"It's time to give Tennessee taxpayers a break," said Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada (R-Franklin). "We have taken too much money, more than we need, from the taxpayers of Tennessee, and it is time to give it back."
Governor Bredesen's recommended budget for next year grows the state budget by $1.5 billion over this year. It funds a massive expansion of state government while raising millions in new taxes on everything from cigarettes to propane without rolling back any existing taxes. It spends over $50,000 per minute, more than the average hard-working Tennessee family earns in a year, Casada notes.
"If the governor has his way, by the Fourth of July Tennesseans will be paying new taxes for their family cookouts," Casada said.
"State government must live within our means just like every citizen does. The governor's proposal grows the budget at an unsustainable rate. If we don't live within our means, the budget will drive us to new tax increases in the future. We don't have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem," Casada said.
Tennessee has the highest food sales tax in the nation. The House of Representatives is considering the governor's tax and budget proposals this week.Bredesen didn't "feel the need" to cut taxes for ordinary Tennesseans. Perhaps Bredesen is just out-of-touch with average Tennesseans who don't live near him in Belle Meade. He needs to get out more often.
Plus, coming up later this morning: a gratuitous slap at Ron Paul, a few posts about Mike Huckabee, a look at the Second Coming of the Reagan Revolution, a discussion of free trade versus fair trade, and the launch of the John McCain "Dead Pool."
The rest of the paper's story reads like an administration press release with not one word of criticism from a single critic finding its way into the story, even though the package is being derided as "corporate welfare" by well-known Tennessee low-tax advocate Ben Cunningham:
Additionally, state Rep. Glen Casada responded with details on his and House Minority Leader Jason Mumpower's proposed no tax/no pork budget.
I'm pretty sure there are other Republicans in the legislature will not vote for a tax increase, but so far they haven't stood up to say so.
Responses from all legislators making the pledge will be added to the list at the end of this post.
State Sen. Jim Kyle, who carries the Bredesen administration's legislative agenda in the state Senate, is pushing Senate Bill 2336, which would do away with the "performance-based budgeting" safeguards put into the state budget process just five years ago at the end of the political battle over the proposed state income tax.
Apparently, Sen. Kyle and the Bredesen administration want to make it more difficult for taxpayers to see how much they are paying for state government, and what the money is being spent on. A.C. Kleinheider has the details, the video, and the links to the legislation.
Among the budget procedures Kyle, Odom and the Bredesen administration want to eliminate is the requirement that a separate section of the budget set forth the anticipated revenues of state government from taxes levied by the state and the requirement that the budget present in this separate section all proposed expenditures of state-levied taxes.
That's just one of numerous retrograde provisions in what is a really bad piece of legislation. The legislation's summary lists a host of important budget safeguards that would be obliterated if Kyle's legislation passes intact, including...
Exclude the state's University of Tennessee system and other public university, colleges and community colleges, from the Tennessee Governmental Accountability Act, even though they receive and spend hundreds of millions of your tax dollars.
Although it is obvious the bill is an administration bill, given that Kyle and Odom are carrying the legislation, I have emailed Bredesen's press secretary to confirm that SB 2336 is an administration bill and has the support of the Bredesen administration.
Update: House Republican Caucus press secretary Kara Watkins emails: "I just saw your post--and I just thought I would let you know that Senate Bill 2336/HB 2358 IS an Administration bill. It's been on the move, with relatively no barriers, until Norris managed to slow it down a bit. But I just thought I would let you know that it's an Administration bill."
It was obvious that it is.
The question now is, Why does the Bredesen administration want to strip performance-based budgeting out of state law and gut the Tennessee Governmental Accountability Act?
Up in Smoke
Despite Tennessee's $1.3 billion surplus, Gov. Phil Bredesen wants to raise taxes on not just cigarettes but also on the propane used in barbecue grills, reports The Tennessean at the start of the summer outdoor grilling season. The Knoxville News Sentinel had the story yesterday, and the excerpt provided by Ben Cunningham gives more details about the legislation. While The Tennessean story looks only at the tax increase the Bredesen administration is seeking on propane for barbecue grills, the News Sentinel looks at another tax increase sought by Gov. Bredesen, one that will cost Tennessee businesses millions of dollars.
