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TN Politics: Disaster Relief the Latest Victim of Political Disinformation

Political Analyst Otis Sanford joins us each week to talk about Tennessee politics.
Political Analyst Otis Sanford joins us each week to talk about Tennessee politics.

WKNO TRANSCRIPT

CHRISTOPHER BLANK (Host): Of all the things Tennessee is known for, hurricanes are not among them. And yet, we've had more than our share of them this year. The destruction created by Hurricane Helene in Eastern Tennessee pales in comparison to its impact in other states, but some have criticized Gov. Bill Lee for not declaring a state of emergency ahead of time, and also being the last governor to ask for disaster relief. With us again to talk about that is political analyst Otis Sanford. Welcome back.

OTIS SANFORD: Thank you, Chris. Good to be back with you.

BLANK: Otis, has Gov. Lee given any kind of official reason why he's lagged so far behind other states when lining up the disaster relief funding?

SANFORD: Well, if he has it has not been a good reason. I'm going to be charitable here and say Tennessee citizens rarely have to face this kind of destruction from a hurricane. We're not used to that. But government should be more proactive than reactive here, and I think that Gov. Lee and his administration dropped the ball and did not respond quickly enough. And he has not given a good reason other than to say you don't make those requests until you know that there is a need for the request. Well, I disagree with that. So I think he dropped the ball.

BLANK: Well, these recent storms have prompted a surge of right-wing conspiracy theories. My personal favorite is that Democrats can control the weather. And if you believe that you might want to move to Memphis! What I don't quite understand are political efforts to undermine FEMA, the government agency that helps with disaster relief. FEMA had to actually fact check our very own US Sen. Marsha Blackburn on its website for spreading false information that she put on Twitter. She and about 50 other Republicans even voted not to fund FEMA right before these storms hit. What are Republican lawmakers hoping to achieve here with all this disinformation at a time when many folks need FEMA's help?

SANFORD: They are parroting Donald Trump. And when he said the ridiculous things he said about the poor response and the shifting of money, everybody else just fell in line. Stupidity is contagious. And the stupidity that we get from the Republican candidate for president has filtered down to people like Marsha Blackburn and they're using FEMA as a scapegoat here because Trump wants to do that.

BLANK: Helene destroyed five bridges in Eastern Tennessee among other damage. The state is sitting on a pretty big rainy day fund of billions of dollars. But state lawmakers, we know, don't like to touch that, even when it does rain. It's been pointed out that a couple of sources of funding might be the $144 million set aside for school vouchers, or the $1.5 billion in tax refunds the state wants to give to businesses. What do you foresee happening in the coming session of the General Assembly when Republicans start talking about paying for all the cleanup?

SANFORD: Well, first you're absolutely right: it has definitely rained this time. There's no question that the legislature should-- and the administration-- should drop the voucher plan and use that money. And also use money from the tax cuts that were promised to, especially, the larger, wealthier businesses. And then use some rainy day money to augment that, and take care of the business of repairing especially these schools in east Tennessee. And I expect that the legislature will look seriously at those proposals next year. You know, the voucher plan was already unpopular and so this is a great excuse for them. And I hope that Mark White from here in Memphis leads the charge to say we need to drop the voucher thing and do what's necessary to get these schools back where they need to be.

BLANK: Well, finally Otis, as you know, WKNO is wrapping up our fall pledge drive today. And since we have been talking about funding, I wonder if you might share a couple of reasons why you support public radio.

SANFORD: Oh, it's a no-brainer. Long before I became a regular on WKNO and public radio, it has been one of the places that I would go for in-depth news and information as the main thing that attracted me to public radio a long time ago. So I'm an ardent supporter. I'm a financial supporter and I encourage anybody who wants to, sort of, get to an upper tier of news and information and even entertainment -- that is the place to go: public radio and WKNO. No question about it.

BLANK: Well, thank you so much and we always appreciate you and your commentary.

SANFORD: Thank you, Chris.

Reporting from the gates of Graceland to the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, Christopher has covered Memphis news, arts, culture and politics for more than 20 years in print and on the radio. He is currently WKNO's News Director and Senior Producer at the University of Memphis' Institute for Public Service Reporting. Join his conversations about the Memphis arts scene on the WKNO Culture Desk Facebook page.