Hamilton County, the part of Southeast Tennessee where I spent most of my life, you restored my faith.

First of all, you made the rest of the country aware of the amazing platform that could only belong to Basil Marceaux. Prior to his viral video, the only people who knew about him were the unfortunate drivers who saw his enormous sign at the intersection of Hamill Road and 153 during the 2008 election, Tea Party attendees, the editors at Chattarati and me. His uniqueness was just too much to keep within the Scenic City.

Yes, America. You can thank us. The anti-stop light lobby has a spokesman…finally.

Now, prominent members of the Hamilton County Republican Party have taken the bold step of endorsing…a Democrat!?! That’s right, a number of influential people behind the county party — with the largest Pachyderm Club in the country — endorsed Bill Knowles, Democratic incumbent, for county clerk.

Their statement, published at Chattanoogan.com, is priceless:

As concerned Republican leaders and citizens, we do not wish to watch a travesty take place in Hamilton County such as the one that occurred recently in the South Carolina primaries.

Dude. If you’re going to endorse a member of the opposing party, there really isn’t a reason to mince words. At least they are honest with their intentions.

However, we as Republicans ‘cannot’ support Mr. Heathington for county clerk due to his numerous criminal convictions which are a matter of public record.

Since this is a county position, no one really pays attention. It’s a shame, and I confess to ignoring county races. Unless I happened to read Joe Lance’s excellent voter guides to Chattanooga-area politics, I honestly voted for the candidate with the best yard sign. (This evolved after someone put the Disney type on their yard sign. Anyone willing to use that typeface should not hold public office regardless of party.)

The office of county clerk doesn’t seem that contentious, and Bill Knowles has been there for 36 years. Renewing your license plate is actually one of the easiest things to do in Hamilton County, and the folks in the County Courthouse are always incredibly friendly. If this was the Assessor of Property, the office that raised nearly everyone’s property assessment in a year when the housing market took a national nosedive, I could understand a race that’s closer than normal.

What has scared Republicans enough to endorse a Democrat in the section of Tennessee that has voted mostly GOP since before the Civil War? (Watch Senator Alexander give an excellent explanation of the political makeup of Tennessee if curious.)

Mr. Heathington, the Republican, appears to have a bit of a criminal background. Apparently he:

-Pled guilty in Federal Court to failure to comply with federal officials and directives, 1982. Sentenced to 30 days in jail, suspended and placed on probation.
-Pled guilty to assault in 1983 and received six months suspended sentence.
-While on federal probation, pled guilty to DUI in 1990 and received 11 months/29 days, suspended after 45 days in jail and $500 fine paid.
-Pled guilty 1990 to driving on a revoked license and was given 30 days in the workhouse as well as fined $200.
-Pled guilty August 2008 to possession of gambling devices or records and was fined $50.

While I’m willing to give people second chances, especially for crimes committed twenty years ago, he really has HamCo insiders frightened. What triggered this? According to an opinion piece from Roy Exum, who publishes almost weekly opinion pieces at Chattanoogan, an online poll has them concerned.

As of 5 a.m. this morning with 1,528 responses, a poll asking, “For county clerk of Hamilton County, do you favor?” the poll showed Bill has a comfortable 66-34 margin over his Republican rival, Chester Heathington. What everyone with any knowledge of Hamilton County knows is, that last number is insane

Facepalm? Online polls are hardly accurate, and Chattanoogan polls can stay open for weeks at at time. You can even vote more than once. I’m frankly surprised that 1,500 people took the time to click a response on an issue regarding the county clerk.

While Mr. Exum has a valid point that straight-ticket voters could elect Heathington, local primaries have notoriously low turnouts, particularly ones during peak vacation periods like the beginning of August. Honestly, if Bill Knowles got all of his friends and family turned out to vote, he’d have a greater impact on the election than any other factor.

The real problem here is that it is incredibly easy to run for public office, and the Republicans still couldn’t find anyone to primary Heathington. That shows a far bigger issue than an online poll having a narrow gap of 17 points! There are strong arguments for eliminating national parties since we no longer need their machines to elect a majority party. The only reason to keep local parties around is to recruit and train future candidates.

