Pros
I had some great co-workers who were smart, personable, and possessed high-grade work ethics. Good managers and supervisors do exist within the State's employ, but they seem to be few and far between. Health benefits and time off pretty well rivaled anything offered in the private sector, at least when I first started working there.
Cons
Governor Haslam's TEAM Act pretty well eliminated any job security, which opened the door to malicious managers being able to bring trumped-up charges against employees they don't like and terminating them. Less security would be ok, but pay rates were still below market average, at least in my department. A bad manager can make an employee's life a living hell, and there's very little they can do to remedy this because the old grievance process was eliminated.