posted July 23, 2008
Over the weekend, campaign signs in support of Jim Cobb have sprouted new endorsements which are totally inaccurate and very misleading.
Add on signs now indicate that Jim Cobb has received the endorsement by "Veterans." This fits in very well with the rest of his questionable endorsements. As a retired veteran who served in both Vietnam and Desert Storm, this action by Jim Cobb is very upsetting and activates the sand in my rear.
Endorsements by any veterans service organization is not only discouraged but is also prohibited on local, state, and national levels. The indication that "veterans" as a group have endorsed Jim Cobb is untrue and very misleading. To me, this is a crime perpetrated on the general public.
These signs should be removed at once. Also Jim Cobb should publicly extend an apology to all veterans and the voters in the district which he poorly represents.
Jim Shull
Retired U.S. Navy
* * *
I'm a veteran. I also happen to support Rep. Jim Cobb of Spring City.
I know other veterans who support the good representative. For that matter, of the veterans I know who live in Tennessee House District 31, I don't know any who do not support Rep. Cobb. So is a statement that he's supported by "veterans" untrue? Doubtful. Are there organizations listed? No, someone is being more than just a little bit nit picky. There's no necessity for Rep. Cobb to apologize to this veteran and tax payer.
One might also, reasonably, presume that previous endorsements from organizations, which he has continued to support through his tenure at the Statehouse, would remain in effect even if they are not formally announced.
However, and on the other hand, this veteran and taxpayer would like to know what really happened the evening of 18 February 2004 in a karaoke bar located at 207 Printers Alley in Nashville when the police were called to investigate a fracas at that address. Reps. Jim Vincent and H.E. Bittle subsequently missed two full weeks of the legislative session and were not forthcoming with reasonable explanations afterward, even when asked direct questions about the incident. Then Rep. Vincent, in fact, gave at least four different accounts in the media of what happened that night. Mr. Vincent was reprimanded by Mr. Speaker Naifeh for stating that Mr. Speaker was there that night. One might expect a couple of the boys, who happen to be in their 50s and 60s, to step into a pickup basketball game from time to time. A pickup toughman contest is a bit much, and at a joint so sleazy not even I would frequent. "(A) proven prevaricator" is what Mr. Vincent was called in a TFP article on 11 March 2004.
There are those who would have us believe Rep. Cobb does a poor job of representing his constituents. When asking those making such claims for specifics, as I am wont to do from time to time, the first issue to come up is "he voted against the BEP 2.0." Well isn't that special. He voted against spending excess taxes collected during a windfall year that would have had a detrimental affect on rural Tennessee counties, fully half of his constituency. Have those funds been forthcoming from Nashville? All I can see in my mind's eye is a movie scene with Tom Cruise shouting "(s)how me the money! Show me the money!" Where is the money? It isn't there, or even here, because the State doesn't have it this year. The Hamilton County Department of Education was forced to eliminate over 100 teaching positions this year, but no administrators that anyone can find being let go.
There are those, those who cannot themselves understand the difference between a user fee and a tax, who would have us believe that Rep. Cobb wants a toll bridge built across the river in north Hamilton County. Rep. Cobb is on record about this issue, it has been stated several times and is not worth restating, and those who are attempting to continue those rumors are ... well, if I were not trying to remain in touch with my kinder and gentler self I would say that is a bold faced lie, but since I am trying to stay maintain some semblance of gentility these days, I will only state that these others' contentions are patently untrue. I recently heard Mr. Vincent make this statement himself, which might lead a reasonable person to wonder if he either; a) does not understand the difference himself, b) if he is intentionally attempting to confuse the issue, or c) if he believes the citizens and taxpayers of Hamilton County are not intelligent enough to understand the difference between a tax and a user fee.
If the answer is (a) above, do we need someone with such little understanding of taxation representing District 31?
If the answer is (b) above, do we need someone who cannot use legitimate arguments to express his points representing district 31?
If the answer is (c) above, do we need someone who has such a low opinion of his prospective constituents' intellect representing district 31?
To be sure, like all of us Rep. Cobb certainly can be a horse's patooty from time to time, but he's always tried to do what he felt best for his constituents, all of his constituents, and I will challenge anyone to show me that he has not.
I will additionally challenge Mr. Vincent to have his supporters stop with the high school antics, to ask whoever has borrowed thousands of dollars worth of Rep. Cobb's campaign signage to bring it back, to argue the issues with facts and stop insulting our intelligence.
Royce E. Burrage Jr.
