A compilation of the history of the creation of Tennessee's Most Powerful Political Body!
Last Revision: 3-18-2015
History of the “Rural West Tennessee Democratic Caucus”:
The Most Influential Political Body in Tennessee History
With the April, 2011 passing of the Honorable Ned Ray McWherter, former Governor of Tennessee and charter member of a political body that would dominate Tennessee politics for four decades, it is the appropriate time to unveil the history of a small, but influential group of legislators that would center around the former Governor and Speaker of the House and a rise to power that no other political body in Tennessee, or possibly the nation, has ever seen. Overall this body of legislators were Southern Democrats-a conservative idealistic body when what defined party lines in the South were not social concepts, but rather wealth vs. poor; big business vs. small business; urban growth influence vs. rural farms and countryfolk.
Prelude to Formation: 1950-1972
Although West Tennessee power brokers, Gov. Gordon Browning (Huntingdon) and E.H. “Boss” Crump (Memphis), flexed their influence on the gubernatorial seats for three decades, the emergence of Middle Tennessee began to deteriorate their statewide influence in the Post WW2 era. Add to that the sudden and untimely deaths of the legislative power brokers, Lt. Governor Blan Maxwell in 1943 and Democratic Senator John Lashlee in 1944, West Tennessee was left with little influence over the legislative agenda for the state. Administratively there was still influence as long as "Boss" Crump had money and votes to deliver from Memphis, but legislatively West Tennessee influence was fading fast. Though Boss Crump would later become a powerful supporter of a charismatic Governor Frank Clement, Clement was from Middle Tennessee and not associated much with any political leaders in West Tennessee. Clement’s roots, however, originated from the West Tennessee County of Benton, whose political influence at the time was strong due to its considerable amount of public servants elected to the Legislature and, therefore, Clement was not alienated from having influence far beyond his Middle Tennessee affiliations. Still, any administrative agenda items brought to the table would primarily go through Middle Tennessee legislators close to Clement who would possess many of the key legislative spots up to 1971 when Senator John S. Wilder became Lt. Governor and the election of Ned McWherter into the House Speakership position in 1973, ending the era of legislative prominence for Middle Tennessee.
Formation of a Political Dynasty: (Fall of 1972 to January 1973)
There never was an “Official Founding/Formation” date of the caucus. In fact, at best, it began as an “informal” association that quickly grew into a unified and somewhat partisan membership. The creation began in the fall of 1972 before the November general election and was targeted to flex its muscle at the convening of the 88th General Assembly of Tennessee to begin in January, 1973. It would largely be comprised of only House members in the beginning since the Speakership would be up for grabs with a controversial Rep. Jim McKinney at the helm. The influence and enthusiasm of this newly formed group quickly carried over to the West Tennessee members of the Senate as well as cabinet and administrative members of State Government. It would grow in influence within the Administrative wing beginning with the election of West Tennessean Ray Blanton into the Governor’s seat in 1974.
The formation was the brainchild of newly elected State Representative Frank Lashlee from Camden who was to become a 5th consecutive generation family member elected official to serve in public office. Lashlee’s mother, Mildred Jolly Lashlee, was Tennessee’s First Woman elected to the Tennessee Senate in 1944. Lashlee’s father, Senator John Lashlee, had the backing and support of both Boss Crump and former Governor Browning and planned a run for the governorship in 1946 or 1948 when he suddenly passed away of complications from a stroke in 1944. However, this opened the door for Sen. John Lashlee’s 1st cousin, Frank Clement, to carry out Lashlee’s plan to the Governor’s seat. Lashlee's predecessor was his wife, Senator Mildred Lashlee, who would introduce Frank Clement to Boss Crump in Camden in 1948. In November, 1952, with the backing of Boss Crump, Clement would make history by becoming the youngest Governor in the US as well as Tennessee's 2nd longest serving Governor.
