Stockard on the Stump: Strange becomes normal in Tennessee governor’s race

Tennessee’s gubernatorial campaign is growing contentious and bizarre.

Between a fight involving Democrat Jerri Green and independent Lauren Pinkston, mud-slinging at independent David Hatley – and vandalism – and Republican Marsha Blackburn’s ham-fisted tactics, the race is growing weirder by the minute.

In the latest twist, one of Hatley’s Johnson City business locations appears to have been hit by vandals who tagged it with red paint saying, “Drop out or die,” accompanied by an anarchy symbol. They get an A-plus for originality.

Hatley sent out a statement Thursday thanking local law enforcement for trying to find the “coward” who did it and saying, “I think we can all agree that rhetoric calling for political assassination has no place in Tennessee or the United States of America.” He added that he wouldn’t be intimidated into withdrawing from the race.

Speaking of quitting the campaign – or not quitting – Pinkston rejected a private call by the Green campaign this week asking her to drop from the race. Green, who according to a TargetSmart poll is trailing Blackburn 45%-36%, wants the 2% of vote that polls show Pinkston could win. It’s only natural. 

Clearly upset by the Green campaign’s private request, Pinkston issued a public statement saying that for weeks it had been asking major-party candidates to sign a commitment to disagree better (we’re not sure what that means) and participate in a debate. 

Pinkston, who’s also been saying Green has no path to victory while she does, added that “One poll, funded by a PAC supporting my opponent, that intentionally left me out of its questions and heavily skewed toward voters over age 50 does not convince me there is any path for Democratic victory on November 3.”

In a previous interview with the Lookout, Pinkston also said she needed 750,000 votes to win, which — to be nice — is extremely optimistic for an independent with no name recognition before this campaign.

Rather than back away, she appears to be trying to ensure that Green can’t win a long-shot campaign and came out with a new online ad with people wearing tight and baggy shirts saying Democrats and Republicans don’t fit them anymore.

Meanwhile, Blackburn is more worried about Hatley taking votes from her than taking on Green, running a boatload of ads and online material depicting him as an inmate for a bank fraud transgression that goes back decades. Ads backing her also say Hatley avoided paying taxes on $7 million, even though some folks would wear that like a badge of honor. 

Simultaneously, Blackburn seemed ready to hijack two appointments to the state’s Registry of Election Finance by threatening a public records lawsuit against the agency over communications dealing with two posts on the board that handles campaign finance violations. Gubernatorial appointments held by Republican David Golden and Democrat Paige Burcham Dennis are to run out Dec. 31, and Gov. Bill Lee would have the authority to reappoint them or pick replacements by Jan. 1.

Only when Registry board member Tom Lawless died suddenly on a trip to New York City did her attorney drop the public records request, even as the Registry’s attorney responded by saying the agency had no records or communications to turn over to the Blackburn campaign. 

It’s reminiscent of Blackburn’s statement that she will pick the successor to her U.S. Senate seat – rather than Lee – before she resigns, if she wins the governor’s race.

Are we having fun yet?

Truth is stranger than fiction

Just to make sure you’re paying attention, Pinkston, a Lipscomb University professor, came out with a Facebook video this week on the need for mental health awareness, something most people believe is important. 

Yet while sitting on the steps of the childhood home of President Andrew Jackson in Jonesboro she used the trauma he endured while serving in the Revolutionary War as a teen, losing his brothers and mother and suffering numerous hardships to explain why he sometimes did “very harmful” things to other people. 

When people don’t know how to process traumatic incidents, she explained, they do “harmful things like removing all of the Native Americans from Tennessee land when they’re president.” 

Green’s campaign called the Pinkston video a “disqualifier” for its flippant view of mental health and a genocide considered by many to be one of the most despicable moments in American history.

Her “hot take” is an odd leap of logic.

It should be noted that the Cherokees helped Jackson defeat the Creeks in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. Cherokee warrior Junaluska put together a war party that helped bring victory, and he is said to have saved Jackson from assassination.

Yet in his presidency, Jackson pushed the Indian Removal Act through Congress, saying it would be good for Native Americans, by giving them plenty of land to live on west of the Mississippi. They didn’t want to leave and ultimately were forced at gunpoint onto the Trail of Tears, a terrible journey that caused the death of thousands of Cherokees. 

And for what? They could have continued living, and do, in the mountains of East Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia.

Junaluska said on the Trail of Tears if he’d known Jackson was going to drive his people from their homes, he would have killed him at the Horseshoe

The Cherokee warrior returned on foot to his home years later and, rightfully, received a land grant near the city of Franklin, North Carolina. 

No jinx, please

Blackburn is set to join President Donald Trump at the Tennessee-Texas football game Saturday at hallowed Neyland Stadium in Knoxville. 

The only problem, besides using state property for what amounts to a Blackburn campaign appearance, is that Trump seems to be bad news for the home team. Readers might recall New Yorkers were outraged this year when he attended a Knicks-Spurs title game, causing a traffic jam and keeping fans from hanging out at their favorite bars around Madison Square Garden. 

The fact that the Knicks lost was the biggest sore point, and fans blamed Trump, who declined to endorse Blackburn in the primary but seems willing to gamble the game on an appearance with her.

The 14th-ranked Vols are getting 4.5 points in the matchup with the No. 1-ranked Longhorns. The oddsmakers don’t love them, even at home.

But though the Trump factor gives Vols fans a built-in excuse, the whole deal leaves us pondering whether Gen. Robert Neyland would put up with such a distraction.

“Rather drink muddy water / Sleep in a hollow log” *

*”Blue Yodel or T for Texas (T for Tennessee), Jimmie Rodgers (also recorded by Lynyrd Skynyrd)