Victor Ashe of Knoxville was recently named as TCOG’s representative on the Advisory Committee on Open Government by the Comptroller’s Office.

Victor Ashe

Ashe has a long history of public service. He was a state representative from 1968 to 1975, then a state senator until 1984. Later, he was Knoxville’s mayor for 16 years before being appointed as the U.S. ambassador to Poland. Ashe has been on TCOG’s board of directors for several years.

The Advisory Committee on Open Government was created by the Tennessee Legislature in 2008 to provide guidance to the newly created Office of Open Records Counsel.

The committee is made up of 14 members appointed to four-year terms by the Comptroller’s Office. The members have rolling terms and are chosen by the Comptroller from nominees by various civic and government groups.

The other new members appointed in this round were:

  • Jennifer Wilkerson, County Officials Association of Tennessee;
  • Chris Sherrill Vaas, Tennessee Press Association;
  • Elisha Hodge, Tennessee Municipal League (Hodge was the former Open Records Counsel in the Office of Open Records Counsel); and
  • Dr. Lee Carter Tennessee School Board Association.