Frank Lashlee, a partisan conservative Democrat, was no stranger to Tennessee politics and had a knack for understanding the power of unified coalitions. With roots deep throughout West Tennessee, Lashlee was somewhat known by the “movers and shakers” long before he sought elected office and was able to quickly win support from those outside his district. Having the political connections and know-how of the inner workings of legislative politics were great assets to Frank Lashlee as he plotted the tactics of this group’s actions from its very start.
Since West Tennessee was almost certain to elect democratic candidates, the formation began to take shape shortly after the August primaries were over and a democratic candidate was selected. Lashlee began contacting these winners within a week after the primary election day. It was never Lashlee’s intent to build a partisan group. In fact, the sole purpose was to first and foremost vote as a unified body of Rural West Tennessee Legislators (House and/or Senate) in order to influence their predetermined legislative agenda. West Tennessee was more rural, and, as a result, held fewer seats in the Legislature. Lashlee knew the secret was not being the majority in the House, but being the majority within the democratic caucus. Controlling that group would mean inheriting control of the Legislature since Democrats had a vast majority of the legislative seats both in the House as well as the Senate. Being the creator of the membership, Lashlee was selected as the first Chairman and Spokesperson for the group which gave the freshman legislator an incredible amount of influence and power not known since the early years of state history.
The caucus formed as an informal body; there was no charter or bylaws for the caucus in the early years. The main criteria for being approached to join was simply that one’s district contained a county in West Tennessee (outside of Shelby). Since West Tennessee was primarily Democrat, it seemed the logical place to start a coalition of members with like ideals and political agendas. Outside of West Tennessee affiliations, the second most important criteria was that one possessed a “rural” constituency. It was not uncommon for rural democratic legislators in Middle Tennessee to associate with and support the West Tennessee Caucus throughout its four decades of power. The “big cities” of Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville and Chattanooga were producing the power-brokers in the Legislature prior to 1973, and it seemed the rural counties were being left behind. This one aspect was Lashlee’s most adamant reason for his purpose in creating the new body. Though in the beginning, no Middle Tennessee members would join in the group, once the influence of the body was realized around 1974-76, Middle Tennessee legislators whose district touched or crossed over the Tennessee River (dividing Middle and West Tennessee) were asking to be invited into the group beginning in 1978. Jim Sullivan, Walter Work, “Spot” Lowe, Gene Davidson, and Bill Peeler were just some Middle Tennesseans who unofficially caucused with the group during the peak of its tenure and would, in most cases, follow the political agenda set by the West Tennessee Democrats.
In no particular order, the early founding members of the group in 1972-73 were (districts):
Frank Lashlee, House (74th); Roger Murray, House (73rd); Ned Ray McWherter, House (76th); Larry Bates, House (77th); Jim Lanier, House (78th); Frank Garner, House (79th); Tommy Powell, House (85th) and Elbert Gill, House (88th), though from Shelby County, along with Lowell Thomas, Senate (25th) of Jackson found favor in the membership and would be asked to participate with many of its first caucuses.
Elections of 1974-75 added the additional House members:
Rep. Rob Stallings (Bolivar); Rep. Bobby Butler (Lexington); Rep. Jimmy Bishop (Brownsville); Rep. Jimmy Wallace (Jackson) an Independent; Rep. Buck Fuqua (Milan) and Rep. Jimmy Naifeh (Covington).
Mainly formed by and for the House, the caucus also incorporated any West Tennessee Senate member who would seek to participate knowing whatever bill came out of the House would soon need ratification and support in the Senate. Senate members such as Speaker/Lt. Governor John Wilder (26th) of Mason and Milton Hamilton (24th) of Union City were notable of the earlier formation years and would fully join in membership in 1976.
In all, these founding members created the political body that would rule Tennessee politics until Jimmy Naifeh’s speakership defeat in 2009!
