Haslam seems to backtrack on Voter ID after having signed legislation

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam now says he is "concerned" over Tennessee's new voter ID law, saying that it might make it unnecessarily difficult for some Tennesseans to cast ballots:

We understand that in Tennessee, a Governor's veto is essentially worthless, since a veto can be over-ridden by a simple majority in both Houses of the General Assembly. However, Governors have used vetos before in order to make a public statement about their objection to some particular piece of legislation that came to them from the General Assembly. If Haslam has such an objection to the provisions of the Voter ID law, wouldn't the appropriate time to voice those issues be when the bill comes to his desk for his required signature, and he has a public news conference and says "I just can't abide this and I am going to veto it, you all worry about it if you decide to over-ride me?" Haslam didn't do that, in fact he didn't even veto the legislation without public fanfare. What did Governor Haslam do to voice his supposed objections to the Voter ID Law? He signed the bill, and with little public comment.

 

Some of us have wanted to believe that the impression that we've gotten of the Governor-namely, that he takes a stand on very little, that his politics are merely those of non-offense, and that his belief system involves holding his hand out into the air to discover which way the political breeze is blowing-is an utterly false one. This writer has personally seen occasional signs of hope that Governor Bill Haslam's tenure just might involve some deeper political, intellectual, and social involvement aside from "it might not" "I'm not sure" and "maybe." We are brought down to earth by Haslam expressing the concerns of the other party-the one with the reputation for padding votes and for the dead voting in Memphis-after he signed the bill.