April 29, 2005

Dictator Update: What Really Happened in the Subcommittee

State Rep. Jerome Cochran, R-Elizabethton, a member of the House Constitutional Protections Subcommittee, sent an email giving more detail as to how HB 887, which House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh wants killed, was passed by that subcommittee.

Just wanted to write and give the perspective of a member of the Constitutional Protections Subcommittee who was at the meeting and who was there on time. The Meeting started 2 or 3 minutes LATE. Of the 5 committee members, 3 were there (Newton, Brooks, and myself) to constitute a quorum.

Seeing a quorum present and seeing that according to the clock in the committee room that it was past 11:30 the Chairman call the meeting to order and called up the first bill on the calendar, which was Rep. Todd’s. It should also noted that we get committee calendars a week in advance and it was clearly shown on the calendar that Rep. Todd’s bill was first on the calendar.

Rep. Newton asked questions on the bill and then we voted on the bill. Not one member present asked to be put down as a no vote. So it passed 3-0. We then proceeded to the next bill by Rep. Stanley and we began asking questions about the bill. At 11:40 or later, Rep. Sontany comes into the committee room along with the legal staff. A few minutes later Rep. McMillan comes into the room.

It should also be noted that to my knowledge that there is no House rule that states that a committee cannot start or conduct business with the legal staff being present.

The public is seeing what many of us already know, there is one set of rules for 98 House members and another set for the Speaker. It is my hope that in the House we start having session first thing in the morning so we can all set our watches together with the Speaker since apparently he has the official House time.

Representative Jerome Cochran

Newton - one of nine turncoat Republicans who voted for Democrat Naifeh for Speaker - did Naifeh's bidding. Perhaps the people of Newton's district will elect a real Republican next fall instead of a faux Republican.

By the way, on Day One of this story I predicted you would get more and better coverage of this story from blogs than you would from the media. Judging from the media coverage so far, I'm right. Just compare the information provided by Rep. Cochran above with how Tom Humphrey describes the subcommittee hearing in his story in today's Knoxville paper, and how the Nashville City Paper's story today accepts Naifeh's claim that the subcommittee hearing started early, without questioning it.

Humphrey's story reports both sides, but clearly encourages readers to believe Naifeh's claim that the meeting started early. Humphrey chose to end his story with a Naifeh quotation asserting that the subcommittee's allegedly early start was "orchestrated."

Except, as Rep. Cochran explains, the subcommittee hearing didn't start early, and everyone who needed to know had known for a week that HB 887 was to be the first item on the agenda.

HB 887 was legally passed by the Constitutional Protections Subcommittee. It is only back in that committee for a second vote, so it can be killed, because state Rep. Chris Newton lacks a backbone.

UPDATE: Espo has some further thoughts on the Knoxville News Sentinel's slanted, incomplete and inaccurate coverage, and on whether state Rep. Harry Tindell, D-Knoxville, his legislator, really supports common-sense self-defense legislation or not.