Lenoir City mayor, Tony Aikens, likes to use what I would call reverse Lawfare. He will use his elected position to get city officials to do things he's knows are wrong and possibly illegal and he knows he can get by with it if no one challenges him legally.

The current instance. The Lenoir City judge position. Everybody knew it made no since that a non city resident was qualified to run for city judge. But he still got the council to pass an ordinance that said it was OK so he could get his hand picked candidate on the ballot. Then Lenoir City judge, now council member, Robin McNabb, told the mayor and council a non resident was not eligible to run for the office. Obviously, the mayor and council ignored her advice. Two and a half years later, the Tennessee Supreme Court made it official, Ms. McNabb was right. I'm confident that Aikens would never have believed she would followed all the way through in the court system. Had she not, Aikens would have gotten away with his plan. Aikens spent $47,000.00 tax payer dollars to try to prove he was right. Obviously, he doesn't care how much he spends of other people's money.

Then there's the two illegal annexation lawsuits. In 2020, Aikens and council committed their first illegal annexation. Apparently, assuming they got away with the first one, in 2022, they committed their second illegal annexation. That's when the county called their hand on both. Aikens refused at every plea to correct the two illegal actions. The county had no option but to sue the city or else, there's no doubt Aikens and his council would have continued their illegal annexation actions.

There are other actions the mayor and council have taken that could have been challenged in court but Aikens counts on the fact that in most instances, no one will challenge their actions legally.

Robin McNabb deserves a lot of credit for following through with her legal actions to enforce the law and the state constitution. Had she not, the city would have had a non eligible judge until 2030. And I can assure you, the county will continue to defend county residents and property owners from the city's illegal annexations for as long as it takes.

Legal actions seem to be the only way to hold the mayor and council in check and that's unfortunate for everyone.