Occupy Chattanooga Responds to County Commission

Occupy Chattanooga has issued a (very well written) press release on their blog today, blasting the County Commission for seeking to waste our tax monies for the purpose of pursuing legal action against peaceful demonstrators who, by the Commission's own admission, are doing nothing illegal. Occupy Chattanooga also noted that the "emergency resolution" detailing the initial steps for this potential legal action, which I had detailed at length in a previous post, was brought to the floor with no prior public comment period, no prior public deliberation (except one previous meeting with County Attorney Taylor that violated the Sunshine Law) and no prior announcement. This, argues Occupy Chattanooga, has exposed the County Commission's real motive in pursuing potential legal action against Occupy Chattanooga:

Occupy Chattanooga believes the real reason for this challenge is that our protests have targeted corruption in all levels of government and spoken out against our County Commission’s willingness to ignore state laws that require transparency. Our County Commission is standing against free speech and transparency in government. We stand in favor of both. We are the 99%.

You can read more of the Occupy Chattanooga blog post HERE.

The real question is, what's next for Occupy Chattanooga? Will they be able to organize enough folks around a successful political strategy and mobilize enough broader public support to effectively challenge the Hamilton County Commission?

A Questionable Future for Direct Democracy in Chattanooga

Division III Circuit Court Judge Marie Williams has been selected to preside over Littlefield v. Election Commission.

Judge Williams has served in Division III of Hamilton County Circuit Court since 1995.

The most recent campaign disclosure statements for Judge Williams list "Frederick Decosimo" as the Campaign Treasurer. Decosimo, who is listed as being "one the most powerful people in Tennessee" donated heavily to the Littlefield campaign in 2008/2009. Since the donations to the Littlefield Defense Fund have been kept private, there is no way of knowing whether Decosimo has continued to make contributions to Littlefield.

I had previously discussed what I felt to be very serious and substantive concerns about Judge Jeff Hollingsworth's connections to the lawfirm hired by Ron Littlefield. While I do not currently share anything approaching the same level of concern over Judge Williams, I do believe that it would be in the best interest of the citizens of Chattanooga for all the Circuit Court Judges to recuse themsevles and ask a Judge from another county in the state of Tennessee to preside over the case. This is not an uncommon practice and would certainly begin to alleviate many concerns that citizens such as myself might have about the ability for Littlefield v. Election Commission to be given a fair hearing.

In related news, the Legal and Legislative Committee of the Chattanooga City Council met this week and discussed proposals for a ballot measure that would change the foundational document of our city government, the City Charter, and most likely seek to restrict the rights of citizens to engage in Direct Democracy (recall, referendum and initiative).

The Chattanooga City Council debated having broader, public input into the process of changing the Chattanooga City Charter, changing the recall provision to make recalls more difficult if not impossible, they asked the City Attorney to compare Chattanooga's recall provisions to those of other cities from across the state of Tennessee, and they discussed adding clauses that would restrict citizens from recalling politicians for reasons outside of criminal and unethical activity.

The City Council has officially spent more time debating changes to the City Charter that would restrict the rights of citizens to hold our government accountable than they have spent publicly investigating and reviewing the sexual harassment of city employees and retaliation against them for reporting it, by former Director of General Services Paul Page, who was appointed by Mayor Ron Littlefield with the approval of this Council.

County Commission Forces Through "Emergency Resolution" Empowering County Chairman Henry To Seek Legal Action Against Occupy Chattanooga

At the very end of today's County Commission meeting, County Commissioner Larry Henry, with no public notice, brought forward an "emergency resolution" that empowers him to seek legal actions against Occupy Chattanooga in the supposed interests of "health" and "safety". No public discussion took place on this matter prior to today and the resolution itself was not included on the publicly available agenda prior to the vote.

A reporter interviewing Occupy Chattanooga members on the lawn of the Courthouse said that the County Commission was planning to waste tax-payer money by pursuing legal action in Chancery Court. Occupy Chattanooga has been peacefully and very respectfully (even deferentially) demonstrating since moving to the courthouse in November.

The County Commission had previously met in secret, violating the Open Meetings Act or "Sunshine Law", to discuss taking legal action against Occupy. Since then, County Commissioners Warren Mackey and Tim Boyd have both publicly stated their opposition to the current "Sunshine Law" which demands greater government transparency in favor of a new law which would allow for private, closed-door deliberations.

According to the Hamilton County Commission website, the next planned meeting of the County Commission is an Agenda Setting Meeting on December 29th and then another Regular County Commission Meeting is scheduled for January 4th. All meetings are held at 9:30 AM.

