(C) Tennessee Lookout This story was originally published by Tennessee Lookout and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Stockard on the Stump: Black Caucus wants one more year from TSU’s Glover – Tennessee Lookout [1] ['More From Author', 'August', 'Sam Stockard'] Date: 2023-08-18 Saying TSU President Glenda Glover has been “unfairly targeted” by Republican lawmakers, Tennessee’s Black Caucus is urging her to remain at the helm through 2025 to provide stability. Rep. Sam McKenzie, the caucus chairman, says Glover’s announcement this week that she will retire from TSU in June 2024 “seems rushed,” coming on the heels of uproar over a campus housing crunch that triggered a comptroller’s audit. Republican senators hammered the Tennessee State University president and its board of trustees in a hearing last fall, followed up by a comptroller’s report recommending new leadership be hired and the university placed under the Tennessee Board of Regents instead of being allowed to operate under its own board of trustees. Glover took responsibility for the housing shortfall last school year when TSU boosted its scholarship offerings, but she told lawmakers the university was responding to a national demand by students for historically Black universities, many of them first-generation college students. TSU was forced to request funding to house students at several local hotels and a church, which drew the ire of Republican lawmakers who threatened to fire her over the housing crunch and repeated audit findings that haven’t quite been resolved, though they don’t involve any missing funds. Tennessee State University joins UT-Knoxville and UT-Chattanooga in needing hotel rooms to house an influx of students, but those sacred cows are allowed to roam while TSU and President Glenda Glover are corralled. McKenzie, a Knoxville Democrat, wants Glover and the board to have more time to hire a new president and ensure a smoother transition. The matter is muddied further by the Legislature’s refusal to renew TSU’s operations for more than one year, which could make it hard to find strong candidates. “It puts a cloud over the university, which I think is unfair,” McKenzie says. The Black Caucus points out TSU more than doubled its endowments to more than $100 million under Glover, increased grant funding to more than $100 million in 2023, partnered with Meharry Medical College to set up the Dr. Levi Watkins Jr. Institute and Accelerated Pathway program on medicine and dentistry and established a national technology and innovation center. In addition, TSU’s Aristocrat of Bands won a Grammy and performed twice at the White House, and TSU became the first HBCU to field a hockey team. The caucus also points out TSU increased its national visibility by bringing in commencement speakers such as Vice President Kamala Harris and alumnus Oprah Winfrey. The latter designation, however, could be the kindling for GOP consternation surrounding Glover. They don’t like her friends. TSU joins UT-Knoxville and UT-Chattanooga in needing hotel rooms to house an influx of students, but those sacred cows are allowed to roam while Glover and TSU are corralled, with a $2 million outside budget pending. TSU also went through a “100%” audit, McKenzie points out. If the folks in the General Assembly are hell-bent to get rid of her, what’s the difference between this year and next year? She’s done a good job. – Rep. Sam McKenzie, D-Knoxville, of Tennessee State University President Glenda Glover A TSU spokesperson contends Glover’s retirement announcement has nothing to do with the housing problems or the General Assembly. But it is clear Republican leadership wants her gone, and connections with the Democratic vice president and Winfrey, two of the most powerful Black women in the nation, don’t help. “If the folks in the General Assembly are hell-bent to get rid of her, what’s the difference between this year and next year? She’s done a good job,” McKenzie says. Lawmakers could have opted to monitor the situation. But that’s not the nature of this Legislature. Once they see blood, they go for the throat, and despite what TSU says, it appears they’ve gotten their way — unless Glover listens to the Black Caucus and sticks around for one more year. Keep your mouths shut The Tennessee Department of Correction sent a letter to Community Corrections organizations a year and a half ago notifying them they might have violated state bidding guidelines by saying a request for proposals “must be stopped quickly.” The letter from the department’s inspector general says the email appears to be an effort to “collude with others to frustrate the intent and purpose” of the bidding process. That was one of the key revelations in a Senate corrections committee meeting last week as lawmakers tried to figure out why the state undercut the probation program even though it was put into state law in 1985 to give judges another option for sentencing non-probatable felons. State Sen. Jeff Yarbro says he was “shocked and pretty disturbed” by the letter, which said the email from a Community Corrections provider could be “construed” as an unauthorized communication and “completely inappropriate attempt to disrupt the bidding.” In reality, Community Corrections directors involved in sending or receiving the email were trying to save their programs. Former interim Commissioner Lisa Helton, who is retiring in September and was in charge last year, argued that state procurement laws prohibited Community Corrections officials from talking to legislators. Yarbro, though, pointed out the state Constitution allows people to contact their legislator and noted he couldn’t find anything in state law prohibiting such a message. “What happened is there was a proposal to eliminate Community Corrections,” Yarbro says. The Legislature stopped that from happening and called for more information to be gathered. But rather than doing that, Yarbro says, the state “effectively started killing Community Corrections with a government contract.” Sen. Mark Pody, a Lebanon Republican, was similarly miffed at the department and expressed frustration that officials couldn’t provide the committee with more information about parolees. He pointed out the new method, which involves day reporting centers and drug and alcohol counseling, isn’t serving nearly as many people. Republican Sen. Richard Briggs of Knoxville, who serves on the East Tennessee Human Resources Agency board of directors, which held a Community Corrections contract, agreed that “we were