BillHobbs.com is a frequently updated blog of original reporting and commentary by Bill Hobbs, a longtime Nashville journalist and media relations adviser. I am currently serving as communications director for the Tennessee Republican Party, a job I began on Oct. 29, 2007.
Former state Sen. John Ford, D-Memphis, says he didn't resign from the state Senate because of those federal bribery and witness intimidation charges against him. Oh, no.
He resigned because the legislature had just passed a law making it illegal for legislators like him to get paid for consulting services by companies that also do business with Tennessee. You see, he just couldn't make an honest living selling his influence while serving as a state senator anymore, so he had to give up his day job. [Click Ford's picture to read the indictment listing all the serious federal felony charges that didn't cause him to resign the senate two days after he was arrested and charged.]
I, for one, celebrate the exodus of John Ford from the state senate, and look forward to his taking up a new job selling his influence to fellow residents of a nice federal prison somewhere. Meanwhile, I'm trying to decide which of these shirts to purchase. I'm leaning toward the one in the center.
The WSJ has a story today on the growing number of corporations that are hiring bloggers. ITWorld.com, meanwhile, reports that podcasting is emerging as "an ebusiness tool" as "commercial web sites are already using podcasting in dozens of ways, ranging from sponsored podcasts, podcast 'edutainment', corporate communications and as a promotional tool." And E-Commerce News today says, "Blogging has arrived as a force on the Internet, not only for political discourse and personal ramblings but increasingly as a potentially powerful business tool."
I've been doing a little blog consulting work lately with corporations, with media/marketing/PR companies (companies in what I call the "message industry") and possibly a political candidate or two and expect to do more of that in the future.
Meanwhile, Iranian blogging pioneer Hossein Derakshan, recently appearing at the BlogNashville conference, is getting some ink and pixels these days, in Wired and also Newsweek and Lefty political journal The Nation.
Hugh Hewitt is wondering whether the Christian evangelicals who make up a large portion of the "social conservatives" in the Republican Party would be willing to support Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a social conservative but a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, as a presidential candidate in 2008. There are vast and fundamental theological differences between the LDS - a/k/a the Mormons - and mainstream evangelical Christianity.
Hewitt:
In 2008, many are expecting that Romney will present the question squarely with a very well-funded campaign by a very credentialed candidate.
I'm a Christian evangelical and social conservative and I'll answer Hewitt's question on behalf of myself: Yes, absolutely, I could support Romney, although my top two 2008 presidential preferences right now are for Colorado Gov. Bill Owens and Secretary of State Condi Rice. While I disagree with the very basic tenets of the LDS faith, it is clear as glass that Romney is a man of principle - and his principles and political viewpoints are those with which I agree.
Here's a prediction: Should Romney mount a serious candidacy, the vast majority of any vilification of him based on his religious affiliation, his faith and the sometimes peculiar history of the LDS church will come from the Left, not from the Right.
UPDATE: I misrepresented Hugh Hewitt's article, which focused on how Republican religious conservatives would view Romney's Mormon faith, not on how they would view his stand on social issues. A commenter pointed out that Romney's not very conservative on social issues such as gay rights and abortion. I actually don't know much about his positions on those issues, though I suspect he felt he had to run to the left on those issues while focusing mostly on fiscal conservative issues in order to get elected governor of Massachusetts. Romney would have to run more to the right on social issues to win the GOP presidential nod in 2008. Where he really stands on those issues is an issue I'm not addressing here except to note that Charles Colson, noted Christian evangelical author and speaker, considers Romney a social conservative, according to a Terry Eastland article in the Weekly Standard, linked to by Hewitt. That article is a must-read if you want to be ahead of the general knowledge curve on Romney.
My only point with this original post was that Romney's religion would not disqualify him from recieving my vote in the primary or general election. That's not to say I'm supporting Romney - as I said above, my current top choices for the GOP nomination in 2008 would be Colorado Gov. Bill Owens and Secretary of State Condi Rice. If the War on Terror is still the number one issue facing America, Condi would get my vote. If, by '08, the Islamists are a spent force and domestic issues (fiscal and social) are the main focus, Owens would get my vote.
The College of Mass Communications at Middle Tennessee State University, which boasts that it is the second largest college of mass comm in the nation, has announced that it has assembled "a board of distinguished television, journalism and music professionals" to serve as a "Board of Visitors" whill will offer their expertise to the college for the next two years. The group includes "such notables as chairman emeritus for the USA Today John Seigenthaler, Hollywood composer George Clinton and musician/songwriter Rodney Crowell," as well as a variety of local business people and national mainstream media people.
One thing it lacks: any representation of the new media, including bloggers.
I received my MS from that dept in 2000 so I was a little disappointed by the lack of bloggers or representatives of new media. Lots of old school MSM represented. I'd love to get your take.
It's not much of a surprise, actually. Mainstream media remains largely in denial about the seismic changes coming to their industry. They desire to hold on to a top-down, broadcast, one-way model of mass communication, a model that is threatened by the highly interactive, multi-way communications represented by blogging and other new-media technologies and trends.
The new "we media" is a radical change. Big mass comm programs such as MTSU's have a vested interest in the status quo. MTSU's journalism program is built around the mainstream media's traditional journalism model for print and broadcast dominated by large media conglomerates and long-established media methods and process. And its recording industry program is built around the recording industry's traditional model dominated by large record companies.
But inexpensive digital media technologies are ushering in the era of "we media." It is going to force profound change on the MSM, and - eventually - schools like MTSU's College of Mass Comm will either catch up or wither away.
Glenn Reynolds has an excellent op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal exploring the present and future of "We Media."
The news business is in trouble. Readership and viewership are declining, public trust is plummeting, and advertisers are beginning to wonder whether they're getting their money's worth. This has led people to think about what blogger and tech journalist Doc Searls calls business models for "news without newspapers," an approach to reporting and disseminating news that doesn't depend on layers of editors for publication, and big ads from carmakers for funding. Nobody's sure just how to do that yet.
That's likely to change, though. Already we're seeing a lot of reporting from non-journalists, where the "reporter" is just whoever happens to be on the scene, and online, when news happens. Given the ubiquity of digital cameras, cellphones, and wireless Internet access, that's likely to become more common, making the kind of distributed newsgathering seen during the Indian Ocean tsunami the norm not the exception.
Quite a few bloggers are moving beyond opinion journalism into firsthand reporting. ... Others are working on news-aggregation technology that will automatically gather blog posts on particular topics, allowing people to customize their news.
