Sundquist vs. the GOP? Four Shelby County legislators join an anti-tax revolt which may target the U of M. by JACKSON BAKER Governor Don Sundquist, whose tax reform plans were mauled in the recently aborted special session of the Tennessee General Assembly, has called a breakfast meeting with GOP state committee members for Saturday morning to try to stave off a revolt against his titular leadership of the state Republican Party. The rebellion, which has been simmering for most of the year, was most recently fueled by a letter -- signed by 33 Republican members of the legislature over the weekend and dispatched to state Republican Party chairman Chip Saltsman -- seeking the formal repudiation of a state income tax at Saturday's regularly scheduled quarterly meeting of the GOP state committee in Nashville. That letter -- signed by four members of the Shelby County legislative delegation -- underwrites several previous demands by the state Federation of Republican Women, one of which is to strike down $48 million in capital improvements allegedly earmarked for the University of Memphis. The four Shelby County signatories, who may not have been aware of everything they were endorsing, were: State Senator Tom Leatherwood and State Representatives Larry Scroggs, Tre Hargett, and W.C. "Bubba" Pleasant. The legislators' letter -- which conspicuously includes no signatures from the Republican Party's official legislative leadership -- makes four requests of Saltsman and the Republican executive committee, that he and they should: · Adopt a "strongly worded resolution in opposition to the income tax," citing as a "model for action" a resolution adopted by the Tennessee Federation of Republican Women last month; · Commit, in writing, that the party "will use its resources in the general election to print and mail literature" on behalf of candidates who "chose to make opposition to an income tax and support for TennCare reform a major issue in their campaign." · Develop "an aggressive and strategic plan" for defending incumbent Republican legislators and "using the income tax issue to gain those seats in the Legislature currently held by Democrats." · "Make clear to the public, by all means available and with regularity," that the state Democratic Executive Committee has endorsed a resolution supporting a state income tax. Two key points of the Tennessee Federation of Republican Women statement, adopted at that group's annual convention in Johnson City last month, read as follows: · "BE IT RESOLVED, that the TFRW encourages the Governor and Legislature not to enact a state income tax · "FURTHER, the TFRW encourages the Governor and the Legislature to make major cuts in proposed budgetary spending and nonessential capital development including items such as a $40 million office building for our part-time citizens' legislature, $48 million for new buildings at the University of Memphis [our italics] and $24 million for golf courses. The capital expenditures designated in Gov. Sundquist's budget for the University of Memphis are said to include sums for construction of a campus Performing Arts Center and a parking garage to supplement a hotel being built for the University by developer Kemmons Wilson. Apprised this week of the content of the TFRW resolution, Scroggs for one said he had been unfamiliar with its details and that he would not be inclined to underwrite the specific TFRW demand for elimination of the planned spending at the University. Republican national committeeman John Ryder of Memphis was less reticent about the point, however, maintaining, "If you're going to talk about not increasing taxes, then you've got to be prepared to cut here as well as elsewhere. Would the people of Memphis prefer to spend $40 million for new buildings at the University or avoid a state income tax? This is illustrative of the issue that people of Tennesseans have to make. You can't say, 'Don't cut mine. Just cut his.'" [A spokesman for the University of Memphis, Curt Guenther, said, "We don't show any figures that come anywhere close to $48 million. To find out what these people have in mind, you'd have to ask them. Speaking just for myself, they may be playing fast and loose with figures to make a point in Republican politics. Assuming they have in mind the Performing Arts Center and the parking garage, these are projects that would certainly be extremely beneficial to the students and would enhance the services the University provides to West Tennessee. We don't ask for a lot money. We ask for what we need, and the people get a good return on it."] Ryder -- who, as an ex-officio member of the state committee, will attend Saturday's meeting, as well as the prior breakfast at the Governor's Mansion -- said, however, that he thought the executive committee would be well advised not to make any new formal statements on the tax issue, pointing out that the state committee was already on record, as of 1992, in opposition to an income tax. The issue of "painful" cuts in state spending is one which Sundquist has raised repeatedly in telling the legislature that tax reform is indispensable if the state is to move ahead with necessary projects. The governor has cited education, health care, and crime control as three areas that would be affected by a failure to act on tax reform. In his speech in early November which marked the beginning of last month's special session (the second he had called this year) Sundquist put legislators on notice