Thank You Speaker Harwell

While watching the news last night, The Sheepdog realized it was time to sharpen his fangs and commence to chewing on the wolves again. The news that got my attention was that Beth Harwell, Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives, had strolled into a committee hearing yesterday and cast a tie-breaking "aye" vote, not once, but twice. Her votes allowed a controversial bill, HB 610 / SB 837, to advance in the legislature. If it becomes law, grocery stores across Tennessee can legally begin selling wine.

Beth Harwell (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that I am no fan of Speaker Harwell. The primary reason is that she does not meet my definition of a pro-gun Republican. During the last two years, she has made it very clear that she has no intention of allowing the right to carry to expand in Tennessee, especially when it comes to increasing the number of places where the state's permit holders can legally carry. She reminds me of the former anti-gun Speaker of the House, and Democrat, Jimmy Naifeh. I "affectionately" referred to him as "No-Guns" Naifeh.

Last year, the Tennessee Firearms Association (TFA), the NRA, and other pro-gun groups and law-abiding gun owners, like myself, worked and encouraged the Tennessee Legislature to pass the Safe Commute Bill. While I did not always agree with the rhetoric and discourse that was used during the course of debate, I always agreed that the bill was good legislation and needed to become law. The bill would have allowed carry permit holders to store their defensive firearms in their locked vehicle, even if the property where they were parked was posted "No Guns." It would have applied whether they were at work or somewhere else and protected them from any ramifications, such as being fired or jailed.

The TFA has documented on multiple occasions that last year's Safe Commute Bill was opposed by Speaker Harwell, Liet. Governor Ron Ramsey, then House Republican Caucus Chair and now former Rep. Debra Maggart, and big businesses across the state. The TFA consistently alleged that the legislature, and its leaders listed above, was "pandering" to big business by not allowing the legislation to come to a floor vote. It ultimately cost Debra Maggart her house seat. I, however, suspect there were also other forces at work against her besides just the gun folks.

One of the big businesses that TFA mentioned as an opponent to the bill was Federal Express. I became curious and decided to look into it. So, I began looking at campaign finance reports for Speaker Harwell, which are public record and available online. I found that over the last couple of years she had received about $35,000 in campaign contributions from the Federal Express PAC. I also found that over the same time period, it appeared that an overwhelming majority of Speaker Harwell's campaign contributions came from big businesses / PACs. These findings led me to the opinion that TFA's allegations were not only reasonable but also credible. Please, though, don't take my word for it. As Glenn Beck would say, "do your own homework." Click here to visit the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance website and look up the campaign finance reports for yourself.

"Grrrrr ......"

I say all that in order to make my point about Harwell's tie-breaking vote in the committee hearing yesterday. Keep in mind that Speaker Harwell, over the last few years, has repeatedly made it clear that the ability, and right, of Tennesseans to defend themselves and their families with firearms is not a priority to her. In last year's legislative session, she made it clear that she did not want gun bills to be considered, because other things were more important. She did not want any time being wasted on gun bills. Then, yesterday she made time and went out of her way to prance herself down to the committee hearing in order to first cast a tie-breaking vote to prevent the bill from being delayed and studied further. I guess the wine bill was soooooo important that it had to move on immediately. Next, she turned around and cast the tie-breaking vote to keep the bill alive and advance it on to the next committee. Apparently, self-defense is not a priority to the Speaker but making it more convenient to buy booze is.

Republicans are supposedly supporters of small businesses. Yet with this bill, the GOP is turning it's back on small businesspeople across the state who own liquor stores. They don't want this bill, because it will, of course, hurt their businesses. However, the big grocery store chains want it, because, of course, it will improve their bottom line. Could it be that Speaker Harwell and the Tennessee legislature are once again attempting to make big business happy ? Or, is she just wanting to make alcohol even more readily available ? Or, is it a combination of both ? Personally, I'm anti-alcohol, but that's a story for another day.

Oh, by the way, did I mention that law enforcement across the state is wholeheartedly against this bill ? The Speaker might want to listen to them.