The Hamilton County GOP is huge. Why aren’t they working to motivate and train potential candidates? That scenario alone exemplifies why so many grassroots Americans are fed up with the GOP. We may be leading on the generic ballot nationally, but Americans are more upset with the Democrats. We’re not the favored party. We’re the lessor of two evils. That’s not a good place to be.

Obviously, this system is failing us. If local insiders can’t recruit a friend to run for office (and apparently lose) or discourage anyone from running against a popular incumbent, there are far bigger issues than a 17 point gap on an online poll. Tennesseans want training, activism and leadership not social functions and good ol’ boy networks.

Nope, a state that I’m a little more familiar with won the top dishonors. Tennessee now has the dubious award of no. 1 in the country for corruption.  This was followed by my current state of residence, Virginia. Louisiana was no. 19.

Should I be surprised? After all, the Ford family calls Memphis home. If you haven’t ever followed the politics of Harold Ford, Jr.’s extended family, you’re missing drama. They would make a fascinating cable television series on HBO or FX. Actually a television show focusing on the interworkings of Shelby County would make great TV.

Then we had Operation Tennessee Waltz, which brought down a few more state legislators, including a member of the Ford family, for getting caught in a FBI bribery sting.

Consider how Fred Thompson got his start in Hollywood. He did a screen test to play himself in the movie version of Marie, the story that brought down Governor Roy Blanton and corrupt state officials at the Tennessee Parole Board.

According to The Daily Beast, which examined public corruption, embezzlement, forgery and counterfeiting, fraud, racketeering and extortion over the past 10 years, Tennessee ranks at the top:

Public Corruption: 18
Racketeering & Extortion: 11
Fraud Rank: 7
Forgery & Counterfeiting: 5
Embezzlement: 9

Recent Scandal: Here’s a foolproof recipe for corruption: a former policeman commingling with gang members. Milburn Williams, a retired police captain from Newport, ringleaders Raymond Hawk and Grant Williams, and 20 others were indicted on racketeering, drug trafficking and a slew of other charges last year in Greeneville. The sting operation was headed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and centered around a chop shop called “H-1 Auto”, later renamed “A Automotive.” For six years the chop shop was the command post for an operation that allegedly moved stolen property and goods across state lines and sold cocaine and marijuana. The most serious of the charges carry up to $2 million in fines and 40 years in prison.

Normally, I’m proud of the state where I grew up. Not so much today.

People are starting to finally take notice that the flooding in Nashville is probably the most under-reported disaster in recent years. Today, Newsbusters, Hot Air and Michelle Malkin have posts up. I’ve also seen more coverage on CNN and Fox. Strangely, Keith Olbermann was one of the first to notice the absence of media attention. (Yeah, hell froze over. I agree with Olbermann on something.)

Last night, I had dinner with a college friend who grew up 70 miles outside of Nashville. Thankfully, his family is fine, but he was just as surprised as me that most people in the country are unaware of the devastation. That attitude has been reflected over and over again this week as I’ve spoken to other Tennessee expats who are equally shocked.

I think the video below highlights exactly why the media has skipped coverage. It’s not sexy. There’s no looting. Geraldo and Shepard Smith aren’t running through the streets crying. The leadership is actually responsible, and we have a Governor who is fully capable of taking care of his state. This is also a very different type of disaster. How do you prepare for up to 18″ of rain in two days? You can’t predict flash flooding. There’s no warning system like tornadoes and hurricanes have. Areas that haven’t flooded in hundreds of years have 10 or more feet of water.

As the video notes, this is the largest disaster to hit Middle Tennessee since the Civil War. More than a billion dollars of damage occurred. A state capital was paralyzed. At least 28 people lost their lives in the Southeast. As the water recedes, we’ll start to see how intense the devastation is. The difference between Middle Tennessee and other disasters: the people.