County Commission Chairman Larry Henry can be reached at (423) 894-6269 & (423)209-7200

UPDATE: 

News Channel 3 Eyewitness News has reported the following about the County Commission's actions today:

The move was conducted as an "emergency resolution", which allowed the resolution to be added to the agenda without notice. Chairman Henry tells Eyewitness News commissioners have been crafting the resolution for some time.

This obviously leads me to wonder, when exactly was the County Commission "crafting" this resolution? They have not discussed the resolution prior to today. Was this resolution the product of their previous closed-door meeting that violated the Sunshine Law? It would seem that the County Commission has acted illegally by deliberating/scheming in private about how to begin the process of evicting Occupy Chattanooga.

Littlefield's Second Attempt to Thwart Democracy and the Will of the People

On December 16th, Mayor Ron Littefield's lawyer Hal North filed his second injunction in Circuit Court to stop the recall election set for August. To read the injunction, click HERE.

We should know by Thursday which judge will be presiding over the case. There were very serious concerns about the previous case, heard by Judge Jeff Hollingsworth. 

Judge Jeff Hollingsworth, whose judgement over the previous case was found to be without jurisdiction and thus void, has very deep and concerning connections to the law firm hired by Littlefield, which I had documented in a previous Facebook note.

Here is my Facebook note reprinted for consideration:

I am going to wade into dangerous waters and lay out some facts and connect some dots about the decision that was made by the Tennessee Court of Appeals concerning the Recall of Mayor Ron Littlefied.

But first, a little background: Recallers turned in enough verified signatures within the time period allotted to Recall Mayor Ron Littlefield, following the terms and conditions of the Recall as interpreted for them by the Hamilton County Election Commission, the County Institution authorized by law to make such determinations.

After a sufficient number of signatures had been verified but prior to the Hamilton County Election Commission (HCEC) certifying the signatures and calling for the Recall Election, Mayor Ron Littlfield filed suit and gained an injunction against the HCEC - gaining a hearing in Judge Jeff Hollingsworth's court. Judge Jeff Hollingswoth went on to throw out the Recall Election, the section of the City Charter related to Recall, and the petitions verified by the HCEC.The Tennessee Court of Appeals has ruled that Mayor Ron Littlefield had no standing to file suit and that Judge Jeff Hollingsworth had no jurisdiction (and that all of his rulings are void, becuase "a judgement without jurisdiction is void").

Read the Court of Appeals Judgment HERE.

It seems rather obvious that Littlefield had no standing and that the Judge had no jurisdiction PRIOR TO THE H.C.E.C. ACTUALLY CERTIFYING THE SIGNATURES AND CALLING FOR THE ELECTION. What can account for this judicial mistake that bought Mayor Littlefield some much needed time? Well, here are some thoughts that might lead one down a certain rabbit hole... (remember, in 2010 Tennessee was voted the most corrupt state in the country)

FACTS:

1. Mayor Ron Littlfield hired Hal North, Rick Hitchcock and Tom Greenholtz to represent him in court, these three lawyers work for Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel - a major law firm and power player in Chattanooga. 
2. Judge Jeff Holllingsworth worked for Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel for 17 years. 
3. Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel attorneys contributed more to Hollingsworth’s 2006 campaign than any other firm, according to information from the Hamilton County Election Commission:4.6.2006: 4.25.2006: 7.10.2006: 7.27.2006: 
4. Stephen Jett was Judge Jeff Hollingsworth's campaign treasurer - and is a partner at Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel. 
5. Out of 135 contributions Hollingsworth received in 2006, more than 40 came from Chambliss employees, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

I believe that these facts warrant concern, even more so after the Tennessee Appeals Court decision.

Current Map of Chattanooga City Council Districts

Approved on FIRST reading at City Council meeting on 12.13.2011, Council Rep. Jack Benson presiding:

If the second vote passes next week then this will be the final map for the newly aligned City Council districts.

The Biggest Meeting of the Year and YOU WERE NOT INVITED

The largest annual meeting of County and State officials took place in the first week of December to discuss the legislative priorities of Hamilton County in 2012.

At the meeting, County Mayor Coppinger, Mayor's Chief of Staff Mike Compton, County Sheriff Hammond, the Superintendent of the Hamilton County Schools Rick Smith and County Commissioners McClure, Henry, Boyd,  Fields, Skillern, Graham and Bankston as well as Hamilton County Assessor Bill Bennett, Circuit Court Clerk Paula Thompson,  Criminal Court Clerk Gwen Tidwell, Juvenile Court Clerk Gary Behler, Hamilton County Trustee Bill Hullander, and County Clerk Bill Knowles met with State Senators Bo Watson and Andy Berke as well as State Representatives Gerald McCormick, Richard Floyd, Tommie Brown, Joanne Favors, Vince Dean, and Jim Cobb.

