Anti-Gun Commissioner Carpenter Leaving Town

[Pat McGarrity]

I was out of town when this was announced, however, none the less pleased to see Carpenter go somewhere else. Not only did he vote to enable violent criminals and prohibit legally armed citizens in our parks, he's a pro consolidation pimp too. One less closet Democrat to deal with. Too bad Mike Ritz isn't going with him.



http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/20 ... -resign-m/





Shelby County Commissioner Mike Carpenter announced Tuesday that he will resign from the commission and move to Nashville to become Tennessee director of StudentsFirst, a national organization launched in December by former Washington schools leader Michelle Rhee, an outspoken critic of teachers' unions.

Carpenter, 40, said in an e-mailed statement that the new job would be an extension of his work on the commission, to "transform the lives of children throughout Tennessee for generations to come."

Carpenter's legislative record includes a successful push to create the county office of Early Childhood and Youth, which obtains and oversees grants to combat problems such as infant mortality and childhood exposure to violence.

He defended the office from proposed budget cuts this year. He has long been an advocate for single-source funding of schools and more recently for school consolidation.

Carpenter, a Republican, is one of three commissioners representing mostly urban District 1. Some Republicans on the commission have criticized his votes with Democrats on some issues. In 2009, for instance, he voted against a Republican proposal to reduce the property tax rate.

He has also sparred with government employee unions when he pushed unsuccessfully for reductions in paid time off.

The commission is a part-time job, and Carpenter currently works as head of the West Tennessee Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors, a group that's critical of organized labor.

In 2009, Carpenter spoke against a union-backed effort to create a prevailing wage commission that would boost workers' wages on big public contracts, though he recused himself from voting on the matter.

He is known for posting comments on Twitter during commission meetings.

The County Commission will appoint someone to fill Carpenter's seat until voters choose a permanent replacement in August 2012, said Richard Holden, the county's administrator of elections. Many commission races are decided in the primaries, set for March 6.

Carpenter is the first person StudentsFirst has hired as a paid staffer at the state level anywhere in the country, said spokesman Hari Sevugan. The group supports policies such as hiring and firing teachers based on student performance rather than seniority.

Jerry Winters, director of government relations for the Tennessee Education Association, a labor group, said he didn't know much about the group, but, "The Michelle Rhee tie, that in and of itself tells me that it's going to be a business-oriented, anti-teacher movement," he said.

Sevugan, the spokesman, said the group isn't anti-union. "Teacher unions play a vital role in education and should continue to do so. We hope to work with unions as partners in moving reform forward." The group's goal is to ensure that the interests of children, not adults, are at the center of the education system, he said.

Rhee's ex-husband, Kevin Huffman, was appointed Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Education in April.

-- Daniel Connolly: (901) 529-5296