The Knoxville paper informs readers that both tax increases are included in House Bill 2296, which it describes as placeholder "caption bill" on taxes awaiting the Bredesen administration's 150-page amendment - an amendment which "is not yet available on the Legislature's Web site."
There's no telling how many tax increases are stuffed into the 150-page revenue amendment because the Bredesen administration hasn't released it to the public - and won't until the last possible minute. Many legislators will vote on the amendment without fully understanding what they are voting on. Indeed, the Bredesen administration last year showed a willingness to deliberately mislead legislators about what they were voting on, when it mislead them about the true cost of a "technical change" to the tax code that ended up in the state giving $64 million of your tax dollars to Nissan to relocate its American headquarters from California to Tennessee.
The Bredesen administration will delay releasing the tax-raising amendment as long as possible, to keep legislators and the public in the dark as much as possible. Legislators should respond by slow-walking the legislative process and poring over the document with a fine-tooth comb, looking for more hidden tax increases and corporate welfare.
You can follow the progress of the Bredesen administration's 150 pages of changes to the tax code here.
Update: Tom Humphrey at the Knoxville News Sentinel reports today that the 150-page revenue bill includes a myriad of new tax breaks for business.
A new package of business tax credits and incentives proposed by Gov. Phil Bredesen's administration is designed to keep in-state companies from leaving while luring more out-of-state corporations to move their headquarters and high-tech operations to Tennessee, says Revenue Commissioner Regan Farr.
The proposals are part of a 150-page bill that makes an array of changes in Tennessee's tax code that was prepared by the state Department of Revenue. It will be filed this week in the House and Senate Finance Committees, Farr said in an interview.
Humphrey reports that the legislation will not be made available to the public until after being presented in the House and Senate finance committees. In other words, the Bredesen administration is trying to get it passed through the finance committees before the public has a real chance to examine the legislation.
Update: Ben Cunningham comments: "[Bredesen] doesn't want to give taxpayers a break on their groceries but he sure wants to tax your propane grill gas and hand out tax funded welfare to corporations."
Now, I'm not against tax breaks for business per se. I'm not against lowering taxes for any taxpayer - individual or business - although I would prefer across-the-board cuts and a loophole-free tax code.
But for the last three months the Bredesen administration has told the people of Tennessee that, despite a $1.3 billion revenue surplus, it just can't figure out how to "pay for" reducing the food tax by even half a cent, which would cost the state a mere $39 million. And yet, while they've been working hard in public to defeat food tax reduction proposals, they've been working harder in secret, private meetings with the business community on a package of big tax breaks for business.
Tennessee has a $1.3 billion revenue surplus, and yet Gov. Bredesen won't even consider cutting the sales tax on your hamburgers. In fact, he wants you to pay higher taxes just to grill those burgers - while he doles out big tax breaks to business.
May 28, 2007
Turtles and Terrorists
Associated Press: Border Fence Could Imperil Wildlife, Environmentalists Say. Environmentalists want open border so turtles and other critters can thrive. Sane people want closed border to keep out terrorists. An environmentalism that trumps national security is not a sane environmentalism.
May 27, 2007
Fighting Back
I have written a few times in the past about Mine Your Own Business, an excellent documentary exposing the dark side of the environmental movement. Now comes word that the mining industry, the target of the unfair attacks exposed in MYOB, is fighting back...
Mining Environmental Management magazine reports:
The backlash against NGOs and the environmentalist movement has notched up a gear. The release of the ‘Mine Your Own Business’, a pro-mining piece of propaganda or a rebuttal of anti-mining claims and inaccuracies, depending on your view point, and the subsequent furore has galvanised both sides of the debate.
Calls are now being made from within the industry for miners to ‘step up to the plate’ and to fight back publically. The good work done by NGOs and the environmental lobby has been commended, but some miners are saying that the industry is shying away from speaking out against detractors because it is deemed to be unprofessional on their part.
It is argued that the NGOs and environmentalists criticise the industry for its lack of transparency and yet these same organisations seem to lack transparency themselves.
Speaking at this year’s Prospectors and Developers Association in Toronto, Phelim McAleer (the director of ‘Mine Your Own Business’) said these organisations have a set of political beliefs, and should be treated with the same scepticism as other organisations or businesses are treated or expect to be treated.