As the title of this article says, I want to thank Speaker Harwell. Why ? Well, it's because her actions yesterday confirmed my suspicions and the allegations of the TFA and others that she is more concerned with keeping big business happy than she is with doing what's right for the people of this state. She has made it perfectly clear that the safety of Tennesseans is low on her list of priorities as she does not want to expand lawful concealed carry. However, high on her list of priorities is making big business happy and expanding the number of places where Tennesseans can legally purchase wine. As a conservative, I think she has her priorities completely screwed up.

So, in other words, thanks for nothing, Madam Speaker.

Before I go, I would also like to congratulate Speaker Harwell. She now has the dubious honor of being the absolute worst Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives in my lifetime. That's quite an achievement, too. "No Guns" Naifeh held that honor for a long, long time before her, having served as Speaker for 18 years. It's only taken Harwell a little over two years to knock him off his throne. Speaker Harwell doesn't need to thank me for this prestigious honor, either - she earned it all on her own.

Well done Madam Speaker (sarcasm added).

P.S. Before anyone brings it up, yes I know a version of the Safe Commute Bill has passed the Tennessee Legislature this year. I will be dealing with that in a subsequent post. Stay tuned.

Related articles

• Harwell steps in to advance wine-in-grocery bill (knoxnews.com)
• Wine bill squeaks by another committee (bizjournals.com)
• Wine sales bill clears House subcommittee (wcyb.com)

The 107th Tennessee General Assembly - The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly

View of Tennessee Capitol

The 107th Tennessee General Assembly concluded it's 2011 session last week. It was an interesting session, to say the least. They argued over Tennessee's version of a "Birther Bill," wine in grocery stores, the budget, taxes, illegal immigration, and other stuff. It my opinion, it was a case of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Today's post is a brief review of the session.

Back on March 25th, I ran a post about some of the bills that had been proposed by some of Tennessee's big "gubmint" Republicans. Many of those bills died a slow death as they should have. However, one of them, an ugly one, became law. Here's a quick look at most of the bills included in that post and their fate :

1. SB 257 / HB 1822  - The DNA and Genetic Testing bill - the bill was sponsored by Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and would have required a DNA sample to be taken from anyone arrested for a felony charge - NOT convicted, just arrested. I was extremely surprised that Ramsey would even suggest such a bill. It amounted to allowing unreasonable searches and seizures. Fortunately, Ramsey received a lot of heat over the bill and it went away quietly.
2. HB 910 / SB 785 - "The Animal Fighting Enforcement Act" - I referred to this bill as "The Michael Vick Act." I thought this bill was a waste of time this session because Tennessee has much bigger problems that the legislature should have been dealing with. Fortunately, it was voted down in subcommittee and went away. 
3. HB 1112 / SB 1568 - "The White-tailed Deer Breeding and Farming Act" - In my opinion, this was the "silliest" bill of the year. If passed, the state would have been in the deer-breeding regulating business. The deer are doing quite well on their own. There's thousands upon thousands of them in Tennessee. Once again, Tennessee's got bigger fish to fry. This bill was taken off notice and went away.
4. HB 427 / SB 418 and HB 428 / SB 416 - these bills would have required state agencies to report to the Government Operations Committee whenever they fine one of their licensees more than $1000 or suspend one for more than seven days. It would also have set up another committee to evaluate the appropriateness of such fines or suspensions. My problem with the bill is that it created more bureaucracy. Plus, the legislature should stay out of such situations and let each agency police it's licensees. This "bureaucracy bill" was taken off notice and went away.
5. HB 153 / SB 74 - Bill's passage would have forbidden children under five years of age from riding on a motorcycle. I understand the safety concern behind the bill. However, let parents be responsible for their kids, not the state. This nanny state bill died a slow death. It was sent to a "Summer Study Committee."
6. HB 1537 / SB 1503 - This was another nutty bill. It would have required pharmacists to counsel with and basically "profile" any customer purchasing a decongestant to evaluate whether they intended to use the medication for methamphetamine production. Pharmacists would have been expected to be law enforcement. The bill was also taken off notice. Bye, Bye.

 Now, let's take a look at some of the bills considered and acted upon by Tennessee's 107th General Assembly.

The Good

HB 1378 / SB 1669 by Rep. Joe Carr (R) and Sen. Jim Tracy (R) - The bill is also known as "The Tennessee Lawful Employment Act" and will require Tennessee employers to enroll in and actively participate in the E-Verify program administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. They must do so by October 1, 2011. Basically, it requires employers to verify the immigration status of each employee. For new employees, employers must check their status within 14 days from the time employment begins. The bill's goal is to help combat illegal immigration.

