Local Notes

The Lincoln County Republican Party held its monthly meeting at 7:00 P.M. last night, following the completion of the Executive Committee meeting an hour earlier.

The bad weather kept the crowd size down, but those who did attend were treated to a thoroughly informative, and even entertaining, evening with State Senator Jim Bryson of Franklin.

Senator Bryson’s remarks, though covering a number of different topics, all generally followed from the theme that there is a great need for those in public office to behave in an ethical and moral manner, as he took special note of the current Special Session in the General Assembly on Ethics and his role in it.

Of particular note were comments he made that noted that, in addition to the danger of violations of the law that come when those in positions of authority are not bound by worries over ethical behavior or even the appearance of impropriety, there is also the simple fact that government often cannot provide real solutions even to those problems that it does have a legitimate need to solve. As evidence, he noted the current problems with the administration of the TennCare program, as well as the scandals rocking the Tennessee Highway patrol.

Regarding matters more clearly political, he noted the tremendous opportunity that Tennesseeans have this year to effect significant change. Having already won control of the Senate two years ago, the Republican Party is standing on the brink of winning control of the House of Representatives, as the Democrats’ majority has been narrowed to only four seats.

A change in control of the House would set in motion a host of changes, not the least of which would be the right for Republicans to draw Congressional District lines, as well as the change in all county Election Commissions from majority Democrat to majority Republican control – a fact that ties back directly to the discussion on ethics, in light of the recent election debacle in Memphis.

During this part of the discussion, he made a vague reference to the fact that “tomorrow” (Friday) could be a major day in Tennessee history while not revealing specifically what he was talking about – only telling those to “watch the news tomorrow night.” (Perhaps a reference to the subject of a story in the Tennessean this morning.)

With that, the Senator rounded out his comments as he had begun them, by noting the need for the current generation to leave the world in better shape than they found it, and a notation of the fact that electing, and re-electing, leaders with a moral compass such as himself, as well as Senator Bill Ketron – who represents Lincoln County and, like Senator Bryson is up for re-election this year – will be a step in the right direction.