Kerr: "What does Lt. Shirley know that someone in power doesn't want you to know?"

Tennessean columnist Gayle Kerr who has been critical of the embattled Bredesen administration's handling of its Watergate shares the outrage average Tennesseans feel:

They are angry. Really angry. And while Gov. Phil Bredesen and House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh — two of the state's top elected officials — enjoy the Democratic National Convention in Denver this week, somebody on their respective staffs needs to shake off the fog of politics and realize how much this ongoing scandal has the potential to blow back on them. Big time.

"I've lived in Tennessee for 18 years, and in half a dozen other states before that, and I've never seen anything like this," wrote Michael J. Neth, a professor at MTSU. "What has been going on lends new meaning to the term 'police state,' and it's unsettling and frightening."

Kerr's e-mail box has been flooded with comments like:

• "Bredesen's a smart man. But has he stopped listening?"

• "I don't appreciate the implied intimidation that these kinds of rogue governmental activities represent."

• "I campaigned for Gov. Bredesen and attended his inaugurations. It deeply saddens me that the Gov. Bredesen I know could just dismiss this as someone with 'too much time on their hands.' It makes me sick to my stomach."

• "This is abuse of confidential information, pure and simple. If I did this at my job, I would be fired immediately, regardless of the excuse."

But Kerr concludes by summing up that Lt. Ronnie Shirley hasn't been fired yet because he must know too much:

What does Lt. Shirley know that someone in power doesn't want you to know?

RELATED: Naifeh meets Obama's VP pick

UPDATE: In case Naifeh and Bredesen are bored at the DNC and want to take their minds off Bredesen's Watergate, they can check out the Biden Bloopers.