HB 324 / SB 352 by Rep. Curry Todd (R) and Sen. Mark Norris (R) - The bill could also be called "The Voter Photo I.D. Bill" and requires that a person show proof of citizenship when registering to vote. It also requires the coordinator of elections to compare the statewide voter rolls with the department of safety database as a way of identifying voters who may not be U.S. citizens. The goal of the bill is simple - keep illegal aliens from voting.

SJR 127 by Sen. Mae Beavers (R) is a joint resolution by the legislature proposing a state constitutional amendment protecting the lives of the unborn. Specifically, the resolution states that "... nothing in the Constitution of Tennessee secures or protects right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion." I am often one of Sen. Beavers biggest critics. However, when it comes to the sanctity of human life, we agree 100% of the time. We both believe that all human life is precious and that the unborn must be protected because they cannot speak for themselves. Sen. Beavers has long been a defender of the unborn and for that I salute her. Well done Senator.

HB 1141 / SB 261 by Rep. Cameron Sexton (R) and Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey - The bill raised the exemption limits on the Hall Income Tax. The tax is paid on dividends received from corporations based outside Tennessee and non-bank interest. The exemption was raised for taxpayers over 65 years of age to $26,200 for single filers and $37,000 for married couples filing jointly. It takes effect January 1, 2012. In other words the first $26,200 of such income isn't taxed for single filers nor the first $37,000 for couples. The Sheepdog likes tax cuts and this one has been needed for a long time. This bill will encourage retirees to move to Tennessee.

HB 130 / SB 113 by Rep. Debra Maggart and Sen. Jack Johnson - Many referred to this bill as "The Anti-Collective Bargaining Bill." It ended collective bargaining for teachers unions. Most of my life, my opinion of unions has been rather neutral. I didn't really support them, but I wasn't really opposed to them either. However, some of the behavior I've seen from unions in the past few years, particularly the union bosses, has completely turned me off on them. There was a time when unions were needed to facilitate good working conditions and good benefits. Nowadays, there are adequate labor laws to protect employees, so I'm not really sure unions are even needed. Plus, I feel that unions take away individual liberty. The "collective" is about what's good for the whole and prevents an individual from doing what's best for them or their family. Good and bad employees get the same pay and benefits, and it's often difficult to get rid of a bad employee or reward a good one.

Sheepdog's analysis of bill : Some feel that the state legislature has spent the last two years attacking teachers. However, proponents of this bill claim it will be good for education. I think the jury is gonna be out on it's effect on education for quite a while. I don't think that simply busting teachers unions is gonna improve the education system of this state. I believe the state legislature has really missed an opportunity in the last two years in regards to education. Last year, they initiated "The Race to the Top" Program. It required student test scores to have a larger weight in teachers' evaluations. That's simply not fair. Teachers only have a student for 8-9 hours a day. That's all they should be responsible for. Parents / guardians are responsible for the kids the other 15-16 hours. Many kids come to school from a bad home life. They may be poor, hungry, abused, be in turmoil at home, or come from a broken home. I've heard teachers say that they need parents to get more involved, because sometimes they feel like babysitters instead of teachers. All of these things can effect a kid's motivation to learn and whether or not they can be taught effectively. No politician will say anything remotely like what I just did, because it would be political suicide. The state can change all the rules and regulations it wants, throwing millions of dollars at education, but until parents / guardians and other family members get more involved in the educational process, nothing will change. Teachers, principals, school administrators, and school systems can't do it all. It takes a team working together, including parents / guardians, teachers, principals, etc., to assure a child gets a good, quality education.

The Bad

HB 283 / SB 519 by Rep. Vance Dennis (R) and Sen. Mike Bell (R) - This bill was referred to as "The Employer Parking Lot Bill." Concealed carry permit holders had been anxiously awaiting for this bill to become law for years. Originally, it was meant to protect employees who carried a handgun in their vehicle for personal protection while commuting back and forth to work. If your employer had a no-guns policy, the bill would prevent them from firing you or taking other disciplinary action if they searched your car and found your firearm. The key was that if the property was posted, you HAD to leave your gun in your car. It would allow employees the freedom to protect themselves during their commute to work, but at the same time, it would also protect the employer's property rights. However, due to some political maneuvering, the bill was completely changed from being a bill about protecting individual freedom. The bill that passed only protected the employers. It only says than an "... employer permitting a person with a handgun carry permit to carry a handgun on the employer's property does not constitute an occupational health and safety hazard to the employees." The politicians in the state legislature were too busy helping their big business buddies "CYA" on this bill. They sold out Tennessee's gun owners.

