Kurita Was Right

Tennessee state representative Rosalind Kurita (D-Clarksville) continues to get grief for a vote that helped remove fellow Democrat John Wilder from the position of Lieutenant Governor. That is a shame, for Ms. Kurita was right.

The interests of party should never supersede those of the state, and Mr. Wilder was both incompetent and an embarrassment to the state. It was unconscionable that some members of both parties, for the sake of political expediency, kept him one heart beat (or tick bite, as the case might have been) from the governor's mansion for so long.

Former Nashville Scene editor Liz Garrigan -- an excellent journalist who no one would confuse as a conservative -- concluded a piece some year's ago on Mr. Wilder's continued holding of the Lieutenant Governor position by saying, "Keeping a cartoon character behind the Senate podium is a good way to get Tennessee on The Daily Show, but that’s about it." She called on Republicans and Democrats to unite to remove Mr. Wilder.

For a couple of posts from the past providing my own reporting of Mr. Wilder's ineptitude, see here and here.

Both Democrats and Republicans in Tennessee who value the public interest above the partisan one owe Sen. Kurita their gratitude.