Dear Attorney General,

Once again you are going to be ask to issue an opinion relating to conflicts of interest under TCA 12-4-102 and 5-14-114 with regards to certain Blount County Commissioners.

The 12-4-102 stuff is simply a smoke screen since none of the commissioners in question ever voted on the contract for services.

5-14-114 however has an interesting twist that none of the local media have bothered to cover.

The vote to return Blount County to the Financial Acts of 1957 took place on August 17, 2006 and applied a July 1, 2007 effective date. This act was passed by the outgoing Commission. August 17th is exactly two weeks AFTER the Commissioners in question were first elected to serve on the County Commission and before they took office. They were elected on August 3, 2006

This vote to place Blount County under the Act of 1957 was done AFTER the outgoing Commission knew who the new mayor and the new commissioners would be. This was not done by those who would make up the Commission while under the Acts of 1957.

Sir, is there not some kind of equal protection clause in the Tennessee Constitution which prohibits such actions?