A Democrat Passes

Riley Darnell of Clarksville was one of the last living lions of Tennessee politics from the “In-Between Time.” That was the interregnum that touched four decades - the time when Democrats and Republicans actually got things done.

From the end of the 1960s into the early years of this new century, it was the time that separated the long eras of the fraught supermajorities of single-party control in our state capitol, first by Democrats and currently by the Republicans.

That time was different: More competitive but less bitter in tone than now, more respectful, less national, more local and state focused, generally more productive. Office-holders even had a sense of humor, and most of them enjoyed one another’s company.

In races for governor and legislature, the two political parties’ nominees would compete at a high level. Then between elections the victors generally came together at critical moments on decisions to make Tennessee a better place to live. You can look it up.

Darnell, a Democrat, was one of these. He was an important figure in his time of service, which spanned 38 years. He was 80 when he died last Friday. There are not many survivors left now from that progressive generation.

He was elected to the state House of Representatives in 1970. He served 22 years in the House and Senate, plus his service later on as secretary of state. 

The adjective “powerful” was often connected to Darnell’s name in print. During his legislative heyday, he was the Senate Majority Leader and also chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee.

Jim O’Hara covered the state capitol in Nashville for The Tennessean during this period. He remembers Darnell was an effective lawmaker, a strong Democrat who could collaborate with Republicans on policy when the situation called for it.

“Riley was a fierce and proud Democrat who could also reach across the aisle to get things done,” O’Hara recalled on Sunday.

Gerald Reed was the research analyst for Darnell’s transportation committee, and later was the policy adviser to the secretary of state. 

“Riley was a Democrat with a capital D, but he was always trying to find some common ground with Republicans,” he told me. “The transportation bill of 1986 was an example of that. He also worked very well with Rep. David Ussery, a Republican, on matters of importance to Clarksville and Montgomery County.” 

Paul G. Summers, the former Court of Criminal Appeals judge (1990-1999) and Tennessee attorney general (1999-2006), remembers:

“Riley was a gentlemen. He could be a reasonable person. He knew there were times to cross the aisle. You could trust his word. If Riley told me, ‘Tomorrow is Halloween,’ I would put my jack-o-lantern out on the porch tonight. He could count votes. There was only one time he mis-counted.”

That one time came in December of 1986, when Darnell challenged Lt. Gov. John Wilder for the Senate speakership. This was a heady time for Tennessee Democrats: Ned McWherter had been elected governor just the month before this.

In the 33-member senate, the magic number was 17, and by this time Darnell had the endorsement of the majority Democratic caucus in the upper chamber. He might have won on a strict party-line vote – but for one detail: The cagey, conservative Wilder had quietly secured the votes of all the GOP senators, plus six of the Democrats who were loyal to him.

Wilder thus won another term. (For years to come, Nashville’s Sen. Douglas Henry, a Democrat and one of the Wilder loyalists, delighted in calling Wilder’s odd coalition: The “Wilder-Beast.”) The rebellion was put down quickly, but it cost Darnell his committee chairmanship.

In 1992, Darnell lost his bid for re-election to the Senate, but he never lost his political footing at the capitol, and he would never relinquish his good name: That next January, in the legislature’s organizing session of 1993, the Democratic Caucus made him secretary of state.

Riley Darnell would serve there, with distinction, for the next 16 years.

© Keel Hunt, 2020