U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett's chief of staff moving on after 14 years | Georgiana Vines

Michael Grider, who is leaving as chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tennessee, on June 30, says the biggest challenge in government work is “that you are always on the defensive.”

“That’s because there is always someone wanting to create a narrative that you don’t have any control over,” he says.

Grider, 41, had a career in broadcast journalism until 2010, when he joined Burchett after the latter was elected Knox County mayor. After Burchett went to Washington, D.C., in 2019, Grider set up the congressional office.

He plans to use his broadcast journalism and congressional skills in a government relations-marketing-community relations business but said in an interview May 9 that he can’t talk specifics until after he leaves his present position because of rules of the House ethics office.

To Grider’s point about others influencing the “narrative,” he was asked why Burchett chooses to sit with members of Congress considered on the right-wing fringe like Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who led the move to unseat former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Some former Burchett supporters frequently bring this up in conversations with this columnist.

Grider said Burchett often sits with others in the GOP caucus but that doesn’t get the media attention like being with Gaetz. Burchett has always had a reputation for being friendly with a variety of politicians, whether Republicans or Democrats, Grider said. He mentioned that on May 7, the political website The Hill reported that Burchett crossed the aisle to show off a homemade longboard to progressive colleague Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

“It’s upcycling!” Burchett told Ocasio-Cortez, The Hill reported. The two posed for a photo with the board, which Burchett said he made as part of a hobby.

“You can say what you will about Tim’s politics, (just) know that he puts constituents and community service ahead of himself,” Grider said. The perception of many voters is that elected officials are just interested in power and being elected or re-elected but Grider argues that elected officials at all levels “want to do things the right way more than those who truly are just interested in power and ego. Perception is that the opposite is true,” he said.

He acknowledges that the “structure” or “political machine” in Congress makes it nearly impossible to accomplish individual preferences on legislation “without what the party leaders want.”

Grider said the 14 years of working with Burchett have provided him with the opportunity to get to know East Tennessee (the 2nd Congressional District covers six counties and portions of two others) and be introduced to some “great people.”

Before his time with Burchett, Grider worked at WIVK and WNOX, radio stations then owned by Citadel Broadcasting (now Cumulus Media), and WVLT-TV, a CBS affiliate owned by Gray Television, where he covered breaking-news stories. This included the fallout of a lawsuit in 2007 that brought about term limits for many Knox County officials, including the mayor; and the brutal murders of Channon Christian and Chris Newsom in 2007.

“Radio broadcasting specifically and journalism generally gets into your blood, it just doesn’t get into your wallet,” Grider laughed.

On a personal level, Grider and Leah Bane, former deputy chief of staff to U.S. Rep. John Rose, R-Cookeville, married in April in Hawaii. His wife has become director of development for PYA, a public accounting and health care planning firm headquartered in Knoxville.

Jennifer Linginfelter, who has been Burchett's district director for five years, will succeed Grider.

∎ ANDREW JACKSON’S PAPERS HIGHLIGHTED: Daniel Feller, an emeritus professor of humanities at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, is letting his colleagues and friends know that the Papers of Andrew Jackson, for which he was editor/director until retiring, have been recognized as an official state book by the Tennessee General Assembly.

The historian wrote in an email that the Jackson Papers have been chosen as one of 10 official state books that will be listed in the Tennessee Blue Book, a comprehensive look at state government. The book that has gotten the most attention in the listing is the 18th-century Aitken Bible, and in some news stories the Andrew Jackson Papers were described generically and another author was mentioned.

Andrew Jackson was a Nashville lawyer, planter, elected official and the seventh U.S. president whose critics note he was a slave owner and forced Native Americans to be relocated in the West.

Feller said the following in his email about the books: “The list is rather heterogenous and has raised some question, inasmuch as one of the titles (George Washington’s Farewell Address) is not really a book, another is an edition of the Bible, and several have no apparent connection to Tennessee … .The bill itself makes plain that it is referring specifically to the current University of Tennessee Press edition with this language:

“WHEREAS, the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, supported by grants from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Tennessee Historical Commission, and the Watson-Brown Foundation has collected and published in twelve volumes The Papers of Andrew Jackson, a project to collect and publish Andrew Jackson’s entire extant literary works; and

”WHEREAS, The Papers of Andrew Jackson represents a remarkable achievement, chronicling the life and writings of one of Tennessee’s most storied figures … ”

The list of 10 books was sponsored by Rep. Gino Bulso, R-Brentwood, and Sen. Paul Rose, R-Covington. The measure was approved in party-line votes in both the Senate and House.

A measure to make the Bible a state book in 2016 was vetoed by then-Gov. Bill Haslam, who cited state and federal constitutional concerns. An attempt to override the veto failed in the House.

Feller said the series on Jackson’s papers was planned in the 1970s for 16 volumes: six pre-presidential, eight presidential and two post-presidential. “The plan was later revised to add a third post-presidential volume. My predecessors produced the first six volumes. I produced the next 6, so there are five left: 2 presidential and 3 post. It takes 2 to 3 years to produce a volume,” he said in an email to this columnist.

Each volume is about 1,000 pages, with the latest having recently been published.Two research associates have assisted Feller with the Papers, paid for by federal grants.

Michael Woods has succeeded Feller as editor on the project.

Feller said while material from the Library of Congress is used, other material comes from the National Archives and from libraries, museums, archives and private collections around the world. The researchers look at manuscript dealers’ catalogues and websites, and auction sites like eBay.

“Our latest volume, #XII, covering 1834, includes transcriptions of documents from 65 different repositories plus 31 Record Groups and 71 microfilm series in the National Archives. You can find repository listings in the front matter of each of the volumes,” he said.

Feller came to UT as a history professor and Jackson project director in 2003 and continued until his retirement in 2020. His scholarly interests encompass mid-19th-century America as a whole, with special attention to Jacksonian politics and the coming of the Civil War.

He said having the Papers as an official state book is a “classics gift horse.”

Georgiana Vines is retired News Sentinel associate editor. She may be reached at gvpolitics@hotmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Georgiana Vines: U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett's chief of staff moving on