GOP chair refuses to meet with Democrats

NASHVILLE (AP) — The heads of the state Democratic and Republican parties appear to have reached an impasse in drafting bipartisan ethics proposals.

A joint ethics committee, made up of members of the state House and Senate, asked representatives of both state parties to meet independently and draft a list of bipartisan ethics proposals.

However, state Republican Chairman Bob Davis said he would not meet with anyone from the Democratic Party until Democratic Chairman Bob Tuke and Gov. Phil Bredesen met certain conditions.

Those conditions included calling for the resignation of two Democratic legislators facing bribery indictments, rebuking Lt. Gov. John Wilder for criticizing the FBI for “entrapping” the indicted legislators and revealing all contact that Bredesen had with former Sen. John Ford and two firms that held TennCare contracts and used Ford as a consultant.

Davis told The Knoxville News Sentinel that he called for these measures because Republicans previously have proposed ethics legislation that was shot down by Democrats and he wants Tuke to show his party is sincere about ethics reform.

A spokeswoman for the governor said Bredesen already has revealed all contact he had with Ford and TennCare contractors Doral Dental and UAHC Health Plan, formerly called OmniCare.

Tuke said the conditions have nothing to do with ethics legislation.

“I won’t honor them with a response,” he said. “Bob Davis just wanted to play politics.”

Tuke said he plans to present a list of proposals to the committee on his own and will incorporate some of the proposals that Republicans made previously.