blindsided” by the circumvention. District Attorney General Jared Effler, who serves District 8 on the Cumberland Plateau, told lawmakers the program’s goal is to provide “close supervision” of offenders, because it’s often the “last step” before they’re sentenced to prison. “That close supervision has now been taken away from us,” Effler said. Thousands of convicted felons sentenced to Community Corrections, one of two options judges have — the other is prison — were transferred to state penitentiaries or state probation. Yet new Department of Correction Commissioner Jeff Strada admitted the state hasn’t been able to increase its probation office staff over the last year and a half. Community Corrections officials say that leaves felons with minimal supervision, compared to their intensive reporting. “There’s not enough people in the Department of Correction to supervise the number of people on probation,” Criminal Court Judge Stacy Street of the 1st Judicial District told lawmakers during testimony. The judge adds that some felons are “just too damn mean” to be on regular probation. And when a new law kicks in next year requiring some felons to serve 85 to 100% of their sentences, Community Corrections will be more important than ever, Street says. The Department of Correction decided to require more drug and alcohol treatment in its 2022 contract, ordering Community Corrections groups to put more professional positions into their programs without providing more funds. Some opted not to apply and others didn’t get contracts, leaving 30 counties in the state without Community Corrections options for sentencing, even though state law requires it. Some judges, though, continued to sentence felons to Community Corrections supervision, and the Legislature passed a law this year enabling those programs to remain in place. Ultimately, Strada told senators last week he couldn’t go back and undo the contract but would do a better job of communicating with lawmakers as the next bid is made. Republican Sen. Ed Jackson of Jackson, chairman of the committee, says the plan is to bring back the Community Corrections program. And Briggs agrees better communication will be critical. But he’s also worried that Community Corrections programs will find it hard to rebuild because they had to lay off most of their people. Oh yes, the old communication breakdown. “It’s always the same, having a nervous breakdown, drive me insane.” Riding for Waverly State Sen. Kerry Roberts is holding a 100-mile bicycle ride Saturday in memory of the 20 people who died in the Waverly flood two years ago. The ride will run from the Robertson County Courthouse to the Humphreys County Courthouse. Roberts, who suffered a serious illness three years ago but remains an avid cyclist, points out families are still suffering from the disaster as rebuilding in Waverly continues. A memorial service also will be held at 8 p.m. Saturday at the site of the former Waverly Junior High School. Roberts encourages people to donate to the Appalachia Service Project, which has been rebuilding homes in the area. Some stories never die Tennessee Journal Editor Erik Schelzig and former Tennessean reporter Joel Ebert will hold a discussion and book signing for their projected Pulitzer, “Welcome to Capitol Hill, 50 Years of Scandal in Tennessee Politics,” Tuesday at Vanderbilt’s John Seigenthaler Center. It starts at 5 p.m. It must be noted the event is scheduled for the evening of the second day of the Legislature’s not-so-special session on public safety, when the unexpected is expected, especially in the House chamber. For all we know, the House might adjourn by then. Fortunately, the authors are offering free drinks, which is a good thing because the invitation says it could last three hours? I hope they’re not expecting me to take notes. Amendment to be filed? The Schelzig/Ebert tome could wind up with an extra chapter — which would likely have to be published online – detailing the outcome of former Sen. Brian Kelsey’s conviction on federal campaign finance violations. He was sentenced to 21 months in prison last week for directing a scheme with now-former friends Josh Smith, proprietor of The Standard, a swanky downtown Nashville restaurant, and expelled Rep. Jeremy Durham, to funnel tens of thousands of dollars from his state campaign account through two political actions committees to the American Conservative Union, which bought radio/digital ads for his failed 2016 congressional race. Smith was placed on five years probation, ordered to pay a $250,000 fine and do 720 hours of public service work with local youths. Durham, an unindicted co-conspirator, got off because he told prosecutors everything he knew. Kelsey fought until the bitter end, first calling the federal indictment a “witch hunt,” then reneging on a guilty plea and, when that failed, hiring a third set of attorneys to represent him at his sentencing hearing. U.S. District Court Judge Waverly Crenshaw was swayed by numerous letters of support for Kelsey, as well as four character witnesses who said he was the greatest thing since sliced bread (white bread, of course). Crenshaw, though, appeared to want to hear Kelsey or somebody just say that he was sorry for breaking the law. He finally did, including telling the judge he was “simple and selfish.” But while new attorney Alex Little did a commendable job of getting him out of a 33-to-41-month sentence, which the feds sought, one has to wonder what would have happened if Kelsey had thrown himself at the mercy of the court this spring. He might have gotten about eight months of prison time or maybe nothing but a fine, enabling him to spend more time with his young family. Ah, the price of selfishness. It never pays for itself. And one more thing An attorney with Kelsey’s former employer, Liberty Justice Center, testified that he regularly visited his friend at his Alexandria, Virginia home near Washington, D.C. Kelsey’s wife, Amanda, is a lobbyist for the Ingram Group there. Kelsey left the Legislature less than a year ago, shortly before he pleaded guilty, and about the same time he says he was struggling from his twin sons keeping him up all night. Wait a second, didn’t he live in Germantown, at least at some point? Something tells me his feet weren’t 10 feet off of Beale. [END] --- [1] Url: https://tennesseelookout.com/2023/08/18/stockard-on-the-stump-black-caucus-wants-one-more-year-from-tsus-glover/ Published and (C) by Tennessee Lookout Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/tennesseelookout/