Forum no-shows cite concerns
While four candidates seeking Farragut Board of Aldermen seats attended a candidate forum hosted by Tennessee Strategies at the Farragut Community Center on Monday evening, July 13, two candidates were absent.
Alex Cain, who is running for mayor, and Greg Wiberley, who is seeking the South Ward Seat 2 position, chose not to attend. On Tuesday morning, both shared their reasons.
"The way this event unfolded in planning, communication and execution has raised serious concerns about whether it was being transparent in its own motivations," Cain stated in an email.
"First, the forum promoted itself as open, fair and balanced. Yet all emails from the forum organizers failed to identify any individuals or planners."
On July 10, event organizer Mike Arms, Tennessee Strategies senior partner, left a voicemail for the farragutpress regarding the forum.
"My company is going to serve as the moderator and facilitator of the event," Arms said. "So I just wanted you to be aware of it. We have got questions coming in from the [Farragut Business Alliance/Shop Farragut], but we filled in some other questions and are going to try to make this a very civil event and impartial and focusing purely on the issues and eliminate any non-counter effective issues."
"In the afternoon of July 13, the contact email for the forum was disabled," Cain stated. "… The only public figure announcing the event is a supporter of my opponent.
"Questions about the format and ground rules were emailed, and as of July 10 the answers were not forthcoming," Cain stated. "This lack of information and communication certainly is the main reason I think the forum had issues.
"I feel that the organizer(s) and moderator(s) should have been completely free of any partisan leanings," he added. "Mike Arms, Tennessee Strategies, is on the record supporting Louise Povlin, including having a campaign sign in his yard.
"Not a single person from any campaign, except the Povlin campaign, was involved in the planning, rulemaking and format of the forum," Cain stated. "I spoke to Mr. Mike Ragsdale, partner at Tennessee Strategies, in the early afternoon of July 13. He reassured me there would be no bias during his moderation of the forum. I thanked him and indicated that I would take his reassurances into consideration. His professionalism was refreshing."
However, Cain stated that throughout the afternoon of July 13, he received anonymous calls on his campaign cellphone.
"Throughout the afternoon of the 13th, I received on my election cell phone calls without caller ID," Cain stated. "No messages were left. I talked with a few. Those that I talked to were demanding/mandating that I be at the candidate forum because I 'must answer to the residents for my wrongs!' They said it was 'their right' to hear from the candidates.
"On our home landline, my mother, who is 80 years old, received a few of the same 'caller unknown' calls of harassment," he stated. "I'm reporting the times of all these calls to the sheriff's office, to be included in the report regarding the death threat from last month."
Cain alleged that social media posts by Jay Povlin and others defamed him and urged him to attend the candidate forum.
"My first election was nothing like this," Cain stated. "I cannot believe the harassment machine Jay Povlin has directed toward me and my family.
"After all the harassment throughout the afternoon, I made the decision that I would not attend the forum due to the lack of respect given to me and my family by a small group of residents," Cain concluded.
Wiberley also explained why he did not attend the forum.
He included an email from Julie Blaylock, president/CEO of the Farragut West Knox Chamber of Commerce, inviting him to a candidates forum that "originally was going to be sponsored by the Farragut West Knox Chamber of Commerce."
"I deemed that to be a legitimate sponsor, as there did not appear to be any partisan motivation on their part and so could manage all candidates fairly," Wiberley stated in an email. "I accepted that invitation to participate."
However, "subsequent emails show where the Chamber removed itself as a sponsor, for reasons I do not know," he stated.
Tuesday, Blaylock said the Chamber was sponsoring the forum and then asked Tennessee Strategies to help sponsor the event. While getting close to the Chamber’s deadlines, she said they still did not have confirmation that all candidates, particularly the mayoral candidates, were going to attend.
“Our charter states we cannot endorse or lobby for any one candidate,” Blaylock said. Fearing not having all candidates present would “put us in a gray area and we were afraid to take the risk. What’s appropriate for a private entity may not be appropriate for us.”
Thus, the Chamber stepped away, but Tennessee Strategies carried forward the event. While Blaylock had heard the event went well, she did not hear if any other organization stepped up in the Chamber’s place.
"Beginning on June 24, an entity identifying itself only as 'Farragut Forum 2026' issued a new invitation," Wiberley stated. "… There is not one individual identified with the group. So the obvious question for me was ... who is the new sponsor?
"The subsequent email chain from the other candidates shows there were important questions about the event, notably what the format and guidelines would be," he stated. "I never did see where those issues were fully satisfied, and I was not personally updated on any changes. In fact, the only direct communication I had from them was the initial invitation. Ultimately, the group's gmail account was taken down.
"One public notice for the event was at the last BOMA meeting, with a known Louise Povlin supporter making an announcement," Wiberley stated.
"Finally, there was a lot of back-and-forth on social media about who was really behind the group, and the consensus was that it was associated with Louise Povlin's supporters," he stated. "That was the final straw in my determination that this forum was poorly thrown together and was not going to be fair and balanced. In order to protect my campaign, I decided it was not in my best interest to attend."
