meet-ups with other bloggers and Twitter enthusiasts. The info shared from social media platforms usually scoops mainstream press nowadays. Most stories, unfortunately, are rarely reported in ethnic media outlets. This week, many discussions about the number of politicians who ran on the taking-back-the-country mantra and gave President Obama a "shellacking,” are appearing to be worse than the politicians that were ousted last November.

A blogger from Wisconsin sent me several stories about Wisconsin state Senator Randy Hopper's wife, who informed a group of protesters that Hopper is living with his 25-year-old mistress in Madison, Wisconsin. The morally righteous public servant ran his campaign on family values while shacking up with his girlfriend in a house that is not in his district. Bloggers had a field day with this story when it broke. The scandal was reported by mainstream media two weeks later.

While the mainstream media was giving us endless clips of Charlie Sheen "winning”, folks were discussing whether Sen. Randy Hooper actual lived in his district at all when he ran for office last fall. This was not a Democrat vs. Republican or Governor Walker vs. worker’s rights storyline for me. What I found more intriguing about the Sen. Hooper hoopla is that many are admitting they knew he was living with his girlfriend for nearly a year while he was running for office and no one in his community challenged him publicly about his dual residence. The anger against the White House had blinded everyone to overlook the obvious. Now that Hooper has voted for a bill that the majority of the state workers including both Republicans and Democrats hate, his personal life is now on the ballot box. Cheating is okay until you vote crazy. Interesting. No, not judging, just an observation.

In Tennessee, political observations are always interesting. The birther legislation has hit the Volunteer State with a thud. In several states, the birther legislation has been introduced but has gotten little traction. Mother Jones gave the online community a golden nugget that sent bloggers to mixing drinks at what transpired when this news item below, published in Mother Jones, went viral:

Last month, Tennessee state Sen. Mae Beavers introduced SB 1091, a bill that would require presidential candidates to present a long-form birth certificate in order to qualify for the ballot in the Volunteer State. Beavers, a Republican, is in good company: Nearly a dozen states have now introduced similar legislation—part of national campaign mounted by the birthers, those conservatives who believe that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. To date they haven't had much luck; a bill proposed in Arizona looked the most promising but was scuttled in committee; on Wednesday, New Hampshire GOPers knocked down a similar proposal.

Law makers introducing bills that do not create “jobs, jobs, jobs” are becoming the norm but the head turner to this story was Sen. Mae Beavers’ actions after she introduced the bill. Wanting to strut her stuff and show her passion and zeal, she went on a Blogtalk internet radio show, Reality Check, to discuss protecting our country from a Manchurian candidate who could harm our country by running for President. Have mercy.

Below are excerpts from the transcript of the show that make the entire state of Tennessee look like everyone repeated 4th grade twice:

RC: What are the specific requirements in the bill?

MB: That they have to have the long form birth certificate.

RC: What is the long form birth certificate?

MB: Now, you're asking me to get into a lot of things that I haven't really looked into yet.

(Sen. Mae Beaver was promoting a bill that affects how we vote but did very little research about her own bill; its gets better or worse depending on what you are drinking!) Keep reading.

The host then asked the obvious follow-up: why put a term into the bill, if you don't know what it means? Beavers responded, "Well, we are following some of the bills that have been filed in lots of other states, and you know how it is, you file your bill and, you know, you prepare before you go to committee."

File first, understand later? Dumb.

Beavers went on to state more clearly, "I'm not entirely sure what long form means." She seemed genuinely surprised by the news that not all states even print long-form birth certificates anymore. "I only know about Tennessee," she explained. As for her motives for introducing the bill, Beavers didn't declare herself as an outright birther, but she noted, "I think people have raised questions about [Obama's birth] enough to make everybody wonder." Although the state of Hawaii has produced a certificate of live birth for Obama that has been widely distributed, Beavers said proof of Obama's citizenship must have gotten buried in her inbox: "I get emails all the time with things in them, you know; I can't honestly tell you that I read all of them, because I get so many." Geez.

Whether you are love or hate the President, electing officials with this kind of intellect to public office should be illegal.

Speaking of criminal behavior, is it a crime to ask legitimate questions of those who are running for office locally? In an effort to not make anyone look bad, Nashville-Metro Council members are not being challenged about their voting record. All members of the Black Caucus hemmed and hawed and voted against a multi-billion construction project, May Town, that would have been built with private funds in favor of the Mayor’s blessed and highly favored Music City Convention that was funded with taxpayer dollars based on property taxes.

