The TN Republican Party State Executive Committee met tonight via “free conference call”. The issue for the Committee to decide was Gina Oster‘s primary challenge of Eddie Mannis as the Republican candidate for TN State House District 18.
After Oster’s five minutes and Mannis 6.5 minutes, a motion was made to disqualify Mannis. The rationale for the motion to disqualify is that TN State law and the Republican by-laws are in conflict. When the SEC voted on April 4, 2020 to disqualify Mannis. That decision by the SEC was overturned by the State Republican Chairman when he received letters vouching for Mannis from Congressman Tim Burchett, State Senator Richard Briggs and Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs. Mannis was a disqualified candidate.
Should he be victorious on November 3, Early Voting October 14-29 to Democrat Virginia Couch he could and likely would be challenged by the TN Democrat Party and unable to be seated in the State House.
Former State Senator Victor Ashe in this story published online Sunday here that Knoxville SEC Members Jane Chedester and Michele Carringer had committed to Mannis. Republican Chairman Scott Golden announced this meeting was subject to the TN Open Meetings Law, the Tennessee Conservative Union has already raised the question in a Facebook post about that irregularity, screen shot below.
Mannis in his defense said he has contributed to failed 2018 Governor candidate Randy Boyd, former United States Senator Bob Corker and Tim Burchett. The vote to leave Mannis on the ballot was 43-18.
The 43 members were, source Jennifer Hamblen from Facebook.
“SEC Members who voted against President Trump tonight are:
Paul Chapman District 1 paulchapman@charter.net
Rob Ailey District 2 railey8343@aol.com
Cindy Hatcher District 2 gabahatcher@yahoo.com
Todd Fowler District 3 fowlerta@wtodocs.com
Matthew Johnson District 4 matthewjohnson.tn@outlook.com
Linda Buckles District 4 ldbuckles@aol.com
Scott Smith Dis 5 ssmith@bankerbrokers.com
Amy Jones Dis 5 ajonestngop@gmail.com
Michele Carringer Dis 6 mwcarringer@yahoo.com
James Corcoran Dis 7 james@jecorcoran.com
Jane Chedester Dis 7 elfarm07@gmail.com
David Bishop Dis 8 jbishop1959@att.net
Betty Fain Dis 8 bettyfain@charter.net
John Stanberry Dis 9 johnsstambertdds@hotmail.com
Ken Meyer Dis 10 kmeyersr@gmail.com
Emily Beaty Dis 10 emilygbeaty@gmail.com
Bobby Wood Dis 11 repwood@bellsouth.net
Tina Benkiser Dis 11 tjbenkiser@msn.com
Randy Ellis Dis 12 randyellis@gmail.com
Liz Holliway Dis 12 e.holiway@icloud.com
Adam Coggin Dis 13 adamcoggin@me.com
Mike Callahan Dis 15 cedesigners@outlook.com
Beth Cox Dis 15 ( Just sworn in Sat. Unbelievable)
Jerry Anderson Dis 16 drjerryanderson@comcast.net
Joanne Davis Dis 16 jdavis505@hotmail.com
Chris Hughes(Also Chairman of the Bylaws Committee so what loophole do you see not getting closed) Dis 18 chrishughes@hugheseswards.com
Maria Stewart Dis 18 maria@mariastewart.com
Ron McDow Dis 20 rmcdow@comcast.net
Robert Duvall Dis 21 rduvall71@comcast.net
Joel Wallace Dis 22 jwallace@cunninghammitchell.com
Sharon Grimes Dis 22 smassey@sharonmasseylaw.com
Steve Allbrooks Dis 23 titans7777@yahoo.com
Gary Kee Dis 24 gkee@yahoo.com
Larry Hillis Dis 25 lwillis53@yahoo.com
Jai Templeton Dis 26 jai.j.templeton@gmail.com
Kathy Bryson Dis 26 kathbryson@yahoo.com
Steve Maroney Dis 27 steve@tennesseefirm.com
Shannon Haynes Dis 27 shan827@gmail.com
Jim Looney Dis 28 jimlooneysec2010@yahoo.com
Tina McElravey Dis 29 tina.mcelravey@gmail.com
Peggy Larkin Dis 31 plarkin177@aol.com
Charlotte Kelley Dis 32 ck_tata@bellsouth.net
Charlotte Bergmann Dis 33 SECCharlotte Bergmann SEC@CharlotteBergmann.com”
Republican candidates Mannis, Gina Oster and Democrat Virginia Couch
What a great outcome for Knoxville! Eddie will be a terrific state representative.
“That decision by the SEC was overturned by the State Republican Chairman when he received letters vouching for Mannis from Congressman Tim Burchett, State Senator Richard Briggs and Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs. Mannis was a disqualified candidate.”
How is that legal? How is that binding?
That is a very dumb thing to do. That is how you hand the seat to a Democrat.