We didn’t get the name Volunteer State because of football. Tennessee has a legacy of stepping up and quietly taking care of problems as they arise. We’re a strong and determined people, and Tennesseans will rally around the middle part of our state to help them rebuild. Communities are coming together, and neighbors are helping neighbors. While it would be nice to get national attention to help raise funds to rebuild and help the thousands of families who are now homeless, I’m proud of the independence of my state.

Section 303, a Nashville Predators blog summarized it the best:

But let’s look at the other side of the coin for a moment. A large part of the reason that we are being ignored is because of who we are. Think about that for just a second. Did you hear about looting? Did you hear about crime sprees? No…you didn’t. You heard about people pulling their neighbors off of rooftops. You saw a group of people trying to move two horses to higher ground. No…we didn’t loot. Our biggest warning was, “Don’t play in the floodwater.” When you think about it…that speaks a lot for our city. A large portion of why we were being ignored was that we weren’t doing anything to draw attention to ourselves. We were handling it on our own.

Some will be quick to find fault in the way rescue operations were handled, but the fact of the matter is that the catastrophe could not have been prevented and it is simply ignorant beyond all reason to suggest otherwise. It is a flood. It was caused by rain. You can try to find a face to stick this tragedy to, but you’ll be wrong.

Parts of Nashville that could never even conceivably be underwater were underwater. Some of them still are. Opry Mills and the Opryland Hotel are, for all intents and purposes, destroyed. People died sitting in standstill traffic on the Interstate. We saw boats going down West End. And, of course, we all saw the surreal image of the portable building from Lighthouse Christian floating into traffic and being destroyed when cars were knocked into it. I’m still having trouble comprehending all of it.

And yet…life will go on. We’ll go back to work, to school, to our lives…and we’ll carry on. In a little over a month, I’ll be on this website talking about the draft. In October, we’ll be discussing the new Predators’ season with nary a thought of these past few days. But in a way, they changed everyone in this town. We now know that that it can happen to us…but also know that we can handle it.

Because we are Nashville.

For readers not familiar with the state, this primarily affected Middle Tennessee. East Tennessee, where I’m from, has higher elevations and didn’t get the rainfall that bombarded the Nashville area.

Do you want to help out Middle Tennesseans?

Nashvillest, a community blog, has a run-down of where you can give and/or volunteer. Per their post:

All Metro Nashville official relief efforts will run through Hands On Nashville. Go HERE to sign up to be notified when volunteer opportunities are approved by the city, and follow them @HONashville for minute-by-minute updates. All relief efforts must go through Hands On Nashville to receive FEMA aid.

If you prefer to donate to local nonprofits, Second Harvest Food Bank, The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee and Graceworks Ministries are asking for support.

Check out photos at Nashvillest’s Flickr stream.

It’s sad to look at photos of downtown and see so many historic buildings underwater. There are also reports that the Grand Ole Opry is flooding now. Check out this video of the Opryland Hotel. A lot of jobs and homes were destroyed in this mess.

We’re the Volunteer State, so ultimately I have faith that my fellow Tennesseans will help one another.

*Between the BP oil spill in the Gulf and the near terrorist suspicious bomb in Times Square, this story has been hugely under-reported in the news. Without blogs, Facebook and Twitter, would anyone even be aware of the situation outside of the state? Without the updates from Twitter and local blogs like Nashvillest and Post Politics, many of us outside the region wouldn’t know how bad it is. This morning, the Tennesseean had an update that they couldn’t guarentee delivery of the paper. Then numerous utility trucks were destroyed in the flooding, making it harder to restore power to homes making broadcast TV difficult to watch.

If that doesn’t convince you that Twitter is necessary for breaking and emergency news, I don’t know what will. Anything that you can access via your phone is critical during emergencies. If you are responsible for any type of information or communications service, Twitter absolutely must be part of your plan, and in order for it to be effective, you have to plan ahead and build followings.

I know this is idealistic, but good sportsmanship is more than winning football games. When the University of Tennessee Athletic Department dumped Coach Fulmer, they dumped any remaining character that the football program had with General Neyland’s legacy.