Out the Gate from the beginning – First Success and setting a course for House of Representatives Control (1972-74):
Seeing the enthusiasm and potential of the body, Lashlee began to realize it was possible to sway the vote on the House Speakership in January, 1973, when the Legislature convened. Roger Murray of Jackson would be their focus to run against sitting Speaker Jim McKinney of Nashville. Murray, though freshly elected to his first term, was an articulate and astute personality. Speaker McKinney had made some preferential appointments in his term and alienated many non-partisan democratic members. After some preliminary attempts to posture Murray against McKinney, it was determined that Murray lacked the support to win the Speakership and quickly Ned Ray McWherter surfaced as “option 2” for the caucus. McWherter was somewhat established in the House. Though he had flown under the radar of popularity since his first session in 1969, McWherter was well liked…..or at least had no enemies. He spoke with authority and gained respect when he did. McWherter was not pledged to McKinney and had connected with Lashlee prior to the November, 1972 election. Though Roger Murray was the body’s focus to put into the speakership, it was evident the rural caucus of Lashlee’s could not position him for a win. Lashlee quickly bonded with McWherter, and the agreement was made to run McWherter against McKinney regardless of the outcome. The motions were put into play at the beginning of the 1973 Legislative Session when a new speaker would be selected. The choice of McWherter would become the signature success story of the newly formed body and would pay dividends beyond the members’ wildest dreams! McWherter won the Speakership to start off the January, 1973 session and 88th General Assembly and it would probably be the most influential session in the state’s history.
The next goal was to gain preferred committee assignments and possible leadership positions. With McWherter at the helm, due to the unity of the caucus, preferential appointments would be expected. Leadership positions were not the main priority over that of getting key persons in key committees.
Soon, the rural West Tennessee Democrats would build the enthusiasm and support of democratic voters to set their sights on the rural West Tennessee districts that were held by Republicans such as Rep. Parnell Taylor of Huntingdon; Rep. G.L. Teague of Parsons; Rep. Ed Bailey of Lexington; Rep. Ray Boudiford of Selmer; Rep. Ken Crocker of Bradford, and Rep. A.L. Kelley of Covington for the upcoming 1974 elections.
Building on Success (1974-88):
With the successful 1974 gubernatorial election of fellow West Tennessean Ray Blanton and the House elections of Bobby Butler, Jimmy Bishop, Jimmy Naifeh, Rob Stallings (and Lashlee’s defeat of Republican Parnell Taylor whose districts were strategically combined during re-districting), districts that had once gone Republican had now gone to Democrats. The increase in membership only strengthened the power and influence of the caucus. As a result of the caucuses’ ability to generate fundraising and grassroots support amongst Democrats throughout West Tennessee, 1974 was a banner election year and brought immediate attention from the rest of the state’s various political factions.
In 1974 Congressman Ray Blanton would catapult into the Governor’s chair solely out of the partisan support of the caucus and its influence to solidify a base electorate for the fellow West Tennessean Blanton amongst a field of numerous democratic challengers. Blanton was out spent and had somewhat a limited notoriety only in West Tennessee. He fended off challenges by fellow Congressman Ross Bass, Businessman Franklin Haney and heavily financed banker Jake Butcher of Knoxville. Blanton would later leave public office in disgrace resulting from corruption within his office, but nevertheless owed his success in being elected to the Governor’s chair from the partisan backing of the caucus.
Administrative and Cabinet appointments by Blanton would go through the caucus and soon the legislatively elected Constitutional positions of Secretary of State, Comptroller, and Treasurer would soon be “pre-determined” by the members.
In the election of 1976 the caucus showed its influence on the national level by backing Democrat Jim Sasser against fellow Middle Tennessean John J. Hooker in the democratic primary. Sasser was formerly from West Tennessee and so in Sasser, the caucus felt it would have greater influence. Though Sasser had statewide support, his overwhelming lead coming out of West Tennessee Congressional Districts (6th & 7th) would all but assure his victory and Sasser would later seek out the influence of this body in his successful bid to unseat incumbent US Senator Bill Brock in the 1976 General Election.
