Watching the Candidates Debate, Yeah! (Pt. 3) : The Senate Seat

People like to say you can't judge a book by its cover, but after a lifetime of avid reading, I know that isn't the case. You can, in fact, judge a book by its cover a good portion of the time. You can look at the cover and tell if you're picking up a thriller or a romance or a serious weighty book. You may not be able to judge if the writing is itself good until you read it, but you can look at that cover and have a good idea of what to expect.

So indeed was the case with Thursday night's forum for the state senate seat formerly held by Jamie Woodson. As Marilyn Roddy, Becky Duncan Massey, and Victoria DeFreese took the stage, you could look at each woman's attire and make an educated guess about her views on the issues. And by the end of the hour, your educated guess would be proven right.

So about that attire, before I get to those issues ... 

Roddy wore a knee-length pencil skirt in a conservative print paired with a black three-quarter-length-sleeve jacket and an ivory shell underneath. She had on black low-heeled slingbacks and, surprisingly, no hose. 

Massey wore a youthful dark grey suit; the knee-length skirt had a large ruffle, and the jacket had a skinny belt-tie around the waist. It was a chic look, but the fit of the suit itself seemed too boxy for her. 

DeFreese, however, looked as if she last stepped foot inside of a clothing retailer in 1991. Her short-sleeved black dress had a square nautical collar with white double trim and white buttons all the way down the front, where it ended a few inches above DeFreese's ankles. (One of which, shockingly, sported a thin anklet, marking the first time in nine years of reporting I have seen such an accessory on a politician, aspiring or otherwise.) While the "Elaine dress" might be all the rage amongst a subset of Brooklyn hipster women, it seemed clear that DeFreese was not wearing her dress ironically. 

The looks, in brief, were Classic WASP, Quite Conventional, and what I like to call Homeschool Mom. And while I generally might throw around that last phrase without much thought to the person's actual pedagogical theory, DeFreese has homeschooled her four children. She mentioned this more than once during the debate, at one point saying that she had taught her children at home for one-tenth of the money Knox County Schools spends on each student. (According to her website, all four of her kids are now enrolled in said school system, so presumably she can't be too terribly upset about that ostensibly wasted money.)

In no way am I implying that you should ever vote for someone based on their clothes, and in no way am I implying that there is anything at all wrong with homeschooling one's children, whether for religious or practical or any other reasons. All I am saying is that if you looked at Victoria DeFreese's dress and guessed that she was a conservative Christian whose political views were right in line with state Rep. Bill Dunn and state Sen. Stacey Campfield, you would not be wrong. And if you guessed that most of the 50-60 people who stuck around after the mayoral debate ended seemed excited by DeFreese's positions than Massey's or Roddy's, you would not be wrong either.

And so about those positions ... 

A middle-aged black man asked about immigration reform (prefacing his statement by saying that he didn't think Arizona's immigration reform went far enough). Roddy said she supported the E-Verify program; Massey said immigration reform was necessary; and DeFreese added that all driver's license tests should be in English only. "If people come here, they need to learn our language," DeFreese said. "I've been in other countries, and I had to learn their languages! I had to walk around with a dictionary in my pocket to talk to people--why shouldn't they do the same when they come here?"

DeFreese and Massey both supported judicial elections; Roddy said she would possibly be willing to support electing judges if their current inability to run for office was indeed a violation of the state constitution as had been stated in the discussions.

When asked about Campfield's "Don't Say Gay" bill, Roddy pointed out that the amended version that passed the Senate does not actually prevent teachers from saying "gay" but that she still would not have voted in favor of it. (As we have noted repeatedly, the House never took up the bill, which means it is still not a law. We should also note, again, that Woodson was the sole Republican on the Senate Education Committee to vote against the bill.) Massey and DeFreese said that they would have voted for the bill. 

They were asked if they would vote to support gay marriage; Massey and DeFreese of course said no. Roddy was the only one who seemed to realize such a vote can't even happen in Tennessee--as she pointed out, the state's voters overwhelming passed an amendment to the state constitution to ban gay marriage a few years ago, and only those same voters can repeal that ban, something highly unlikely to happen anytime soon.

