Roy Exum
David Sharpe, after his proposed referendum of a wheel tax was shot down in flames at the weekly meeting of the Hamilton County Commission on Wednesday, was quick to say, “Democracy lost today” when, in fact, it was instead put on sterling display. The County Commission, a collection of nine citizens who were voted into office to purportedly represent the wishes of the much larger mass of county citizens, responded quite properly to Sharpe’s knee-jerk request with a five-to-three veto. Sharpe’s declaration that Democracy had failed was no more than a poor loser’s lament that similar liberal types are now using at every level in local, state and national government when they do not get their beady-eyed way.
Of course, every human being with a pulse over 50 knows a wheel tax would doubtlessly fail, miserably, and will assuredly anytime such malarkey is proposed under such an adverse canopy. That is why Sharpe, and what is suspected to be his more-loathsome handlers at a now-soured group of leftist community organizers identified as UnifiEd, were only asking approval for a referendum item on a March 2020 ballot, one that would merely question such a tax. That’s why it is called malarkey. Earlier this year a 34-cent property tax increase was flatly rejected. Outwardly the ploy of ‘just’ a ballot item would appear to be an innocuous addition; “to give the people the right to speak,” but the purpose of the County Commission or a like body – in any democracy -- is to deflect the same public from having to abide such hogwash, aimless morons, and now-outed misfits such as UnifiEd.
The more sinister was left unsaid. The referendum item itself was never presented, neither its wording nor its money course established, so the distrust was heightened. UnifiEd, created shortly after City Mayor Andy Berke was elected, is the brainchild of the now-questionable Berke and several former Obama campaign organizers. The “educational non-profit” has been proven to be leftist and an ill fit in Chattanooga’s conservative community, yet several philanthropic foundations still support it. Sharpe has been an awkward UnifiEd plant on the County Commission, as has another UnifiEd candidate Katherlyn Geter, and for him to cry ‘Democracy lost today’ is more of an embarrassment to the voters of District 6 (Lookout Mountain and Tiftonia areas), who elected him than an attribute to the commission.
At one point Sharpe lost his grip, citing a liberal elitist’s need to inflict their self-anointed will on lesser beings: “This is a real issue that we need to address, and if we don't have the will on this commission, it is wrong, wrong, for this commission to deny the people of Hamilton County the right to make that decision for themselves," Sharpe yelled. "We are denying them the democratic process for which this country was founded," he added with a defiance similar in posture to … might as well admit it … Donald Trump.
On face, to seek a $60 wheel tax in Hamilton County is ridiculous. To guise it as a benefit for a public education system that is so out of control that Wednesday, on the very day the seemingly-frantic Sharpe would attempt to pressure his fellow commissioners in haste, two students from different county public schools were arrested bearing handguns - one loaded; it is without precedent. And, as if we needed to crown this latest insult with any sprinkling of common sense, to falsely direct a new tax’s hopes towards a teacher raise within a Department of Education that can no longer be trusted is out-and-out impossible. Ain’t gonna’ happen. Never.
Commissioner Tim Boyd clearly said he doesn’t trust the schools and his is a growing voice that cites one mistake after another. I believe Supt. Johnson’s refusal to face the County Commission after he hired a “white privilege” expert may have been a factor in the commission’s disdain to assist in a teacher raise several weeks later and Sharpe’s open rancor at Wednesday’s meeting, how shall we say, strengthened some’s resolve. As is sometimes said in the fall sport of football, ‘You can coach mistakes, but there is little you can do about a boy’s speed or another who is just plain stupid.”
On Monday night of this week, a called meeting of the School Board’s disciplinary committee yielded nothing. School superintendent Bryan Johnson downplayed any urgency – this before the two handgun incidents on Wednesday. A story on Chattanooga.com quoted Johnson, "We absolutely have challenges," but he said he puts his focus on academic improvement. He said a disciplinary committee meeting took two hours, and he would like to "spend two hours on academic improvement." He also said, "I just stay focused on the children and what we're trying to accomplish."
By not addressing the school’s disciplinary woes, Johnson is bringing further castigation on his ability to lead the schools. A poll among Chattanoogan.com readers asking, “Do teachers need more backing from administration on enforcing discipline in the county schools?” was running at 96 percent, but it was only that low, it is believed, because some parents are thought to be out of town.
A recent testing venture showed the Hamilton County School system had a burst of “progress” within its system, with a spate of meaningless “5’s” thrilling the people who make banners, but when it was just announced The Howard School had just been chosen as a ‘Model of Demonstration School’ by the Tennessee Behavior Supports Project at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, it was clearly an embarrassment. Based on incident reports, pirated audio tapes by students and faculty alike, and Chattanooga Police Department records, Howard is regarded by law enforcement: “if anything, a model of what happens when the structure of the American family erodes. The children are the victims but discipline at Howard is as absent every day as many of its students.” (Yes, a banner has been ordered).
The HCDE has used teachers’ raises as a game piece for the last 18 months. Supt. Johnson hired 181 people over the summer, thinking a 34-cent tax increase would pass, but when it didn’t, he immediately funded the new hires with the money in the new budget that was earmarked for the teachers. He then raided the Department of Education’s rainy day fund to give the teachers a $1,500 ‘bonus’ (an $8 million check) and now has apparently shifted the manipulations to the School Board. Johnson’s putting new hires ahead of established teachers will continue to come back and bite him throughout his entire career, but at least he’s got the blame for the irregular sortie shifted to people who must run for re-election instead of him.
At Wednesday’s commission meeting, Sharpe knew his wheel tax was dead when he said, “I have concerns (for those on fixed incomes) as well. I empathize with these people to make ends meet from time to time, or all the time. We’ve talked about that at length. This isn’t about me. This is about the ability to recruit and retain high-quality teachers in Hamilton County. And if we can’t allow the people of Hamilton County to speak, then I don’t know where we go from here.”
Chairman Randy Fairbanks tried to get Sharpe to understand. Teachers’ raises are a School Board matter – the County Commission simply gives the School Board over $400 million (a record amount in each of the last five years) and then allows the school board to designate it as it wishes. “There’s nine elected school board members who decide whether the teachers get a raise or not. Now, we can suggest we’d like to see the teachers get paid more. But the money we give to the Department of Education, the board has to decide how to spend that money. So, we will not be discussing how to fund teachers’ raises (in the immediate future),” Fairbanks said, obviously fighting deep from within to keep from giving Sharpe explicit, more geographical or anatomical directions on “where to go from here.”
It is not a false assumption to report many county officials are miffed by the incessant greed of the Superintendent’s selfish want. Everyone in the courthouse and beyond knows that David Sharpe’s brother, Robert Sharpe, is one of the “Top Ten” administrators on Supt. Johnson’s staff. But last week when the first Sharpe beckoned the wheel tax trick as a $17 million benefit for the second Sharpe, only their mother, Mrs. Sharpe, liked it. Think about it. Really.
It was as though the whole idea of a different way to fleece a sheep “seemed to drift down from some UnifiEd-sponsored cloud,” this hardly 60 days since the 34-cent tax grab came up short, and – what? -- the Central office filled another 181 parking spaces. Whatever, there was this Ripley’s Believe it or Not moment: It may well have been the first time in mankind’s existence that over 150,000 politicians and taxpayers in the same county of the United States rolled their eyes in perfect unison. And, yes, it was left-to-right as if they were reading from memory, this while wondering if the Tennessee Behavior Supports Project at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has anything to do with its football team. They want a banner?
royexum@aol.com