Yes, local elected officials who represent the poorest residents in Nashville voted to fund a project to bring visitors in a down economy with tax payer dollars based on property taxes when a large number of Nashvillians have lost their homes to foreclosure. Brilliant!

The MCC Project has had its share of controversy which is being swept under the rug now that 2011 elections are around the corner. We are being given the three-piece-chicken-and-biscuit-special speeches while ignoring what the community of color has really gotten from the project. A wing, a dash of hot sauce, with prayers on the side. “We are getting 20% in minority spending”, I have heard a few potential candidates say lately. No one has asked the obvious follow up, “20% of what actual dollar amount?” Please.

The Mayor’s chief cheerleader for the MCC, Walt Baker, was revealed as a racist, at least in his emails. The PR firm debacle was all over the place. And very recently, Metro Finance Director, Rich Riebeling, one of Mayor Karl Dean's top advisers, failed to disclose fully personal business dealings with a prominent attorney and a local engineering firm, which have both won large contracts for the downtown convention center project. Wonder if any color folks bid on those contracts? There have been protests about hiring locals on the nightly news, yet, we allow council members off the hook by not questioning them about any of this. Why? Are accountability questions felonious? No one is perfect, but we should not dodge the obvious. For some, running for office is a hobby. Folks love to talk about what they have accomplished but no politician, Republican or Democrat, Black or White, long or short form supporters, should have an expectation of not being challenged about legislation they supported or bills they voted on, especially when it was not in the interests of the very people who voted for them.

In a media environment where followup questions have become obsolete, very little research is done on conflicts of interests in government dealings, and the cost of elections keep skyrocketing; politicians will say whatever it takes to get in and stay in office. This hurts the voting public, breeds voter apathy and puts out the fire of the next generation of voters who can really make a difference. I am just a blogger, but like it or not, I am going to do the unpopular thing; ask questions. Asking questions is desperately needed, especially in the color community, because a hot wing and prayers will not bring “jobs, jobs, jobs” to the communities of color in Tennessee.


Article first published as National, State and Local Political Observations on Blogcritics.

Nashville's Email Triology Makes National News...Again

Once again, all eyes are on Nashville because of an email. An email! An email has cost Walt Baker, former CEO of Tennessee Hospitality Association his job; his partnership with Mecatus Communications is on the ousts and needs to hire a crisis management team to help its clients; and Mayor Dean who convinced Metro Council to borrow $600 million to build a convention center to persuade tourists to visit is having to explain why the email came from one of his drum majors. If I was a betting person, I would swear this was a cartoon on the Cartoon Network. Damn folks, Nashville is in trouble. This time, folks are really going to pay attention to our piece mill diversity we have here in town because this email got some folks rushing out to find a new black friend. The email, Michelle the chimp, will be in every competing city’s presentation on why one should choose their city over Nashville for convention business.

If you are wondering how an offensive email can hurt convention center business, just browse around the internet. Blogs about the email are on every major website; AOL, Comcast, MSN, New York Times, Washington Post and every cable news outlet. Tennessee is making national news because of a trilogy of emails that had racial undertones hit the World Wide Web. The first email in this disastrous trio was the 44th President Spook email sent by the now infamous secretary Sherri Goforth. The email depicted President Obama’s picture as a black face with only his eyes showing. The President Spook email was explained away with an, “Oops, the wrong list got the email” by Goforth. It was a negative ugly email but the there were no real consequences from it. Other than bad press, business resumed as usual for our state legislative branch and no one lost an election or a paid job. The cost of that President Spook email was mandatory diversity training for all legislative staff which Sherri Goforth did not attend. She was told she could view the training on video at a later day after she returns from paid medical leave.

That incident got media attention but because the sender was a "lowly" government employee that answered the phone of an elected official, the emphasis of the email was diminished. A government employee on government’s time, dime, property, and equipment was allowed to shrink out of sight in her state representative’s office to the firestorm burned out.

We barely digested the actions of Sherri Goforth, when a 2nd email surfaced from a different sector of Tennessee’s government. Tennessee Highway Trooper Brent Gobbell sent an email that said “proud to be white” to 787 recipients. There is nothing wrong with white pride except, he ranted how sick he was of ethnic groups and their ilk. A guy with a badge and gun who looks like he leads a militia hate group one finds hidden deep in the woods, was spouting off racial epithets that even law enforcement could not ignore. The state suspended him with pay for 15 days while they conducted an investigation of Hate-a-Brother email Part 2. After an investigation, the state of Tennessee sent out a press release to make sure everyone knew the State of Tennessee did not support the rantings of Trooper Gobbell.

