Quinn resigns from election commission

PDF: Resignation from Election Commission

Hamilton County Election Commission member Bart Quinn, an attorney, said Thursday he has resigned his seat on the election panel to avoid any perceived conflicts after he registered this month to begin lobbying the General Assembly.

Republican members of the Hamilton County legislative delegation, whose recommendations for election commission appointments are generally followed by the State Election Commission, have tapped Republican J.B. Bennett, 42, as Mr. Quinn’s replacement.

Mr. Bennett, the son of Hamilton County Property Assessor Bill Bennett, is an attorney with the law firm Spears, Moore, Rebman.

Mr. Quinn said that while the state’s 2006 ethics reform law does not require him to quit, he thought it best to do so “to avoid even any appearance of a conflict or impropriety.”

“We’re making absolutely sure that everything is above board and open,” Mr. Quinn said. “There’s nothing to hide.”

He also is severing political campaign ties with state Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, whose previous campaigns he directed.

Mr. Quinn, an attorney with the law firm Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, registered as a lobbyist on April 1 with the State Ethics Commission. He is working on behalf of Lahiere-Hill LLC, a Florida-based firm, records show. The firm is his only lobby client.

The company owns the mineral rights to thousands of acres of woodlands on the Cumberland Plateau. Lahiere-Hill hired contractors to mine limestone and other dimension stone on the plateau in the Cumberland Trail State Park near Soddy-Daisy.

The company has been involved in a legal battle with the state, a fight which moved into the legislature this year when Sen. Watson and Rep. Richard Floyd, R-Chattanooga, introduced legislation seeking to restrict “harvesting” of rock.

But both lawmakers have since gotten behind a broader bill pushed by Gov. Phil Bredesen.

Sen. Watson said he and Mr. Quinn, a lifelong friend, are “on opposite sides of the issue. I introduced legislation and have been working with legislation that would enhance regulation.”

He said he is pushing for a new law requiring rock harvesters to either get permission from owners of surface rights or face new state requirements to reclaim land damaged by their activity.

Mr. Quinn’s clients, he said, “are people who are involved in the industry who would not like to see any increased regulation.”

The lawmaker said Mr. Quinn recently advised him that his law firm, which Lahiere-Hill is using for legal services, told him they would need someone to press their case in Nashville.

“What I said as someone in the legislature and as a friend and as someone who tries to look at those things from the public perspective, look, a lobbyist doesn’t need to be on the Election Commission,” Sen. Watson said.

Sen. Watson said Mr. Quinn agreed.

Lawmakers including Sen. Watson have been involved in a series of meetings with Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation officials and lobbyists representing various interests on the rock mining issue. Last week, Mr. Quinn joined in a meeting of lawmakers and the state agency.

“The purpose of that meeting was for me to understand what the administration’s intentions were,” Mr. Quinn said. “I was trying to figure out if there was a way that we might be able to find some common ground and agree on something that would be less adverse.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Bennett, a Signal Mountain resident, said he hopes to bring a “fresh new perspective” to the five-member panel and “learn as much as I can.”

Bud Knowles, administrator of the Hamilton County Election Commission, said Mr. Quinn’s presence on the panel “will be sadly missed. He’s a good one.”

Staff Writer Pam Sohn contributed to this report.