In 1946 a group of World War II military veterans took on the entrenched political machine in McMinn County and ousted the corrupt office holders in a bloody revolt called the “Battle of Athens” that re-established law and order in that county.
A young Chattanooga attorney, Jac Chambliss, from one of Chattanooga’s historically powerful families decided that the same type of revolt could be established in our town to remove the political machine dominated by gamblers and bootleggers that effectively controlled elections.
Thus the “Good Government League” was formed with the announced purpose of cleaning up politics in Hamilton County, an attractive theme that appealed to all law-abiding citizens.
Their first political step was to select a candidate to take on one of the public office holders favored by the political machine. In the 1950 judicial election for Criminal Court Judge they selected as their reform candidate a 45-year-old controversial but successful trial attorney, Raulston Schoolfield.
In a surprise upset, Schoolfield defeated Tom Meyers and strengthened the political image of the GGL.
However, the marriage between the league and their victorious candidate soon ended and eventually evolved into a campaign to get Schoolfield impeached and disbarred from the practice of law. It created a lifelong split between the two powerful enemies. After losing his judgeship in 1958 and law license in 1960, Schoolfield would enter into a lifelong crusade to be vindicated in the eyes of the public and his many supporters. He was elected in 1974 and re-elected in 1982 as a non-lawyer General Sessions Judge in Hamilton County.
The split between the Jac Chambliss group and Raulston Schoolfield remained until the judge’s sudden death from a heart attack on Oct. 5, 1982. Armed with the power of the judiciary that created fear in the hearts of his opponents. However, it has been said that he never used that authority and recused himself from hearing any cases of the Chambliss law firm.
Public opinion amongst those that grew up in that era remain split on the question of whether Raulston Schoolfield was a corrupt Judge or just unwilling to bow down and do the bidding of the GGL.
However, the obvious disdain for the GGL remained with Schoolfield and, when asked about the group in later life, he quipped that “their membership was so small that their meetings could be held in a telephone booth."
Forward to 2019 and the Hamilton County Community is now being offered the GGL off-spring, the Good Government Coalition (GGC) headed primarily by Tom Decosimo and heavily endorsed by announced Republican conservatives like Hugh Maclellan, Ken Meyer, Davis Lundy and other advocates for no tax increases for education as a “group of people that think Hamilton County has got to live by its conservative and traditional values.”
"We are going to help elected leaders who share those values,“ says Decosimo, while denying any allegiance to either Democrats or Republicans. (Chattanooga Times Free Press, Jan. 27, 2020.)
In 1946 Hamilton County was predominately Democratic until Bill Brock defeated Democrat Wilkes T. Thrasher, Jr. for Congress in 1962.
In 2020 the political cycle is reversed with Republicans seated as a large majority of office holders including several former Democrats who have switched parties in order to prevail and hold on to their political positions.
The voters will eventually have the opportunity to listen to all of the rhetoric by the GGC as they espouse their ideas that they claim are in the best interest of its electorate and to model their thinking accordingly.
Hopefully, the public will listen carefully and vote their own consciences irrespective of any recommendations now of candidates by groups or individuals.
Jerry Summers
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First and foremost, attorney Jerry Summers, I don’t feel worthy to respond to anything you author.
Who am I to counter the great attorney Jerry Summers? I will not even attempt it, but I would like to share my honest opinion.
Your pieces on local history are my number one read, and are insanely interesting and fun to read. The last piece about Pikeville, I read twice.
I remember your written pieces of the implications of publishing arrest mug shots as public records, and other legal positions. What clarity you presented in the outcomes of arrested, published, yet without hearing or finding of guilt. Pure brilliance in your position. Sadly, it all became reality.
I agree with your advice, we need to collect facts when voting, and think for ourselves. I don’t want to blindly follow any politico. I tire of political panderers and climbers, regardless of their political party, and want quality elected officials to enact tangible changes, and don’t care what party they are with.
How do we get those great leaders? If there is a recipe to acquire great leaders in elected office, please share. We desperately need them.
How many times do we all support a candidate, only to learn the candidate was just kidding about their position on taxation, PILOTs, and everything else. My smart friends gave up on the pursuit of enlisting great leaders after continually being hoodwinked by the say or do anything to get elected crowd.
I also enjoyed the historical background you provided of one good government organization in your letter. I do wish you would write more about our local political history, it is truly sizzling, ouch. Our local political history is the wild west, and those rodeos are fun to revisit.
As an Election Commission board member, I attended hearings for conservative petition efforts. One petition will resonate in my memory. You argued and upheld every legal and regulatory position like the professional you are, and checked your partisanship at the door. That is what I remember about you. We don’t get to see that often these days.
The Democrats of Hamilton County gone by ain’t nothing like the UnifiEd alt left Democrats. The ideology of UnifiEd applied in Hamilton County is more than concerning to me. If you have time, please read, the APEX plan published by UnifiEd. It is on their website.
These UnifiEd folks are not our beloved Dalton Robert’s type Democrats, where leaders followed logic and good horse sense prevailed.
If it takes an army of GGC’s, the inept local Republican Party, the wonderful Tom Decosimo, and grassroots conservatives to flush UnifiEd out, let the WWTA waters flow freely.
Sincerely, a huge Attorney Summers fan.
April Eidson