Delegates at the conference said NGOs such as Greenpeace are now big businesses themselves, with directors on salaries of several hundred thousand dollars a year. The question to them should not just be where do they get their money, and who backs them, but how is their money spent and who gives them the moral or elected authority to do what they do. After all, these are the same questions they pose to the mining industry.
Fighting back against the misleading campaigns, outright lies, and anti-human-progress agenda of the environmental NGOs is the responsible thing to do.
Update: MYOB will be screened at the Heritage Foundation in Washington DC on Wednesday night.
Exit Full
Leaving Merridee's.
Reviving the Discussion
David Oatney notes that Gov. Phil Bredesen, who earlier this year threatened to "revive discussion" of a state income tax if his plan to increase education funding via a 40-cent hike in the cigarette tax wasn't passed, has trotted out University of Tennessee economist Dr. Bill Fox, one of the main cheerleaders for a state income tax, to testify before the legislature in support of Bredesen's plan. It's just Bredesen's way of underscoring his threat to revive discussion of a state income tax if the legislature doesn't go alone with his cigarette tax increase.
Shadows
Not exactly a comforting sight on your first deep-sea dive. I only managed the one shot before he glided off into the darkness.
May 25, 2007
Blackburn Endorses Thompson
U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, has endorsed Fred Thompson for president, dropping her previous endorsement of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. The official unofficial Draft Fred Thompson 2008 Committee made the announcement...
In another sign of growing Thompson momentum, Congressman Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee has announced her endorsement of Senator Thompson. In a statement released earlier today Blackburn endorsed Senator Fred Thompson saying in part, "Our nation faces challenging times that require vision and leadership. I know Fred Thompson is the right leader for these times."
"Congressman Blackburn is highly respected in Washington , as well as, Tennessee where she is known as someone who stands squarely on core conservative principles," said draft committee co-chair, Congressman John J. Duncan, Jr. "I know Senator Thompson will be well served by her endorsement."
That happened earlier than I thought it would.
Oh, by the way, the latest poll in Florida has Thompson in a strong second place behind Rudy Giuliani, while Romney and McCain trail.
Porky Pigs
Perusing the list of pork projects for which most members of Tennessee's state House are seeking funding I noticed something: A few legislators couldn't keep their requests within the $100,000 allotted to each member under House Finance committee chairman Craig Fitzhugh's "community enhancement grants" project.
Although the memo from Fitzhugh's office to House members regarding making requests for community enhancement grants explicitly stated that "No list should include grants totaling more than $100,000," six Democrats and one Republican couldn't help themselves and requested more.
The king of the porkers: state Rep. Les Winningham, D-Huntsville, who filed a request for "community enhancement grants" totaling $570,000.
Also on the Porky Pig List:
State Rep. Dennis Ferguson, D-Midtown. The House Majority Floor Leader's requests totaled $172,000.
State Rep. Mike Kernell, D-Memphis. The chairman of the Government Operations Committee requested $106,500.
State Rep. Mary Pruitt, D-Nashville, who requested $105,000.
State Rep. Bill Harmon, D-Dunlap. who filed three separate requests totaling $104,000.
State Rep. Phillip Pinion, D-Union City. The chairman of the House Transportation Committee and the West Tennessee Caucus requested $101,000.
State Rep. Dolores Gresham, R-Somerville, requested $100,917.
Total Democrat requests above the allotted amount: $558,500.
Total Republican requests above the allotted amount: $917.
One other interesting thing I noticed in the stack of requests that Fitzhugh's office released to the public yesterday: A copy of Rep. Fitzhugh's written requests was not included. That's a curious omission as the AP summary of the grants requests says Fitzhugh has requested money for "Senior citizens center, volunteer fire department, rescue squads, community development."
May 24, 2007
The Pork List
Thursday afternoon I placed a call to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research and alerted them that state House Finance committee chairmen Craig Fitzhugh's office had finally made copies for the public of the legislators' pork requests - which Fitzhugh's office had insisted for days that they would not do. A few hours later, the whole PDF file is on the web. Warning: It's a 1149-page PDF file. Here's the TCPR press release. File the pork list away for future reference. Have some fun with it. Cross-reference your legislator's pork requests with his or her campaign donations records, past and future. See if any legislator gave some of your tax dollars to a campaign contributor.