Of course, when you take content from correspondents around the world, organize it in an easy to navigate form, and deliver the eyeballs that it attracts to advertisers, you've created something that looks rather a lot like ... a newspaper. But it's a very different kind of newspaper, one that takes advantage of the big-media capabilities that, thanks to technological progress, are now in the hands of individuals worldwide. Will traditional newspapers be able to keep up?
Even if they don't, they'll benefit. Because with mainstream media losing credibility through scandals like Easongate, Rathergate, and Newsweek's latest, free-press protections are likely to come under fire. The best defense will be a public that sees free speech as something it participates in, not just a protection for big corporate entities. What some are calling "we-dia" may wind up saving the media.
University journalism programs that don't recognize and incorporate "we media" into their advisory boards, courses and mass comm labs are setting their students up for very short careers.
Also relevant to this same topic is media guru Ben Compaine's thought-provoking new essay, Peercasting as the New Western Frontier, which Adam Thierer summarizes and comments on here at the Technology Liberation Front blog.
Compaine:
The expansive western frontier offered anyone an opportunity to build a farm and become an independent member of society. Free land thus tended to relieve poverty in the Eastern cities while on the frontier it fostered greater economic equality.
What does this have to do with the media? Here’s what: Though it may be a tad premature to know with certainty, in the equally unlimited expanses of information available through the Internet and its related ecosystem I see the makings of a similar safety value for expression and communication. Today it is Blogs, Live365 streaming radio and Podcasts. Tomorrow it is likely to be the video version of streaming radio and Vodcasting. Better than a soapbox at Hyde Park Corner, reaching farther than leaflets handed out in Times Square, more user-controlled than letters to the editor, "peercasting" may be for the Information Age what free land was for the late Agricultural/early Industrial Age.
While large media companies may continue to provide us with the entertainment and high production value news that they do so well — and that so many people choose to use – bubbling from below is what may be viewed as a revolution in peer communication.
Thierer:
What we are witnessing with the rise of this new Western frontier of media services is the complete death of media scarcity. Even the Federal Communications Commission has recently published an eye-opening study entitled, "The Scarcity Rationale for Regulating Traditional Broadcasting: An Idea Whose Time Has Passed." Folks, when the agency that owes its entire existence to the notion that media and communications scarcity is rampant and requires extensive regulation of the market is publishing a paper with a title like that, you know things have changed in a BIG way.
Ben Compaine ought to be on some forward-thinking journalism school's board of advisors.
Modeled after the only thing available, Hollywood's single camera film style, early TV crews included a specialist reporter, a specialist field producer, a specialist camera operator, a specialist sound operator, and any other specialist that was required. While technology is now able to take the place of nearly every specialist, the industry still hasn't fully accepted the disruptive innovations.
This is because institutionalized professionalism cannot tolerate the notion that if technology can eliminate one specialist, what's to keep it from eliminating everybody. It produces a defensive response, which is really is a dangerous place to be, because it induces occupational paralysis.
But the picture goes beyond simply gathering news for television. It includes the newsgathering and publishing process altogether. In our new convergence world, specialization is a net liability, and this is where the professional news industry is losing ground every day. Workers must be able to multitask, and not just because it's possible. The most important reason is that you can do amazing things with this technology. Others "out there" are doing it already, and one day they will be our competitors.
... We need to embrace and master the technologies they're using. Web researcher Gordon Borrell says, "The deer now have guns," and he's right. With a PC, a $100 web camera, a $200 piece of real-time TV production software that includes a teleprompter, free blog software, FTP access to a server, a small digital camera, editing software, and an imagination, anybody can be a TV station, a newspaper or a multimedia news operation.
As I've said before, a citizen journalist with the right tools (a laptop with independent wireless Internet access, along with a digital camera, digital video cam and a good digital audio recorder could run rings around the traditional media's coverage of the Tennessee legislature by reporting via a multimedia blog in almost real-time from the legislature, covering more stories faster, and filing instant updates, quick video interviews and more.
The technology exists for an independent journalist to beat the MSM at its game. All that's lacking is a business model. But if there were 2,500 people in Tennessee willing to pay $10 a month for such coverage, an independent online journalist could make a good living and even hire an assistant...
I turn 41 on the day after tomorrow. Somehow, nearly two decades have passed since I finished college and nearly a quarter-century since I finished high school. Argh. If it wasn't for having a beautiful and brilliant wife and the two smartest, best-looking children on planet earth, I'd be seriously bummed. You can cheer me up here or here.
Ad space here at BillHobbs.com is now available priced three months for the price of two. Click the "advertise here" link below each of the three Blogads slots, two on the left sidebar and one on the right. Anyone placing a three-month ad today will receive a fourth month free - even if you place the ad today but want to delay the start date up to 15 days. (Most of the ads on this site expire mid-June.)
Blogger Patrick Hynes of AnkleBitingPundits.com has landed a gig as a regular political columnist for the Concord Monitor in Concord, New Hampshire. Here is his first column, on ethical lapses in the New Hampshire governor's administration that sound rather serious. Congrats, Patrick, on landing a regular column newspaper column.
Jay Johnson, who has a new blog at Backassward.com, responds to the email Gov. Phil Bredesen sent to all state employees after the arrest last Thursday of four legislators on a variety of federal corruption charges. Johnson to Bredesen:
The real tragedy is that YOU haven't recognized that the public has no confidence in our state government that has existed for a long time before these arrests.
Read the whole thing - it's rather pointed and on point.
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For more scrutiny of the Bredesen record, see Bredesen Watch.
Sate Sen. Jim Bryson, R-Franklin, has sent out an email discussing last week's arrest of four legislators on corruption charges and also detailing the effort) made by many Republicans in the state legislature to prevent Gov. Phil Bredesen from slashing 67,000 peopled deemed "uninsurable" from the TennCare rolls (and another 11,500 people who are mentally ill). It's an effort that failed because, as, Bryson notes, "the Governor fought this plan with all the tools at his disposal."
I'm republishing the entire email here in the extended-entry portion of this post.
Many people have asked me about the final days of the 2005 legislative session. This e-mail serves as my personal perspective on the events last Thursday, Friday and Saturday. My memories of these days will revolve around two significant events: legislators being arrested and the fight to retain the sick and needy on TennCare.
