Sundquist defends vacation trip
By ROB JOHNSON Staff Writer
Gov. Don Sundquist bristled yesterday at televised news reports that he was out golfing and yachting with well-connected businessmen while the state grappled with its fiscal crisis.
The NewsChannel 5 report Monday described how Sundquist and state Transportation Commissioner Bruce Saltsman golfed at no cost in a recent BellSouth Senior ProAm tournament and how both men flew off in January for a brief yachting vacation with Greeneville businessman Scott M. Niswonger, whom the governor calls a longtime personal friend.
NewsChannel 5 described the plight of Niswonger's hometown airport and its out-of-date runway. Bringing the small airport up to Federal Aviation Administration safety standards would benefit Niswonger and his jet airplane, the TV station reported — suggesting that a sweetheart deal for the state to help improve it was in the works during a Caribbean cruise.
The TV station also reported that, ''In fact, there's no evidence that Sundquist or his aides have done anything illegal.''
In his Capitol office yesterday, the governor agreed with that at least.
''The only good part of this story is that Channel 5 did get one thing right, and that is that our administration has done nothing improper or illegal.''
NewsChannel 5 reporter Phil Williams said that he spent two fruitless weeks trying to get Sundquist or a member of his staff to answer questions on camera.
He did say that the administration confirmed to him that the final yachting destination that January weekend was the Virgin Islands.
''It wasn't the Virgin Islands,'' Sundquist said. ''It was the Bahamas.''
The report's thrust was that Sundquist ''imposed an ethics policy on his staff … yet he hasn't disclosed a single trip he's made,'' Williams said, adding that he thinks it's important to show who's giving the governor gifts, especially if it's from someone in position to receive something valuable from the state.
Niswonger could not be reached for comment.
The Greeneville executive is a former corporate pilot for Magnavox who is now chairman and chief executive of the publicly traded Landair Corp. and Forward Air Corp. Both companies specialize in time-sensitive freight deliveries. The Forward Air network includes 75 terminals in cities throughout the U.S. and Canada.
The firms' headquarters remains in Greeneville.
Sundquist said that he's been a close family friend of Niswonger for almost 20 years and that in January, he and his wife got an invitation to join Niswonger for a long weekend getaway.
''So he said, 'Hey we're going to take a trip. You ought to go with us.' In fact, I didn't know where we were going,'' Sundquist said. ''He surprised us.''
The Saltsmans and the Sundquists flew to Naples, Fla., on Niswonger's personal plane, according to TDOT spokeswoman Luanne Grandinetti. She added that Saltsman, also a longtime Niswonger friend, owns shares in Forward Air.
The governor contends that they didn't talk business during the trip and that he did nothing improper.
As for the improvements at the Greeneville airport, Grandinetti said yesterday that the facility had received $346,000 in state and federal money since 1995, mostly for routine maintenance. During that period, Tennessee's 81 public airports have received $119 million in state and federal funds, she said.
The state has funded a $27,000 study to determine the best way to eliminate the ''vertical realignment of the runway'' — shaving the hump in the middle that prevents aircraft on either end of the runway from seeing each other. The FAA won't allow any improvements there until a plan is developed to overcome the safety shortcoming.
TDOT estimates that such a project would cost $7 million, but Greene County officials have not applied for the funds, which probably would be federal, Grandinetti said.
Sundquist also reacted sharply to NewsChannel 5's suggestion that ''Sundquist and Saltsman just puttered around in a golf cart during the budget crisis,'' then jetted off for the Caribbean.
Williams ''implied that I wasn't here working during the budget debate. This is just absolutely inaccurate,'' Sundquist said.
Sundquist contends his administration supplied the television station with all the information it requested during its months-long investigation.
''So for Phil Williams to try to make something ugly about it, to make something look dishonest just makes me as mad as I can be.''
Why didn't the governor say all this directly to Williams and the NewsChannel 5 cameras?
''It doesn't do any good to talk to him,'' Sundquist said. ''Because what he tapes and what he puts on the air are two different things.''
Also on the day the House congress critters were voting for Jimmy Naifeh's 4.5% income tax, Spendquist and his cronies were off playing golf in one the State's multi-million dollar golf courses. They rented the entire golf course for their session. MOST likely at taxpayers expense. HMMM I wonder if barge waggoner's company got the Road contract for that $450M road?