The only people missing were.... the public. The constituents. The people that our elected officials are elected to represent. Our absence was understandable, since there was little to no attempt to seriously outreach to the public [Nooga.com journalist Beverly Carroll was not even aware of the meeting until the day of]. When I asked several County and State officials why the public was clearly left out in the cold, I received a variety of very weak and absurd responses: Why would the public want to be here? We do this every year. We're not deliberating after all. The documents are available online, what more do people need?

At the meeting the County presented a handout entitled "Hamilton County 2012 Legislative Priorities" and asked OUR state delegation to support VERY specific demands.

It boggles the mind that our elected leadership would think that the public would not have a vested interest in hearing what the County has set aside as THE major concerns and priorities to be addressed by OUR delegation to the General Assembly. Apparently these legislative proposals are important enough to be selected and presented to the state delegation along with reasons and arguments for a collective commitment to their enactment - but they are not important enough to make a serious case to the public at large, or for the public to be in any way involved.

I believe that the public DOES desire to know what is being done, what is being asked for, what is being prioritized in our name. That is why I recorded the entire meeting:
Part One

Part Two

Of additional interest is County Mayor Coppinger's response to my questions about the Tennessee County Commission Association's proposal to change the Open Meetings Act to effectively bar the public from deliberations on legislation that directly affects us. I had written before that County Mayor Coppinger and County Commissioner Mackey had openly discussed proposing that our state delegation endorse legislation to change the Open Meetings Act. Coppinger said "you misunderstood me, you need to go back and look at the minutes of that meeting ... I was not implying that the law needed to be changed."
I caught the exchange on video:

So I followed Coppinger's advice and went back and transcribed what he said. Here it is:

50 minute mark of County Commission meeting

November 16 2011 regular meeting, Chairman Larry Henry presiding…

Mayor Jim Coppinger: the only reason you are out of the loop is that you are not allowed. Again, I wish you were. You guys might want to ask your delegation to change that. There’s not a way to brief you, except through the person you send to represent you. And we’ve been doing that. Those of us who have been intimately involved through the Commissioner and the Chairman of that Committee, uh, Mitch McClure and I thank you for your participation Mr. McClure. [emphasis added]

County Commissioner Mackey: I don’t want to belabor this and I think the Mayor is right and I do hope that we encourage the state delegation to allow us to do the same things that they can do that they say that we can’t do, which is meet, uh, in a more private setting.

Also of note was Commissioner Tim Boyd's impromptu rants against the Hamilton County Educational Association and his personal endorsement of a proposal to change the Open Meetings Act so as to allow County Commissioners to meet in private.
This exchange was also caught on video:

Commissioner Boyd flat out said "we should have the ability to meet privately" and that "if two or three [Commissioners] want to get together and discuss some issues, I don't see a problem with that."


Tennessee Case Law (McElroy v. Strickland) has ruled that:

“Once the discussion goes beyond the purely procedural matters of when to conduct the meeting and delves into a discussion of the merits of substantive issues then the requirements of the act are invoked.”

Basically, anything beyond the place and time of the next meeting is deliberation according to the law, but that isn't what Commissioner Boyd thinks: "I don't consider it deliberation. I feel like we should be held to the same accountability as our state elected officials as far as me and any discussions that may go on."


Personally, I found a multitude of reasons for the public to be there. I'm sure many of you would have too, had you been invited.

Gov. Haslam is the 0.1%

One of the VERY FIRST actions that the newly elected Governor Haslam took upon entering office was to issue an Executive Order that tossed out income disclosure rules that required the Governor and top aides to disclose how much they earn.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported at the time:

The move wipes off the books former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen’s first executive order of 2003, which required the top executive branch officials to make annual reports about their total earnings.

Haslam was heavily criticized during the campaign for refusing to say how much he earned from family owned Pilot, a national truck stop chain with annual revenues of about $20 billion.

Haslam eliminated procedures that ensure transparency in the highest elected office in the state of Tennessee in order to avoid closer scrutiny of his income. This is more or less verified by a new report published by The Commercial Appeal of Memphis which found that Governor Haslam has used a variety of tax-loopholes and government give aways to pay "an effective federal income tax rate that at times was lower than that paid by many middle-class families."