The Ugly

The original 2011 methamphethamine tracking bill was SB 325 / HB 234 by Sen. Mae Beavers (R) (at right) and Rep. Debra Maggart (R). This bill was one of the ones I highlighted in my "big gubmint" Republicans post mentioned earlier. In my opinion, this was the worst, big government, nanny state bill of the session. It implemented a requirement that pharmacists must enter all over-the-counter decongestant purchases into a national electronic database. It went nowhere, at first, due to significant opposition. Then, the bill came back as SB 1265 / HB 1051 with a significant difference - it would make a parent or guardian guilty of child endangerment if they knowingly exposed a child less than 8-years old to the methamphethamine manufacturing process. What's significant about that ? With that stipulation in the bill, supporters can claim, "It's to protect the children." Once they play that card, the debate's over because if you express opposition, they'll ask, "Why do you hate children so much ?" No politician wants to be stuck with that label. It's political suicide. Saul Alinsky would be proud of such maneuvering on this bill. After all, he wrote the book on it. However, it's a bogus argument and totally irrelevant. The bill was about more big government control and regulation. Someone in the General Assembly should have had the "cojones" to fight it. I praised Sen. Beavers earlier, but she, as the sponsor, blew it on this one.

The Tennessee legislature doesn't understand that such registration databases do NOT prevent crime. Criminals will find a way around them. These type registration schemes only punish and hassle law abiding citizens and result in an invasion of privacy. No federal database of "whatever" has any business knowing how much decongestant the average citizen purchases. One individual that I talked to who spends a lot of time on capitol hill claimed "they had to do something and it was the best they could get." Isn't that the same argument that was used for TARP, the car company bailout, and the $787 Billion stimulus bill ? They all had one thing in common - they failed. This bill will, too.

Sheepdog's analysis of bill : If I had been the Tennessee legislature wanting to combat meth, I would have done something different. I would have significantly stiffened the penalties for meth production. It would mean longer jail sentences, stiffer fines, and I'd go after their property, too. For instance, I would allow law enforcement agencies to use meth raids as fundraising activities. During a meth raid, I would allow law enforcement to seize the property where they find meth being manufactured, stored, or sold. After the suspect is convicted, the property is sold at auction. The minimum bid would be set at whatever the cleanup costs were to make the seized property inhabitable. Local law enforcement would first be reimbursed for those expenses, and then any excess auction proceeds go into the coffers of that agency to provide for needed equipment and personnel. Any bank accounts and / or cash would also be subject to seizure. After a few meth dealers lose their property, the word will get out and the dealers will look for some other kind of work or leave Tennessee. Problem solved. Punish the dealers, not Tennessee's law abiding citizens.

Summary

The Tennessee General Assembly's 2011 Session could be referred to as "what could have been." When Republicans won a larger majority in the legislature plus the governor's office in 2010, they said their focus would be on decreasing the size of government, improving education, and making it easier for businesses to create jobs. They really didn't do any of that. I would suggest they get their priorities back on those three things when the 2012 session opens next January, or they may see their majority shrink in November of 2012.

Tennessee's Big "Gubmint" Republicans

The 2010 elections featured big wins by Tennessee Republicans. They re-took the governorship, gained more seats in the state legislature, and installed the first ever female Speaker of the House with Beth Harwell (pictured right.) It all happened because Tennesseans, like many Americans, were sick and tired of the Democrats failed economic policies. One of Speaker Harwell's first orders of business was to establish a litmus test for bills coming before the legislature this session. She said (see TheCityPaper.com, January 11, 2011, Republicans Take State House Control, Install Speaker Harwell) that for each bill lawmakers should consider :

Does it (the bill) increase the size of government or not ? Second, does it make it easier to start a business and operate it in Tennessee or not ? And finally, does it keep us moving forward in reforming our educational system to best meet the needs of the next generation or not ?

