Burchett, crew headed to Nashville

Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett, chief of stuff (heh) Dean Rice, HR Manager Col. Richard Julian, top bean counter Casual Chris Caldwell, Knox County Commission Chairman Brad Anders and communications manager of two Michael “Big Sexy” Grider are all squeezing into a car and headed to Nashville this morning to talk to Big Bill.

The mayor wants to convince the zillionaire governor, who mostly answers to the tea party because he’s scared of them, to put up as much as $10 million to pay for a regional forensic center that would serve 22 East Tennessee counties. (University of Tennessee Medical Center folks are kicking the operation out of their facility.)

The meeting is set for 11:30 a.m. slow time. The mayor wants the center to be based in Knox County, but since it will serve more than the folks here, he feels the good gov. should ante up some coin.

From what I understand the crew probably won’t get a response today, but some other top dogs in the state have made a similar recommendation to Haslam.