Les Jones

East Tennessee > Worst Mayoral Quote a Reporter Ever Used

The local elections this week reminded me of this, the dumbest thing a mayor ever said to a reporter that got printed. Steve West was mayor during a local scandal in the Maryville police department.

The gist of the story as I recall it was that the police chief or some such (not West) was allegedly boinking a married woman. When he'd go to her house for a boinking he'd supposedly have his police officers on patrol nearby. The husband alleged that when the police saw him approaching the house they would pull him over and write him a ticket to give the police muckity-muck time to put his pants on and skeedaddle.

The MAD Times* article ended with a statement to the effect of, "When reached after hours, Maryville Mayor Steve West said he couldn't comment because he had to go to Home Depot to get some string for his weedeater."

You have to figure a reporter hates a guy when he uses a quote like that.

West, BTW, is part of the West Chevrolet Wests. Their about us page has this great photo of West driving a Chevy through the plateglass window of their old downtown dealership for a TV commercial. That building is near the intersection of Broadway and Washington/Hall Road, next to Southland Books.

When I was going over this story I briefly thought my sister dated Steve West in high school. Then I remembered she dated Steve King, whose dad owned King Ford, which was next door, where the Blount County Chamber of Commerce is currently located.

* Maryville-Alcoa Daily Times