Marsha Blackburn, the Nashville-area resident who defeated
a largish field of opponents in last year’s 7th District congressional race
and then dusted off Democrat Tim Barron of Collierville, should have
every reason to feel secure in her job.
After all, she won overwhelmingly in both primary and general elections,
even managing to finish second place in Shelby County in the Republican
primary vote, despite the fact that three — count ’em, three — of her major
opponents hailed from Shelby. They were lawyer David
Kustoff, who directed the 2000 Bush presidential campaign in
Tennessee and the successful Senate campaign last
year of Lamar Alexander; state Senator
Mark Norris; and Memphis city councilman
Brent Taylor. Only Kustoff finished ahead of Blackburn in Shelby County.
Upon her election, Blackburn promptly found herself named an
assistant whip for the GOP in the House of Representatives and got the
appointment she coveted to a government operations subcommittee that would give her
good opportunity to capitalize on the conservative-populist image that
she, as a prominent income-tax opponent, had established so successfully in the state Senate.
Moreover, she proved herself to be a more than adequate campaigner and
has established district offices throughout the sprawling 7th, which runs from the
suburbs of Memphis to those of Nashville. She even maintains a part-time
residence along Highway 64 in Shelby County. Add to this the overwhelming
advantages that normally allow incumbents — absent personal or party scandal — to
win renomination and reelection easily.
Why then are there persistent rumors that Kustoff is aiming to oppose her
re-election in 2004? And why does Kustoff — who acknowledges having been
encouraged to oppose Blackburn by “a number of people,” especially in
Shelby County — choose not to rule out making the race?
“I just haven’t made any decisions
whatever about what I’m going to be doing this year, next year, or in 2006, or
at any point thereafter,” says Kustoff, who owns a reputation for being cautious
and practical and not given to quixotic adventures.
The bottom line would seem to be that
there is an appreciable body of Republicans locally who either
see Blackburn’s politics as being too hard-line or believe that the
congressman from the 7th District should hail from
Shelby County or its near vicinity — as had the last several representatives from the district.
“I’ve heard a lot of that,”
concedes Kustoff, a favorite of former Governor
Don Sundquist, himself a former 7th District representative, who mused
out loud late last year about the likelihood of an opponent for Blackburn in
2004. Blackburn’s operatives themselves are known to take the prospect of a
Kustoff race seriously and periodically inquire about news of one.
Even if Blackburn draws no strong opponent in 2004, she will likely have a
race on her hands in 2006 — at which time she is almost certain to run for
either governor or for the U.S. Senate, if Majority Leader
Bill Frist, honors his two-term pledge and begins a campaign
for the presidential nomination in 2008.
· Sheriff Mark Luttrell is another
elected official who, like Governor Phil Bredesen,
campaigned on the theme of governmental economy and was taken
in some circles to be merely electioneering but, like Bredesen, seems to have
been serious all along.
In dealing with the regime of his predecessor, three-term sheriff
A.C. Gilless, Luttrell has been partly circumspect
and partly scathing. He practices a form of charity and says that “after turning
over every rock” his administration has seen no sign of fraud. But under those
selfsame rocks, says Luttrell, was “an abundance of waste.” In fact,
maintains Luttrell, Gilless’ budget — the bane of
the Rout administration and the county commission for years — “was a mess.”
What made it so messy was, according to the current sheriff, a
superfluity of employees — to the tune of some
600, in Luttrell’s estimation. The lion’s share of that excess, as he saw it, was in
the county jail. And what worsened the situation was the pay parity awarded the
jailers last year. Hadn’t the jailers, whose representatives made frequent and
impassioned visits to commission meetings, made the case that their job was as
demanding, if not more so, than that of regular deputies in the field? Didn’t
they speak vividly of having to dodge human excrement and urine thrown
(or splashed) their way?
“They wouldn’t have had to dodge all that … ” (actually the sheriff used
some vernacular) “if we’d had some effective procedures in place for dealing with
inmates,” Luttrell answered the other night after expressing some of his concerns
to a neighborhood Republican club.
Luttrell, who was county corrections director before his election as
sheriff, plans to conduct a formal study of jail operations preparatory to making
what he suggests will be fairly drastic budget-cutting measures.
In this, he can expect the full support of Shelby County
Commissioner Bruce Thompson, chairman of
the commission’s law-enforcement committee and a proponent of
cut-to-the-bone conservatism himself.
Says Thompson, “Sheriff Luttrell’s doing a fine job of trying to save
the county money.” The commissioner notes that the commission is in the throes
of debating a Luttrell proposal to privatize the handling of inmates’ assets, a
function now served by publicly paid employees. The proposal, which has been
criticized by Commissioner Michael Hooks as
unfair to county staffers who might lose their jobs, was scheduled for committee
discussion this week and for floor action by the full commission on Monday.
·