We Won

Many thanks to the voters for their trust, the volunteers for their help, the donors for their support. We won. The final numbers were:

Mark Harmon: 1,882 (54.24%)
David Collins: 1,588 (45.76%)

Paul Witt, campaign manager, and I celebrated with other candidates at Shonos in Market Square. Friday, September 1st, I'll be sworn in as County Commissioner, District 2, Seat A.

Despite rumors to the contrary, the job does not include access to the bat signal.

The Silly Season

You can tell we are getting close to the election. One false local ad claims the term-limited really aren't, and some court somewhere has ruled them eligible to serve. None has. My opponent even has taken to quoting, out of context, an item praising him (that he quotes) and lambasting him for being part of the lawsuit to toss term limits (that he ignores).

Busy Times, Indeed

The campaign is going incredibly well. We've had multiple block-walking days with many helpers. Campaign advertising is reaching voters, and early voters enthusiastically are welcoming our message.

Good Events, Busy Days

The past few days have been quite busy. I took time out from block walking for a meeting regarding a North Hills Neighborhood Watch, a Democracy for Knoxville Film Screening and Candidate Night, and a Meet the Candidates Democratic Picnic in Tyson Park. The momentum and good will that has been building since Truman Day (that's Becky and me at Truman Day) really was noticeable and quite strong.

An Endorsement, actually two

Mark Harmon, Amy Broyles endorsed in Knox County Commission
race by group supporting grassroots candidates and
progressive policies

Two Knox County Commission candidates have been
endorsed by a statewide group promoting progressive
candidates, and those two candidates are running in
the same North Knox district but for separate seats.

Democracy for Tennessee is a group promoting
grassroots candidates who are frugal with tax money
and who stand up to the powerful on behalf of
working-class families.

DFT this week endorsed Amy Broyles in her
independent write-in challenge to 36-year incumbent
Billy Tindell in Seat 2B. A few days earlier DFT
endorsed Democratic challenger Mark Harmon in his
campaign to unseat incumbent Republican David Collins
in Seat 2A.

Both Collins and Tindell faced term limits until
they successfully sued to toss out both the county
charter and the term limits in it.

Broyles and Harmon both were pleased with the DFT
endorsement. They have been advocating area voters
use a paper ballot in the upcoming election so those
voters can "Check Mark [Harmon] and Write In Amy
[Broyles] to enforce term limits."

DFT is being very selective in its endorsements,
offering only a dozen that the group calls its
"Tennessee Twelve." Eight of the twelve have been
announced. So far the only endorsed Knox County
candidates have been Harmon and Broyles.

The county general election is Thursday, August
3rd. Early voting will be from July 14 though the
29th at the usual locations.

www.democracyfortennessee.com

Write In Amy

I was pleased to be on hand at Edgewood Park as Amy Broyles announced her write-in challenge to Billy Tindell. As you may know, both commissioners from this district sued to wipe out the county charter so both could avoid term limits. Now Amy and I are the team to "Wipe the Slate Clean." Pictured are the announcement, me with Jim Andrews and Emily Singer, a sleeping Avery (Amy's youngest), and me giving a ride to Amy's daughter Aidyn.

The public anger about term limits (and how David Collins, Billy Tindell, and others avoided them) is the lead story in today's Knoxville News-Sentinel. To quote from the article by Scott Barker:

"They have called. They have written. And, boy, are they mad. 'They' are the residents of Knox County, and they haven't been shy about registering their complaints about the charter fiasco that threatens to scuttle ordinances and torpedo term limits."

A Future So Bright You Have to Wear Shades

Knox County incumbents are stumbling all over each other to re-install an incumbent protection racket. The lastest ploy is the ruling that tosses out the County Charter as a way to eliminate the term limits that voters put in the charter. The public is becoming aware of this ploy, and doesn't like how casually the incumbents (including my opponent) are tossing aside the public desire for term limits. I hear the discontent as I walk up to voters' homes. In short, for challengers who can state a clear message the future is indeed quite bright.