By Steve Hunley Bill Dunn Congratulations to former State Representative Bill Dunn who has been named as senior advisor to Tennessee’s Commissioner of Education Penny Schwinn. Dunn just retired from the Tennessee General Assembly where he served for almost 30 years. Bill Dunn has a thorough understanding of the legislative process, as well as a […]
By Steve Hunley The 2020 election is history, at least here in Knox County, yet there are some interesting things to ponder in the vote totals. Who was the night’s biggest winner locally? My answer would be Tim Burchett. The freshman congressman did even better than he did two years ago when he was first […]
By Steve Hunley Mayoral Blues Two years ago, Glenn Jacobs arrived on the political scene with the force of a hurricane. Facing two incumbent county commissioners, Brad Anders and Bob Thomas, Jacobs eked out a 23-vote win over Anders in the Republican primary to take the nomination. Jacobs winning was all the more remarkable when […]
By Steve Hunley Jacobs Chief of Staff Investigated Bryan Hair, Chief of Staff to Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, is under investigation, along with Paul White, Director of the county’s Parks & Recreation Department. That is according to a press release issued from the mayor’s office. Hair had no experience in running much of anything […]
By Steve Hunley One of the more interesting local races is that between State Representative Gloria Johnson and challenger Elaine Davis in the 13th House District. Johnson served one term in the House, beating Gary Loe in 2012, before losing reelection two years later to Republican Eddie Smith. Johnson ran again in an attempt to […]
By Steve Hunley Health Board Hijinks A couple of County Commissioners have taken the position favored by County Mayor Glenn Jacobs that is less “Republican” than “Libertarian.” Commissioners Justin Biggs and Kyle Ward are pushing along a resolution that backs up some of the regulations passed by the Knox County Board of Health, including […]
By Steve Hunley Who’s Doing the Misleading? Mike Arms, former Chief of Staff to Mayor Mike Ragsdale, was to good government what Colonel Sanders was to the welfare of chickens. Arms has been on a tour of public offices peddling the notion of making the law director’s office an appointed office rather than elected. Arms […]
By Steve Hunley Bought Jim Haslam’s Book Last Wednesday night, on the way home from the office, I stopped at a Pilot store and bought my personal copy of the book Jim Haslam has written, “Co-Piloting.” The forward, written by Mr. Haslam’s son, former governor Bill Haslam, was awesome. I spent the weekend reading the […]
By Steve Hunley New County Commission Chair Congratulations to Larsen Jay, the newly elected Chairman of the Knox County Commission! It was a victory for the new over the old, with Jay winning the chairmanship over veteran commissioner Randy Smith. While Smith had already served one stint as commission chair, perhaps the biggest point of […]
By Steve Hunley Welcome Jimmy Duncan! The Knoxville Focus is extraordinarily proud to welcome former congressman Jimmy Duncan as a regular columnist. We already have, in my opinion, the best line-up of columnists of any local newspaper and Jimmy’s column will be something for our readers to look forward to every week. For thirty years, […]
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