Republican club president questions candidate's GOP credentials ‒ again | Georgiana Vines

Gary Loe, president of the West Knox Republican Club and a former legislative candidate, has again taken on the issue of whether a candidate for public office in a GOP primary is a true Republican if the candidate has voted in a Democratic primary.

The candidate this time is Garrett Holt, 30, who is in the real estate business and is seeking the Republican nomination for the 4th District County Commission seat. Liz Tombras, 83, a retired TV station sales representative, also is running in the GOP primary. Democrat Shane Jackson, 47, a community banker, is the lone Democrat. The winner will succeed Republican Kyle Ward, who is not seeking reelection, in the August general election.

Loe and others, including Tombras, sought to have the Tennessee Republican Party prevent Holt from representing it in the March 5 primary since he had not voted in three of the four most recent statewide Republican primary elections, as required by the party's bylaws. However, state GOP Chairman Scott Golden and four Knox County executive committee members voted 4-1 to give Holt a waiver to keep his name on the ballot, said committee member Brian Hornback.

Hornback said the reason he agreed for Holt to remain on the ballot is that he was considered a Republican in Knoxville’s nonpartisan city elections in 2021 when then-Knox County party Chairman Daniel Herrara put together a slate to oppose incumbents. None of the Republican candidates won. Holt sought the 1st District City Council seat held by Gwen McKenzie, which she won with nearly 58% of the vote.

Hornback and Holt said in the City Council race, Loe supported Holt and the West Knox Republican Club contributed $250 to his campaign.Tombras said she agreed to run upon learning of Holt’s support of Democrats. Holt’s official voting record shows he voted in the Democratic presidential primary in 2016 when Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton were candidates, with all other votes either in Republican primaries or general elections.

Loe has made public a resolution of the West Knox Republican Club opposing the state GOP Executive Committee's decision not to disqualify “Liberal Democrat Garrett Holt.” Holt has voted in only one statewide Republican primary, not three out of four, the resolution says. The resolution also cites a complaint in which Holt was named with developer Scott Davis and Ward that was taken to the Knox County Ethics Committee over a Board of Zoning Appeals action when Holt was on the board. The committee voted not to investigate in November.

Agreeing to give Holt a waiver were GOP executive committee members Jane Chedester and Karen Brown, along with Hornback and Golden. Executive committee member Kent Morrell voted to disqualify Holt and has told the West Knox Republican Club he would try to get the full 66-member executive committee to take action. That has not happened, Hornback said.

In addition, the Republican and Democratic primary ballots have been set by the Knox County Election Commission and are on the commission’s website.

Holt described his political philosophy as “more moderate than anything.” He said he felt Loe, Tombras and others opposed to his candidacy were “failing to look at the preponderance of evidence.”

He said he’s been working about a year to serve on the commission. He got a head start in the race and is the only one of the three candidates seeking the 4th District seat who reported raising money. In a filing in July, he reported raising $50,305, spending $12,982, with a balance of $37,323.The 4th District includes the Bearden, Bluegrass, Rocky Hill and West Hills neighborhoods.

Loe, who once ran against state Rep. Gloria Johnson, a Democrat, and lost, also opposed former state Rep. Eddie Mannis, a Republican who eventually won the 18th District House seat, because of a vote in a Democratic presidential primary. In August 2020 at a meeting of the West Knox Republican Club, Loe wanted a discussion on a so-called study on crossover voting during the primary, but the discussion evolved into a debate on Mannis’ Republican credentials. Mannis beat real estate agent Gina Oster at the time. Past Republican chairs argued that Mannis had won and it was time to get behind his candidacy.

Mannis eventually chose to serve only one term, and Republican Rep. Elaine Davis succeeded him. Oster now serves on County Commission.

Meanwhile, the Democratic candidate, Shane Jackson, will officially launch his campaign on Thursday, Feb. 8, at Holly’s Gourmet Market & Café, 5107 Kingston Pike, from 5:30-7 p.m.

The host committee includes Knoxville City Council members Debbie Helsley, Lauren Rider and Andrew Roberto, Knox County Board of Education member Katherine Bike and state Rep. Sam McKenzie. Cliff Rodgers, a former Knox County elections administrator who was a Republican but has become a Democrat, and his wife, Margaret, also are hosts. Rodgers is Jackson’s campaign treasurer.

∎ REMEMBERING FRAN ANSLEY: Fran Ansley, retired professor of law at the University of Tennessee and activist for immigrants’ and labor rights, died of pancreatic cancer on Jan. 15 at her South Knoxville home. Her husband, the Rev. Jim Sessions, said she had lived with the cancer for 2½ years.

The couple has been known for decades as protestors, beginning in 1969 when they joined others in a sit-in strike at Harvard University in protest of the Vietnam War. At the time, she was a student at Radcliffe College, which was a part of Harvard. She received a B.A. degree from the college in 1969.

Ansley worked for the Southern Conference Educational Fund in Louisville, Kentucky, and with youth in East Boston and Somerville, Massachusetts, before she and Sessions moved to Tennessee. When they first married in 1972, they lived in Sevier County and eventually moved to Foster Lane in South Knoxville.

While a young mother of Elisha and Lee Sessions, she pursued a law degree from UT, which she earned in 1979, followed by a master of law degree from Harvard Law School in 1988. She worked in the UT Legal Clinic and at several law firms in Maryville and Knoxville. After receiving her law degree from Harvard, she began teaching in the UT College of Law and became a distinguished professor.

For her work as a law teacher and supporter of immigrants and labor groups, she received various awards, including the Danny Mayfield Champion of Change Award from Community Shares and the Peacemaker Award from the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance.

Last April, she organized a day-long symposium, “Working Toward Justice on Difficult Ground,” at the UT Law College, with its proceedings published as a volume of the Tennessee Law Review.

Besides her husband, she leaves son Elisha, who is a senior producer for the BBC in London, and daughter Lee, who like her parents is an activist in Knoxville.

Ansley was a member of Church of the Savior United Church of Christ. A celebration of her life will be held in the spring.

∎ NAMES IN THE POLITICAL NEWS: Emily McCaul is serving as a field representative for U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty, a Republican, in the Knoxville region. McCaul interned in Hagerty’s Knoxville office in the summer of 2021 and is a recent graduate of Clemson University, where she received a degree in political science. She replaces Riley Lovingood, who has become vice president of sales with Summit Pay.

Madge Cleveland of Knoxville has been reappointed the East Tennessee member of the Heritage Conservation Trust Fund Board by Gov. Bill Lee. She served as office manager for Victor Ashe when he was mayor, and when she was president of the Foothills Land Conservancy, then-Gov. Bill Haslam appointed her to the Heritage Conservation Trust Fund. The reappointment is subject to legislative confirmation.

Georgiana Vines is retired News Sentinel associate editor. She may be reached at gvpolitics@hotmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Republican Club president questions candidate's GOP cred ‒ again