that, if they failed to act, he would submit a budget in January that included all the spending projects he considered necessary and that it would be up to the legislature to make cuts if tax reform had meanwhile not been achieved. "I will take no part in it," the governor said bluntly. Sundquist has come to accept a "flat" version of a state income tax as a necessary part of tax reform and proposed a variant of it at the beginning of the late session. A spokesperson, Beth Fortune, said this week that the governor would probably push in January for a plan similar to the one he proposed last month. That plan included a flat 3.75 percent income tax, rolled back the sales tax to 3.75 percent and eliminated the 6 percent sales tax on groceries and the Hall income tax on investment proceeds. Fortune said Sundquist ''very possibly'' will call a third special session on tax reform during the 2000 regular session of the 101st General Assembly, which reconvenes on January 11th. Although Sundquist and the GOP state committee appear committed to opposite purposes, local Republican figures still hope that a major clash can be averted at Saturday's meetings. Along with Ryder, two Memphis members of the state committee -- David Kustoff and Annabelle Woodall -- said they intended to hear the governor out with what both called "an open mind" and assumed that other committee members would do the same. n Sundquist has maintained close relations in the past with several of the GOP legislators who signed the letter repudiating his position on tax reform. Scroggs, who was receiving congratulations for his stand from several attendees at County Trustee Bob Patterson's annual Christmas party Monday night, has had especially close ties. Pat Scroggs, the Germantown legislator's wife, is Sundquist's field representative in Memphis. Moreover, Sundquist helped Scroggs raise money and made two conspicuous appearances at Scroggs' side during his close 1998 re-election battle against former Representative David Shirley in last year's Republican primary. The governor also appeared alongside Pleasant at an outdoor festival during the Bartlett representative's re-election campaign against Democrat Sandra McQuain last year. (Scroggs, incidentally, has proposed a "performance-based" funding formula for state government, one which he will introduce in the form of a bill in January.) n As mentioned, no members of the state Republican legislative leadership joined in with the weekend rebellion against Sundquist. House Minority Leader Steve McDaniel (R-Lexington) said he had seen the legislators' letter but chose not to sign. "I don't feel it's necessary," McDaniel said. "I don't see where it would benefit the party or the state by my signature appearing on that letter." McDaniel said his constituents seemed to be opposed to an income tax, "and until they believe that tax reform should include an income tax, that's where I'll be," but he added, "I don't represent the Republican Party at the legislature. I represent the people of the 72nd District." Mid-Season Trade: Hall for Ford? Increasingly, it looks as though Tennesseans will have to forget about the long-rumored U.S. Senate race between incumbent Republican Bill Frist and U.S. Representative Harold Ford Jr. of Memphis, who is well past several calendar dates he once set as deadlines for deciding on a race. It is fast becoming gospel, in fact -- even in those state and national Democratic circles where a Ford candidacy is most coveted -- that the Memphis congressman is merely engaging in self-aggrandizing spin when he talks about a Senate race these days, especially since he is also letting it be known that he would need to be endowed with anything from $2 million to $6 million in party funds to make a race. Under the circumstances, Democrats have begun to look elsewhere, and the name that is increasingly being mentioned, both locally and nationally, is that of Jim Hall, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board and a former major policy aide during the administration of ex-Gov. Ned Ray McWherter. Hall -- whose face has become increasingly familiar to Americans as his televised image has accompanied almost every piece of news coverage concerning a rail or airline disaster -- has made bashful sounds about the prospect of running. He says he would prefer to see Ford (as "our strongest candidate") run but has added that he would not close the door on becoming the candidate himself. "You don't ever say never," says Hall. n Meanwhile, Frist has made it clear that, should a race with Ford actually develop, it would be one containing more than the usual amount of bitterness. "He made a huge mistake in coming after me and my family," Frist said this week. "Coming after me and questioning my family's ethics is where I draw the line." Frist's reference was to criticism from Ford concerning the Frist family's involvement in the Columbia/HCA hospital chain, headquartered in Nashville. The congressman has accused the senator of a conflict of interest in leading the fight against a Democratic proposal to allow patients to litigate against HMOs. "Talk patients' bill of rights, talk issues, talk education," Frist said. "But to start off coming out of the box questioning the ethics and character of my family is not the way to do it. If he decides to run, I am going to run very hard in a very well-financed race with a lot of discipline. I don't want anybody representing me who starts off in such a way."