Sunday, July 23

My History With Politics in Hardin County, TN


"First they ignore you.
Then they laugh at you.
Then they fight you.
Then you win."
-Gandhi
11 days and a wake-up until the next opportunity for the voting citizens to deal with 'they.'

Wednesday, July 19

Scouting Report - Courier Ad Draft

To the Voters of Hardin County

Greetings,

More than a few folks have expressed some regret that I did not choose to throw my hat into the Mayor’s race this time. To those folks I have said, "I’m doing what I think I can get done." My home district deserves the best representation they can get and that is where I think I can be of the best use, at this point in time. There’s a lot that need attention.

That is not to say that I am not concerned with the other districts or the County wide election. Let it be well known, I am keenly interested in who else might be on the team that returns true representative democracy to Hardin County.

For what it’s worth, for years I was the butt of a standing joke at the Mayor’s office and the County Commission. That was, "If Ted Cook is fur it, we’re aginn it, and if he’s aginn it, we’re fur it!!!!" That may be the way it is at the courthouse, but I don’t think that’s the way it is in the county and I know for a fact that’s not the way it is in the Sixth District. The up coming vote of the citizens will prove or disprove that assumption.

For the moment, let’s assume I’m right and some folks might, just might, have some limited interest in considering what conclusion have been reached, if any, concerning the other elections. To those few folks I would be happy to share my scouting report results.

Let’s start with the easy one, the Mayor’s race.

In the case of the incumbent Mayor, Mayor Kevin Davis, the scouting report covers 4 ½ years and is much more detailed and documented. Personally, Mayor Davis is a fine church going, family loving and generally all around good guy.

Having said that, Mayor Davis has presided on an administration that has routinely ignored the spirit and intent of the Sunshine Law and the Open Records Act to the extent the county made the national news for their first attempt at the wheel tax. In the big picture of things most of the Mayors supporters will forgive that, but one has to wonder how in the world can they sanction the Mayors support in ignoring the vote of the people? I can’t get there on my best day.

Jimmy Pattersons scouting reports reflects that although Jimmy is still much loved and respected in the community for his prior service to the County, it is hard to get past the point that going back to the way the county conducted its business many years ago, (not really that much different than it is today, maybe different faces but same attitude), would not be meaningful progress forward. Hardin County is reinventing itself for the 21st Century not the 19th.

There is not much to report on Mr. Robert Bills. Mr. Bills is to be congratulated on his willingness to serve and to offer himself as a choice for change in Hardin County.

There is no good reason not to trust the job of Mayor of Hardin County to J. Stanley Shaw and a lot of good reasons to believe Mr. Shaw is up for this very difficult job.

Right age - still forward looking. Right business background - proven success in dealing with the complexities of project management in the real world of modern international corporate
business.

Overall rating - Most likely to succeed. I’m gonna support, as much as possible, J. Stanley Shaw for County Mayor. That’s a fact.


The next office is Sheriff of Hardin County.

We need to change the way we conduct our law enforcement efforts in Hardin County. We need a Sheriff that will take responsibility and understands what the Citizens want, not just what they will tolerate or accept. We need a Sheriff that believes that we must involve the citizens of Hardin County in our law enforcement efforts not discourage them.

Of the two challengers for the Sheriffs office, Charles Seaton and Danny Jackson, Mr. Jackson scored higher on his scouting report because of his past law enforcement experience here in Hardin County. Although Mr. Jackson has served under prior administrations, his input and recommendations were often times ignored for political reasons.

Overall rating - Mr. Jackson is most likely to succeed and I’m gonna support, as much as possible, Danny Jackson for Sheriff of Hardin County.

Last but not least, we have our County Commission.
That’s really a no-brainier. 19 out of 20 chose to ignore a legitimate vote of the people. They need to be gone. They have given representative democracy a bad name in Hardin County and across the State of Tennessee.


Pd. Pol. Ad. Paid for by Ted Cook
WITHOUT permission of the named candidates.
Don’t need permission, Didn’t ask for it.

Tuesday, July 4

The Consequences of Our Actions

The Price for All Freedoms Is That We must Face the Consequences of Our Actions.


Complaint - ‘Friends for Kevin Davis’ have violated the state Campaign Financial Disclosure Act by failing to register with the Hardin County Election Commission, including appointment of a treasurer and violated, specifically TCA 2-19-120, because the communication did not present in a clear and conspicuous manner, to give the reader, adequate notice of the identity of person(s) who paid for the communication.

In THE COURIER on Thursday, June 29, 2006 there was political ad that stated- "Pd. Pol. Ad by Friends for Kevin Davis" -

A review of the ad will show that there was no required designated treasurer for ‘Friends for Kevin Davis.’

