Jeff Phillips
In an exclusive interview with The Tennessee Mockingbird, Chairman Jeff Phillips discusses his 33-year tenure as a member of the Rutherford County Board of Commissioners, his leadership style, and his unique method of discipline.
Mockingbird: Mr. Chairman, thank you for joining us today.
Phillips: Good morning, thanks for having me.
Mockingbird: Let’s go ahead and jump right into it this morning and talk about when you were first elected to the Rutherford County Commission. What was that first election like?
Phillips: My first election was back in August 1990, when I won against Joe Black Hayes. Joe was a 20 plus year incumbent and had been an assistant football coach at MTSU. I was brand new to politics and made a few rookie mistakes, but fortunately I still ended up winning.
Mockingbird: What was the secret to winning that race?
Phillips: Like most races, there’s really no secret to winning. It’s all about working hard, talking to as many people as you can, letting them know all the positive things about yourself and the negative things about your opponent. In that particular race, I said that Hayes had been in office too long, and that he was too old and out of touch.
Mockingbird: Very original
Phillips: (laughing) Well, maybe not the most original, but hey, it worked!
Mockingbird: Do you find any irony in the fact that you’re now older than Hayes was back then, and that you’ve been in office for a much longer period of time?
Phillips: Well, what happens a lot of the time in the middle of a heated campaign is that you say things you don’t really mean and that you end up regretting later. I was focused that entire summer solely on winning, and so I wasn’t really thinking “Gosh, I wonder if this stuff I’m saying about Hayes will boomerang back on me thirty years from now.”
Mockingbird: Do you have any particular philosophy about leadership or what you might call a certain leadership style?
Phillips: Absolutely, and I’m glad to hear you ask that, because it’s something I enjoy sharing, but for some reason it never comes up in interviews like this. Back when I was at the dairy, my mantra was always People First, Cows Second, and that’s really never changed - except that nowadays I say People First and pretty much just leave it at that.
Mockingbird: And what about governing?
Phillips: My philosophy of governing can be summed up like this: I don’t want to dictate to you and say this is the way things are going to be. Rather, I want to tell you how I imagine things would be if I could dictate to you, and then you tell me how much of that you’re willing to go along with. Does that make sense?
Mockingbird: Kind of
Phillips: Actually, scratch that - don’t print any of that stuff about dictating. Let’s just go with People First again. Write down “Phillips said People First, just the same as leadership.”
Mockingbird: What have been your biggest challenges since assuming the role as Chairman?
Phillips: I think anyone who has been in a leadership role like chairman, speaker, majority leader or whatever title you want to use - the leader of a legislative body, large or small - anyone in that position will say the biggest challenge is knowing whether or not you have enough votes to hit that magic number.
Mockingbird: Magic number meaning a majority?
Phillips: That’s right, a majority of your members. And by the way, with a group like ours that’s relatively small, 21 people, it almost doesn’t really matter that much whether you’re Chairman or not. You either have the votes or you don’t. I say almost because, as Chairman, you’re still the most powerful person in the room.
Mockingbird: And whether you’re Chairman or not, hitting that magic number isn’t always easy, right?
Phillips: Well, the math itself is fairly easy. In our case, you just have to be able to count to eleven. Actually, I should say count to ten - I’m always certain about my own vote. So, the math is easy, but getting to the magic number is the tricky part - keeping all the frogs in the wheelbarrow, so to speak.
Mockingbird: We like to say keeping all the chicks in the nest
Phillips: (laughing) That’s right! The same concept, isn’t it? But that’s the tricky part, keeping all the frogs, or in this case, your fellow Commissioners in the wheelbarrow. And the way you do it, to use another tired old metaphor, is really the carrot and stick approach. You know, sometimes you find yourself in a tough situation when you’re dealing with people you consider friends and colleagues. You want to be nice and congenial and go with the carrot, but the reality of being a leader is that sometimes you have to use the stick.
Mockingbird: And what does using the stick mean?
Phillips: Well, sometimes you have to give them a spanking.
Mockingbird: When you say “spanking” you mean in a figurative sense with some kind of procedural punishment, correct?
Phillips: No, not figurative, I mean literally. You literally take them off into a back room, side room, wherever, and spank them.
Mockingbird: And the spanking - this is with a 2x4 or a paddle?
Phillips: No, no, not a paddle - a real spanking like when your parents caught you getting into the liquor cabinet when you were little. A real spanking - bare hand, bare butt.
Mockingbird: Is this something that you just started doing a year ago when you became chairman?
