7-5-02, Dalton Roberts, Comment
I ADMIRE JIM HENRY
By Dalton Roberts
IPS Features
I do not endorse
candidates because it can be a conflict of interest for a writer. But I must
confess to admiration for gubernatorial candidate Jim Henry.
First, I admire
him for his restraint. His Republican primary opponent, Vander "Poll"
Hilleary, has been so totally obnoxious that Henry would have been understood if
he'd taken him to the woodshed.
Think about it.
Before ninety percent of us even knew who all the candidates were and a
thimbleful of information about them, Hilleary announced that the campaign is
over. His paid pollster told him so. Hallelujah. It must be wonderful to win the
governorship without the people voting. If I had been a Hilleary man from the
get-go, this would have made me dump him and start looking for an humbler head
to put at the helm of the state's highest office.
This information
so pumped up his elephantine ego that he saw no need to debate the issues with
his opponents. After all, if the race is over, why debate? Just use your power
as a congressman to shake out money and sit on the front porch with the hounds
until time to amble over to Nashville and hold up your right hand.
Mr. Henry takes
an empty chair with him everywhere he appears to dramatize Hilleary's refusal to
debate. One of my good buddies said of Henry's empty chair, "Why does Henry
want to debate an empty head?"
How can a
do-nothing congressman look down on a former state chairman of his party who
served with distinction in the state legislature, established a successful
business and gained wide bi-partisan respect as Minority Leader?
Surely someone
supporting Hilleary can chisel a tiny hole in his head so a dab of daylight can
get in.
I hope they
don't because his arrogance will hopefully rid the public scene of a nuisance.
Then we can decide between two solid men of stature, good judgment and proven
ability, Henry and Bredesen.
Another thing I
like about the man is he can see the obvious. Hilleary doesn't believe the state
has a serious financial situation. He's thinking we can just cut to the bone,
not realizing we are already scraping the bone. And he might do well to talk to
the financial rating experts who have already lowered Tennessee's bond rating.
I also admire
Henry's wisdom, a rarity among politicians. In an appearance here last week he
said people talk about running government like a business but that cannot be
done because the governor must deal with the legislature, the courts and the
will of the people. A business owner does not have to be as concerned with those
things.
How refreshing
to see someone who can dig under a political shibboleth and reveal its falsity.
It has certainly become a catch phrase to politicians that "we should run
government like a business." No one ever says whether they mean a business
like Chrysler a few years ago when Congress had to bail them out, or a business
like Enron that cons people out of millions, or a business like the corner drug
store. It just sounds so good and unquestionable that few people stop to analyze
it. Henry did, and analyzed it well. Maybe someone with that kind of analytical
skill could analyze us out of this financial mess the state is in.
Within the
wisdom of that observation lies the reason Henry would be likely to make a solid
governor. He knows how to work with the legislature and courts. He doesn't
depend on his hired-hack pollster to tell him the will of the people. He sits
down and listens to people. He respects Democrats, Republicans and Independents.
I've learned to sit and talk with him is to know your opinion is valued.
He grows on you.
So Mr. Henry, just forget that empty chair. By election day the people will know
you well enough that a debate may not matter at all.
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