LEGISLATORS ARRESTEDOn Thursday morning, the FBI arrested 4 state legislators at the Capitol and hauled them off in handcuffs. All four of these legislators plus a former legislator were caught accepting money for sponsoring a bill in the legislature.
We were all stunned, shocked and deeply disappointed in our colleagues. Other than John Ford’s very public shenanigans, we did not know of the other four individuals’ involvement in anything of this type, nor did we suspect an ongoing FBI sting operation. We were as surprised as everyone else.
Between 8:30 and 9:00 I was called into a private office and told about the arrests of Sen. Ward Crutchfield, Sen. Kathryn Bowers and Rep. Chris Newton. At that time, the word was that the FBI was looking for John Ford and that more legislators may be involved. We soon discovered that the FBI had arrested John Ford as well as former Senator Roscoe Dixon and two “bagmen” (intermediaries who deliver the money, sometimes in paper bags).
The media began converging on the Capitol with reporters and television cameras in every hallway. Even perennial whistle-blower Barry Schmittou and perennial candidate John Jay Hooker showed up to pose for the cameras.
About 10:30 the Republican Caucus convened to discuss the situation and for prayer. At 11:00 we watched, along with the rest of the state, the press conference describing the sting operation and arrests.
That afternoon, we reconvened in legislative session. Outside the chamber, the media was swarming. Inside the chamber became a place of relative calm as the Senate resumed its business and we considered the bills before us. The mood was somber and businesslike. The occasional bickering over legislation virtually disappeared as Senators simply focused on the merits of individual bills.
When the Senate adjourned that evening, the media deadlines had passed and few reporters or cameras were in the halls. It was time to return to our offices to prepare for Friday since the budget would be first on the calendar Friday morning.
The events of Thursday will harm the credibility of the legislature for some time to come.
UNINSURABLE DISENROLLED
For the past three months or so, Sen. Diane Black had been leading a Republican Caucus team to investigate options related TennCare. The team met virtually every week and brought in numerous outside experts to share their ideas.
Besides serving on this Republican Caucus TennCare team, I also serve on the TennCare Oversight Committee and the TennCare budget sub-committee of the Senate Commerce Committee. I studied TennCare the entire session. In my opinion, the situation going into the legislative budget process was:
1. According to the TennCare budget office, the Governor’s budget was sufficient to provide more than enough savings to avert another TennCare crisis for two fiscal years (FY06 and FY07), after the next election.
2. The Governor expects a favorable court decision in early June that would eliminate many roadblocks to implementing TennCare reforms. These reforms would result in several hundred million dollars in savings.
3. The Governor was confident enough in attaining relief from the consent decrees that he had budgeted to spend $100 million in savings based on a favorable court decision.
4. Before getting the favorable decision and being able to implement cost-saving reforms, the Governor planned to disenroll 67,000 of the insurable and over 100,000 insured (those who do not have insurance but also do not have an uninsurable condition).
Given this information, Sen. Black and I devised a plan to continue the disenrollment of the uninsured but retain the 67,000 uninsurable on the TennCare rolls for one year at a reduced benefit level. This plan would give the Governor time to implement reforms and eliminate from the rolls anyone who did not qualify. We reasoned that reforms should be given a chance to work before disenrolling the sick from TennCare.
Our plan was based on financial information from the Governor’s own TennCare office and was contingent on the Governor obtaining relief from the courts regarding the Grier Consent Decree. The money was available to help these 67,000 as well as another 11,500 severely mentally ill who would also be disenrolled.
The Governor fought this plan with all the tools at his disposal. His lobbyists spread throughout the capitol to fight the plan. The Governor called us into his office asking us to drop the proposal. The Governor himself appeared at the Republican and Democratic Caucus meetings to fight the plan.
In the end, the Governor won. This summer, 67,000 uninsurable Tennesseans will be disenrolled from TennCare with very few options available to them. Some will be able to afford HIPAA policies with premiums generally over $800/month. These people were paying premiums to TennCare. Most of this population cannot afford such high premiums and will have no healthcare alternative. Virtually all have some type of chronic condition.
Why would the Governor fight a plan to help 67,000 Tennesseans who cannot obtain health insurance when the money was available and the "roadblock" consent decrees were eliminated?
The Governor has positioned the TennCare program to be stable at least through the election.
1. The TennCare budget is funded to avert a crisis for the next two years.
2. The consent decrees will be eliminated or greatly reduced to pave the way for the Governor to implement further cost-saving healthcare management reforms, saving about $300 million.
3. Benefit limits on enrollees will result in additional savings and provide incentive for people to self-disenroll.
4. The TennCare rolls will shrink by at least 200,000 people through disenrollment.
In 2006, watch for TennCare reforms to be implemented and for TennCare to be financially sound. I would also expect that the numbers will be so positive that TennCare will actually re-enroll some of the sickest individuals being disenrolled this year.
This week has not been a good week in our state. Our legislature has become even less credible to the people of Tennessee. Also, we will have at least 200,000 more people without access to insurance in Tennessee raising our uninsured population to almost 1 million people, or one of every 6 Tennesseans. I will begin working on insurance reform for the uninsured when the legislature reconvenes.
These difficulties shall pass and we will have better days. I am resolved today more than ever to legislate by principle not politics, to fight for right and not fold for gold, to stand strong in the face of adversity.
Thank you for your indulgence in reading this e-mail. My next e-mail will be a recap of the Legislative year. There were a lot of good things that I will have to report. Until then, I hope your summer gets off to a wonderful start.
State Rep. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, Tennessee's first blogging legislator, reports from inside a meeting with Gov. Phil Bredesen debunking Bredesen's claim of being a bipartisan leader.
The Republican caucus had a meeting with Governor this morning. He brought up how we need a bipartisan effort, how he works with us to help the state, and how he invites us to attend when grants are given out in our districts. He said we need to work together for our state to fix TennCare, how he has an open door policy and how he returns phone calls so help him out now.
I raised my hand and was recognized to ask the Governor if we were in fact working together to fix TennCare, then why hasn't the most qualified person-a doctor and a legislator, Dr. Hensley--been allowed to serve on the TennCare oversight committee.
Dr. Hensley has a wealth of knowledge and is basically shut out because of partisanship. The Governor more or less mumbled a bit about working in a system. In other words, he was saying "tough."
... We talked about TennCare some more. The Doctor said how nice it was to finally meet the Governor and get to speak to his staff for once.
We went upstairs and voted on the budget. Dr. Hensley's amendment was killed, even though it was improved since my post yesterday and even covered more people for no more money.