The investigation determined that at approximately 10:39 a.m., October 9, 2009, Trooper Gobbell sent the external email to himself so he could print a copy. At that time, he inadvertently sent the email to 787 state email system recipients by striking a wildcard key using his GroupWise email account. During an interview, Gobbell told OPR investigators that he intended to forward the email to himself and was not aware he had forwarded it to other state employees.

Unlike State Rep. Diane Black secretary’s “oops” email, his email was not swept under the rug. Trooper Gobbell was reprimanded but he kept his job and ordered to take a mandatory diversity class. His picture and all the details of the investigation were made available to the public. After reading the details of the investigation one can conclude Trooper Gobbell is not the brightest trooper with a badge and his rant fed the national media’s narrative that we are backwards and crazy in the Volunteer state.

With our third national email scandal, the sender comes from Nashville’s pedigree stock. This is not a secretary that many labeled a hick or a prick with a badge and gun who hate color folks. No, this email put millions of dollars on the line. The state’s tourism industry is under scrutiny because of Walt Baker’s itchy finger. Our city leaders’ entire argument around the dearly needed ½ billion dollar MCC was visitors, tourists mind you, flocking to our city in the next two years to save us from the brink of disaster. This is what we were sold/told by our Mayor and our compliant Metro Council. Tourism dollars would come by the plane loads if we signed on the dotted. And with the flick of a switch, our council members voted 29 to 11 to start digging ditches. Walt Baker was one of top drum beaters for the MCC Project; he gave us the tourism viability angle at every opportunity. We were given the do or die scenarios at every turn. The former leader of the state's tourism industry is turning off tourists because of an email. The cost for Baker’s email is already being felt economically starting with the sender himself. He lost his six figure income, credibility, and reputation. The Tennessee Hospitality Association fired him quicker than he could draft an apology letter to anyone who would receive an email from him. There is no mandatory diversity class training this time. Diversity class is for a much lower pay grade and social rank.

The email was sent to select prominent friends. Several of those close friends vouched for Walt Baker’s goodness in message boards on the first few days of the scandal. Upon reading the email that was sent to the press, my immediate thought was what kind of conversations they are having with each other that Mr. Hospitality felt comfortable enough to send a Michelle the chimp email to them. I have plenty friends and I forward different things to different ones. My church folks get the miracles can happen and praying for you emails. My girlfriends who are dealing with cheating men get the nutcracker emails. My political friends that know my love of politics get emails that represent my views and theirs. Some of my emails are good and some are just plain awful, I must admit! A few folks from Walt Baker's chimp email list that initially defended Walt Baker are now defending themselves. The glare of the national media is asking questions not only about Walt Baker but the recipients of the email who are deemed as prominent leaders in our community. Because no matter how the case is being made on the comment section of a website “I don’t think like that” or “an email does not make me or him a racist”, folks are giving the favorite friends from the email the side eye. Yep, I said it. The comment section on the website is damaging but nothing can compare to the comments that are being said over coffee, tea, and margaritas. The public is wondering who sent the original email to Walt Baker and why did Walt Baker select those who received email. Inquiring minds are dying to know.

Now that our state and the city of Nashville is on every “don’t visit” website, how are we going to continue to sell the tourism angle as a meal ticket when we are not willing to accept we got some real diversity issues that we must overcome quickly in order to bring tourists here? I suggest we start with that big ditch downtown that will be the site of the MCC Project. The Mayor needs to make every effort that true diversity contracts are represented in building of the MCC Project. It should not be delegated to folks who have no power. If the Mayor, the leader of our city, became active in building relationships with as many people of color as possible, it would set the tone for others to follow. This may not stop emails from being sent that are viewed as racists but at least people from every background would be willing to come forward stand up for our great city. Real conversations must be discussed among each other and not on message boards.

In a previous post, I have addressed the 'two black friends’ issue that plagues many leaders in this city. Good honest hard working folks from every background and square inch of our city are being painted in broad strokes because we, collectively, are not being the people we want to attract. In order for our national media to stop referencing Nashville when it wants to show an example of ignorance, we must be willing to talk and educate each other first before we can reach out to others. That is the making of a great city that can attract businesses from every corner of the globe.