Speaker Harwell's litmus test led me to believe she was sending a message that if a bill didn't pass these tests, then the sponsor shouldn't even bother bringing it up this session. However, this post will show that there are a number of bills currently before the Tennessee Legislature that don't meet any of these tests. In fact, many of them actually increase the size of government and decrease the freedom of Tennesseans. Below I list some of these bills and their sponsors and tell what they do. You will be surprised at what you see.

• SB 257 / HB 1822 - Liet. Gov. Ron Ramsey and Rep. Jon Lundberg - DNA and Genetic Testing - Bill would require a DNA sample be taken from all persons arrested on a felony charge - not after you're convicted, but when arrested. The DNA would be entered into a database to be maintained by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI). It changes existing law which requires a DNA sample from anyone arrested for a "violent" felony and makes it applicable to all felonies. It would require the TBI to destroy the sample if the charges are dismissed or if the accused is acquitted. This bill stinks of unconstitutionality under both the 4th Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures and the 5th Amendment protection against self-incrimination. Personally, I don't trust the "gubmint" to destroy the sample after an acquittal or dismissal of charges as required. I suspect that after your DNA goes into that database, it will stay forever. Then, whenever a crime is committed, the first thing law enforcement will do is look for DNA at the scene and then check the database for a match. No more thorough police investigations, and Lord help you if your DNA shows up at the scene and if you're in the database. That'll be the end of the investigation and you're on the hook for the crime whether you're guilty or not. The good thing is that the bill has not gotten anywhere in the legislature and Liet. Gov. Ramsey has taken a lot of heat for the bill. In fact, he's gotten so much heat that in a recent interview he said he may drop the bill because "... it's not worth the hassle." Please notice he didn't say because it's unconstitutional. He said because of the hassle. I guess he would have went full steam ahead if he hadn't been called on it. The scary thing is Ramsey was the preferred pick of many conservatives and Tea Partiers for Tennessee governor. I guess now we know his true nature. Thank God he didn't win the governorship.
• HB 910 / SB 785 - Rep. Jon Lundberg and Sen. Bill Ketron - Criminal Offense - The bill is known as "The Animal Fighting Enforcement Act" and it increases the penalties for animal fighting. Maybe they should have named it "The Michael Vick Act." What I'd like to know is how does this help with jobs or education ?
• HB 1112 / SB 1568 - Rep. Frank Niceley and Sen. Bill Ketron - Agriculture - The bill is known as the "White-tailed Deer Breeding and Farming Act." And yes, you read that right. The state of Tennessee wants to regulate deer. Why ? So, they can charge the "deer farmers" fees for such regulating. I promise I'm not making this up. Once again, how does this create jobs ? Oh yeah, that's right. It'll create "gubmint" jobs because they'll have to hire "deer regulators." Thus, it will increase the size of government. Doesn't that mean it fails one of Speaker Harwell's tests ? 
• HB 427 / SB 418 - Rep. Dale Ford and Sen. Rusty Crowe - Administrative Procedure - The bill would require a state agency to file a report with the Government Operations Committee if they levy any fine over $1000 or suspend or revoke for more than 7 days the license of anyone licensed by that agency. Why does the state legislature need to get involved here ?? Let the licensing agency handle the disciplining of their licensees.
• HB 428 / SB 416 - Rep. Dale Ford and Sen. Rusty Crowe - General Assembly - The bill sets up a committee to evaluate the fines, suspensions, and revocations reported to the Government Operations Committee due to HB 427 / SB 418 mentioned above. Unbelievable. This is Big "Gubmint" at it's finest.
• HB 153 / SB 74 - Rep. Bob Ramsey and Sen. Doug Overbey - Motor Vehicles - The bill makes it illegal for a child under 5 to ride as a passenger on a motorcycle. Here's an idea - LET THE PARENTS REGULATE WHETHER OR NOT THEIR KID IS ON A MOTORCYCLE. Focus on jobs, jobs, and more jobs. Is Tennessee becoming the Mother of All Nanny States or what ? Abso-freakin'-lutely ridiculous.