We passed the budget as it stood. Even though there was a lot of good in the budget, there was too much waste - and it turned my stomach. I voted against it.
When he was running for governor, Gov. Bredesen marketed himself as an experienced healthcare executive able to fix TennCare. But three years later he hasn't fixed it, and his lack of a plan to fix it means a quarter of a million or more sick, old, disabled and poor Tennesseans may soon be without healthcare.
You would think that, with TennCare reform a pressing issue, Gov. Bredesen would want to consult with a physician legislator like state Rep. Joey Hensley, a doctor from Hohenwald who was elected to the legislature at the same time Bredesen was elected governor. But even though both have worked in the same building for more than two years, the sad truth is that Bredesen has not even bothered to introduce himself to Hensley, much less involve him in the TennCare reform discussions.
Why? Because Hensley is a Republican. And Bredesen is a Democrat.
That's not bipartisan. It's not good leadership, either. But it's the Bredesen way.
UPDATE: Bruce Barry is praising Hensley's effort - to save 67,000 TennCare enrollee's coverage - a proposed budget amendment killed by Bredesen's allies. Barry:
Rep. Joey Hensley's (R-Hohenwald) amendment to the budget bill would have steered that money away from Gov. Bredesen's plans to beef up the state's health care "safety net." Well-intentioned though the safety net plans are, moving the money back into TennCare makes sense because then it would draw $180 million of federal matching funds. Last time I checked, $280 million for health care for otherwise uninsured sick people beats $100 million every time.
But not, apparently, if it stands between the legislature and adjournment.
Barry is right - Hensley's proposal was a good one. In the absense of a true TennCare reform plan - which Bredesenclearlydoesnothave - it was simply wrong morally and fiscally to spend that $100 million on a "safety net" that will provide less healthcare and for fewer people than the TennCare those enrollees will be losing.
Let the record show that it was a Republican doctor that tried to save those people, and a Democratic governor and healthcare multi-millionaire who didn't.
And let the record also show that on the day Bredesen signs the $26 billion budget for fiscal year 2005-06 into law, he will break the biggest promise he made when seeking the governor's office in 2002: He promised to fix TennCare, not to gut it.
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For more scrutiny of the Bredesen record, see Bredesen Watch.
State Rep. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, Tennessee's first blogging legislator, has some thoughts about the notion that a full-time better-paid legislature would be one way to reduce corruption:
"Put your mind at ease. No one here is going to starve by being honest."
Campfield's excellent post details all the various forms of income legislators receive, including a $12,000-per-year office allowance, membership in the state healthcare coverage plan, a 401K plan and the generous $141 per diem pay that many of them abuse - on top of their $16,500 annual base salary that Campfield notes is "for 45 days of actual work."
"Session could in fact be shorter if we worked full time during session," he says. "Instead, most days are half days in order to stretch out the number of days to boost per diem."
On Friday I posted an entry titled "Busting the Cap," about how the Tennessee legislature stands ready to once again exceed the state constitution's cap on the growth of state spending. At this time, it appears they won't do so, though legislation has been filed and has moved through the committee process in both houses of the General Assembly should legislators decide it is necessary to pass the enabling legislation needed to exceed the cap. Such legislation has become routine over the past two decades, as the legislature and governors of both parties have turned a provision meant for fiscal emergencies into a routine method for growing state spending faster than the state's economy is growing. You can read that post here.
Meanwhile, I have written a three-page history of the death of Tennessee's first-in-the-nation constitutional cap on spending, titled Spending Spree: The Bipartisan Assault That is Killing Tennessee's Constitutional Cap on the Growth of the State Budget, which I am making available here in a draft version. If you so desire, please read through the document and offer any questions, challenges, suggestions for improvements, finding of math or other factual errors, etc. If you make changes to the document, please make them in a different typestyle and mark them in bold, and email me your edited version to bill@billhobbs.com.
State Rep. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, Tennessee's first blogging legislator, reports that state Sen. John Ford, indicted Thursday on a variety of serious federal corruption charges, has resigned. Blogging state Sen. Roy Herron, D-Dresden, has some thoughts on his blog about a stunning final week in legislative session. He also discusses that secret meeting of the Senate Finance Committee in which he participated, a meeting that violated Senate rules.
UPDATE: The Tennessean reports that Ford quit the Senate shortly before being tossed out:
Ford's resignation comes just as the Senate's Ethics Committee was preparing a six-count complaint against the Memphis senator that almost certainly would have lead to his impeachment.
"We would have had the votes to oust Sen. Ford from office," Senate Majority Leader Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, said. Ramsey also said the ethics committee, which he chairs, came to this decision after months of research and hundreds of interviews.
I'm glad Ford resigned... but it would have been nice to watch him fume and splutter while the Senate voted to kick him out.
State Sen. John Wilder thinks its not bad to take a bribe if the bribe is being offered by someone for the purpose of testing whether or not you are corrupt. That and more legislators' reaction to the arrest of four of their colleagues for taking bribes here.
Sen. Wilder, I suspect most Tennesseans don't agree with you. I suspect most Tennesseans understand that if Sen. John Ford, Sen. Ward Crutchfield, Sen. Kathryn Bowers and Rep. Chris Newton would take bribes from undercover agents in exchange for pushing a specific piece of legislation, they would take them from people who were not undercover agents in exchange for pushing a specific piece of legislation.
Just because it's captured on video by the FBI doesn't make it not a bribe and a crime to accept it. You can read the indictments of the four legislators, along with ex-state Sen. Roscoe Dixon, Chattanooga school board member and lobbyist Charles Love and Memphis political operative Barry Myers here.
For more on Wilder's inane statement quoted in today's Tennessean, see Matt White, who absolutely shreds it and questions whether Wilder ought to still be leading the state Senate. White to Wilder: "If you gave a damn about the Senate you'd fix the problems instead of circling the wagons, acting like you're some kind of victim."
And Rob Huddleston says Wilder's statement "shows he is lacking moral fiber."
They're both right.
Meanwhile, the state Attorney General's office yesterday released part of its 300-page investigation into Ford on a different ethical matter: Ford's lucrative financial ties to companies that do business with the state of Tennessee. It paints a rather ugly picture of Ford's ethics.
Sen Ford, you should resign. And if you don't, the Senate Ethics Committee should recommend you be ousted from the Senate, and the full Senate should concur. But with Wilder playing the victim card and indicted former state Sen. Roscoe Dixon playing the race card, I have my doubts that will happen.
