The Tennessee Liberal

Well, no kidding.

The TFP begins to fill in some blanks in yesterday's arrest of William Cotton. They also provide a totally silly disservice to their readers with a redacted version of the FBI affidavit. If altering the content of publicly available documents and preventing the unfettered flow of information is part of "Times Free Press" style, then maybe it's time for Tom Griscom to change the stylebook.

I digress.

As I said yesterday, it's pretty clear that he knew this was coming, and his abrupt exit from the County Commission meeting yesterday would seem to cement that:

Shortly after casting his vote for Jeffrey Wilson, who won the temporary appointment, Mr. Cotton asked his colleagues if he could be excused.

"I don't feel well," he said.

After leaving through a door behind the dais, Mr. Cotton stepped onto an elevator and quietly said, "I have the flu. You don’t want what I have."

At that point, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Lee had not signed the arrest warrant for the commissioner. Mr. Cotton walked past a few uniformed sheriff ’s deputies and undercover agents, stopping briefly as a court security officer whispered in his ear.

After leaving the Hamilton County Courthouse, Mr. Cotton drove toward St. Elmo and his Alton Park home. Several unmarked patrol cars followed him.

Mr. Cotton drove around for about 15 minutes, with no apparent destination, police officials said. Meanwhile, pursuing officers learned that Judge Lee had signed the arrest warrant shortly before 11 a.m. A few minutes later, Mr. Cotton pulled in front of his home at 4213 Ohls Ave.

Authorities called Mr. Cotton on the telephone and asked him to come outside. The commissioner stepped onto his porch, walked down several stairs and was met by a half dozen officers. They handcuffed Mr. Cotton, frisked him and placed him in the back seat of an unmarked patrol car.

This could not happen to a nicer guy. Anyone who has been around politics in this county has known that William Cotton was a crook for a long time. I feel safe in saying that there are a lot of local Democrats who are breathing a sigh of relief that Cotton has been neutralized, at least for now. Some of those same Democrats, though, are desperately and eagerly hoping that Warren Mackey can first win, and then work to clean up the system that William Cotton built around him.

Also, Hamilton County Democratic Party Chairman Stuart James posted an update at HamDems. Usual stuff, but interesting nonetheless.