Royce@OfficiallyChapped.org
* * *
Mr. Burrage:
I am a friend of Jim Vincent and I was taken back by the hatred of your letter to the Chattanoogan. I find Rep. Jim Cobb to be a decent man, but if you represent the kind of people who support him, Rep. Cobb needs to look for new supporters.
You should know that at 3 a.m. on the day following the incident in Nashville, Jim was on the phone with his wife, who informed him that her brother had suffered a massive stroke as the result of a fight with cancer. Jim left Nashville that day and accompanied his wife to Savannah, Ga. Her brother died and Jim remained with Marilyn to make the necessary arrangements for the family. Speaker Naifeh was fully informed of where Jim was.
Jim made a mistake at Printer's Alley, and he consistently said so. Anyone who knows Jim Vincent, as you clearly don't, realizes his presence there that night was not the norm. Jim took responsibility for his actions, apologized and did not seek re-election because of a desire to shield his family from further pain that was certain to come from people like you.
You clearly do not understand the BEP vote. Rhea County was to receive more than $1 million in additional funding, money that would have otherwise only come through local property taxes. By his own admission, Mr. Cobb said he didn't have all the information he needed before the vote, but it is clear to all that supporting the BEP was the right vote.
Jim has made it very clear that North Hamilton County needs a new bridge, but he does not think having a clearly defined and small group of Hamilton County residents pay at least $30 a week to pay for a bridge is the right choice. Call it what you want, but the $30 a week feels like a tax to me. Toll roads are a bad idea for a state that has a pristine record of builing great roads through a pay-as-you-go system. Because people will work with Jim, he will get the bridge built.
I respect your right to support Rep. Cobb. After reading your clearly uninformed, slanderous attack on a good and decent man, I would hope Rep. Cobb would not want your support.
Cristy Smith
Sale Creek
* * *
I would like to begin here with a comment about the statement that Rep. Cobb "didn't have all the information he needed before the vote" on the BEP last year. He has said several times that he asked for someone to explain to him why he should vote for it, but nobody could. That's very different from not understanding the bill. It's actually a very good way to force someone to explain or defend their position on a particular subject. Apparently nobody could satisfactorily explain why he should vote for changes in the BEP formula and as it turns out now, where is the money?
How is it hateful of Mr. Burrage to present facts? It's often true what our mothers told us as children, the truth hurts. I happen to know him and he's a little on the gruff side at times and tends to bow up when someone tries to lie to him or take away what he has worked to earn. Mess with his furry companions and he's probably going to bite you before they will, same for people he cares about, but I've met few people who are less hateful than him and he has told me on more than one occasion "just the facts, man".
If Mr. Vincent and his supporters didn't want these issues brought up why did he enter this race? Surely any thinking person would know that past records would be brought up. If they knew the records would be highlighted again why do they take offense at facts being presented? Are we, voting and taxpaying citizens, supposed to just stand around and do as we are told? County Mayor Ramsey needs to think about that one long and hard. Mr. Vincent needs to think about what the good mayor talked him into doing if he's embarrassed by his past behavior. This is a prime example of "don't do anything you wouldn't want to see up on a billboard along side the highway."
I would like to provide a couple of definitions before proceeding.
Defamation - communications that are known to be false and derogatory,
intended to injure another person's reputation and good name.
Slander - an oral defamatory act.
Libel - a written defamatory act.
So by definition how can presenting facts that have been published in the media be either slanderous or libelous? How can presenting facts be looked at as being hateful?
A very quick search of the Chattanoogan.com about Mr. Vincent's troubles at a Nashville bar known as Donnie's Nightlife produces the following news stories:
http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_47751.asp
http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_47832.asp
Oh no. It looks like there really was more than one story told about the incident between at least two of our Tennessee legislators that night. I'm sorry that his wife's brother was ill, but that doesn't excuse his behaving badly beforehand.
If we look to other sources for verification of the incident that night we might look at the Chattanooga Times Free Press. Again, by doing a very quick search of their archives we find the following in respect to the infamous night at Donnie's:
Putting it on the record
Date: 03/14/2004
Section/Page: Perspective
Byline: Tom Griscom Publisher and Executive Editor
Holes in Mr. Vincent’s story
Date: 03/11/2004
Section/Page: Times Editorial
Byline:
Vincent apologizes to House speaker
Date: 03/10/2004
Section/Page: Metro/Region
Byline: By John Commins Staff Writer
Oopsie, it looks like there might be some truth to those statements about Mr. Vincent's ability to be honest about his activities that night. I have purchased copies. They're very interesting.
