Woods' piece on Drew Johnson is a must read -- particularly if you don't recognize his name

Jeff Woods, the last credible reporter left from the Liz Murray Garrigan reign at the NashvilleScene, has written another great political piece -- this one on Drew Johnson, head of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research.

Drew who? Johnson has made a big name for himself for digging up information on the rankest of political hypocrisy from then state Sen. Jim Cooper and his illegalities to First Lady Andrea Conte and her gross misleading of the public in building a political mega-maill under the governor's mansion to entertain people with titles. You pay the bill for the festivities.

Johnson has done the kind of investigate work that the big print media outlets used to do in Tennessee. He is an invaluable part of the machinery ensuring a free republic. He does seem to target more Democrats than Republicans -- but not everyone is perfect.

That certainly includes a senior adviser to Gov. Phil Bredesen. Will Pinkston, whom I worked with at The Tennessean, called Johnson a nitwit and claimed the man was only feeding his "giant-sized ego".

From working with Pinkston, I can tell you that it takes a political adviser with a giant-sized ego to claim someone else has the same. When Bredesen was Nashville mayor and Pinkston was a Tennessean reporter, there was nothing Bredesen ever did wrong in Pinkston's writing -- as far as I could tell.

And when Bredesen made the ill-fated Dell deal -- the one that The Tennessean's top investigative journalist discovered to be a money loser for taxpayers -- Pinkston wrote a glowing tribute(that's the kindest word I can use for it) to Bredesen and how he made the taxpayer-losing deal.

Has Nashville and Middle Tennessee become a high-tech magnet for supppliers and companies? No. Instead, Dell is looking to sell its manufacturing plants in this nation. Buyers in turn don't want the American plants because of the costs. They'd rather take the jobs overseas. And they probably will. Thanks, Mr. Bredesen.

As for who is better serving the people of Tennessee, the choice is easy: Drew Johnson.

So get to know him. Read Woods' great piece at http://www.nashvillescene.com/2008-09-11/news/the-great-gadfly/