Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed recovering journalist Clint Brewer in the studio to comment upon the local mainstream media reporting of the scathing DCS report released by Tennessee comptroller.
Leahy: In studio, my very good friend, all-star panelist recovering journalist Clint Brewer. Clint, we’re going to kick the can to the next segment on the Beacon Center Report. I want to jump into that because they’re really tearing into all these subsidies for stadiums, which you and I have sort of different views on that.
But I want to get to this. This is interesting, a breaking story on Tuesday. This is from WSMV. The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services is expected to respond to a scathing audit released on Tuesday by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury.
Among the findings in the audit case manager turnover and employee vacancies at DCS have reached crisis levels, while the number of children going into DCS custody continues to rise. Children may have remained in unsafe conditions because management has not met established timelines for key points of child abuse and neglected investigations.
And DCS did not ensure that reported allegations of sexual abuse, sexual harassment, or lack of supervision of custodial children living in residential facilities were investigated. That’s just three of the 13 main findings. Scathing, I think, is probably the proper word to describe this report. Your thoughts?
Brewer: Yes. I think the first thing I’d say for listeners is this is for somebody in my shoes who’s been an observer of state government since the 90s. That’s how far some of these problems go back. The employment issue is a recent thing. They’ve always had trouble hiring and retaining case managers. It doesn’t pay a whole lot.
It’s very difficult work, but it’s never been this bad. I think the Pandemic and the great resignation all play into that. But these are systemic problems that go back. They go back to the 90s in some cases.
And some of them are new with a fresh face. I think if you also see in there, there’s a software problem where they can’t track kids because there’s a system called T-FAX, which doesn’t work well at all, which was, I believe I’m correct in saying this, a Bredesen era procurement purchase.
But this has been going on for decades in Tennessee, the face of the problem has changed and the complexities of the problem have changed. It’s just a difficult, hard level of non-performance by DCS going back to the 90s.
Leahy: I know this will surprise you. I see a political angle here. And the most outspoken people talking about this audit are two well-known left-wing Democrats. State Senator Heidi Campbell has issued a statement, as has State Representative Gloria Johnson from Knoxville.
The far left democrat. They’ve been the ones that have been out front most on this issue. The comptroller is Jason Mumpower. And he’s a former Republican legislator. He’s kind of played it down the middle. From what I can tell. Justin Wilson was a previous comptroller. The comptroller’s office is well respected in Tennessee.
Brewer: Yes, absolutely.
Leahy: Anytime I see a story with the political analysis coming from Heidi Campbell and Gloria Johnson, I’ve got the partisan red alert.
Brewer: Going to Democrats only for comment on this story suggests that somehow it’s the failing of Republicans. And for sure, there have been failings by Republicans on the issue of DCS. But the Democrats are absolutely no different. This level of problem existed in DCS. The clips are out there.
The news coverage is out there. When Democrats were in the majority in the legislature, there were problems like this. When there was a Democrat in the governor’s office, there were problems like this. I covered them as a journalist.
This is not a partisan problem. This is a problem with the inner workings of state government that transcends party. It crosses over decades. This is a long-standing problem.
Leahy: You said something very important as a recovering journalist. You saw it right away and you framed it properly for our listeners. So here’s the story. The audit, which is scathing released by the comptroller…
Brewer: Not the first scathing audit of DCS.
Leahy: I understand. Apparently, this is all the local media, the television guys, which are to be put it to be kind, you might call them mainstream media.
Brewer: And there’s not a lot of institutional knowledge in some of these newsrooms.
Leahy: Whether it’s WSMV or WKRN or News Channel Five, all the stories that I’ve seen, the only people that they went to for comment, or at least that they quoted, were Heidi Campbell. She lost. She’s a state senator here in Nashville. She was defeated 55-45 in the general election. She ran for the Fifth Congressional District seat.
We’re now represented by Andy Ogles, former mayor of Maury County, and then the usual suspect, Gloria Johnson. If there’s anything anywhere in the state where there’s somebody criticizing a policy of a Republican Tennessee legislator or executive or anybody, they go to Gloria Johnson.
And she’s even further left than Heidi Campbell. The question to me is, why do these news outlets only go to them for comment?
Brewer: It’s perplexing. It’s not as if Republicans wouldn’t have something to say about it.
Leahy: I don’t think it’s perplexing. (Laughs)
Brewer: I used to deal with this. It’s like, oh, well, it’s a Republican supermajority. It’s a Republican legislature. Let’s go talk to the Democrats.
You have to remember, the comptroller works for the legislature. The legislature is run by the Republicans. It’s not like your constitutional officers are unaligned parties here.
This is a Republican-appointed comptroller. If you look at the report, it’s sent to the lieutenant governor and the House Speaker. That’s who the report is to, right? If you look at the title page, that’s who they’re sending it to. So this is a check and balance in government where the legislative branch through the comptroller is performing a check on the executive branch.
If anybody out there knew their civics and actually read the report, they would go, oh, okay. All they see is a Republican Governor, let’s go to a Democrat to create tension in the story.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Read the commentary, “The Leftist Wasteland of Compassion”
Failed social programs result in failed social norms. This is no different than our academic institutions. More government is not the answer. A more effective government( DCS) is. Our legislators must tread very carefully here.
Absolutely no viable proposals for solving this problem, and you are worried about what freakin’ party the media contacted???