Quinn to step down from Election Commission

NASHVILLE — Hamilton County Election Commission member Bart Quinn will step down from his position and be replaced by local attorney J.B. Bennett, Rep. Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, announced this morning.

Rep. McCormick said Mr. Quinn made the decision after the law firm where he works picked up a lobbying client, and Mr. Quinn would register as a legislative lobbyist.

“Since he was going to be lobbying, he decided it was best,” Rep. McCormick said, noting delegation members had not asked him to step down.

Mr. Quinn, who in the past has managed political campaigns for Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, registered as a lobbyist on April 1 with the State Ethics Commission. He is registered on behalf of Lahiere-Hill LLC, a Florida-based firm.

That company owns the mineral rights to thousands of acres of woodlands on the Cumberland Plateau. Lahiere-Hill hired contractors to mine rock on the plateau in the Cumberland Trail State Park near Soddy-Daisy. That prompted the state to file suit to stop the company from mining rock on state property in the park.

Hamilton County Chancellor Frank Brown ruled against the state but required the company to move its operations 25 feet away from the Cumberland Trail.

Meanwhile, Hamilton County lawmakers introduced legislation seeking to restrict “harvesting” of rock, used in building and landscaping.

The Bredesen administration is pushing its own bill. It would place new restrictions on the ability of mineral rights’ owners to take rock from property owned by the state or others.

Mr. Bennett is an attorney with the Chattanooga law firm Spears, Moore, Rebman & Williams.

Legislators have power to name local election commission members.

For complete details, see tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press.