But being caught on tape taking bribes and threatening to kill people might, finally, be enough to get Ford. If so, that will be a great day for the Senate, the legislature and the people of Tennessee.
Sorry for the lack of blogging today, the day after the arrest of four Tennessee state legislators on federal corruption charges. There's plenty of news coverage and probably lots of bloggage about it, but I haven't had the time to cover it here. So look on my blogroll for the Nashville and Tennessee blogs and click those - most if not all will have at least something on the Tennessee Waltz scandal. Matt White has a very valuable and perceptive post, as does Rob Huddleston and I suspect most of the rest do as well.
By the way, yesterday I predicted newly indicted state Sen. John Ford would blame the investigation on racism within 30 days. Well, Ford's fellow alleged corrupt politician and co-indictee former state Sen. Roscoe P. Coltrane Dixon, D-Memphis, got there first, despite the fact that two of the lawmakers indicted are, uh, white, and half the team of U.S. attorneys involved in the probe were, uh, black.
As for ongoing media coverage of the scandal, I have a list on my left sidebar of Nashville print and broadcast media websites. They'll be on the story like mud on a pig.
But I can't today because... to be blunt, I've had a crappy day.
My wife had to go to the doctor early this morning (still dark) for chest pain - the ekg was normal - and then two previously scheduled doctor's appointments during the day. And I've experienced something new last night and again this afternoon: a short but intense period of vertigo. Room spinning thataway, floor spinning the other way and doing the shimmy shimmy shake like a circus performer's spinning plate, me feeling like I'm tipping over to the left right.
I'm headed to the doctor shortly. Maybe I'll do like Glenn Reynolds and take my laptop and digital camera and blog the experience. Hey, if they do a brain scan and I can get a digital image from it, I might post it. Brain blogging. Could be a new fad.
Tennessee's first blogging state legislator, Rep. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, has a very good post about the TennCare fiscal crisis and Gov. Phil Bredesens's plans to fix things.
Governor Bredesen is a successful businessman with much touted experience in healthcare and HMOs. But it must be noted, that he made money in healthcare by removing high-risk people from their health plans. He has brought this same management style and strategy to TennCare.
The Tennessee legislature is prepared to exceeed the state constitution's cap on the annual growth rate of state spending for the 13th time in 21 years - if Gov. Phil Bredesen requests it. But so far it appears the Bredesen administration will not ask the legislature to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in excess of that spending cap like the administration did last year.
The state constitution limits the year-over-year growth of state spending to the rate of economic growth in the state, and has done so since voters approved an amendment in 1978 authored by then-state Rep. David Copeland. But the Copeland Cap, as it is called, has a giant loophole: The legislature can simply pass a law designating the dollar amount and percentage by which they can exceed the cap, rendering the cap toothless. And they don't need a two-thirds majority to exceed the cap - a simple majority, the same number of votes needed to pass the budget, will do.
Since 1985, governors of both parties - Republican Lamar Alexander, Democrat Ned McWherter, Republican Don Sundquist and Democrat Phil Bredesen - have worked hand in hand with the Democratic-led legislature to exceed the growth cap 13 times in 20 years, by a cumulative $3.275 billion. Last year, Bredesen and the legislature agreed to spend $275 million in excess of the cap. The year before,
Now, legislation is ready in the state House and state Senate to allow them to do so again. HB2329 and SB 2313, are written to allow the state to exceed the cap by $100,000, or 0.0001 percent over the cap allowed by the state's economic growth rate. That's clearly just a placeholder, to be amended at the last minute if the final budget deal requires it.
Will it be necessary? Perhaps not this year, reports state Rep. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, who told me in an email: "It looks right now like we won't have to break the Copeland amendment, but we still haven't been given a final draft on the Budget amendment."
That's potentially good news.
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For more scrutiny of the Bredesen record, see Bredesen Watch.
NASHVILLE, 9 a.m. today - At least two and possibly three members of the Tennessee legislature were arrested and hauled out of Legislative Plaza in handcuffs this morning and my sources indicate it may be based on allegations that they accepted money to sponsor legislation. I've heard three names, including one Republican state rep and two Democratic state senators, but I haven't verified who was arrested yet and am not going to name them until I do.
Rep. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, has a brief news item on his blog.
UPDATE 9:30 a.m.: The Nashville City Paper has just posted a report with the same names I had: State Sen. Ward Crutchfield, D-Chattanooga, and state Rep. Chris Newton, R-Cleveland. The City Paper says the two were arrested by the FBI near the state Capitol this morning and led away in handcuffs.
The City Paper says more arrests are expected.
UPDATE 9:44 a.m. : FOUR legislators have been arrested. WKRN blogger Brittney Gilbert reports that the FBI also nabbed state Sen. John Ford, D-Memphis, and state Sen. Kathryn Bowers, D-Memphis.
The Tennessean website has nothing yet.
UPDATE: The Tennessean posted a very brief story at 9:48 a.m. Just the the names of the four lawmakers arrested. This story will no doubt be updated throughout the day.
IDLE thought: This isn't good news for Harold Ford. Jr.
UPDATE: 10:10 a.m.: The state House was called into session at 9 a.m.. House sessions are usually streamed live online. But right now the video streaming isn't working. (UPDATE: House session was postoned to 4 p.m. today, which explains the lack of a video stream.)
There will be a news conference at 11 a.m. at the U.S. attorney’s office in Memphis at which, presumably, the charges against the legislators will be detailed.
UPDATE: 10:34 a.m.: Local radio talk host Phil Valentine, who regulary covers news from the legislature and will no doubt be discussing this story, can be heard online here. He's on from 9-1 weekdays.
He is currently speaking with fellow NewsTalk99 host Steve Gill, who reports that his sources told him the public corruption case, centered in Memphis, involves alleged violations of the federal Hobbs Act and other names potentially involved could involve former state. Sen Roscoe Dixon, D-Memphis, Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton, and others. (Later UPDATE: Herenton is not among those arrested or implicated, judging from news accounts of the Memphis press conference referenced below. Also, it has been clarified elsehwere that Dixon actually works in the office of Shelby County Mayor AC Wharton, so there's no reason to think this scandal involves Herenton at all.)
UPDATE: 10:35 a.m: The Tennessean has just posted a longer story.
After Bowers' arrest, TBI agents took her to Vanderbilt University Medical Center's emergency room.
