Tennessee Republican State Sen. Mike Bell, left, and Pachyderm Club President Henry Hoss answer questions during the Pachyderm Club of Hamilton County meeting Monday.A local state senator scoffed Monday at the idea that judge races in Tennessee are nonpartisan, while two of the state Supreme Court justices facing retention votes this week called the conservative push to oust them nothing more than a “power grab.”
Only two days remain until voters statewide decide whether the state’s three Supreme Court justices should be retained. The rhetoric coming from both sides Monday signaled how heated this issue has become.
State Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, spoke to nearly 50 die-hard Republicans at the Pachyderm Club’s regular meeting about why voters should boot Supreme Court Justices Gary Wade, Sharon Lee and Connie Clark.
Bell said the justices “masquerade as apolitical” but their personal donations to Democrats and the court’s appointment of state Attorney General Bob Cooper show otherwise.
Wade, Lee and retired Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Mickey Barker held a separate, prearranged news conference one mile away at the Hamilton County Courthouse steps nearly two hours after Bell’s speech.