Though from Middle Tennessee, in 1984, Al Gore, Jr. in his Senate bid and Bart Gordon in his Congressional bid would heavily court the support of the caucus for its ability to rally voters and financial support throughout the state which would propel them onto the national stage of democratic politics. If West Tennessee would remain as a block democratic vote, pretty much all US Senate or Gubernatorial elections could somehow be won or lost there. Lamar Alexander and Don Sundquist, both Republicans, found favor in the conservative Democrats of West Tennessee when paired against a more liberal to moderate Democrat like East Tennesseans, Jake Butcher and Randy Tyree, or even a popular Middle Tennessee “unsuccessful” Mayoral/Congressional candidate like Phil Bredesen (who would later win a bid for Governor). Reagan Democrats were primarily West Tennessean Democrats who were predominantly conservative in their ideals. Even though Republicans became victorious numerous times on a state-wide level, they were by no means counter to the political ideologies of the Rural West Tennessee Democratic Caucus.
Prominent Members:
In addition to the aforementioned history of Frank Lashlee and Ned Ray McWherter, other prominent members were:
John Tanner would be elected in to the state house in 1976 and later would succeed Ed Jones in Congress in 1988. Due to his long standing involvement with the caucus, he was all but ensured the Congressional seat for as long as he wanted. Tanner would retire in 2011 and, other than House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, would be the last prominent member of the caucus to serve in public office.
Jimmy Naifeh of Covington would succeed Ned McWherter as Speaker after a brief two-year interim period with Ed Murray at the Speaker helm. Naifeh lost a hotly contested race in 1972, but with the concentration of the caucus to assist in his next bid, Naifeh would be propelled to victory in 1974 and would become the most prominent and longest serving member of the original caucus, having served as Speaker of the House longer than any other member in Tennessee history. Lost in that fact is that Jimmy Naifeh is also the longest serving member of the caucus to serve in public office from 1975-2013.
John Wilder was never fully involved with the caucus, but was an active member simply because of his affiliation with fellow West Tennessee members. It did provide him a solid base of support and protected his position from potential challengers. Wilder fell out of favor with the caucus in 1985 with the appointment of Republicans into key committee leadership positions. This would bring the caucus to mount a challenge to his Speakership with the posturing and/or running of Riley Darnell against Wilder. The Senate, unlike the House, was more evenly divided amongst Democrats and Republicans. Though the Democrats outnumbered the Republicans, there were enough Democrats loyal to Wilder to coalition with the Republicans in keeping Wilder at the helm. Though Democrat, Wilder was well aligned with the GOP when it came to Senate legislative appointments. This one primary issue may have been the only considerable “defeat” the West Tennessee Democratic Caucus suffered in its nearly 40 years of reign!
The caucus’s influence was not only limited to elected position, but also that of appointed position. Due to Ray Blanton and Ned McWherter having ascended into the Governor’s seat, along with that came preferences in service on numerous administrative positions and constitutional officers.
Under McWherter, Riley Darnell would use the caucus’s support in gaining the Secretary of State seat while Sen. Milton Hamilton (Union City) would become Commissioner of Conservation under Republican Don Sundquist. Hamilton, like John Wilder, had stayed somewhat neutral in his involvement with the caucus, but had many personal friendships and affiliations with members of the caucus and therefore had an influential role within the caucus, just not as an outspoken member. Hamilton, though, was conservative like many of the caucus members, so he was able to find support with members of the Republican Party. Hamilton would switch parties late in his senate career and obtain the appointment to commissioner from Governor Sundquist. However, Hamilton was the epitome of what the caucus was and that was of Southern Democratic ideology. With the rise of President Ronald Reagan and Speaker Newt Gingrich, Southern Democrats began to slowly move to the GOP side. Though many members would remain Democrat “on paper”, many shared and supported the rise of conservative national politics, but Hamilton was the only member who publically switched from Democrat to Republican, and he would serve as Majority Leader of both party’s within the state Senate….probably a feat that will never be matched! Rep. Matt Kisber (Jackson) would serve under Governor Phil Bredesen as Commissioner of Commerce.