Authorities scheduled a news conference at 11 a.m. in Memphis.
FBI agents had interviewed Newton and Bowers earlier this month about a bill sponsored by all four lawmakers, among others, Newton said Monday.
The bill would have allowed electronic recycling companies to contract with the state to dispose of surplus state computer equipment not claimed by school districts. Newton said it was pushed by E-Cycle Management Inc., an Atlanta-area company, and Charles Love, a Hamilton County school board member and lobbyist.
Newton said the bill was clean and had satisfactorily answered several questions raised earlier by the state comptroller's office. But Newton said he forced the bill to stall in a committee earlier this year, after Ford became embroiled in several ethics controversies over his dealings with state contractors.
"I don't want to be in the middle of something that even has an appearance of impropriety," Newton said.
Newton said he had not had any conversations with Ford about the bill, which he planned to withdraw Wednesday because Love had not registered with the state as a lobbyist.
Newton said FBI agents also had interviewed Sen. Jeff Miller, R-Cleveland; Rep. Ulysses Jones, D-Memphis, and Rep. Larry Miller, D-Memphis, all of whom co-sponsored the bill.
The legislative session has been dominated by ethics discussions sparked by Ford's business dealings, including his consulting contracts with companies linked to TennCare contracts. Ford sits on three legislative committees that oversee TennCare.
The irony abounds...
By the way, the Hobbs Act - no relation to this blogger - is a federal law that prohibits "extortion by the wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear."
UPDATE: 10:46 a.m.: Adam Groves updates that "Those arrested cosponsored HB0037, which would have allowed surplus computer supplies to out of state contractors. The bill, according to the Tennessean was pushed by Charles Love, a member of the Hamilton Co (Chattanooga) School Board, but was not a registered lobbyists. According to some TV station reports, Love was also arrested along with former legislator Roscoe Dixon, who recently resigned to fill an opening on Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton's staff."
Interestingly, Newton withdrew HB 0037 yesterday even though it and its Senate companion bill, SB 0094, were both on the verge of passing. You can learn more about both bills here by using the search functions to find HB 0037 or SB 0094.
UPDATE: 10:45 a.m.: NashvillePost.com (subscription only) reports: Sources tell NashvillePost.com that FBI agents on the Hill say they are definitely not finished and that up to 11 lawmakers may eventually be arrested. Sources are telling NashvillePost.com that the development is likely connected to a piece of legislation Newton withdrew from consideration on Capitol Hill yesterday, and a potential contract related to its contents. The bill as proposed would have allowed the state to sell surplus electronic equipment to companies without competitive bidding. It would also create an alternative method for the disposal of surplus electronic equipment to divert it from landfills.The legislation was sponsored in the Senate by Ford, Bowers and Crutchfield, among others.
NashvillePost.com notes a recent Chattanooga Times Free Press article that cited an internal memo from the office of the Tennessee Comptroller revealing that state officials were concerned about the bill. The Free Press said FBI agents had interviewed both Newton and Bowers last week in connection with several bills sponsored by Ford, including the bill regarding non-compete bids for used equipment.
UPDATE: 11:04 a.m.: The press conference is underway. I'm listening. The arrests are the result of a two-year investigation by the FBI, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney General's Office, and charges include extortion and bribery.
A Question: Can these legislators continue to serve and vote on legislation while under federal indictment?
UPDATE 12:37 p.m.: The news conference has concluded. Former state Sen. Roscoe Dixon also was arrested, along with two other people - Barry Myers, from Memphis; and Charles Love, from Chattanooga. Love is connected to the the Hamilton County School Board in some way. I have no further info on Myers.
The indictment accuses Sen. Ford of threatening to kill a witness to the alleged crimes.
Memphis blogger Mike Hollihan has much, much, much more here. Hollihan: "Ford threatened, according to the indictment, to shoot and kill anyone who squealed!! Now, NOW, will someone take this guy's raving lunacy seriously, instead of treating it indulgently?"
Probably not. I'd wager that, within 30 days, Ford claims publically that racism is behind the probe.
UPDATE 1:30 p.m.: Yes, I'm having fun and enjoying today's news immensely.
A few odds and ends: The sting operation was named "Operation Tennessee Waltz." ... Rep. Bowers is chairman of the Memphis Democratic Party. ... Newton, widely regarded as a "RINO" (Republican-In-Name-Only" because he tends to act as Democratic House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh's lapdog, may find few friends on the GOP side of the aisle as the prosecution grinds forward. ... All four indicted lawmakers can continue to serve in the legislature unless and until they are convicted of a felony. However, they forfeit committee chairmanships or other leadership positions while under indictment.
UPDATE 2:00 p.m.: Two years ago, as I wrote in a column versions of which were published in The Tennessean (here thanks to the Google cache)and the Memphis Commercial Appeal (not online), the Better Government Association ranked Tennessee's legislature 44th out of 50 states on the integrity scale, based on its analysis of the freedom of information laws, whistleblower protection laws, campaign finance laws, conflicts-of-interest laws and laws governing legislators accepting gifts, trips and honoraria in all 50 states. (You can see the BGA's Integrity Index here in a big PDF file.)
And four years ago, the Center for Public Integrity found that a third of Tennessee lawmakers sat on legislative committees that regulated their own professions or businesses, a third received income from a government agency other than the legislature (even though the legislature often subsidizes those institutions), and 15% of lawmakers had financial ties to businesses or groups that lobby state government. (The Center for Public Integrity issued a new version of that report in September 2004, which you can read here.
Of 126 state legislators in office in 2001 and disclosing their interests in 2002, in Tennessee, according to the CPI, 23.8 percent sat on a legislative committee with authority over a professional or business interest; 8.7 percent had financial ties to businesses or organizations that lobby state government; and 19 percent received income from a government agency other than the state legislature.
Newton is a good example. While he makes his living in the railcar industry, he sits on the House Transportation Committee.
The Center also annually publishes a database of state lawmakers' financial disclosures from the 47 states that require them. You can see Tennessee's here, but they tell you next to nothing.)
Only some of those problems were addressed by recent ethics legislation passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Phil Bredesen (The governor provided zero leadership on the issue while ethics legislation was being debated).
And now we've come to this: indictments alleging corruption involving legislators from both sides of the aisle in a cash-for-legislation scandal and even allegations that one powerful senator threatened to kill a witness.