UT sports have cashed in, which makes me disappointed in my alma mater (and why I will never donate money in my lifetime to the general fund). We’re not like Bama or Florida. We’re the Volunteers. We have that name because the people of Tennessee had a history of character, loyalty and patriotism. How many schools have that tradition? Most schools pick a name based on a mascot, industry of geographic location. Our name denotes something better and inspirational. The pride of being part of the Volunteer tradition is one reason I chose to to attend the University of Tennessee. Our name and teams should honor that tradition.

Coach Fulmer exhibited those qualities. Oh, I agree that he needed to go, but the university treated him terribly. He may be hated among other SEC teams, but he always showed grace and respect in the aftermath of last year.  How many football programs have the loyalty that Fulmer had? Mike Hamilton, UT Athletic Director, got what he deserved this week. Take the statement that Fulmer released today:

“Over the last 24 hours, I have been contacted by friends, great fans and media members, and I feel it is important to comment, as a man who loves the University of Tennessee deeply and shares this love with millions of great Volunteer fans and friends.

“Recent events have been painful and an embarrassment to all of us who care about UT. I love the university. I am loyal to my alma mater and am ready to help as the university makes one of the most important decisions in the history of our football program. However, to prevent any misunderstanding, I am not seeking to be a candidate for the head-coaching position.

“I am looking forward to embracing the next coach and have some strong beliefs about the kind of man he should be. He must embrace Tennessee’s culture and traditions, be mature and of good character, and demonstrate integrity and leadership to our young men who desperately want to be shown the way. He must deserve, earn and keep the trust of our young men — both present and future.

Fulmer has something that Kiffin will never understand. Seeing The Blindside reminded me of that.  Pat Summit also has it. They represent an era that’s now gone in SEC sports. Coaches today are not same class as General Neyland or even Bear Bryant. Now, it’s all about the money and championships. There’s no concept of loyalty or legacy left.

Being a head coach is more than coaching or recruiting. It’s displaying leadership and mentoring students. It’s difficult to be a college athlete. I may have scoffed at football players and actually once dropped a class because Casey Clausen (then the quarterback ) sat behind me and was incredibly annoying. However, I developed the utmost respect for the Lady Vols after having classes with several of them. Coach Fulmer said it well:

“Tennessee football has been successful for so many years because it has been rooted in values and traditions. We can’t take those values for granted — if we do not guard them carefully, we will lose them.”

I wish the athletic department and Vol fans would listen to Coach Fulmer and follow his advice.

Seeing the waste on the national level made me question what’s going on locally. Finding out exactly where are taxpayer dollars have gone is critical to ensure that nothing like this bill ever passes again. It’s not enough for the national media or top bloggers to pick out a few egregious examples of stimulus waste. Politicians need to hear from their constituents.

That’s where we come in. Bloggers and activists in every town and county throughout the country need to keep an eye on stimulus funding.  It’s up average taxpayers like you and me to make sure that no fraud is going on in our communities.

How do we start?

The Recovery Act promised transparency to the American people, yet how many Americans have taken time to sift through all of the grants, loans and awards? Do you know what’s going on in your backyard?

Recovery.gov is the official site that documents and tracks all stimulus funds. From the homepage, you can search by Zip code, or you can download detailed information about awarded grants in your community or state. These searches provide the most basic information about what’s going on in your area.

If you really want to dig into data, visit the Recovery.gov Download Center and look at spreadsheets that indentify organizations and contacts for all of the awarded grants.

A number of watchdog sites have emerged that track stimulus projects and are easier to use than Recovery.gov. At StimulusWatch.org, you can search by project, agency, state, city, zip code and keyword. I was able to pull up all of the projects in my hometown of Chattanooga, Tenn. Thankfully, all of the projects seem to be legitimate and fall within the parameters of the Recovery Act.

StimulusWatch.org is built as a wiki, so users can vote a project up or down and track the most wasteful project, such as “Explaining the African Vote” project at the University of California, San Diego. They received $233,823 to conduct exit polls in sub-Sarahan Africa.

