...Democrats and Republcans in his home state.
Hated by Republicans, for attempting to steamroll
through a state income tax, and by Dems for the
regressive backlash it generated, which many believe
led to Bush carrying Gore's home state in 2000.
And then there's the ethics problems...
http://billhobbs.com/hobbsonline/002694.html'Of Sundquist's fiscal policies, the Cato report had nothing good to say. Here is Cato's one-page summary of the fiscal legacy of Gov. Don Sundquist:
No one can explain why he did it, but Governor Don Sundquist created a needless four year political civil war regarding income taxes. Tennessee has never had an income tax. The voters overwhelmingly do not want one. Sundquist promised never to propose one. But after his successful reelection bid, he pulled an about-face and became a huge supporter of the tax he had earlier disavowed.
<snip>
The broken tax pledge incited a ferocious tax revolt in Tennessee. Every time the tax has come to a vote in the past four years, armies of enraged citizens have converged on the capital with cars honking to shut down business inside the legislature. The good news is that the income tax was defeated on every occasion. This past summer, Sundquist forced a shutdown of the government until the legislature would agree to his tax scheme, but when the votes did not emerge, Sundquist finally backed down.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Sundquist'...rumor and innuendo have continued to swirl about him, which became more intense with the conviction of a fomer mid-level member of his administration in May, 2004 for illegally routing a "no-bid" contract for job training for the unemployed to a close personal friend of his. On November 4, 2004, another friend of his was indicted, charged with false statements allegedly made in conjunction with another no-bid contract, this one to connect Tennessee schools to the Internet amounting to nearly $200,000,000, and with destroying e-mails and other records pertinent to the case.
In August, 2004, Sundquist "crashed" the Republican National Convention in New York City, appearing uninvited. (Rumors that an effort was going to be made to include him in the official state delegation had apparently been unfounded.) However, due to his former importance in the state and the considerable embarrassment that it would have entailed to have him removed, he was made welcome by certain members of the Tennessee delegation, many of whom had been close friends in the past. In the spring of 2005, the friend mentioned in the matter above was sentenced to prison for having fraudlently received a state contract by utilizing his close relationship with Sundquist.'
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
