Tennessee made a leap toward a long-overdue reunion with the rest of America with the state legislature’s approval of a 2002 lottery referendum.
The revenue produced by such gambling will surely leave Utah and Hawaii, the only two states in the union without gambling of some form, in the dust.
Regardless, voters will at the very least have a chance to let themselves be heard.
In such municipalities as Johnson City and Kingsport, this may not always be the case.
The big issue surrounding the upcoming Johnson City municipal election right now is the eligibility of city commission candidate George Pitts.
The candidacy of current Science Hill principal and former head basketball coach has been ruled invalid by the election commission because he is, in the commission’s interpretation, a city employee and thus, in accordance with state law, not allowed to run for city office.
Pitts is contesting the ruling in court, arguing that school-related employees are exempt since they are more directly related to the board of education.
The status of his name on the ballot is up in the air, and it shouldn’t be.
The best judges of a candidate’s ability, in any borderline case, are the voters themselves. If the citizens of Johnson City find there is a conflict of interest in the case of Pitts, they won’t elect him.
Even though our system of government puts most decisions in the hands of officials, electability, of all issues, should be decided by the electorate.
It also doesn’t reflect well upon a body politic to take a choice away from its voters. Yet, this is exactly what has been considered recently in Kingsport.
The Board of Mayor and Aldermen has discussed revoking the popular election of its mayor. Though the issue has been tabled for now, we have seen that this line of thinking, regrettably, exists within the minds of city leaders.
Both cities should follow the lead of the state and let the people decide.

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