UPDATE I inadvertently left out how the Former Ambassador served on the board of Freddie Mac and Frannie Mae and because of the board in action brought us the housing bust.
Let me begin with the Former State Senator (who got his first position only cause his momma gave it to him), Former Mayor, Former Ambassador to Poland taking a stab at a Knox County Commissioner for his job as a Lt with the Knoxville Police Department. He writes that it is a negative and points out he came a vote short last year of being Commission Chairman. He leaves out that it was because of his Commissioner who was arrested and voted for and nominated the two Commissioners that authored judicial diversion letters for his acting bad behavior in public.
As for a negative, the writer must have forgotten that he was found guilty of violating the civil rights of firefighters. Maybe he forgot that just last year his micro management dictatorial style was exposed after an Office of Inspector General investigation. Read our post, with the report linked, here. After serving as Ambassador most former Ambassadors are traveling around the country and making speeches. The Former Ambassador of Poland is back in his hometown calling local officials all under the guise of writing a weekly column in a weekly throw away newspaper. Sadly, that is exactly what he does.
As for the other writer at the Shopper, she reports on how the Sheriffs race is between incumbent Sheriff Jimmy J.J. Jones and former KPD investigator Don Wiser. Clearly, she hasn’t done all her homework. There is a third candidate, former Sheriff deputy Chris Jones who left Knoxville and went out west and is back to run for Sheriff.
Clearly the writer has a negative agenda against Sheriff Jones. Her bias come out in her attacks on him when he dared to endorse anyone other than Madeline Rogero for Mayor of Knoxville. Evidently, thinking for yourself is a problem with Bean.
I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
W. Potter became a member of the Knoxville Fire Department (“KFD”) in 1956, and by September of 1995 had advanced to the position of Administrative Deputy Chief of Firefighting.
Scarbrough joined the KFD in 1967, and by September, 1995, served as a fire officer at a north Knoxville station located conveniently near his home.
F. Potter (a younger brother of W. Potter) joined the KFD in 1972, and by September, 1995, served as assistant chief for a district in east Knoxville.
McGinnis joined the KFD in 1960, and by September 1995 served as an assistant chief for a district in west Knoxville.
In a 1995 Knoxville mayoral race between incumbent Mayor Victor Ashe and challenger Ivan Harmon, W. Potter and the other plaintiffs openly supported Harmon, with the exception of plaintiff McGinnis who remained politically neutral. Ashe ultimately won the September 26, 1995, election, and shortly thereafter transferred all of the plaintiffs from their positions except for Sharpe.
On September 26, W. Potter received a letter delivered by Chief Cureton, informing him that he was being transferred from the administrative offices to the main fire hall, where he would no longer have access to a city car, and his new job would encompass evaluating fire and emergency service responses, tasks for which he was unfamiliar and did not feel qualified to undertake. W. Potter was assigned an office at the new location that was formerly used primarily as a storage closet and remained in disrepair. W. Potter worked at this location until February 1996, when he was transferred to become a shift chief, a position at which his hours per week were increased from 40 to 56.
Scarbrough was also informed of his transfer on September 26 when he was told that he should report the next morning to an unfamiliar station in south Knoxville. Scarbrough testified that the transfer damaged his performance because it is important for firefighters to be familiar with the territory they protect.
F. Potter learned on September 25 that he would be transferred to a station in north Knoxville effective September 26. F. Potter and Ashe had been friends, but the evidence indicated that F. Potter had deceived Ashe by voicing his political support, but appearing at a Harmon fundraiser. F. Potter spent four months at the north Knoxville location before being transferred to west Knoxville. He testified that the transfers to unfamiliar locations had an immediate impact on his performance.
Ashe continues to struggle for relevance in a community where he is wholly and completely irrelevant and he has nothing left to do and his legacy in government is the continued mire and stagnation of the for profit business economy in the City of Knoxville, a much balleyhooed tenure as the U.S. Ambassador to Poland (who cares)(Ashe did right well with a bunch of frumpy Polish dignitaries)(on a 1 to 10 scale of importance, the U.S. and Polish relations/trade/security/ are down around 60 and Ashe couldn’t be trusted with any dipolomatic relations which were important or top shelf (i.e. Howard Baker – Ambassador to Japan)), and a government broadcast organization which Ashe nearly wrecked all for his love of free airline tickets to Washington.
In my opinion, there is not a politician statewide or anybody in the federal government that gives two Sh!tz about J. Victor Ashe and the sooner the locals and people who serve the Knoxville and Knox County figure that out, the better off the community will be.