Secretary, Governor Turn Talk From Rivalry to Reform

By Lonnie Harp

Gov. Ned McWherter of Tennessee and U.S. Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander sat down to breakfast last week in an effort to draw attention to their education-reform plans and away from weeks of local news stories that have cast the politicians as feuding rivals.

Officials said they hoped the meal at the Governor's Mansion and a joint appearance at a ceremony to announce a new dropout-prevention program would end speculation of a political tug-of-war.

Newspaper columnists and some political observers have described the ongoing questions about Mr. Alexander's personal finances, a state investigation into contracts steered to Mr. Alexander's former aides during his tenure as president of the University of Tennessee, and his cold shoulder to Mr. McWherter's school-reform package as evidence of...