Haslam draws the majority of his wealth from Pilot Flying J, a nationwide chain of gas stations, for which Haslam has never disclosed his earnings from. Haslam is not only in the top 1% of annual income earners, he is in the top 0.1% - and his out of touch policies (including union-busiting, corproate give aways and austerity budgets) are the result.

UPDATE: According to a statewide poll conducted by Vanderbilt University - a vast majority, more than two-thirds, of residents across Tennessee say they support higher taxes on millionaires as part of Tennessee's budget next year. Imagine how they feel about raising taxes on a BILLIONAIRE like Haslam - especially a billionaire who uses his money to hire lawyers to find ways to weasel out of paying his fair share, pushing the tax burden onto the hard working people of Tennessee. At least we can say this about Haslam, he is as consistent with his personal finances as he is with his policies.

Just Between Us White Men

Just between us white men:

“Why don't we go back to the Constitution when the only voters were white male property owners?”

That was the question posed by County Commissioner Fred Skillern, to local progressive activist and Democratic Party volunteer Phil Phillips in the elevator of the Hamilton County Courthouse after a vote by the Hamilton County Commission on whether or not to support a resolution calling for the Hamilton County Delegation to the Tennessee General Assembly to repeal the “Voter ID Law”.

The “Voter ID Law,” passed last year by the GOP dominated General Assembly, was blatantly created for the sole purpose of suppressing voter turnout by creating completely unnecessary barriers between the poor, the elderly, minorities and college students (how do those demographics usually vote?) on the one hand and the ballot box on the other.

The resolution calling on Hamilton County’s Delegates to repeal this law failed 7 – 2, the two supporting votes coming from Commissioners of color who represent districts with high numbers of minorities.

Skillern’s comments should not come as a surprise. This is the Commissioner who blazenly referred to his fellow Commissioners as “Niggers” in front of a reporter. And his feelings about “white male property owners” align perfectly with the very people who voted to pass the law in Nashville, like Hamilton County’s District 27 Representative Richard Floyd who said that his constituents need to realize that voting is NOT a right, but a “privilege”.

This cannot be overstated: what we are seeing is the rise of the corporate domination of our state legislature, protected by bigoted, reactionary forces at the local level.

Videos:

The County Commission began with an invocation made in the name of “Jesus the Christ” and the recognition of the importance of Christmas as the time that God came “in the form of man [sic]”. (Remember, this is the Hamilton County Commission that, after 9/11, voted to place a plaque of the Ten Commandments in the Hamilton County Courthouse – the Commission was subsequently sued and the plaque wasremoved)

The actual vote:

Hamilton County Democratic Party Chair Paul Smith addresses the Commission:

Occupy Chattanooga activist Frank Eaton addresses the Commission:

Phil Phillips addresses the Commission:

November Gaffe Award: Hamilton County Chairman Larry Henry

I believe that the November Gaffe Award should be awarded to Hamilton County Commission Chairman Larry Henry for a strange and curious monologue he delivered while discussing gang violence during the November 16 2011 regular meeting of the Hamilton County Commission. 

The Chairman receives high-marks for crazy jumps in logic and reason, red baiting and the promotion of a solution to violent crime that emphasizes a fundamentalist Christian worldview centered on the fictional nuclear family.

Chairman Henry's statements can be heard and verified by listening to the Hamilton County Audio from the 11/16 Regular meeting, beginning at the 58 minute mark.

Chairman Larry Henry: 

I can’t help but remember from some old classes I took some years ago when it was talking about socialism and communism and the evolution of socialism to communism and to a perfect utopia, what have you. And our counter-parts in our communist countries and Nikita Khrushchev, he made this statement one time that they, uh, they would take over this country without firing a single shot. In other words, what he meant by that, was that, uh, what would happen in this country and I think we are seeing this happening now, will be a general break down in the family. And when the family breaks down, then everything else follows with it. So, we’re seeing that. And I think that attributes a lot to the violence and the crime and what we have now with our teenagers in some of this gang violence is a break down in the family. We’re seeing that, so I agree with the comments that were made and certainly I think that bringing everybody to the table primarily though is that our leaders in the faith-based organizations to, uh, try and make parents be parents. And I don’t know how you do that. I really don’t. I soul-search myself on that.

That's right. The Commies are winning. Never mind huge increases in concentrated poverty, structural unemployment, abysmal public transportation, the purposeful financial starvation of our educational system and the drastic budget cuts to organizations providing essential social services to under-resourced communities. Never mind the easy access city residents have to guns. It's the churches and family values, stupid.