If we search those same archives using different key words we find some other interesting articles, that I have purchased copies of:
Reinstatement of revoked insurance license called ‘rare’
Date: 07/10/2004
Section/Page: Front Page
Byline: By Michael A. Weber Staff Writer
When officials help special friends
Date: 07/07/2004
Section/Page: Times Editorial
Byline:
No referral possibly aided Vincent partner
Date: 07/07/2004
Section/Page: Front Page
Byline: By Michael A. Weber and John Commins Staff Writers
Vincent aided partner to reinstate insurance license
Date: 07/06/2004
Section/Page: Front Page
Byline: By Michael A. Weber and John Commins Staff Writers
Legislator’s partner loses license
Date: 08/14/2004
Section/Page: Front Page
Byline: By Michael A. Weber Staff Writer
Revocation hearing set for legislator’s partner
Date: 08/10/2004
Section/Page: Front Page
Byline: By Michael A. Weber Staff Writer
Spotty handling of license case
Date: 08/07/2004
Section/Page: Times Editorial
Byline:
States revoking (Mr. Vincent's friend) insurance license
Date: 08/04/2004
Section/Page: Front Page
Byline: By Michael A. Weber Staff Writer
And then there's the newsletter of the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance where the gentleman's name in the last article above is mentioned:
http://www.state.tn.us/commerce/insurance/documents/straightlines/Vol1Iss1Spr05.pdf
It sounds like it's a good thing to have some legislators as friends and business partners. But if we read the facts presented in these news stories we might also wonder about the honesty, ethics and morality of that situation. It would also become clear why a rather well known insurance man in Hamilton County would come out publicly against Mr. Vincent's return to Nashville as an elected official, even if some claim not to know who that insurance man is. The incidents above occurred not too very long after Mr. Vincent had problems down at Printers Alley.
Mr. Vincent is fond of telling the public "we were talking about a bridge back when I was on the County Commission." Well, why wasn't anything done before Rep. Cobb got involved? His is the only name we've ever heard attached to news of that issue. Why not any of the other Hamilton County delegation? It looks to me like Mr. Vincent is the one who is trying to claim credit for something that was accomplished by someone else. After all, he's been out of office for four years. Why would the state people just now be looking at what he tried to get done when they weren't interested before? Sen. Watson hasn't stepped out to claim credit and he held that seat between Mr. Vincent and Rep. Cobb.
Even if the bridge is a toll road users will have a choice. They will be able to choose between spending 6 dollars a day for use of the bridge or 10 dollars on gas to go around. The rest of us won't have to pay for it either.
No one has ever said that Mr. Vincent is a bad person. They have pointed out some of his bad choices. He has some very dedicated supporters in District 31. He has also shown himself to be quite capable of making some very bad decisions, and we should be able to expect better of our elected officials.
We might expect a 20-something young person to be out carousing during the wee small hours of the morning. Mr. Vincent was 57 years old at the time of these problems in Nashville. Are we to believe he's learned not to in the past four years? A person might expect someone to learn not to get involved with a business partner who has ethical lapses in 57 years. What's the difference in another four years?
We have those who will tell us that we should forgive because it's in the Bible. The Bible tells us we are to forgive others for their transgressions. It doesn't tell us to forget. Forgiveness doesn't mean that we should, only for the sake of example, give an alcoholic a bottle of whiskey and expect him or her not to take a drink or give a habitual thief keys to the bank vault. They've learned some hard lessons too. How many of us have heard all our lives "fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me"?
Rep. Cobb has the support of his party's leadership even if there are those in Hamilton County who want him unseated. Rep. Cobb has shown himself to be an honorable man who has made some difficult choices on behalf of his constituents. The easy way would be to sit around and do as he was told. There have been accusations and insinuations of moral lapses on his part, but nobody seems to be willing to give specifics. I have to wonder why that is. Could it be there have only been rumors? I like Mr. Burrage's rule about not believing any rumor he didn't start. I also like his other rule - just the facts, man (or ma'am). If we work with facts and not emotions we're a lot less likely to accuse someone of kicking puppies, or nice guys.
Qualifications have to count for something and we have to stop voting for our friends and other nice people only because they are nice. I know a lot of very nice people that I wouldn't want making decisions that will affect my life from now on because they've shown they have a hard enough time directing their own lives, much less mine.
Aaron Johns
asaj7mea@bellsouth.net
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