The candidates were also asked about HB 600, the legislation that prevents any locality from enacting an anti-discrimination ordinance that goes beyond the state's anti-discrimination standards. (The bill was introduced to prevent a Metro Nashville ordinance from going into effect; that ordinance would have prevented companies that discriminate against LGBT workers from doing business with the city, and a lawsuit questioning the legality of HB 600 has been filed.) However, the questioner asked them leaving aside the (gay) issues of HB 600, whether it was ever okay for the state to override local policies in other situations. 

Roddy and Massey said no. But DeFreese, who later said that the state shouldn't have passed a smoking ban that prevented businesses from allowing smoking if they so wanted, and that the state shouldn't tell you where you can and can't bring a firearm ("As a mother who regularly frequents parks with my children, I'd feel safer knowing that people with legal permitted guns were there," because that would counteract the people carrying guns in parks without permits), said that while generally the state should leave municipalities alone, sometimes it was necessary to intervene, as "certain counties have ways of manipulating votes" so that ordinances get passed that are not "what the people had voted for."

All three were in favor of some sort of education reform, although DeFreese was the only one to place the blame on failing schools on the bureaucracy in Nashville. (For someone running to be a part of that same bureaucracy, DeFreese spent an awful lot of time bashing it.) DeFreese and Massey also stated they were in favor of electing school superintendents--DeFreese went on a rant about how shocked she was at the size of the KCS superintendent's salary package when she had to approve it during her time on Knox County Commission. Roddy, however, said that while electing superintendents might work for some localities, she doesn't "think it's a 'one size fits all' solution."

The candidates were asked about Utah recently passing a law that would allow gold and silver to be used in a separate currency system and if they'd be in favor of such a thing in Tennessee. All three said no; in one of the best lines of the night, Massey said, "We have a way for people to use gold and silver as currency--it's called eBay." Still, DeFreese, after stating that currency  is a federal issue, then expressed concern about the dollar "losing ground in global markets" because the country no longer uses the gold standard.

I wish I could tell you this was the most insane moment of the debate, but it wasn't. That came later, after a third person had asked a question about red-light cameras. Given how prominently DeFreese is featuring the issue on her campaign literature, it was hard not to think one or two of the questioners (if not all three) were plants. And if the crowd at the Expo Center is any indication of the voters who do actually care about this campaign, red-light cameras seem poised to be the central issue in the race. (To which we say: Seriously? Red-light cameras? SERIOUSLY?????)

In brief: Both Massey and DeFreese are opposed to red-light cameras--DeFreese called them a "tax"--and both have even more of a problem with such cameras ticketing people for turning right on red before coming to a complete stop. (Campfield has introduced a number of bills on this issue.) Roddy, however, is not opposed to red-light cameras being placed at certain intersections that law enforcement has designated as needing them due to the number of wrecks that occur there. 

"It's a safety issue," Roddy said. She voted in favor of the cameras while on City Council, and she defended her decision repeatedly on Thursday. When pushed on ending the ticketing for cars turning right on red, Roddy pointed out that state law mandates that cars stop before turning right on red, so she couldn't vote in favor of legislation that would be in violation of the state's own traffic laws.

When red-light cameras came up the third time, DeFreese criticized the current legislature for neglecting to pass a law that would prevent any money collected by red-light cameras from going to foreign companies. And that, dear reader, is when this reporter couldn't help but sigh out loud.

Despite her questionable taste in clothing, DeFreese seems to be astute and politically savvy--mesmerizing in that same way as Stacey Campfield is. Is she as nutty as Campfield? I honestly have no idea.

Roddy clearly has the votes of anyone sane who also doesn't want the state in their personal life, while Massey's appeal as a business-friendly political legacy who is slightly more likely to dabble in one's personal life will swing a good number of Knox County voters; both are likely to run well-funded races. But as Campfield's win last year showed, if you combine a split vote with political apathy, crazy (like a fox or otherwise) can win. 

Which is why if you care at all about the actions our state legislature takes--or at least how it gets mocked on national television--you need to pay attention to this race too.

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