NASHVILLE — Gov.-elect Bill Haslam on Tuesday named his campaign’s chief consultant, Tom Ingram, to head up a three-man team to manage his transition to the governor’s office and help shape his Cabinet.
Calling Ingram an “invaluable adviser” during his recent campaign, Haslam said “building a team is perhaps the most important thing a governor does.” He noted Ingram’s “experience in Tennessee politics and government makes him the obvious choice to lead this transition.”
Until last year, Ingram served as chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and also was chief of staff when Alexander served as governor. He was involved in Alexander’s gubernatorial transition as well as that of former Republican Gov. Don Sundquist.
Also named to the transition team were Haslam’s campaign manager, Mark Cate, and Lewis Lavine, another one-time gubernatorial chief of staff for Alexander. Lavine, who is president of the Center for Nonprofit Management, is a former chairman of The Ingram Group, a Nashville-based government relations, lobbying and public affairs consulting firm founded by Ingram.
Haslam named his campaign finance director, Kim Kaegi, to plan the inaugural celebration scheduled around his official swearing-in scheduled in Nashville on Jan. 15.
After leaving Alexander, Ingram last year rejoined The Ingram Group, which he founded in 1983 and had not been associated with for years. This year, along with three other former U.S. Senate chiefs of staff, Ingram co-founded The First Group, a Washington, D.C.-based government relations and public relations group.
Tennessee Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance report filings show Ingram is not registered to lobby but another principal in The Ingram Group, Marcille Durham, was registered to lobby during the 2010 legislative session.
Common Cause Tennessee President Dick Williams said appointing Ingram to head the transition “raises a point that they need to be very clear about what roles are going on.”
He said “The Ingram Group maybe ought not to specifically lobby Cabinet members” whom Ingram helped Haslam with in selecting but noted state law doesn’t cover that.
Williams said in his view Ingram’s work on the selection committee shouldn’t affect the firm’s ability to represent clients before the General Assembly.
Haslam spokesman David Smith said via e-mail that “as Bill Haslam said during the campaign, look at his record. He and Ingram will both be careful to avoid even the perception of a conflict, and Job No. 1 is helping the governor-elect put together the best team possible.”
In the campaign’s news release, Ingram said “formal transition committees” will not be named in this transition, but the transition “will seek, receive and rely on advice from many Tennesseans representative of all regions and interests across the state.”
Haslam has set up a transition website — www.billhaslam.org — where visitors can make “suggestions for government” and “submit your resume.”
In many instances, governors-elect name large committees to advise them, a process that almost always proceeds behind closed doors.
Tennessee’s outgoing governor, Democrat Phil Bredesen, enlisted 160-plus “volunteers” to aid in his 2002 transition. This year in Georgia, Gov.-elect Nathan Deal named a 26-member committee that includes several lobbyists and has drawn fire from watchdog groups.
Asked whether Haslam would be soliciting input from lobbyists or special interests on posts he needs to fill, Smith said “just as during the campaign and as was stated in the release, he’ll seek the input of many Tennesseans from across the state and with all types of backgrounds and experiences.”
Contact staff writer Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550.