UPDATE 2:28 p.m.: Blogmentary: Doug Petch: "Corruption obviously honors no party line." ... Rex Hammock wonders how many indicted legislators makes a quorum. ... Rob Huddleston wonders what this means for Harold Ford Jr. ... Sharon Cobb writes: "One of the people arrested is Senator John Ford, the uncle of Harold Ford, who announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate less than 24 hours ago. This is a nightmare for Harold and for Democrats in general."
Idle Thought: Now would be a very good time for more legislators to have blogs at VolPols.com...
UPDATE: 2:58 p.m. Official Statements:
State Rep. Stacey Campfield, writing on his blog, says, "I still think this is just the tip of the iceberg. More names are still supposedly to come down and I don't think that they went after all the people that would have probably taken the money. Rumors are rampant as to who will be the next to go. I personally am glad to see this happen lets get them all, sweep them all out, its time to clean house."
State Sen. Roy Herron, D-Dresden, has a blog but he has nothing to say about the scandal.
Gov. Phil Bredesen - who, as I've already mentioned, provided no leadership during the legislative session on the hot issue of legislative ethics - gave a statement, which you read or listen to here. Bredesen: "I was proud to sign bipartisan ethics legislation last month, and we agreed this morning that we will set up a process to see whether further or different legislation could have prevented today. If so we are committed to constructing and passing such legislation."
Better late than never, Gov. Bredesen.
UPDATE: 3:06 p.m.: The TeamGOP.org blog has a report from a correspondent inside the Nashville federal courtroom where Bowers, Cruthfield and Newton were arraigned before being released without bond.
On fast-breaking news days like today, a walk past the nearest newspaper boxes highlights just how completely obsolete the printed newspaper is as an information delivery technology.
Consider the front pages of Nashville's two dailies today - stories that were written yesterday and won't change until tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile, blogs, news websites and broadcast media provided updates in real-time. Prediction: There will be little new information in tomorrow's dailies that you couldn't already have read today online.
Responding to Governor Phil Bredesen's statement that the arrests can't help but "shake the confidence" of all Tennesseans, Blake writes - "I, myself, don't believe it is shaking the 'confidence of the people of Tennessee.' I actually think that many people are glad to see it. It's a sort of "house cleaning" to get rid of some corruption that, for years, everyone in the state has known to exist in the state legislature. They are glad to see that something (more than a slap on the wrist) has finally been done to put those that corrupt the system where they belong."
Agreed. Today is a great day for all Tennesseans - liberal, moderate or conservative, Republican or Democrat - who believe honesty trumps ideology every time.
I'd rather have a legislature full of honest Democrats than corrupt Republicans.
UPDATE 7:48 p.m.: Memphis blogger Mike Hollihan writes, "What an incredible day. I get the sense that Tennessee's political landscape is about to go through broad, fundamental changes."
Hollihan also blogs the local TV Memphis news coverage, including a report that Ford is being held overnight and was seen in the courtroom in shackles.
And although the epicenter of the Tennessee Waltz scandal is smack dab in the middle of Memphis and the Memphis Democratic political machine, Hollihan noted at 5:30 p.m. that, oddly, the big local liberal blogs had nothing to say about it today:
I just checked two of the Memphis area's biggest liberal Democrat (uhh... progressive? uhhh...) websites - blogs that post multiple times every day - and neither one has a single word. Not Lean Left. Not Dark Bilious Vapors.
Not. One. Word.
I report, you conclude.
Lean Left finally posted something late in the day saying the scandal is not good for Harold Ford Jr.
Adam Groves reveals that Tennessee's political blogs have been hit with a wave of "astroturf" comments supporting U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr.'s campaign for a seat in the U.S. Senate. The comments all follow the same talking points but are postedunder different names to give the (false) impression that they are being posted by a large number of Ford supporters. Called astroturf because they are an attempt to falsely protray a grassroots swell of support for Ford, they showed up yesterday on blogs by Groves, myself and Rob Huddleston as well as the Blogging For Bryant blog.
Such "astroturf" comments are on the same level as spam and should be treated as such. I'll be deleting all but one of those that appeared here.
news, the mayor has proposed the second-largest tax increase in city history, in a package that includes the possibility of tax relief for the city's senior citizens - if voters approve a half-cent increase in the city's sales tax. Some are questioning whether the age-based tax relief is legal. I think it probably is - but there is a larger question:
Is it fair?
In his "State of Metro" speech, Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell said, "The city "can and should, and must lift the fear of taxes from senior citizens. It is in our power to ensure they will never pay more than 5% of their income in local taxes."
But why should the city "lift the fear" of taxes only from one group of people based on age, rather than income? And why should only people over age 65 be assured their local tax bite will never top five percent of their income? Why is it fair for people under 65 to pay a larger share of their income in local taxes than people 65 and older?
The wealthiest age group in America is people over 65. And while there are certainly poor senior citizens and lower middle-class senior citizens , there are also many senior citizens who own palatial homes in the city's Belle Meade section, one of the wealthiest zip codes in the nation. And many more populate Green Hills, another wealthy area of Nashville where simple 3-bed, 3-bath 2,500-square foot ranch homes like the one pictured (click to enlarge) go for $495,000.
A similar-sized home in the suburb of Franklin goes for about $250,000 - which perhaps explains why, as Nashville raises property taxes and fails to deliver significant improvements in schools, crime, traffic or city services, an increasing number of middle-class Nashvillians are moving to the suburbs.
As noted by Tennessee Tax Revolt recently, Davidson County (Nashville) was one of only eight counties in the entire state that had net out-migration of people from 1995 through 2000, losing 16,382 residents (out of a city of about 500,000), while the six adjacent suburbs all grew in population, gaining a total of 60,634.
More recently, Nashville's population grew four tenths of one percent between April 1, 2000 and July 1, 2004 - while the average growth in the six suburban counties over the same period was 10.8 percent.
TTR also notes a recent study by economists at Middle Tennessee State University that shows that the value of new homes being built is declining while it is rising in the suburbs.
What's happening? Simple: Nashville is increasingly pricing itself out of the middle-class market. Middle class people can find cheaper real estate - and better schools - in suburbs like Williamson and Ruterford counties. Increasingly, Nashville is becoming a city of lower-income people and a few enclaves of the very wealthy.
You can't finance a city long-term with demographics like that, but increasing the property tax - already the highest in Middle Tennessee - is only going to accelerate that trend.
