Tyler Harber lies?

Most people know Tyler Harber's penchant for being unable to completely tell the truth. Here's an e-mail his boss sent out to several hundred people this afternoon:

From: Neil Newhouse [Neil@pos.org]
Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 2:58 PM
To: Neil Newhouse
Subject: FYI

You may have recently received information regarding former Public Opinion Strategies (POS) employee Tyler Harber and his recent move to Wilson Research Strategies.

In his recent promotional releases regarding his move and in recent e-mails that have been forwarded to us, Tyler considerably overstates his experience.

Imagine our surprise when Tyler claims credit for literally every single POS win in the 2006 election cycle, including Senate races, Governor’s races, Congressional races and down-ticket races in which Tyler had absolutely no involvement.

In fact, here’s how Tyler introduces himself:

"Last cycle, my research team helped manage the research and strategy for four winning US Senate races, six winning Republican Governors, 46 Members of Congress, as well as numerous down-ticket statewide and legislative winners."

The truth: Those victories required the hard work of six POS partners, four POS Vice-Presidents and roughly 25 other POS employees. Further, Tyler worked for POS for a little more than one year, and was neither the lead strategist nor the lead pollster on a single project.

We’ve been in touch with Tyler and have given him the opportunity to correct the record and he has failed to do so.

Please let me know if you have any questions regarding this email.

Neil Newhouse
Public Opinion Strategies
Phone 703.836.7655
Fax 703.836.8117
Neil@pos.org

Public Opinion Strategies is pleased to have polled for more major winning campaigns and ballot issues than any other firm in the country in 2006. This follows our being recognized as having "scored the best win-loss record among the major polling and media firms in the 2004 election" and being named Pollster of the Year in 2002.
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The real surprising part about this story is not the part about Tyler lying, he's done that time and time again. Besides, I've yet to meet a political consultant that doesn't take complete credit for much more than they should. The surprising part is the scathing e-mail from Neil Newhouse. Newhouse is a partner in POS, and one of the most respected pollsters in the Nation. What did this "trouble young man" do to get under his skin?

Lumpy out of control?!?!

As someone who has witnessed one of his temper tantrums first hand, it does not surprise me that Lumpy is rumored to have lost it Friday night on community activist Jamie Rowe. Brian Hornback has the scoop.

Jamie Rowe is a storm water activist from Fountain City. She has a beautiful farm on Tazwell Pike, and is none to crazy about all the development runoff in the area. Now, I must confess I'm not a fan of most of Ms. Rowe's stances. There is no doubt that the County has some storm water issues to deal with, however I tend to believe the problem lies with enforcement rather than problems with the codes. Despite my disagreement with her stances, there is no doubt that Ms. Rowe is a very mild-mannered, intelligent lady who is always polite, not to mention well prepared.

How many of those attributes can the "Lump from Powell" claim?

County Commission Today

So there are rumors abounding in regards to today's Knox County Commission meeting. I spoke with two commissioners over the weekend who think that Commissioner Pinkston may have something up his sleeve. Pinkston has certainly been the most critical of the Mayor's office.

Many will remember that the Mayor supported Pinkston's opponent (David Keiger) in the last election. Keiger was well funded, but unorganized and had no name idea. While Pinkston was sure to lock up the victory he still ran around town very paranoid and accusing everyone of working against him. Don't expect him to let up on the Mayor anytime soon. I don't really believe he'll drop anything of any importance on the meeting today. Just look for hot air and, if we're lucky, a testy exchange or two. Pinkston is funny when he's mad.

The other rumor has to do with the Mayor offering his resignation. This one is being floated by Commissioners with a beef on Ragsdale. They are just floating the rumor to keep talk going about him possibly resigning. Mark my word, this guy isn't going anywhere unless he's carried out, walked out in handcuffs, or forced out.

The real debate will center on two things: Lewis Cosby and "the Re-do". So I'll offer my predictions:

Cosby will speak during open forum. He'll lay out his case to much fanfare from a few Commissioners who will praise his work and give him a few 'atta boys'. I don't see much else coming out of this.