• HB 1537 / SB 1503 - Rep. Dennis Powers and Sen. Ken Yager - Drugs, Over the Counter - The bill says that a pharmacist can only sell you an over-the-counter decongestant after he or she has consulted with and "observed" you in order to determine whether or not you are planning to use the medication to manufacture methamphetamine. Once they are sure you are not gonna make meth with it, they can sell you the medication. I guess this means pharmacists are gonna have to undergo some law enforcement training in profiling techniques if this passes. I bet they're gonna love that. I wonder if they'll have to Mirandize you before questioning ? I can see it now - "You have the right to remain silent." However, if you choose to exercise your right to remain silent and not talk to us, then we will be forced to not sell you the Claritan D." Lovely, huh ?
• SB 325 / HB 234 - Sen. Mae Beavers and Rep. Debra Maggart - Drugs, Over the Counter - The bill would require sales of over-the-counter decongestants containing pseudoephedrine to be entered into a national registry. A consumer would only be able to purchase a certain allotment within a specified time period before being "cut-off." So, if you have a lot of sinus problems, at some point you could be prohibited from purchasing Claritan D, Zyrtec D, etc. It would work much like the instant check you go through when buying a gun. The pharmacist would enter your identifying information into the registry, and as long as you've not been "bad" and purchased more than your allotment, they would complete the sale. If not, then too bad, so sad for you. The bill is being pushed by law enforcement agencies and others due to the meth problem in Tennessee and the huge costs of cleaning up meth labs. However, just like gun control through the registering of firearms doesn't prevent gun crime, this "meth control" scheme won't work either. Just like bad guys will always find ways to get guns no matter how much gun control is implemented, they will find ways to make meth even if this bill passes. The only people that will be affected are the law-abiding citizens. For years Sen. Beavers has been an opponent of gun control and gun registration schemes because they don't work and only punish the law-abiding. Therefore, she should scrap this worthless bill for the same reasons. Tea Party groups have liked her in the past because she is anti-big "gubmint." Could it be they were wrong and she actually likes Big "Gubmint ?" Or, maybe she's just changed her mind recently and went from anti-Big "Gubmint" to pro-Big "Gubmint ?" If that's the case, I wonder if she's pro-gun control now, too ? However, here's the really screwy part of this bill. Sen. Beavers voted in favor of the bill in committee, but when it got out to the Senate floor she voted against her own bill. What happened ? Did she see the error of her ways and vote against it ? Or, was she just as confused as I was when I saw that she voted for her very own sponsored bill while it was in committee and then against it on the floor ? Maybe this was one of those "she was for it before she was against" kinda deals.
• SB 756 / HB 1119 by Sen. Mae Beavers / Rep. Curry Todd - SB 477 / HB 1252 by Sen. Mae Beavers / Rep. Bill Dunn - Election Laws - These two bills go hand-in-hand with each other. They tell the county commissions in Tennessee that even though the county election commissions are funded by county tax dollars, the county commissions have no say so in how they are ran. It's been previously established by the courts that the county election commissions are state agencies and their employees are state employees. Now, this bill will tell the county commission that they must fund the budgets of the election commissions and cannot cut or otherwise change their budgets. In other words, "You're gonna fund it, but we're gonna tell you how to run it and there ain't nothing you can do about it." In my opinion, that's crap. That's about like me going out and buying a brand new car and then my neighbor telling me how and when I can drive it. It's another Big "Gubmint" / Nanny State bill sponsored by Sen. Beavers. She's the same Sen. Beavers that railed against ObamaCare and the state taking Federal stimilus dollars. Why ? It was because she felt the Federal government was overstepping it's bounds by telling us how do things in Tennessee, of course. Now, she wants to pass a bill allowing the state to do the same thing to it's 95 counties that she pitched a fit about Obama and the Feds doing to Tennessee. Isn't that a bit hypocritical ? And she's supposedly a small government Conservative, huh ? Perhaps someone should change the definition of small government Conservative.

