Chris Lanier, former head of the local Citizen’s Taxpayers Organization, went the extra mile Monday in encouraging local public officials to eat fast food rather than expensive steak dinners.

At the Hamilton County Pachyderm Club’s meeting, Mr. Lanier pulled several Wendy’s gift cards out of his pocket and offered them to any official who wanted one. The audience laughed.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press last Sunday quoted Mr. Lanier as asking, “Why is it necessary to go to a steakhouse as opposed to Wendy’s?” in a story about county officials’ use of government-issued purchasing cards.

The Pachyderm Club meets at Niko’s Southside Grill at the corner of 14th and Cowart streets. The buffet lunch for the Republican club’s members costs $13 per person.

SHULER GETS WARM RECEPTION IN UT COUNTRY

Former University of Tennessee football standout and current U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., got a rousing reception from those attending the Marilyn Lloyd Dinner on Monday night.

During the Hamilton County Democratic Party fundraiser, Rep. Shuler was introduced by Jim Hall, of Signal Mountain, as “your All-American in Congress.”

“Now I know why we won so many football games over at UT,” the congressman said after the hearty applause.

In 2006, Rep. Shuler was elected to represent the mountainous 11th Congressional District of North Carolina, which includes Asheville, N.C. He is up for re-election to another two-year term this fall.

The congressman drew a connection between East Tennessee and Western North Carolina during his brief remarks to the Democratic crowd.

“We’re mountain folks. We believe in that shared heritage,” he said. “We both share those values across the mountains. … I think our core values remain constant.”

The Marilyn Lloyd Dinner, held for the first time this year, is a fundraiser honoring the former congresswoman from the 3rd Congressional District. She served from 1975 to 1995.

GORDON, BERKE

LOOK BACK

State Sen. Andy Berke, DChattanooga, got to sit next to his old boss, U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., during the Marilyn Lloyd Dinner.

Sen. Berke introduced the congressman, is chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology, for whom he worked as a legislative aide after finishing college.

“I moved to Washington, D.C., to work for a guy who was the same age then that I am now, and, man, did I think he was old,” Sen. Berke, 40, joked.

Rep. Gordon, who has represented a Middle Tennessee district since 1985, praised the freshman state senator.

“I was smart enough 18 years ago to recognize that Andy Berke wasn’t just a bright fellow, but he was a totally decent fellow,” Rep. Gordon said. “It just tickles me to death to see him now serving in the Senate.”

DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION OR BUST

A pair of area delegates for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, DIll., at this year’s Democratic National Convention have asked for some help to get to Denver in August.

Justin Wilkins and Elizabeth Crews held a fundraiser Saturday at the Joseph H. Warner House on Vine Street to underwrite their travel expenses.

Though the invitation to the fundraiser noted that contributions of any amount were appreciated, certain contribution levels carried sponsorship titles. For contributions of $25, one could be a “supporter,” contributors of $50 were tagged “delegates,” and for more than $100, one could be called a “superdelegate.”

The two delegates also are accepting contributions online and by mail.

GOVERNOR HELD UP BY SPONTANEOUS WEDDING

Last week Gov. Phil Bredesen had to apologize for being a half-hour late to a ceremonial bill-signing event in Chattanooga, but he said he had “a pretty good excuse.”

The governor had just come from a similar event in Knoxville, in which he signed the Long-Term Care Community Choices Act of 2008. Shortly before the signing, he’d received a call from state Sen. Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville.

The senator and his fiancee, Allison Beaver, originally set a wedding date of Sept. 6 but on a whim the couple decided to have the governor marry them instead, the governor recounted.

Gov. Bredesen married the couple under a tree after the Knoxville bill signing, he said.

“I figured you all would understand,” he said to the crowd of media and long-term care advocates, providers and patients gathered at the Alexian Brothers Community Services PACE program building in Chattanooga. “Since we’re in the mode here, if there’s anybody out here who’s kind of holding hands and would like, after this is over, to have yourself hitched up ... I’ll be glad to take care of you.”

NOT THE WILDLIFE THEY WERE EXPECTING

Members of the local media and Tennessee Aquarium officials got an unexpected eyeful as they watched for wildlife while aboard the aquarium’s new 65-foot boat, the River Gorge Explorer, during the vessel’s maiden voyage Thursday.

While motoring through the Tennessee River Gorge, a bikini-clad woman on a nearby pontoon boat twice flashed the journalists, aquarium officials and community sponsors of the $2.9 million Explorer.

“Girls Gone Wild, Tennessee River Gorge edition,” commented Gary Poole, news editor for the Web site Scenic City Online, shortly after the flashing.

Mr. Poole and representatives from numerous other local media outlets were aboard the vessel as part of an event organized by the Tennessee Aquarium to promote the aquarium’s latest attraction.

Tennessee Aquarium spokesman Thom Benson said after the boat docked that he didn’t witness the River Gorge Flasher but speculated that the sighting might be an added draw for those considering a trip through Tennessee’s “Grand Canyon.”

THE $14 BILLION QUESTION

Opponents of a proposed nuclear power plant in Northeast Alabama are updating the 1950s television show “The $64,000 question” with a costlier challenge for local residents.

The Bellefonte Efficiency and Sustainability Team and other environmental groups are sponsoring a contest about what could be done with $14 billion. The anti-nuclear activists claim building new reactors at the Bellefonte site in Hollywood, Ala., will cost TVA $14 billion, although earlier estimates from TVA were only half that much.

Louise Gorenflo, a coordinator for BEST, said the contest is designed to get people thinking about how much energy could be saved in the Tennessee Valley.

“If TVA spent $14 billion on energy efficiency and renewable energy between now and 2020 instead of building a nuclear plant, not only could we avoid having to build Bellefonte nuclear plant but we could start shutting down coal plants,” she said.

The winning individual or group for the contest will receive $2,000. The secondprize winner will receive $1,000 while four third-place winners will each receive $500. Winners will be announced on the summer solstice, June 21, 2009.

TOE-ING THE LINE

With gas prices rising, Chattanooga police are asking residents to use Teleserve, which allows them to make reports about certain crimes over the phone.

No word on whether police drove to the home of a Chattanooga man after he phoned dispatch late Tuesday afternoon to report an unsightly discovery in his can of corn — a toenail.

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