The Hardin County Election Commission was ask to provide the required filings. The is no record of ‘Friends for Kevin Davis’ ever registering with Local election commission, either as a PAC or anything else. While I was there the Administrator called Mayor Davis to inquire of any knowledge of this ‘Friends for Kevin Davis’ group. I was advised that the Mayor had placed the ad himself.

The Election Administrator was ask for a determination of compliance with election laws and advised that she would have to check with Nashville.
The Administrator of Elections, later, advised that a Mr. Drew Rawlins (State Election Commission, Financial Reporting) had advised her that "it didn’t matter as long as the Mayor reported it on his financial disclosure filings." Say What!!

My own contact with Mr. Rawlins came to a different conclusion. Mr. Rawlins acknowledge that it might be alright as far as financial reporting end of the election laws, but would express no opinion from a full-disclosure requirement, that was handled by another department. That department was the Election Commission, itself.
Long story short, a review established reasons to believe the ad violated the disclosure laws and would support a complaint to the District Attorney for investigating and reporting back to the Local Election Commission.

TCA 2-19-120. Political communications, advertising and solicitations - Contents - Applicability - Penalties.

(A) Whenever any person makes an expenditure for the purpose of financing a communication that expressly advocates the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate, . . . a disclaimer . . . shall appear and be presented in a clear and conspicuous manner to give the reader, observer or listener adequate notice of the identity of persons who paid for and, where required, who authorized the communication.
(1) Such communication if paid for and authorized by a candidate, an authorized committee . . . shall clearly state that the communication has been paid for tby the authorized political committee, in addition to the identity of the person who is the head of such committee, or the identity of the treasurer of such committee.
(2) Such communication, . . . if authorized by a candidate, an authorized committee of a candidate or an agent thereof, but paid for by any other person, shall clearly state that the communication is paid for by such other person and is authorized by such candidate, authorized committee or agent.

(3)(c) A violation of this section is a Class C Misdemeanor. (30 days and/or $50 fine)

T.C.A. 2-19-116. Misrepresentations on campaign literature or sample ballots - Penalty.

(a) No person shall print or cause to be printed . . . any . . .material which contains the endorsement of a particular candidate, . . . with the intent that the person receiving such printed material mistakenly believe that the endorsement of such candidate . . . was made by an organization, group, candidate or entity other than the one or ones appearing on the printed material. (Another Class C Misdemeanor)
FACT: This is one of those, so what. The DA ain't never gonna do anything about it. It's just a little criminal!

Subverting our Constitutions? You Decide!!

"Our life and liberty depends upon preserving the Constitution as our founding fathers made inviolate; the people are the rightful masters of both the Courts and the Congress, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow those who subvert the Constitution." Abraham Lincoln

The Local Governing Body, Our County Commission, subverted the Constitutions when they overruled their rightful masters, the majority of the people, on the Wheel Tax. That’s a Fact, Jack

Question: Isn’t it time to overthrow those who subvert the Constitution? They won’t change their attitude, trust me I have tried, and the only other solution that I can think of is to change their faces, or as many as possible. At Least 19 of the 20 and the Mayor will not recognize the people as being the sovereign unit in the big picture called democracy. The people are suppose to own the store, they just operate it.

The majority vote of the people, on any matter they choose, is called direct legislation and cannot, I say again, cannot, be overridden by any branch of the peoples government. In particular, the legislative branch. It is the law of the land. End of Discussion!!

29 days and a wake-up for our opportunity to address that issue. We have got to get the voters out to vote to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime, at least in my lifetime in Hardin County, opportunity. The folks are going to have to get up off their don’t care butts and get to the polls.

Ted's Judicial Branch Reference



". . . It is clear that Cook has a very good working knowledge of the law and how to obtain legal materials, based on the state of his filing with this Court and his arguments."


Judge Julia Smith Gibbons,
U.S. District Court Judge,
U.S. District Court, Memphis
July 28, 1989
Did you know our Justice System in Hardin County is overwhelmed? It needs to be retooled. That's another neglected responsibility of the Local Governing Body AND the Mayor.

Monday, July 3

Straight From My Blue-Blooded Good-O-Boy Snitch

The unofficial line on the upcoming Mayor’s race is that the majority of the vote will be split between the "Let’s Change the Way We Do The Business With Strong Proven Leadership" Stanley Shaw and the "Let’s Do The County Business The Way We Did It Several Generations Back" Jimmy Patterson and we will have the "Let’s Focus On The Future And Forget About the Past" Kevin Davis for our County Mayor for the next four years.

We gotta fix that and we have twenty-nine days and a wake-up to call the line.