Special mention must be given to Rep. Roger G. Murray, Jr. of Jackson, TN. It was Murray, a rural West Tennessean, who inspired the creation of the caucus by Rep. Frank Lashlee. Lashlee thought if Murray could be elected Speaker of the House it would bring greater benefit and representation to “Rural” West Tennessee which was the catalyst concern of Lashlee being compelled to run for public office. Murray was gifted in his political and business prowess and gained the admiration and support of Lashlee, who sought to create the body to propel Murray, not McWherter, into the Speakership of the House. Though Murray would later defer to McWherter for the speakership run, Murray was instrumental in the formation of the caucus and served in the House leadership.
Other members who served in the caucus were:
Rep. Ray Davis (Milan); Rep. Harold Holt (Dyersburg); Rep. Don Dills (Dyersburg); Rep. W.C. Herndon (Camden); Sen. & Rep. Roy Herron (Dresden); Rep. Matt Kisber (Jackson); Rep. Don Ridgeway (Paris); Sen. Joe Nip McKnight (Jackson); Rep. Ronnie Cole (Dyersburg); Rep. John Tidwell (New Johnsonville); Rep. Bill Collier (Waverly); Rep. Randy Rinks (Savannah); Rep. “Cotton” Ivy (Decaturville).
Additionally, Middle Tennesseans whose districts did not overlap into West Tennessee, but who participated in the caucus, were: Rep. Gene Davidson (Clifton); Rep. Eugene (Gene) Davidson (Adams); Rep. Walter Work (Dickson); Rep. Roscoe Pickering (Adams); Rep. Bob Gafford (Hohenwald); Sen. Riley Darnell (Clarksville).
Ending of Reign of Influence (1991-98):
With the departure of Rep. John Tanner in 1988 (who would leave for Congress), Lashlee leaving office in January, 1991, and Ned McWherter’s gubernatorial tenure coming to a close in January, 1995, the core leadership members were no longer in place. Jimmy Naifeh would hold the influence of the caucus by virtue of his House Speakership position. Senator Roy Herron and Rep. Randy Rinks would assist in the caucus’s ability to garner the top committee positions in the House. Sen. Milton Hamilton would switch parties in 1994 as a result of his support of Republican Don Sundquist for Governor. Lt. Governor Wilder was an island to himself in that he had the solid support of the Senate and really did not participate with the caucus after their attempted coup of his position in 1987. As a result of Wilder’s departure, the influence of the caucus was primarily in the House as it had always been. Pretty much the caucus lost its organizational ability and cohesion around 1994 to 1998.
Simply as a result of holding strategic leadership positions within the Legislature and administration, the former caucus members were still able to wield influence over the legislative agendas for some time to come (1998-2008), but simply did not possess the solidarity and leadership prowess it had been accustomed to years before. An ever growing Republican movement in Tennessee and a hard push to the left by the national Democratic Party around 2000 all but doomed the influence of the democratic membership since it had been predominantly a moderate to conservative body. The defeat of Jimmy Naifeh for the House Speakership in 2009 officially brought the legacy of the caucus’s influence to an end.
Tidbits of history and other information on the membership:
Several reunions would be held over the period of 1996-2006, usually at the house of Gene Davidson in Clifton, TN.
Matt Kisber would serve as Commissioner of Commerce under Gov. Phil Bredesen from 2003-2011.
Rep. & House Speaker Pro Tem Lois DeBerry of Memphis, in a Tennessean newspaper article on the death of founder Frank Lashlee in June, 2008, summed up the caucus’s influence with these words: “He (Lashlee) was able to pick up support among the various caucuses. He could work with everybody. Of course, at the time they were the strongest caucus in the House, so maybe it was a case that everybody needed to work with him”.
Lt. Governor John Wilder would pass away being the longest serving Lt. Governor in American History.
John Tanner would retire from Congress in January, 2011, not having sought re-election in 2010.
