Federal election disclosures show the Tennessee Democratic Party is struggling to raise money in the aftermath of a leadership struggle. The Federal Election Commission report filed on Friday shows the party under new Chairman Chip Forrester only managed to raise about $31,000 in February. That compares with about $211,000 raised in the same month of his predecessor Gray Sasser's stint in charge of the party.

It would have been nice to have the courtesy of a chance to respond to all of this prior to publishing this piece but since I did not have that opportunity, let me take a moment to help clarify this situation. Since becoming chair, I have tried my best to be open and accessible about the Party and my actions at the Party. Since I was not give the courtesy of a phone call, let me address this specific situation. It is customary for the new Chair of the Party to appoint new members to the Standing Committees once elected. Will Cheek has served as Finance Committee chair for a number of years in addition to serving on the executive committee and as member of the Democratic National Committee. It has been my long held belief that leadership opportunities for members of the state executive committee should be spread among the committee. When elected Chair, I felt that naming a new Chair of that particular committee would allow me to offer an additional leadership opportunity to a member of the executive committee. Prior to making that decision, I reached out to Metro Councilman Jerry Maynard who serves on the state executive committee and was a previous Deputy Chair under Chairman Bob Tuke’s administration, to discuss the idea of him chairing that committee. I felt that it was important to continue to elevate African-American leaders to key positions on the executive committee and since Jerry was already a member of Finance Committee that he would be an excellent chair. Unfortunately, I had been given an outdated set of TNDP by-laws, which prior to 2006 gave the chair this authority. In 2006 they had been amended to have the Finance Committee chair serve until January of the next year. The thought behind the 2006 by-law amendment was that the new chair would benefit from the financial continuity of the current Finance Committee chair. As chair of the Finance Committee in 2007, Will Cheek had negotiated Gray Sasser’s contract and salary and he and I entered into similar negotiations as he had done under the previous chair. In his fiduciary role as Finance Committee chair, it is his duty to husband the Party’s financial resources. After discussions over the past week or so, he and I have agreed on a recommendation to the Finance Committee of a compensation package that has an annual salary of $95,000. This will be brought to the full Finance Committee in the near future and he and I are confident that the committee will unanimously accept this recommendation. I hope this clarifies the specifics of this issue.

He wants to depose Cheek as head of the party's finance committee. Cheek voted for Charles Robert Bone for party chairman. Cheek's would-be replacement? Jerry Maynard, who voted for Forrester for chairman. (This is all according to Pith's stable of smug anonymous Democratic insiders, so we know it's true.) Forrester's predecessor as chairman, Gray Sasser, made $115,000 a year. Cheek is trying to cut Forrester's pay to $75,000. Cheek thinks Forrester doesn't deserve $115,000 because the party expects to raise only about $500,000 this year--and that's if Democrats are lucky. That's about half as much as the party raised and spent each year under Sasser. We're told Forrester tried to oust Cheek but couldn't because Cheek's term doesn't end for another year. Forrester apparently didn't know that. Now he does.

Our state Party was led this year by the very people who have now signed the endorsement letter for Charles Robert Bone. They set the strategy for this year’s campaign in Tennessee. Our state Party did not suffer from a lack of funding, I know because as Treasurer I signed the checks. What our Party suffered from this year was a lack of a grassroots organization that involved everyone that believes in and supports the values of the Democratic Party. You cannot build a viable political party from the top down, no more than you can improve the economic well being of our country with “trickle down” economics as failed Republican administration policies, tragically for our country’s working men and women, have so vividly shown us these past 8 years. And while I respect everyone who signed the endorsement letter, if these elections have taught us anything, they should have shown us that the “top down” approach does not work any longer in Tennessee.

Senator Rosalind Kurita (D-Clarksville) received a major endorsement from the Tennessee State Employees Association (TSEA) in her write-in campaign for the State Senate. "From those state employees who provide disaster relief, to those who work with children in foster care, and from those who protect our highways to those who care for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled, our state is fortunate to have so many dedicated state workers," said Sen. Kurita. "I am honored to receive this endorsement and appreciate their support." The Tennessee State Employees Association represents hundreds of state employees in the 22nd Senatorial District, which includes Montgomery, Cheatham and Houston counties.

The case was heard today by Judge Robert Echols, who said he would not make a decision until next week. After the long and tedious hearing adjourned, Kurita said that she felt today's actions resulted in a "fair hearing," but that "No matter what, I don't think this will be the end." She added, "My counsel (Bopp) did a wonderful job in working for the will of the people." Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Gray Sasser said that Kurita's counsel presented "tenuous legal arguments."