While opponents of Lamar Alexander are vocal, they do not yet have a candidate to challenge Lamar. Two potential candidates are the professional wrestler dude, Glenn "Kane" Jacobs, and Brenda Lenard, the Black single mother UT graduate student who is allegedly a convicted felon guilty of writing bad checks and who has been guilty of "abusive filing" of bankruptcies (link).
Now another candidate is being mentioned, Keven Kookogey. He is the former Chairman of the Williamson County Republican Party. While he himself has not announced, Ben Cunningham, Chair of the Nashville Tea Party and Chair of Tennessee Tax Revolt recently mentioned him as a potential candidate (link).
Kookogey served one term as Chair of the Williamson County Party and did not seek reelection. While I do not have first hand knowledge of what he did as Chairman of the
Williamson County Republican Party, I have heard that he greatly damaged the party, that contributors withheld funds
and that many Republicans were embarrassed by him.
Kookogey is either a fringe kook or is a patriot advancing real
conservative values depending on whom you talk to. As County Party chairman he advanced an
anti-Muslim and anti-Agenda 21 agenda and is now involved in the anti-Common Core campaign. He has advocated purging the party
of insufficiently conservative members and has been critical of Gov.
Haslam and other elected Republicans.
The anti-agenda 21 movement is based on a weird theory that the United
Nations plans to kill 96% of the worlds population by poisoning them
with aspartame and fluoride, although to be fair, most opponents of
Agenda 21 probably are not aware of that part of the theory. In its
milder form, the anti-Agenda 21 movement believes that Agenda 21 is a
United Nations plan to take away American sovereignty, redistribute
wealth and take away property rights in the name of environmentalism. When Kookogey was County Party chairman, the party's webpage had a tab devoted to Agenda 21. The website has since been redesigned and no longer features an Agenda 21 tab.
Across the nation anti-Agenda 21 activist have opposed everything from
traffic calming, to reintroducing wolfs into the wild, to sidewalks,
smart meters, and almost all forms of planning and mass transit as being
part of agenda 21. This anti-agenda 21 movement originated with the
John Birch Society and was spread by people like Alex Jones and Glenn
Beck. Anti-agenda hysteria has worked its way into the Republican Party
with the National GOP adopting an Anti-Agenda 21 party platform plank.
The national GOP party platform plank however is short and vague. The
Williamson County Republican Party under Kookogey adopted a strongly worded
Anti-Agenda 21 resolution that you can read at this link.
Anti-Islam activism included being part of the group taking out a full page ad against Gov.
Haslam over his administration's hiring of a qualified Muslim, Samar Ali, to work in the Department of Economic and CommunityDevelopment. The Williamson County party under Kookogey also hosted an event for controversial Dutch anti-Muslim politician Geert Wilders.
Engaging in actions such as the above is not normally a function of a
Party chair. Many see the roll of the Party chair to raise money, elect
Republicans to office and increase Party ranks. I am sure Kookogey did not make many friends as county Party chair and many were glad to see him go. I have never heard Mr. Kookogey speak nor have I met him, but I understand that he is attractive and has charisma, still I doubt that someone that far out of the mainstream could take the nomination away from Lamar Alexander.
Alexander has the endorsement of all of Tennessee's living former Republican governors, former Republican U.S. Senators, the current and all former State Party Chairmen, Senator Bob Corker, Gov. Bill Haslam, Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, Speaker Beth Harwell, all seven of Tennessee's Republican U. S. Representatives and scores of state senators, state representatives and many more. In addition, he has a war chest of $3 million. You can't beat somebody with nobody and all of the somebodies have already endorsed Alexander. If the opponents of Alexander are going to run someone who is more than just a token opposition figure, they haven't found him yet. I really don't think it is Kevin Kookogey.
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Your name says disgruntled Republican but your writing says establishment Republican.
ReplyDelete"Two potential candidates are the professional wrestler dude, Glenn "Kane" Jacobs..."
ReplyDeleteObviously qualified for the job. Experience with Fake posturing, "good" guy (face/Republican) vs. "bad" guy (heel/Democrat) games, ability to switch sides whenever the script calls for it, used to operating with corrupt referee (media) interfering with scripted matches, experience in front of camera without teleprompter.
"...and Brenda Lenard, the Black single mother UT graduate student who is allegedly a convicted felon guilty of writing bad checks and who has been guilty of "abusive filing" of bankruptcies."
Possibly over-qualified. Plus the existing Congress has already taken care of the bad checks and bankruptcy part. Got enough ink for Bernanke's printing press? Sounds more like a shoe-in for the Treasury Department like tax-cheat Tim Geithner that both Corker and Alexander approved.
"I have never heard Mr. Kookogey speak nor have I met him..."
You should read your Common Core post and watch the link. He's not that impressive (just the emcee), but the panel is excellent. No Agenda 21, no tin foil, no muslim haters, just the facts and the government's claims and documents. Not easy to explain away.
Speaking of Common Core, you might be interested in this article:
ReplyDeleteThe CWR Blog
Worried about privacy? How about Common Core?
http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Blog/2434/worried_about_privacy_how_about_common_core.aspx
KM
Anonymous is just wrong. I find myself disagreeing with the disgruntledrepublican on many issues but he is not an establishment Republican or a RINO. I don't think he is "conservative enough" but for some anyone not crawling out of the John Birch Society fever swamps isn't conservative enough either. Alexander disgusts me and I disagree with even more of his votes than Rod but one doesn't have to be a Lamar Alexander acolyte to realize that it will take more than being to his Right to beat him. I'm not happy with the field at the moment either, drawn either from the wrestling ring or nullification nuttery. Personally I agree with Rod and think the Agenda 21-chasing is silly but I disagree with him and am very suspicious about Common Core. Voters can understand that the Obama-Left agenda is rooted in anti-Americanism and socialism without chasing UN phantoms (and conservatives wisely understand that the UN is a forum for America-bashing). Alexander's votes for New START, bad immigration policies, and anti-free market-tax measures as the Internet tax bill and voting against de-funding Obamacare are bad, they are rooted in an accommodation with a fundamentally flawed liberal worldview. But, as sickening as this reality is, if we can't find a solid ELECTABLE conservative to beat him, yes, we could wind up with a Democrat who is even more milquetoast than him or worse, with a hidden Democratic agenda firmly in the Obama-Reid (fifth) column.
ReplyDeleteI'm open to hearing Kevin Kookogey speak at the candidate forums being held by Beat Lamar. His conservatism is a breath of fresh air for many of us. From watching him speak on a few issues, I am impressed with his knowledge. He speaks with the knowledge of a historian. He might not espouse all of the views held by those who view Agenda 21 as a real threat. Should he decide to run, he will certainly be asked about it and rightfully so.
ReplyDeleteAnother person speaking at these events is the Mayor of Knox County, but he's a friend of Lamar Alexander. He had a somewhat public divorce with he and his wife being looked at for violating campaign finance laws. He was cleared of that. However, he also got into trouble for tweeting an inappropriate comment about U.T. football team.
Let's at least give Kookogey a chance.