The "re-do" will get voted down. I'm not sure on the votes, but here is my best take:

We will see a mix of the two factions vote together. For instance, Lumpy and Pinkston will vote "no". They will be joined by Mark Harmon. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a good 'ole fashioned "we ain't done nothing wrong" speech from Pinkston. Scooby will also vote no, and could be the deliverer of the "we ain't done nothing wrong speech". My money is on Pinkston

I would say that Hammond and R. Larry Smith will vote yes. They will both grace us with their thoughts on restoring public trust, etc. I think both of these guys try to vote their conscience, but both are auditioning for Mayor, so keep that in mind while listening.

I think Bolus, Tramel, and Cate will all vote "yes", but you can't tell with these guys. They probably need the "public trust" points, but are at danger of not being reappointed in the event of an actual re-do. One thing to keep in mind is that the appointed commissioners have to run for election in a few months.

C. Leuthold will tack on an ammendment asking for a contingency that the N-S accept the proposal. He'll vote yes if it passes, no if it doesn't. I think his father will follow.

That's about as far as I got on guessing this one. It's harder to figure out when the factions don't agree within themselves!!

MAD?!

Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) is a millitary doctrine which became popular during the Cold War. It is basically the idea that a nation with nuclear capacity would not attack another nuclear nation, because the counterassaults by both sides would lead to complete annhilation. So why am I rambling about millitary doctrine?

Read this report in today's News Sentinel.

Apparently County Commission passed a resolution, in the fall of 2004, requiring agencies that receive grant money to file annual reports with County Commission. The resolution read:

“Any agency or organization which receives public funds appropriated by the Knox County Commission shall report to the Commission, on or before March 1 of each calendar year, detailing its expenditures to date of those funds appropriated by Knox County."

Report directly to who? That's right County Commission. So what does the Chairman of the that body have to say to their lack of oversight?

"County Commission Chairman Scott Moore blamed the problem on the mayor’s office, saying it did not provide the reports, and on Hammond, for not making sure the resolution was enforced."

So a few years ago, Commission voted to have their own accountability measures for grant recipients and haven't had a single report in three budget cycles? Commissioner Moore thinks this is the Mayor's fault how?

The Mayor's staff can't keep up with them. Commission can't keep up with them. Is either branch doing anything other than attempting to annhiliate the other?

Oops . . .

Mike Duncan (Sheriff's Department employee) and Commissioner Paul Pinkston are in such a hurry to get after Mayor Ragsdale that they forgot to follow their own rules.

Remember what I said about politics being entertaining? Keep an eye on this County mess. There is just one big screw up after another on both sides of the battle.

Get caught up

I'm going to start off with today's big news, but first we need to get everyone caught up. I'm working on the assumption that everyone is following the stories involving Knox County government. I could take weeks to explain everything, but I won't. I suggest trying the following links to get caught up:

Knoxville News Sentinel - Knoxville's daily paper has really stepped up their investigative reporting since the January 31 appoointments in Knox County. Try an archive search for "sunshine laws", "lobster tails", "Ragsdale", "P-Cards", or "Lump, Scooby, and Chuckie" and see what pops up.

Knoxviews.com- Now I may be a Republican, but Randy Neal runs a helluva blog over a Knoxviews. Sometimes the posters are venomous towards Republican leaning folks. However, it is their blog (says so right in the rules) and most Republican posters over there do so anonymously and just to stir 'em up. Its been my experience that they may disagree like hell with other more respectful visitors, but do return the respect shown. Then again, there are exceptions to every rule. The stories come fast, and so do the comments. This blog is one of the best places to stay on top of what the "word on the street is".

The Halls Shopper- This weekly paper is now a subsidiary of the News Sentinel's parent company. They have several reporters who will follow a story with passion. Sometimes you may think its a little over the top, but you always have to give them respect for often scooping others with many more resources.

These are only three sources to find stories on the stories currrently surrounding Knox County. There are many other bloggers who have touched on the subject, or weekly papers who have covered it some. These are just the ones who are really on top of every breaking story involved.

So get to reading . . . . . if you are up to date. . . stay tuned. . .