As the partisan gubernatorial campaign gathers momentum, expect to see more of this used as an issue -- Tennessee Democrats screaming "Don Sundquist! Don Sundquist! Don Sundquist!" often and with volume turned up. The Tennessee Democratic Party wasted no time using last weekend's "Thank You" barbecue by Sundquist to remind voters that the Haslam family was closely allied with the two-term Republican -- who lost favor with many in his party for a bold push to implement an income tax that would have eliminated food taxes and greatly reduced sales taxes.
One of the messages Democratic nominee Mike McWherter tested during the primary and is continuing into the general goes like this -- y'all loved my father as the Democratic governor from 1986 to 1994 and you loved Phil Bredesen as the Democratic governor from 2002 to 2010, but you didn't much like that Republican who came in between them.
That's not altogether fair to Sundquist, but McWherter is reminding voters that Sundquist, unlike Bredesen or his father, sometimes used budget stopgaps like tobacco lawsuit money rather than fully balance the budget by matching all reoccurring revenues with all reoccuring expenses. McWherter then tries to link that Sundquist habit to Haslam by saying Haslam is scare-mongering with inflated claims of state budget distress that do not jibe with Bredesen constantly delivering balanced budgets that rely on few if any gimmicks (for instance, he refused to use stimulus money to cover reoccurring expenses).
Even Haslam, in his first general-election commercial, took time to extol Gov. Bredesen and Ned McWherter but failed to mention Sundquist. In the final weeks of the Republican primary, U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp of Chattanooga was doing his best to remind voters of the Haslam family ties to Sundquist and leadership role Haslam's father, Jim, took in advocating for an income tax. Expect to hear more from the McWherter campaign about those ties.
Some other bloggers around the state have discussed this as well -- see leans-right "Moderately Marvelous" Jenci Spradlin right here and leans-left Southern Beale over here.
One of the messages Democratic nominee Mike McWherter tested during the primary and is continuing into the general goes like this -- y'all loved my father as the Democratic governor from 1986 to 1994 and you loved Phil Bredesen as the Democratic governor from 2002 to 2010, but you didn't much like that Republican who came in between them.
That's not altogether fair to Sundquist, but McWherter is reminding voters that Sundquist, unlike Bredesen or his father, sometimes used budget stopgaps like tobacco lawsuit money rather than fully balance the budget by matching all reoccurring revenues with all reoccuring expenses. McWherter then tries to link that Sundquist habit to Haslam by saying Haslam is scare-mongering with inflated claims of state budget distress that do not jibe with Bredesen constantly delivering balanced budgets that rely on few if any gimmicks (for instance, he refused to use stimulus money to cover reoccurring expenses).
Even Haslam, in his first general-election commercial, took time to extol Gov. Bredesen and Ned McWherter but failed to mention Sundquist. In the final weeks of the Republican primary, U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp of Chattanooga was doing his best to remind voters of the Haslam family ties to Sundquist and leadership role Haslam's father, Jim, took in advocating for an income tax. Expect to hear more from the McWherter campaign about those ties.
Some other bloggers around the state have discussed this as well -- see leans-right "Moderately Marvelous" Jenci Spradlin right here and leans-left Southern Beale over here.
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