Johnson City Press endorses Lee, Fitzhugh
The Johnson City Press is endorsing Republican Bill Lee and Democrat Craig Fitzhugh in the gubernatorial primary.
“On the right, Lee is checking all the right boxes for traditional Republican voters — Second Amendment protections, limited government, business acumen and tough immigration policy to name a few — while also presenting creative solutions in such areas as education and criminal justice. As Lee’s standing has risen in the polls, he predictably has become the target of attack ads, but he wisely has stayed largely above the fray,” according to the paper.
The paper praised Fitzhugh for knowing “state government inside and out” from his 12 years as a state lawmaker.
Fitzhugh suggests GOP would ‘roll right over’ Dean
State House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh says Democratic gubernatorial primary rival Karl Dean won’t get very far on self-professed “pragmatism.”
The Memphis Daily News reports that Fitzhugh took aim at the former Nashville mayor’s plans to coexist with GOP supermajorities in the House and Senate during a meeting with the Shelby County Democratic Women in Memphis last week.
“If you get up there in that Republican-led legislature and you’re pragmatic, they are going to roll right over you,” Fitzhugh said.
Five guber candidates support collecting sales tax from out-of-state retailer sales to TN customers; differ on how to use resulting revenue
Five candidates for governor – Republicans Randy Boyd, Beth Harwell and Bill Lee along with Democrats Karl Dean and Craig Fitzhugh – praised a U.S. Supreme Court decision last week that means Tennessee can now require out-of-state online retailers to collect sales taxes on purchases made by their Tennessee, reports the Times Free Press.
Their comments came at a gubernatorial candidate forum hosted by the newspaper Monday in Chattanooga. One major GOP candidate, Diane Black, was campaigning in Carter County Monday and did not participate.
Dean, Fitzhugh clash on charter schools, NRA and fed flood money
In a head-to-head Nashville debate, the two leading Democrats in Tennessee’s gubernatorial race tussled during a debate Tuesday over charter schools, the National Rifle Association and one candidate’s use of federal flood money to build a downtown Nashville amphitheater, reports the Associated Press.
State House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh quickly questioned ex-Nashville Mayor Karl Dean’s history of charter school support. Fitzhugh pointed out he has the endorsement of the Tennessee Education Association teachers group.
Guber candidates talk on electing AG, marijuana, Confederate statutes at TN Bar Association forum
Four gubernatorial candidates – Republicans Randy Boyd and Beth Harwell; Democrats Karl Dean and Craig Fitzhugh — told the annual convention of the Tennessee Bar Association Thursday that they favor keeping the Tennessee Attorney General a position appointed by the Tennessee Supreme Court, reports the Memphis Daily News.
Dean and Fitzhugh on the stump: ‘It’s our turn’ and Democrats are excited
Excerpt of comments by Democratic gubernatorial candidates Karl Dean and Craig Fitzhugh to the Maury County Democratic Party’s annual fundraising dinner on Saturday night, as reported by Columbia Daily Herald Editor James Bennett:
(The piece begins with Bennett declaring there was a remarkable attitude contrast with the same event held prior to the 2016 elections — Democrats then “were walking around with their tails between their legs” while this year “Democrats were sticking out their chests and making bold predictions about 2018.”)
Fitzhugh seeks AG opinion on regulation of chicken farms (with almost 600 more needed to supply Tyson Foods in West TN)
House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh, who is running for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, has asked for a state attorney general’s opinion on legal issues surrounding a planned Tyson Foods chicken processing plant at Humboldt and 590 new commercial chicken farm operations that will be needed to supply poultry for the plant and an expanding Tyson operation at Union City.
Groundbreaking for the new facility was held Wednesday, though Tennessee Star reports the state Department of Environment and Conservation has so far denied two water pollution runoff permits needed for construction of the processing plant. In a follow-up article today, the online arch-conservative conservative website notes that Karl Dean, also running for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, was on hand for the groundbreaking event — or, in the Star’s words, “cheering ‘big meats’ newest location.” It references a Dean Facebook post saying Tyson will be “a great partner in making sure we continue to have the workforce for good jobs.”
At the ceremony, Tyson officials announced a $500,000 grant to Gibson County, reports the Jackson Sun.
Black wants Memphis Megasite redo; other guber candidates would stay the project’s course
Diane Black has taken a strikingly different stance on developing the Memphis Regional Megasite in Haywood County notes the Jackson Sun in a Thursday article rounding up comments from other gubernatorial candidates on the subject. Black proposes to turn the megasite into an “agricultural hub” instead of continuing the so-far-unsuccessful effort to get a big new business located there.
Black outlined her proposal in an Commercial Appeal op-ed piece back in late April, declaring the project has been “a boondoggle from the beginning” and “thoroughly mismanaged by the bureaucrats in Nashville” – including, presumably, fellow GOP gubernatorial candidate Randy Boyd, who headed the Department of Economic and Community Development for a period of the megasite’s development.
