I wanted to keep everyone up to date on my campaign activities for the last week or so.
I’ve spoken previously about questions I have gotten from various places here. I’ve also noted that the series of posts I’ve written about “My Platform” are inspired by some of the questions I’ve received. Well, I’ve responded to two more sets of questions in the last week or so. The Knoxville/Knox County League of Women Voters put together a voters guide at VOTE411 where you can compare the positions of the candidates in various races. Those answers are up at the website now. I’ve also answered questions from Bike Walk Knoxville. I don’t think the answers to those questions are up yet. I plan on writing a post with my full answers to those questions in the future, so stay tuned.
I attended the meeting of the Knox County Charter Review Committee last Monday. It was more or less a preliminary meeting to chart out the schedule for their meetings and how much of the Charter they’ll review each month. They’re planning on meeting the first Monday of the month for the next few months, except in March when they’re meeting on March 9 because the first Monday is the day before the election. At the March 9 meeting, they’ll be discussing Articles I and II of the Charter, which covers Powers and Functions and the Legislative Branch. The April 6 meeting will be interesting as they’ll be covering at least Article III, which will include the discussion of whether the Law Director should be appointed or elected. I will be attending these meetings and I’m considering whether I will ask to speak on the Law Director issue. They spent some time at this meeting discussing how they’ll allocate the “public forum” portion of the meetings. I’m still looking for the promised on-line signup to be able to request that opportunity. It’s a month or so away, so I have time.
Last Thursday (Valentine’s Day eve), the Democratic County Commission candidates were invited to come to the Knox County Democratic Party’s County Assembly. We got a chance to talk to the assembled local Democratic leaders about our campaigns. We also heard from reps for some of the Presidential candidates (Pete, Bernie, Joe, Mike, Elizabeth). It was a good night and I was glad to be invited.
Most of Valentine’s weekend was low key. Dr. Frommeyer was laid up with something approximating the flu and, since the weather was nice, the rest of the house was filled with kids running around. The college kiddo also came over and he drove me around some of the neighborhoods in the district, so that I can keep my pledge to do so by March 3, 2020. We were down along Northshore and over in Sequoyah Hills. Last night I was driving around a little along Sutherland, Weisgarber and Middlebrook. I’ll do a full post on some of my driving observations at a later point. Just a little more to go.
Last night, I attended the quarterly meeting of the West Hills Community Association. There were a lot of candidates there to speak. Maybe 8? All three candidates for County Commission, District 4. A Circuit judge candidate, property assessor candidate, a couple for Law Director. It was a full house and we were limited in our time. I got a chance to chat with one of the Republicans running in my race. I think it’s a good example for how politics ought to be. I find both of the guys to be nice and thoughtful. I just disagree with them on the issues. In this case, it’s easy to follow the model of disagreeing without being disagreeable. And I have to say, I’ve only found one of the candidates running this cycle (I’m talking locally) that I find to be an odious turd. I’ll keep that name to myself, though, for obvious reasons. I had to leave a little early because I was on cheerleader pickup duty last night, but it was a good forum. I hope to get back there at another meeting when we’re in the general election mindset.