September 16, 2011 Attorney General Opines that McGuffin Is a Holdover

State Senator Steve Southerland recently requested an opinion from State Attorney General Robert Cooper as to the status of George McGuffin on the Morristown Utility Board of Commissioners.

Cooper's opinion is that McGuffin, who has served on the Board for over 34 years and whose most recent five-year term has already expired, remains on the Board, acting as a "holdover," until a successor is approved by the Morristown City Council.

The full opinion is here.

Thus far three individuals have been nominated by the Mayor to succeed McGuffin. A core group of councilmembers who think George McGuffin (pictured below) is the ONLY person who can serve in this position has blocked all three of the Mayor's nominees from serving on the Utility Board. 

To keep anyone from taking "the McGuffin seat," councilmembers did not approve Mike Minnich and voted to disapprove Glenn Thompson and Carroll Fowler as noted here, here, and here.

At this point, most of the "only George" councilmembers have indicated that they will continue to block the appointment of anyone except McGuffin to the Morristown Utility Commission until January 2012 when the state legislature goes back into session.

In January 2012, they would ask State Sen. Steve Southerland and Rep. Don Miller to change the Private Act governing the MUC so that they can "officially" put George back in instead of blocking the nomination of anyone and everyone else.

George is not the manager of the utility. Jody Wigington is.

Why are certain councilmembers, led by King Paul LeBel along with Prince Bob Garrett and Princess Kay Senter, going berserk and crying that the "sky is falling" at the thought of someone other than McGuffin  serving as a utility commissioner? 

Is George McGuffin, one of five Utility Commissioners, indispensable or just powerful and power-hungry?

Is the management and staff of the Morristown Utility System--the people who run the place--so weak that George McGuffin must be on the Board in order to keep the utility going? No. 

What happens when McGuffin, at some point, is unable to serve or resigns? Does the utility collapse? No.

Why won't George step aside, let someone else serve, and contribute to the community outside of this particular Board?  Does McGuffin think he is indispensable?

What is the real reason that McGuffin is so desperate to hang on to this position?

Follow the money/power trail...Wheels within wheels.

August 12, 2011 State Attorney General (TN) on Traffic Camera Changes

Tennessee State Attorney General Robert Cooper has issued an opinion on the new state legislation regarding traffic enforcement cameras and the effect of the legislation on contracts between cities and red light camera companies.

Click here for Morristown's rushed renewal of its contract with RedFlex on June 7 in an attempt to beat the July 1 effective date of the new laws.

Click here for a brief discussion by Legislative Reporter Tom Humphrey.

Click here for the full opinion.

Click here for Sen. Stacey Campfield's blog with a link to an article about Oak Ridge and red light cameras and safety.

Click here for recent action by Los Angeles removing red light cameras due to problems in collecting on the citations.

April 10, 2009 Tennessee Attorney General on Replacing County Election Administrators

Tennessee State Attorney General Robert Cooper has given an opinion on whether and under what circumstances local county election commissions can replace local county election administrators.

Opinion 09-52 is here.

This goes back to the 2008 legislative races. Republicans finally became the majority party in the state legislature (House and Senate combined).

The legislative majority party gets to name the majority of members to each county election commission.

In Hamblen County there is a 5-person election commission. Because the Democrats have held a majority of seats in the state legislature for years and years, the local election commission has been comprised of 3 Democrat election commissioners and 2 Republican election commissioners.

With a new Republican majority in the state legislature, the local split will soon be 3 Republican election commissioners and 2 Democrat election commissioners.

In fact, Joe Swann, who was just elected to the Hamblen County Commission in 2006, recently stated that he will resign his seat as a county commissioner in order to accept appointment as the 3rd Republican on the local election commission. [The Tribune story is here but it will be gone before you know it.] Swann is quoted as saying: "This is what I've always wanted."

Election commissioners in each county will be reading the Attorney General's opinion carefully to determine if and/or how to legally make a change in appointment of each local election administrator, a plum high-paying position.

Hamblen County's long-time election administrator is Wanda Neal.