Gov. and former Speaker Ned Ray McWherter would pass away in April, 2011. He would hold the distinction of being the "hub of the wheel" in which the caucus focused on and considered one of the most prolific governors in Tennessee history.
President Bill Clinton had many personal affiliations and original support for his Presidential run in 1991-92 from the caucus.
The caucus would hold an annual “End of Year Event” at The Ellington Agricultural Center Pavilion/Conference Center usually in April or May, just before the Legislature’s adjournment.
Reference Sources:
Benton County Genealogical Society, Quarterly dated 6-2014
Tennessee Senate Proclamation dated 10-10-2013
The Camden Chronicle: news article 9-17-2013
The Tennessean: Death of Frank Lashlee dated 6-20-2008
Related Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_McWherter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_S._Tanner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Naifeh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Shelton_Wilder
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_H._Hamilton,_Jr
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Blanton
Ron,
Thanks for your comments. I am very new to this and yes, I have an late version MS Word program. Is there any way to re-edit the story, or should I delete it and re-paste from a lower version copy? I have photos and such and I hate it will not allow that to paste or attach as separate file.
I come from a political family...probably most historic in Tennessee and no one knows us. Why? Because we are just countryfolk who didn't have the money to donate in large sums to the commercially packaged politicians. When a Clement or Gore written up in Tennessee papers as if they are the Kennedy's of Tennessee, I know the writer knows very little of the real story. The Clements descend from our family and got their claim to fame because we ran Frank Clement for a Governor spot when my grandfather died in 1944. My family is rarely mentioned in Tennessee history books because we were always "fighters" and never tried to be "fake" public servants.
Most all of the people I mentioned in this article (many have passed on) turned Republican in the 1990's. Jimmy Naifeh stayed a die-hard democrat and poor guy as so many other southern democrats who hang onto the past, just don't realize todays democratic party are more communist than ever (they have bypassed Socialism). For my dad to be so partisan back then only to change to republican later tells a lot of the truth of how parties can change!
Anyway, thanks for your comments and if you know a way I can re-edit this story to read better, I would appreciate your advice.
Reviewed by Ronald Hull
10/15/2015
Your statement, "but rather wealth vs. poor; big business vs. small business; urban growth influence vs. rural farms and countryfolk," pretty well describes the situation today!
As I read, I found the dense formatting, probably caused by trying to paste your text into the AD editor from a late model of highly formatted Microsoft Word, and the dense writing difficult to follow, particularly about all the politicians that came and went during the course of the caucus history. Therefore I didn't read it all. There seem to be a lot of family dynasties in politics and I don't like that. I much prefer every citizen have an equal chance when it comes to serving at every level of the government. Family dynasties controlling politics seem to have done more harm than good.
For members of the caucus families, and Tennessee political history buffs, your article may be of some use for future people doing research. For example, when researching the story of a friend of mine, Herbert Morrison of Hindenburg fame, I learned that he ran for Congress in Pennsylvania as a Republican twice in the 1950s but didn't win. But for me, I would have preferred a more general discussion of the caucus's influence on Tennessee and national politics over the 40 years that it held power. You write in your bio that books and paper will last forever. Books and paper are deteriorating fast. I think that electronic publications like this one, easily researched on the net and held in backup servers, will far outlast books and paper.
I recently read an article sent around by conservative Republicans proclaiming, "The real history of Democrats." The article cherry picked the Democratic conservative past as being diametrically opposite to the moderately liberal Democratic Party of today. This is true. It is also true that the Republican Party was started by highly progressive and liberal elements in Wisconsin opposed slavery and the wealth and cruelty of Southern slaveowners. Both parties have changed and will probably change again.
From the land of the milked and honeyed here’s a few political faux pas and a bit of attitude exposed to the harsh light of a Canadian who actually has their own opinion.
This is a political treatise that deals with the China issue from a completely new perspective. Disparaging as he may sound, from page to page, toward "the old system" and the Communist Party's various wiles, the author demonstrates his mysteriously
