David Hawsk, Chairman Weakley County Republican Party
Posted: Thursday, May 14, 2009 1:26 pm

To the editor,
I would like to respond to some of the statements and comments made against the Weakley County Republican Party and myself, David Hawks, Chairman, concerning the Administrator of Elections in the county.
First, Ms. Cashon was not fired.  Her position was an appointed position and was filled by another appointment.  Many may ask ‘why now’?
The reason is that because for 140 years the Democrats have had the majority and as a result have made the appointment.
This leads us to the comment made by Mr. Killebrew in which he stated that the ‘County Election Commission had always been bi-partisan and he could not understand this move.’ It is really easy to be bi-partisan when you have the majority for 140 years knowing the opposing party cannot effectively change any move your party decides to make.
Secondly, we have the State Attorney General give his opinion that replacing the administrator may be illegal. It is ironic that he himself was appointed by Governor Bredesen (D) replacing a Republican. BUT, I’m sure they were being bi-partisan and the appointment had nothing to do with party lines.
Thirdly, Mr. Bell, Chairman of the Weakley County Democratic Party, stated that “This has perfectly defined the Republican Party here and in the state to promote their agenda at all cost.”  Mr. Bell has a short memory. Take the seat of Mr. James Barner (D) on the County Commission for example.
Mr. Barner served faithfully for years and was one of the few on the commission to speak out and voice his opinion on issues. After his passing, the Commission made a proper selection in picking Ms. VanCleave (D) to fill his seat.  Ms. VanCleave served well until it came time for the re-election. At this time, Mr. Bell decided he wanted the seat and called a Democratic Caucus naming himself as the Democratic candidate. 
As a result, Ms. VanCleave had to run as an Independent in an election where the only candidates were Democrats. Needless to say Mr. Bell was elected. Now I’m sure Mr. Bell had NO political motives or agenda behind his move and was very bi-partisan in his decision.
Next, there is the matter of Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey (R). It seems that as long as Lt. Gov. Wilder (D) was in line to become governor, the Democratic Party was silent. It was a win-win situation for them. If there was a Democrat or Republican governor and something happened, you had a Democrat to take his place.
Now go back a few years when Gov. Bredesen (D) became ill and the thought of Lt. Gov. Ramsey, a Republican, becoming governor was mentioned. The Democrats suddenly felt that the Lt. Gov. might be better served if it was an elected position.  Now, I’m sure the Democratic Party had NO political motives behind this suggestion and it was strictly a bi-partisan idea.  
Then, let’s not forget what took place in the State House this year. After all these years of a Democratic-controlled House, the Republicans finally get the majority allowing them to replace Speaker Naifeh (D). Everyone knows Speaker Naifeh was very bi-partisan appointing mostly Democrats to chair committee seats and often stopping bills from coming to the floor for a vote even when ample votes were there to pass the bill. 
He was also very bi-partisan in seeing that most Democratic House members had their own secretaries while Republicans, more often than not, shared secretaries and sometimes had one secretary for three Republican House members. To make matters worse, often times the Democratic secretaries were paid more than the Republican secretaries.
When seeing that they couldn’t protect Speaker Naifeh, the Democratic House members did a back-door maneuver and placed Republican Kent Williams (R) up for speaker and kept the Republicans from getting who they wanted. Now everyone knows that Rep. Williams is a Republican by name only and was really Speaker Naifeh’s lackey, voting more often than not with Mr. Naifeh.
Rep. Williams has stated often that he could not run as a Democrat in his district and get elected.  Thus, he claims to be a Republican but votes with Democrats on most occasions. Once again, I’m sure that when Rep. Mark Maddox (D) and the other Democratic House members made this decision, they had NO political motives or agenda in mind and were being strictly bi-partisan.
From looking at the record, the only conclusion one can draw is that if Ms. Cashon had been a Republican or appointed by a Republican election commission, the Weakley County Democratic Party would have been its Democratically bi-partisan self and would have replaced her.
In closing, I’ll leave you with this comment from our President, Mr. O'Bama, when being criticized for some of his decisions—“Elections have consequences.”
David Hawks,
Chairman, Weakley County
Republican Party
5.14.09