Coup by Keel Hunt

On Wednesday morning, Jan. 17, 1979, Republican Gov.-elect Lamar Alexander was enjoying a brief respite from his five-year quest; he was sitting in his campaign offices on Hobbs Road, working on his speech for Saturday, when he, his wife, Honey, family, friends and supporters would celebrate the long, sole-wearing journey they had taken to Nashville.

And then U.S. Attorney Hal Hardin called and ruined his day.

And it was not just Lamar Alexander’s day that Hardin ruined. “It was the worst day of my life,” Honey has said of the next several hours that led to Alexander being sworn in by Justice Joe Henry in the Supreme Court chambers just before 6 that evening.

Keel Hunt, a former reporter and longtime media and public relations consultant, has just published a book, “Coup,” about that day when the Democratic leadership of the state legislature, the Democratic leadership of the state’s judiciary, the Democratic attorney general and the Democratic U.S. attorney determined that the only way to prevent one of the worst political scandals in Tennessee’s history from spiraling out of control was to prematurely oust Democratic Gov. Ray Blanton and swear in the young Republican Lamar Alexander. John Seigenthaler wrote the foreword, and on Friday hosted Hunt, Alexander and Hardin for a rare public review of that day.

Hunt starts his epilogue: “Among the principals, there were no further meetings on the subject, ever.” As Hardin said at the Friday event, it is not an event to celebrate.

But it is certainly an event that we should remember and take heed of.

When Alexander beat Knoxville banker Jake Butcher to win the governor’s race, Tennessee Democrats were in the midst of losing control of the state. After more than 50 years of dominance, voters had elected two Republican senators, Howard Baker (elected in 1966) and Bill Brock (elected in 1970, but Jim Sasser won the seat back for Democrats in 1976), and Democrats had just lost the governor’s office for the second time in eight years.

Though not panicked, Democrats were of little mind to cooperate with these new Republicans who were in the process of wresting away the lucrative relationships that come with entrenched political power.

Yet faced with the naked acts of Blanton and his staff, who were engaged in a “pay-for-pardons” scheme that ended up freeing 52 criminals — including several murderers — whose parole had been denied, the Democratic leadership, Lt. Gov. John Wilder, House Speaker Ned McWherter and Attorney General William Leech agreed with Hardin, a fast-rising Democrat appointed U.S. attorney by President Jimmy Carter, that Tennessee faced the prospect that Blanton could “empty the penitentiary” with his scheme. Already, the FBI had arrested three Blanton staffers for corruption, though Blanton was not indicted after a December 1978 appearance before the grand jury.

In a remarkable turn of events, these leaders came together, debated heatedly about their constitutional rights and obligations and concluded that Tennessee demanded more of them than partisan politics.

Justice Henry was pulled from his recuperative bed; Honey Alexander dug out the family bible; and Alexander took the oath that evening. Welcome to the mansion.

At Friday’s event in the Seigenthaler Center, Alexander was asked how the abrupt beginning of his term had affected his governorship.

“Though it would be difficult on the country, I wish that all political leaders had that experience of a six-hour boot camp with the opposing party,” he said. “I did not know Hal (Hardin), Ned (McWherter), John (Wilder) or Bill (Leech) other than by reputation before that day, but we worked through the most difficult problem we would face.”

Alexander became the first Tennessee governor to serve consecutive terms, and he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002.

We are fortunate to have the opportunity to hear firsthand from those who lived through the dramatic twists and turns of governance, and to read their accounts from the skilled hands of journalists such as Keel Hunt.

We say that we study and remember history so that we do not have to experience the same tortured process to learn its lessons and avoid repeating mistakes.

That is what we say …

 

Sunday July 21, 2013
The Tennessean
Written by Frank Daniels III

Click here for original story on tennessean.com