Phillips: Oh no, not by a long shot. I’ve been spanking my fellow Commissioners for many years now - decades really. And not just when they get out of line. It’s also become a sort of rite of passage for the new members - and we had quite a few new ones last year.
Mockingbird: What’s the typical reaction from those new members?
Phillips: Well, Joshua’s reaction was fairly typical. Joshua James - he’s one of our new Commissioners who was elected just last year - and the first time I spanked him, there was this look of bewilderment and panic on his face. You could tell he was thinking ‘this isn’t what I signed up for’ - but he was a good sport about everything, and we get along splendidly now. Joshua told me confidentially that he’s seriously thinking about jumping into the Presidential race next year. Don’t print that though - he’s only told a handful of people, and I promised him I wouldn’t share it with anyone.
Mockingbird: Have all the Commissioners had a spanking from you at one time or another?
Phillips: Most of them - not all. Part of it is a seniority thing. McAdoo was already a longtime veteran when I came on board, and some of the others who are gone now like Sandlin and Ketron started the same year as me, so I never spanked any of them. I certainly wanted to at times, but it was always just sort of understood that they’re off limits because of seniority. Most everyone else has felt my hand at least once or twice.
Mockingbird: Anyone who has felt it more than twice?
Phillips: Of course, there are always a few repeat offenders - Craig Harris comes to mind.
Mockingbird: You spanked Craig Harris?
Phillips: (laughing) You sound surprised! Let me tell you about when I spanked Craig Harris - you’ve never seen a grown man cry like a little girl the way Craig did - whimpering, blubbering, tears, begging, the whole nine yards. That’s why I never could understand why Joe Carr chickened out of that wrestling match with him.
Mockingbird: I have to say that I’m having trouble picturing that. You’re actually strong enough to inflict that much pain on Craig Harris?
Phillips: I’m really not - and it’s actually not even about the physical pain. This is the big misconception about my spanking. I’m strong enough that it stings a little for sure, but the real pain is psychological and emotional. It’s the humiliation of having to pull down your pants and let another man smack you on your bare bottom. That’s why it’s so effective, and that’s why I’m Commission Chairman. Not to keep bringing up Joe Carr, but that’s what he never understood about me last year when he was trying to usurp my power.
Mockingbird: When you mentioned that your spanking was like a rite of passage or initiation ritual for the new members, I was wondering if some people might say that sounds a bit like hazing.
Phillips: They have said that, believe me. Many people have said that, especially those new members who were getting spanked. And this is what I’ve said back to them - look, no one forced you to put your name on the ballot and collect 25 signatures, right? You’re here by choice. It was your decision, and decisions have consequences. I said earlier it’s like being spanked by your parents when you’re young. They don’t do it out of animosity. They do it out of love. And I do it for the same reason. It may be tough love, but it’s still love, nonetheless.
Mockingbird: Do you feel like that love is a reciprocal thing? That the other Commissioners love you back?
Phillips: I think they do - at least they say they do. But here’s the fundamental thing about it - I may want them to love me, but I need them to respect me. And so, because of that need, I have to do whatever it takes to make sure they fully respect me first, and only then can they truly love me.
Mockingbird: Does that sometimes take a while, earning that respect?
Phillips: In some cases, yes - it really depends on the individual. When Pettus first joined the club a few years ago, he was pretty full of himself, and it took a few spankings to get through to him and take his ego down a notch. He was hollering and cussing at me the whole time, saying “You can’t do this to me! I’m Pettus Read, and I was with the Farm Bureau longer than anyone in history!”
Mockingbird: I assume he eventually relented?
Phillips: Oh yes! (laughing) They always do! Pettus has often said to me since then “You know Jeff, I really hated you at the time. I was leaving every Commission meeting and every committee meeting with a red bottom that was so sore I was having to lift myself up off the car seat just to be able to drive home. But you know what - you were right to spank me the way you did, and I’m a better Commissioner and a better man because of it.” So, when I bring up tough love, and I say that respect has to come before love, Pettus is a prime example of what I’m talking about.
Mockingbird: Well, Mr. Chairman, thank you again for sharing part of your day with us. This has without a doubt been an educational and enlightening interview, and I hope that we’ll be able to do it again sometime soon.
Phillips: Certainly, I'd be happy to come back anytime.
In the interest of non-partisanship and equal time, The Tennessee Mockingbird will also be conducting an interview in the near future with Mariah Phillips, who was the Chairman’s Democrat opponent in 2022.