What Does the Media Have to Say?
June 14, 2007
Just a bit of a tease: What did the Media know and when did they know it?
What is the Media reporting about the recently concluded 1st Year of the 105th General Assembly?
That is the question.
And here is but one answer. We will have others.
Kingsport Times-News
June 13, 2007 accessed June 14, 2007
Ramsey says first session as Senate speaker was success
Published 06/13/2007
By Hank Hayes
Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey lost one major political battle on Capitol Hill, but he said Wednesday that his first year presiding over the Senate was a success.
The Blountville Republican managed a Senate with 16 Republicans, 16 Democrats and one Independent, state Sen. Mike Williams of Maynardville.
...
Ramsey noted the Senate session ended on a partisan note as Democrats tried to lower the grade point average standards on lottery scholarships. Ramsey said he was able to muster 21 votes to get senators to adjourn before addressing the matter.
But Senate Democrats, who saw Lt. Gov. John Wilder's three-decade reign end with Ramsey's Jan. 9 appointment as Senate speaker and lieutenant governor, were also feeling good about themselves after adjourning.
...
Ramsey, who used his auctioneering skills in running Senate sessions, responded: "Everybody to a tee when I walked off the (Senate) floor my fellow senators said I did a great job this year. Are they saying if 86-year-old John Wilder would have been there things would have gone more smoothly? That is absolutely laughable."
Ramsey said that this summer he'll be out raising money for Republicans and working to unseat Williams, whose 4th Senatorial District includes Hawkins and Hancock counties. Church Hill attorney Mike Faulk, a Republican, is expected to challenge Williams for the seat in 2008.
Ramsey said he may also be doing some campaigning for likely GOP presidential hopeful Fred Thompson.
"They may have me traveling around the country speaking for him some," Ramsey said of Thompson, a former Tennessee U.S. senator and television actor.
...
For the full story, please read the complete Kingsport Times-News story at http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9001648.