Some are probably wondering, "Dang Sheepdog. You're being awfully hard on the Republicans. What's up with that ?" It's simple. As I've said before, I considered my a Republican for 30 years. However, recently I've felt just like Ronald Reagan did when he said he didn't leave the Democratic Party, they left him. The Republican Party as a whole has lost it's Conservative roots. It's why I've joined the ranks of the Independents. There's still some good Republicans, but they're getting few and far between. Republicans in Tennessee were hired to do a job. I think Speaker Harwell had it right when she said the priorities should be smaller government, the economy, and education. Every one of the bills I highlighted above fail that test. Every single one. Republicans should take this as constructive criticism. Tennesseans and Americans everywhere are fed up and running out of patience. Republicans in Tennessee and all across the country whined, complained, and criticized the Democrats when they were in power for passing legislation that was intrusive into the lives of the American people, increased the size of government, and spent millions upon millions of dollars. The Republicans promised to put an end to all that if we would elect them. Well, we did and they haven't lived up to their end of the bargain. We can vote you right back out. The problem is that it puts the Democrats back in power, and they are a lost cause. The Democratic Party of today is not the one our fathers and grandfathers knew. Today's Democratic Party has been infected by Socialists. It says so right on the Socialist Party USA website (click here). They are working to pass their agenda through the Democrats. When the American people lose their patience with the Republicans again and vote the Democrats back into office, these are the jokers that will be in power !! Is that what the Republicans want to see happen ? If not, then they need get to work doing the job we hired them you to do which is making job creation easier, helping with the economic recovery, and shrinking the size of government. Knock it off with the Nanny State Bills. They don't create jobs or opportunities. Get it in gear.

Related articles

• Tennessee House elects first woman speaker (commercialappeal.com)

Pork-aholic = Tennessee politicians

During the last year, the Tea Partiers and others have complained about the wasteful pork spending going on in Washington D.C. by Congress and the Community Organizer in Chief. However, there's also a number of pork-aholics in Nashville in the Tennessee Legislature and they are led by Porky Pig himself, Governor Phil Bredesen.

For the last few years, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research has been putting out a document called the Tennessee Pork Report. The organization goes through the state's budget and identifies items of wasteful, unnecessary spending, and then produces a report of their findings. Needless to say, it's not a favorite read for Tennessee's legislators. I have read through the 2009 report (read it here) and here are some of the highlights :

• Tennessee taxpayers subsidized the 12 state-run golf courses in the amount of $2.3 Million. Only one of them broke even and eight lost at least $130,000.
• Over $29,000 from the Tennessee Arts Commission subsidized the Nashville Film Festival. Some of the films contained "adult-oriented themes" that at best bordered on pornography.
• A $5000 "Individual Artist Fellowship" funded by taxpayers was given to Victoria Lancelotta. She is known for writing books containing short stories with "adult-oriented themes." Many of the stories involve teenagers.
• Over $187,000 was handed out by the state to subsidize fairs and livestock shows.
• "Conservation Hall" sure doesn't conserve taxpayer dollars. It's also known as "the party bunker" and  is a 14,000 square foot entertainment area underneath the governor's mansion. After spending nearly $13 Million to renovate the mansion (which was worth only $900,000 at the time), Bredesen's bunker will cost another $10 Million-plus once complete. The original cost estimate was $4.6 Million. Taxpayers are having to make up the difference because Bredesen's wife has been unable to raise the funds through private donations as she promised.
• A record $1.1 Billion in bonds including $262 Million that amounts to corporate welfare to bring in a new Volkswagon plant. The interest on the bonds - ONLY $438 Million.
• A $5.3 Million subsidy ("incentive") to farmers to "encourage" them to grow switchgrass for ethanol production. The problem - this ethanol facility is yet to be completed. Currently, it's nothing but a Monroe County field.
• $6.5 Million for "boll weevil eradication porgram - However, the state budget says the state is "99% boll weevil free." The 1% left sure are high maintenance.  
• The Department of Finance and Administration paid an extra $26,000 in phone bills for failing to disconnect 89 unused phone lines. Can you hear me now ??

These are only a few of the problems the 2009 Tennessee Pork Report cited. As you can see, a ton of taxpayer dollars has been wasted in Tennessee which is bad at any time, but during a span of years in which state employees have been forced into early retirement and services have had to be cut it's inexcusable. As the legislature convenes for it's 2010 session, they will be faced with a projected budget shortfall of about $1 Billion. Recently, the governor said that services would have to be cut and non-violent criminals might have to be released from Tennessee's prisons to cover the shortfall. He has since changed his mind on that, but the fact remains that the budget will be tight. Rep. Debra Maggart (Sumner Co. - R) may have the best idea when she said recently that she was not gonna submit many new bills this session because money is tight. Maybe the governor and the rest of the state legislature should follow her lead. It would be a good start to ending their pork addiction. But if they don't - Tennessee voters will end it for them this November at the ballot box.

