Senate in recess until 8:30 tomorrow; Wilder fails in bid to revive TN Plan

See previous post here.

One of the most poignant or treacherous moves,depending on your point of view, on the floor during the discussion of the tabling motion that defeated Sen. Wilder's bill was Sen. McNally's comment that a gentleman from Fayette County once told him not to bypass the committee system when he had a bill of interest. Sen. McNally used Sen. Wilder's own logic that worked so well to build consensus in the Senate in less partisan days against him.

Lion in Winter--Daughtrey reflects on John Wilder

I sometimes wonder whether the online version of the Tennessean deliberately tries to hide some of its better pieces. A reasonable person might think that he or she would find Larry Daughtrey's column under the "Government & Politics" heading. Maybe it is there, but it's not easy to find. Instead, one has to look under the alliterative "Voices & Views," which sounds kind of like the name of a bad college poetry class. Moving on...

In this week's column, Daughtrey, reflects on the sorry spectacle of Senator and former Lt. Governor John Wilder's efforts to save his 15-year old plan to select judges "on merit, rather than by the raw politics of partisan election." He begged and he failed.

Daughtrey points out, as anyone who has been on the Hill the last in the last few years would know, the Senate Republicans that Wilder is used to working with, are just about gone. It's a sad way to end a career that has been characterized by consensus building and setting a civil tone in the Senate, the odd comments about the cosmos notwithstanding.

The most chilling line in the piece is the last: "Sometimes when you backtrack an old lion, all you find is the hyenas." The results of this fall's elections may "let the Senate be the Senate" again, but I suspect the partisan tone will linger.

Judicial selection: from bad to worse, says Daughtrey

Larry Daughtrey walks us through the maze of judicial selection in Tennessee. The current method is pretty bad, but the spectre of direct judicial elections and the campaigning that would come with it would probably be a lot worse.

"In states that permit partisan elections, like Texas, Wisconsin and Mississippi, the process can be appalling. It is so bad that John Grisham has written a novel about it.

Special interests line up on each side, usually with doctors, big business and insurance companies on one, and plaintiff lawyers and unions on the other. It becomes a spending donnybrook full of misleading and negative advertising. It forces judges into the uncomfortable position — for some — of raising money from those who appear in their courts.

If ordinary citizens think justice goes to the highest bidder, they may be dead right."