VOLuntarilyConservative

I don't like to get involved too much in local political races because they honestly are rarely worth the trouble. However, I am going to make a rare exception because I hate it when the truth is not exposed to the electorate.

Normally, I couldn't care less who was running for alderman of Kingsport, the city of my birth and workplace of my father. However, a column by Jim Welch, columnist for the Kingsport Times-News, caught my eye and cannot go gently into that good night. In the column, Welch endorses Kingsport attorney Ben Mallicote for an alderman's seat. Like I said, normally I would sit back and let Welch endorse whomever he wants, because anyone who would vote for a person based on a journalist or teacher's recommendation probably won't remember when election day is or where they need to vote. However, I am making an exception here because I was breathless more than I was laughing.

Welch seems to be picking Mallicote because a) he has a business in Kingsport and b) he is young. Welch then goes on to say that Mallicote is an "ardent defender of the Second Amendment" (this is where the laughing comes in) and "academically talented."

Here's the problem - Ben Mallicote and I attended UT Law together for 3 years. Honestly, the first word that comes to my mind in regards to Ben is "egotistical." After that, "academically talented," "abrasive," "rarely attended class," "skilled orator," "inconsiderate," and "politically strained" would follow, with a few "egotistical" references sprinkled in for effect. I'm not saying that he is all of those things, but if I had to play that word association game where you write down ten things about a certain word, those would be my responses to "Ben Mallicote."

I have no idea where Welch got "ardent defender of the Second Amendment." I'm not saying that Mallicote doesn't believe in the Second Amendment as an individual right to own firearms, but the proof is in the pudding. I know several pro-Second Amendment groups and have attended such events as Wild Game Feasts, gun shows, and hunting auctions in the Tri-Cities. I have never seen Ben Mallicote at one. Plus, as a former employee of the NRA, I doubt that anyone in at NRA HQ has ever heard of this "ardent defender of the Second Amendment." Is Ben pro-gun and an NRA member? Probably, but that doesn't make one "ardent." Ben was never present in class when the subject of gun control came up (it rarely does in law school, because most professors not named Glenn Reynolds don't want to touch it with a ten-foot pole). Of course, the point could be made that Ben could have sacrificed for the Second Amendment coming out of law school, but instead he took one of those good-paying jobs with Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, where the pressure to bill hours is intense. Apparently that didn't fit Ben, because he left Baker Donelson less than a year from being licensed to practice law. Now Ben has his own firm. I wonder about Ben's leaving Baker Donelson, only because he doesn't mention that firm on his firm website. That is odd, because Baker Donelson is one of the best law firms in the South, and it makes sense that one would find it advantageous to mention the firm in a website because it brings instant credibility to the new firm. So why not mention it by name? Perhaps to avoid a bad reference? I don't know the answer, but the whole thing seems a bit fishy.

In law school, Ben rubbed a lot of people - students and professors - the wrong way. For the record, I was not one of those people. But, as proof of how he aggravated others, I had a few former classmates write me a few weeks back (when Ben's new firm website became public knowledge) for me to spread the word that they would take cases against Mallicote pro bono just to "put him in his place." Now that is saying something. While I never heard this myself, apparently Ben liked to speak about how he could have attended Stanford instead of UT, which I am sure didn't sit well with his classmates (whether it was true or not). Personally, I found Ben to be egotistical, but that didn't bother me. About the only thing that I couldn't understand about Ben was how he was so politically strained depending on the day of the week. I never knew where he stood. Sure he was the leader of the inactive Federalist Society, but he also was dating the head of the student gay, lesbian, and transgendered association. One day he argued for policies consistent with libertarian views, the next for policies that could only be called socialism. My only complaints about Ben were that he wasn't consistent and he didn't have a penchant for showing up to class. The latter is a real shame, too, because he added a great deal to the classes that he did attend (more than the typical liberal regurgitation offered by others). Besides that, I had no problem with the guy.

Please understand that this is not a Ben Mallicote hatefest. No, this is my version (with all apologies to O'Reilly) of the "no-spin zone." My issues are more with the Welch column than Mallicote's early entry into the political arena. Honestly, I think Ben will win his seat in Kingsport and inject energy into the city government. Along the way, he will probably piss off many in city government and make more enemies than friends. One thing that Welch did get right - Ben Mallicote loves Kingsport. For better or worse, he thinks Kingsport is the cradle of all civilization. That will serve him well, and (if he doesn't make too many enemies) could serve the people of Kingsport well in time.