August 24, 2006

NSCC/Henry Update 4

State Sen. Douglas Henry, running for re-election to the state Senate seat he has held since the dawn of the disco era, is continuing to dodge questions about the questionable timing and political nature of a press release issued on Sen. Henry's behalf by Nashville State Community College just one week before the August 4 primary, a press which verged on an endorsement of Henry and rapidly appeared on Henry's campaign website though it was never added to NSCC's press release page. Repeated emails to Henry's campaign with specific questions about this story - which I first broke here at BillHobbs.com last week - have been ignored by the campaign.

Meanwhile, new information from the communications director of the Tennessee Board of Regents makes it more likely that NSCC timed the release to assist Henry's campaign.

After Mary Morgan, Director of Communications for the TBR, emailed me that TBR Chancellor Charles Manning had "encouraged the presidents and directors in the TBR system to publicly thank the governor and their local legislators" for this year's increase in higher-education funding- a response I reporterd here on Tuesday, I asked for clarification of how and when Manning's request was made.

Specifically, I asked Morgan:

1. When did Chancellor Manning encouraged the presidents and directors in the TBR system to publicly thank the governor and their local legislators? Was there a specific email or letter that went out with that kind of request/encouragement in it? If so, on what date was it mailed or emailed or faxed?

2. Do you know of any other TBR member institutions who complied with Chancellor Manning's request by issuing a press release? If so, which institutions?

Her response:

1. There is nothing in writing. I recall the chancellor mentioning this to the presidents a couple of times on conference calls. That most likely was in June.

2. No, I don't know of any other press releases, but we wouldn't know in any case. We don't ask our schools to send copies of their releases.

What doesn't make sense is why NSCC waited until late July - at least a month - to comply with Manning's request. Unless you look at the calendar. NSCC timed the release of the pro-Henry "news" release, which was in fact old news, to benefit Henry's re-election campaign. The release promptly was added to Henry's campaign site.