Transplant Heroes and Zeros Wrap-Up

Today is part 5 of a 5-part series. I hope everyone has enjoyed it. I'm gonna mix it up a bit today by mentioning both heroes and zeros in the Tennessee legislature. Since my transplant, I've had the honor of being involved in two pieces of legislation involving transplant issues. One was the 2008 roll-out of the Tennessee Donor Registry, and the second was HB 635 / SB 109 during the 2009 session that would have required Tennessee pharmacists to notify a transplant patient's physician any time immunosuppressants were changed. I'll tell you about some of the heros that have been involved in these two pieces of legislation as well as the zeros.

HEROES

1. State Senator Beverly Marrero (D - Shelby Co.) - while her views are usually very different from mine on the issues, she was instrumental in the passage of the Tennessee Donor Registry bill.
2. State Senator Diane Black (R - Robertson and Sumner Co.'s) - strong supporter of the registry bill and State Senate sponsor of SB 109, the physician notification bill for immunosuppressant changes.
3. State Representative Debra Maggart (R - part of Sumner Co.) - supporter of the registry bill and State House sponsor of HB 635, the house version of the physician notification bill for immunosuppressant changes.

ZEROS

State Representatives Mike Turner and Gary Odom (D's - both cover parts of Davidson Co.) - In April 2009 during the sub-committee hearing for HB 635 (notification bill), I witnessed these two "gentlemen" act like anything but public servants. During testimony by Dr. Beau Kelly of Vanderbilt Hospital's Transplant Unit, these two jokers got up and moved around the hearing room, talked amongst themselves, and laughed and goofed-off. Earlier, the sub-committee members had made it clear that they would like to hear from a transplant physician, but when Dr. Kelly testified these two yahoos acted like school boys and didn't pay attention to his testimony. At a minimum they were unprofessional, but in my opinion they were rude. Either way, they were out of line. As a transplant recipient, I was offended because their behavior said to me that they do not care about transplant issues. Therefore, not only do they get a zero, I'm gonna give them the same award TDS got yesterday - THE DOUBLE ZERO (00).

THE JURY'S STILL OUT ....
 
.... on State Rep. David Shephard (D - Dickson and part of Hickman Co.'s) - The physician notification bill, HB 635 / SB 109, did not have the votes to make it out of the sub-committee because of the pressure applied to the sub-committee members by the pharmacy association. However, a compromise was reached which kept the bill from failing completely. The terms of the compromise are :

1. Rep. Shephard and Rep. Maggart and the pharmacy community have agreed to work together to further educate pharmacists across the state on the sensitivities of transplant patients and all the issues surrounding the substitution of anti-rejection drugs.
2. Rep. Shephard and Rep. Maggart will work together to ask the Tennessee Pharmacists Association and other pharmacy organizations in Tennessee to conduct continuing education training on organ transplant issues throughout the remainder of 2009 and early 2010.
   
3. Rep. Shepard will assist in having a transplant physician speak at the Tennessee Pharmacy Association annual meeting (summer '09) and other pharmacy organization meetings on transplant issues and issues that may arise from anti-rejection drug substitutions between manufacturers.
4. Rep. Shephard and Rep. Maggart will develop legislation over the summer to create a list of critical dose or Narrow Therapeutic Index drugs to be included on a Tennessee list that would require notification or consultation with physicians prior to an automatic substitution. This legislation will be ready for the 2010 legislative session.

As of today, the only part of the compromise that has been done is number 3 - Dr. Beau Kelly from the Vanderbilt Hospital Transplant Unit spoke at the Tennessee Pharmacy Association Annual Convention this month. If the compromise is completed, it will be a good thing for transplant patients. However, I am disappointed that in the two months since the compromise was reached this is the only item has been done. I will continue to watch the progress on this, and I hope that Rep. Shephard holds up his end of this deal. If he does, he's a hero. If not, he's another zero. As President Ronald Reagan once said, "trust, but verify", and that's exactly what I plan to do with Rep. Shephard.

The sheepdog is watching .......