ProPublica also created a Recovery Tracker. Unlike the other two sites, ProPublica also releases information on businesses that obtained loans through the stimulus. For example, the new Melting Pot in Chattanooga borrowed $684,000.

All of this information can get confusing. While some projects stand out, such as a $950,000 grant to colleges in Arizona to study ants, what is the difference between a grant, contract and loan? How do we know if it should be funded by the stimulus?

How the Recovery Act Works

According to Recovery.gov, the stimulus aims to

• Create new jobs as well as save existing ones
• Spur economic activity and invest in long-term economic growth
• Foster unprecedented levels of accountability and transparency in government spending

How does this work?

After the stimulus was passed, Congress allocated a set amount of funds to different federal agencies. These agencies then established requests for proposals or grant opportunities. These can be accessed through Grants.gov or Recovery.gov. Another pot of money was allocated for states, which turned it over to state agencies to either directly use or create sub-grants.

Often, this is where the waste starts.

Since the federal government allocated funds to various government agencies, the agencies are actually the ones making the grants and distributing funds. This means that the kids who got a free trip to the Climate Change were accountable to the National Science Foundation not the Obama Administration. Many of the questionable grants were awarded through government agencies like the National Science Foundation or the Institutes of Health. These are huge bureaucratic entities, and once they got control of the money there was no accountability.

Since many of the contracts and loans are also awarded by smaller agencies, it’s difficult to track where the money is going. Available contracts are listed on Recovery.gov and the site posts winning contractors. Loans are not as transparent, and ProPublica is the only site that I’ve seen include loans with community information.

What Can You Do?

Tracking stimulus funding in your community is the perfect activity for bloggers, local tea parties or concerned activities. Once you’ve researched the information, there are a number of ways that you can use it to raise awareness or hold your local, state and national elected officials accountable:

• Create a local Google Map of all the projects
• Write a blog post
• Write letters to the editor of your newspaper
• Write or call your local Congressman or Senator
• Create fliers about any questionable projects to hand out at local GOP meetings or Tea Party events
• Contact local media outlets about projects that need attention

The next Recovery.gov filing deadline is January 30, so get ready for another round of stories about government waste.

As I’ve said before, giving consumers choices with wine is an economic boon. More people purchase wine in states that allow it to be sold in grocery stores, and it also woos better grocery stores into the area. It helps local businesses when their products have more outlets. Its good for everyone. Well, maybe not the tee-totaling Baptist or the liquor store owners. Baptists have the choice to not buy wine and liquor stores have an unfair monopoly in the state.

Now that I’m in Northern Virginia, it’s so nice to purchase wine when I’m at the grocery store or at Target. (It’s strange to get used to Target selling wine!). I’ve yet to see any teenagers peruse the wine aisle in hopes of illegally purchasing their Malbecs or Beaujolais.

Red, White and Food is asking for Tennesseans to contact their state senators and representatives, especially the ones on the this committee, in support of wine in grocery stores. Click on the jump for names and numbers.

Senate
Chairman Bill Ketron
Phone (615) 741-6853
sen.bill.ketron@capitol.tn.gov

Sen. Mike Faulk
Phone (615) 741-2061
sen.mike.faulk@capitol.tn.gov

Sen. Joe Haynes
Phone (615) 741-6679
sen.joe.haynes@capitol.tn.gov

Sen. Mark Norris
Phone (615) 741-1967
sen.mark.norris@capitol.tn.gov

Sen. Reginald Tate
Phone (615) 741-2509
sen.reginald.tate@capitol.tn.gov

House
Chairman Curry Todd
Phone (615) 741-1866
rep.curry.todd@capitol.tn.gov

Rep. Ulysses Jones
Phone (615) 741-4575
rep.ulysses.jones@capitol.tn.gov

Rep. Richard Montgomery
Phone (615) 741-5981
rep.richard.montgomery@capitol.tn.gov

Rep. Charles Sargent
Phone (615) 741-6808
rep.charles.sargent@capitol.tn.gov

Rep. Harry Tindell
Phone (615) 741-2031
rep.harry.tindell@capitol.tn.gov