NASHVILLE — Legislative infighting over how to spend Tennessee’s estimated $410 million lottery surplus is shaping up as a major problem just as it did last year.
A Republican-controlled Senate subcommittee last week approved a plan that adopts Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen’s proposal to create a $200 million “endowment” from half of the lottery reserves and use interest earnings to fund college scholarships for lower-income students.
But Republicans also stuck to their proposal from last year and set aside $100 million for one-time capital construction grants to each of the state’s 136 school systems.
House minority Republicans support the move, but majority House Democrats as well as Senate Democrats in the evenly split Senate dislike the K-12 capital construction proposal, arguing it is frittering away the money with little impact in each school system.
In an apparent gesture to House Democrats, the Senate GOP plan does include $35 million for a Democratic proposal to create a revolving fund to help local school systems purchase new energy-efficient equipment.
Another $25 million would go into a scholarship fund proposed by Senate Democrats which that would use the interest to provide college scholarships for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
“I think they came up with a pretty good compromise, that you’re going to have $100 million to use for whatever you need to (in K-12), but it has to be capital projects,” Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, the Senate speaker said.
He said that using the $100 million for K-12 capital construction is “very important.”
Senate Democratic Leader Jim Kyle of Memphis said “we’re for scholarships, not for bricks and mortar” for K-12.
Sen. Kyle charged legislative Republicans are pushing using surplus lottery funds for local school construction because most GOP members need political cover after siding with “Big Tobacco” and opposing a cigarette tax increase to fund K-12 funding formula improvements.
WILDER FALLOUT
He isn’t gone yet, but the Senate that once was the fiefdom of former speaker and lieutenant governor John Wilder, D-Mason, already is changing.
Sen. Wilder, whose 36-year reign as Senate speaker ended last year when he was defeated by Sen. Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, announced last week he would not seek re-election as senator to his beloved institution after 44 years of service.
For years, the most powerful man in the chamber was fond of declaring the “Senate is the Senate.” It generally meant the Senate was independent, largely nonpartisan, courteous and, of course, ruled by then-Speaker Wilder.
But less than an hour before Sen. Wilder made public his retirement decision on Thursday, the new GOP-led Senate was in full swing.
Sen. Raymond Finney, RMaryville, had a bill on the floor that would close off to the public the private telephone numbers and addresses of state workers and, critics charged, elected officials including legislators.
Several Democrats had questions and urged Rep. Finney to delay the bill. Sen. Finney refused. Then Sen. Wilder spoke.
“I just call senatorial courtesy,” Sen. Wilder said, alluding to a years-old practice where such legislation would have been delayed at such a request.
But Sen. Finney declined.
“I understand — but — I understand,” the 86-year-old Wilder said.
Senatorial courtesy may be flying the coop, but the rules of political reality evidently still apply. After Sen. Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville, said he had a problem with the bill, raising the specter of at least three Republicans refusing to support it, Sen. Finney agreed to “roll” his legislation.
EYEING EMPTY SEAT
Three Republicans and at least one Democrat are eyeing the 26th Senatorial District seat held by Sen. Wilder.
Rep. Delores Gresham, RSomerville, who already had announced plans to challenge Sen. Wilder, said she continues to run while fellow Republicans Dr. Tim Linder of Selmer, Tenn., a family practice physician, and Savannah pharmacist and drug store owner Bob Shutt continue to eye the contest.
Meanwhile, Randy Camp, a Democrat and one-time Wilder chief of staff who later served as director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, is expressing interest in the seat.
Andy Sher is a Nashville-based staff writer covering Tennessee state government and politics for the Times Free Press. A Washington correspondent from 1999-2005 for the Times Free Press, Andy previously headed up state Capitol coverage for The Chattanooga Times, worked as a state Capitol reporter for The Nashville Banner and was a contributor to The Tennessee Journal, among other publications. Andy worked for 17 years at The Chattanooga Times covering police, health care, county government, ...