I understand the mayor's desire to help poor senior citizens on fixed income withstand the relentless rise in property values by shielding them from higher property taxes. But I fail to see the fairness - or the fiscal wisdom - in a program that ties tax relief to age rather than income, and only increases the incentive for middle class people of all ages to sell and move to the suburbs.
As promised, Here's another a shot of that old abandoned barn on Holly Tree Gap Road about half a mile west of Franklin Road in Williamson County, Tennessee. More later, if I have time to post them. This may be the only blogging I do today.
UPDATE: Mark Rose is doing a little barn-blogging as well, and he's found a rather nice one "on the east side of Houston County, Tennessee, between Erin and Vanleer."
Belly-up to the trough boys! We've got a windfall of cash and only a little time to spend it!
This may be the feeling of many legislators who specialize in bringing home the pork, but a few of us remember that the pig belongs to the people in the first place. I believe we should give it back!
Of course, that's not going to happen. And Campfield notes that if the legislature doesn't designate where the money goes, it will still be spent:
If the money is not designated immediately then it will go Governor Bredesen's slush fund to be doled out(out of session) as he sees fit with no questions asked. Republicans had a bill to stop this practice, but guess what? It was killed in committee.
What Campfield is talking about is the constitutionally questionable practice of the spending of "unexpected revenues" by the administration without going through the legislative budgeting process. It was a huge problem during the eight years of fiscal recklessness perpetrated by Gov. Don Sundquist, and Gov. Phil Bredesen has continued the process. In fiscal year 2003-04, Bredesen spent $400 million more than the legislature budgeted, via a process that appears to be at odds with the state constitution, which says "No public money shall be expended except pursuant to appropriations made by law."
As I have explained before, the Tennessee Constitution lays out how laws are made in this state. They are passed by a majority of both houses and signed by the governor.
But here's how the "unexpected" revenue gets spent in between legislative sessions: The unelected Finance Commissioner merely notifies the chairman of the House and Senate finance committees. The finance committees do not vote on the extra spending. The full legislature does not vote on the extra spending. The chairman of the finance committees do not have the power to approve or reject the extra spending. They are simply notified that another $400 million is going to be spent.
That's not difficult to understand. Unless you're a pig racing to the trough. Or, apparently, the governor of Tennessee.
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For more scrutiny of the Bredesen record, see Bredesen Watch.
A lot of great stuff over at Lance Frizzell's blog, Lance in Iraq. Just click and scroll. If you're looking for another good military blog from Iraq, check out Major K's blog. Check out the May 22 post titled "This We'll Defend" to learn the connection between Harry Connick Jr. and a year in the sandbox. I found it via Randy Elrod's blog Ethos.
The Tennessean has a report on the two secret closed-to-the-public meetings held by the state Senate Finance Committee, in violation of their own rules, in order to make decisions about various budget matters. State Sen. Roy Herron, one of the senators who attended those secret meetings, is coming in for some well-deserved abuse in an editorial in today's Tennessean about the secret meetings:
Herron described the meeting as a get-together among "friends." Yeah, right. "Friends" who were deciding which budget amendments would be brought to the Senate floor. "Friends" who were determining how $25 billion in tax dollars will be spent next year. "Friends" who denied their discussions and decisions to fellow senators and to fellow Tennessee taxpayers.
If a similar meeting had been held by a committee of the Metro Council, the Williamson County Board of Education or the state Board of Regents, it would be a violation of the state's open meetings law. It could be challenged in court and rendered null and void.
But the Senate budget meeting, while arrogant and irresponsible, wasn't illegal — and that's the most pitiful aspect of this particular mess. The Tennessee General Assembly has exempted itself from the open meetings and open records laws. Bills that would make the legislature accountable to the public were introduced this year, but were quickly shuffled off to oblivion. The closed-door meetings might not violate the law, but they certainly violate the trust that Tennessee taxpayers need in their government.
Herron is the only member of the state senate to have a weblog. But he hasn't said a word about the meetings, or the ensuing controversy, on his blog. Which is rather cowardly.
Tennessee state Sen. Raymond Finney, R-Maryville, writing in a newsletter to his constituents, notes that state government's budget under Gov. Phil Bredesen is growing by about $2 billion per year. Bredesen's predecessor, Gov. Don Sundquist, presided over annual spending increases of about $1 billion per year, eventually pushing the state into a fiscal crisis as his rapid spending build-up outstripped the growth of the state's economy and the ability of taxpayers to fund the spending without a tax increase.
Finney writes:
272-MILLION DOLLARS: The state collected 272-million dollars ($272,000,000) more last year in tax revenues than expected. Will you receive a refund check or reduced taxes? No. Governor Bredesen and legislative leaders already have decided how to spend this revenue bonanza. Plans announced this week would earmark two-thirds of this windfall for TennCare (approximately 180-million dollars) and the rest for a laundry list of items, including $4 million for the General Assembly to help replace the electronic vote-tallying boards in the Senate and House chambers and to replace the telephone system; a $50,000 grant to Tennessee History for Kids, a Web-based curriculum to teach Tennessee history to schoolchildren; $600,000 to study where to build a new Tennessee State Museum; and a permanent two percent (2%) raise for state workers. Next year, there will be a strong push in the General Assembly to enact TABOR – the Taxpayers Bill of Rights. TABOR, if adopted as a constitutional amendment, would return excess tax money to taxpayers by a cap on government spending, based on the previous year's budget (with increases for inflation and population growth). When there is a tax surplus, taxpayers would get it back in the form of individual checks or a reduction in the state sales tax the next year. TABOR at this point is not popular with many Democrats and some Republicans.
Actually, the Senate sponsor of the proposed amendment, state Sen. Jim Bryson, R-Franklin, says his amendment, which he will reintroduce next session, will limit the growth of spending to the growth of per capita income in the state. Surplus revenue (revenue in excess of that allowed to be spent under the growth cap) would be saved in the state's rainy day fund until that fund reaches 7 percent of the state budget, after which the excess revenue would be returned to taxpayers presumably through a sales tax rate cut or a direct rebate.
Bryson's proposal makes a lot of sense, both fiscally and from a marketing standpoint. The fact is, if state spending grows faster than per capita income, a tax increase is inevitable. A
Former state Sen. John Ford, D-Memphis, 
Dr. Hensley has a wealth of knowledge and is basically shut out because of partisanship. The Governor more or less mumbled a bit about working in a system. In other words, he was saying "tough."