State Delegation/County Commission/School Board Luncheon Today

With little to no public outreach/announcement the Tennessee State Delegation will be meeting with both the County Commission and the School Board today, Monday December 5 at 11:30 AM in the Roosevelt Room at the Chattanooga Choo Choo.

County Officials & State Delegation luncheon

UPDATE: The Tennessee State Delegation is NOT meeting with the County Commission at their regularly scheduled County Commission Meeting. Instead, the County Commission AND the County School Board will be meeting with the delegation at a special luncheon at the Choo-Choo in downtown Chattanooga.

There has been little to no media reporting related to this annual event. Commissioner Joe Graham did say that members of the Hamilton County Commission and the Hamilton County School Board would be making public requests for specific legislation from our delegation.

Hamilton County Commission: Making Stands Against Democracy Appear Noble

This coming Wednesday, December 7 2011, the Hamilton County Commission will be meeting publicly with OUR delegation to the Tennessee General Assembly to request changes in law from OUR State Legislature.

What will the Commission be asking of our delegation on behalf of the people of Hamilton County? It appears in all likelihood that there will be motions made to ask the State to:

1. Repeal the Open Meetings Act and make changes so as to allow politicians to deliberate in private about matters that affect those whom they govern – barring both the media and their constituents from knowing about such meetings, participating in them, and having access to records of them.

The Tennessee County Commissioners Association Board of Directors, on which Hamilton County District 4 Commissioner Warren Mackey sits, has voted on endorsing a series of Proposed Changes to the Tennessee Open Meetings Act. At the November 22 meeting of the County Commission, County Mayor Jim Coppinger and District 4 Commissioner Warren Mackey both openly called for the Hamilton County delegation to support the proposed changes to the Open Meetings Act. Commissioner Mackey explicitly said that it was “important” for the Commission to be able to “meet in private.”

This issue is cropping up all over the state as the counties themselves take public stands in either support of the law and the public’s right to meaningfully participate in the decision making process or in support of changing the law in defense of the Good Old Boy backroom corruption that Tennessee government is known for.

2. Support the suppression of voter turnout by purposely endorsing legislation that is blatantly disenfranchising voters. The current “Voter ID” law passed by the GOP dominated TN General Assembly is an obvious attempt at creating undue barriers between the poor, the elderly, minorities and college students on the one hand and the ballot box on the other.

This law is best summed up by District 27 Representative Richard Floyd who says that voting is not a right, but a “privilege”. This is coded language for another Tennessee legacy that is alive and in force today: white supremacy. The views of the County Commissioners in support of this legislation are also revealing on this point. Commissioner “boss hog” Skillern, whose open hate for minorities has been widely reported, said “we have never in the history of this country had so many illegal immigrants in our country” and that “some of our districts, not mine, but some of our districts have enough illegals in them to swing an election.” Chairman Henry followed on Skillern’s heels saying that “it is evident that since 9/11 we live in a different world. Wish that we could go back to the 50s and 60s.”

That about sums it up. The Hamilton County Commission is an anachronism. They want to go back to a time before the Voting Rights Act and before the Civil Rights Act. Back to a time when the "privilege" of voting was not extended to anyone other than white men. They don’t want power ceded from them to a new generation or to communities that stand in direct opposition to the hate, ignorance and folly that their values and worldview are founded within.

Underneath BOTH of these proposals is the charade that they are being done in OUR best interest.

The County Commission needs to meet in private and exclude the public because it will make for “more effective government”. Nevermind that, following that line of thinking, the most effective government of all would be a dictatorship. The truth is that they just simply don’t want to be bothered by the media or the people about all the awful decisions that this incompetent, mediocre crew of small-minded and opportunistic good old boys sees fit to make on behalf of our county.

The County Commission loves the legislation coming out of the 107^th Session of the Tennessee General Assembly, which will be remembered as one of the worst legislative sessions in the history of our state. The Tennessee General Assembly legalized political corruption in our state, by raising the cap on corporate campaign contributions by 40% and removing any and all barriers between corporations and politicians by allowing corporations to make contributions DIRECTLY to candidates, going so far as to allow them to make contributions DURING the legislative session. After passing such vile legislation it makes perfect sense to protect your investment by creating as many barriers as possible between the people who see what is going on and the ballot box. That is exactly what has happened.

We get the kind of government we deserve. The Hamilton County Commission is working tirelessly to roll back our democracy to limit the degree to which they can be held accountable for their routine misuse of authority – all under the veneer of the noble pursuit of the public’s interest. If the public falls for it, or does nothing, then we will get exactly what is coming to us.