No Tax, No Pork
While a handful of Republicans in the Tennessee state Senate appear ready to go along with Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen and the Democrats in raising taxes despite, incredibly, the state's $1.3 billion revenue surplus, the House Republican Caucus is standing up for fiscal sanity by proposing a budget that provides the governor with the extra education funding he is seeking without raising taxes. Instead, the House GOP Caucus proposes to cut the state's onerous food tax. You can read a summary of the "No Tax, No Pork" budget here and a longer explanation of it here.
State Rep. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, comments on his blog:
In a year with unprecedented growth, $1.5 billion in new revenue, we should not even be contemplating a tax increase, but should be looking at how to return the taxpayers money.
We are growing Government at an unprecedented level. By spending so much in good times, the growth is simply unsustainable in lean times and we will be forced into another income tax debate.
The Governor has said we have to pass a tax increase to fund education. That is simply not true. You can fund the new BEP formula, take care of state employees, add more to the rainy day fund, provide sales tax relief on food, live within our means by not busting the Copeland cap and still not raise taxes!
True.
No-Tax-Increase Pledge Update
Responses from Republican lawmakers in the Tennessee legislature to a request that they pledge to vote against tax increases this session, given the state's $1.3 billion revenue surplus, are starting to trickle in. See the update at the end of this post, where all legislators' responses will be posted.
Tax Increase Amid Surplus Looks More Likely
The Associated Press reports that Gov. Phil Bredesen's cigarette tax proposal cleared its biggest legislative challenge this morning when it was approved by the Republican-controlled Senate Finance Committee. The measure passed 9-0. Six of the 11 committee members are Republicans, which means four Republican senators voted to raise your taxes.
Any Republican who votes for a tax increase at a time when the state has a $1.3 billion surplus (in recurring and non-recurring funds) deserves to face a challenger in the next Republican primary.
Republicans voting to raise your taxes: Sen. Randy McNally of Oak Ridge, Sen. Tim Burchett of Knoxville, Sen. Mark Norris of Collierville, and Sen. Bo Watson of Hixson.
Republicans Sen. Diane Black of Gallatin, and Sen. Raymond Finney of Maryville abstained.
Fitzhugh Update
Here's an update on the continuing refusal of the office of state Rep. Craig Fitzhugh, chairman of the House Finance committee, to widely distribute copies of the original written "community enhancement grant" requests submitted by individual lawmakers...
Fitzhugh's office has made one copy available but you have to go to Fitzhugh's office in Legislative Plaza in Nashville to see it.
I believe Fitzhugh's refusal to fax the information to a citizen who requests it is a clear violation of the spirit of Tennessee's open-records laws.
Why are they refusing to fax the documents? It's not because of cost - it's a toll-free fax number. It's not because of the time it would take - it would take about 90 seconds to put the document in the fax feeder, enter my fax number, and hit the send button.
The only possible reason is that they are trying to make if difficult for me and other members of the media to get the records. I live 25 miles from Legislative Plaza. Admittedly I could drive there, but I have no guarantee that when I get there they will even let me make a copy the documents. Fitzhugh's assistant has told me via email that they will not make copies.
Even if they would make copies for me, what about citizens or media members who live 225 miles from Legislative Plaza? As things now stand, they would have to drive a long distance to see the records. If Fitzhugh's office won't fax the documents, it surely isn't going to make copies and mail them.
My request that they fax the information to me is not for my convenience, but for this principle: In the modern age of digital technologies such as the Internet, email and fax machines, a member of the public wishing to view a public record should not have to physically go to where the record is. The public official or state employee who has that record should use the available technology to give the citizen easy access to the records where reasonably possible.
That principle is, I believe, a part of the state's open records law.
Tennessee Code Annotated 10-7-505 (d) expressly states that Tennessee's open records act "shall be broadly construed so as to give the fullest possible public access to public records."
Making one copy available at Legislative Plaza and refusing to make it available via fax does not give the public "the fullest possible" access.
I also have asked Fitzhugh's office for copies of all emails related to the community enhancement grants - records that I am entitled to under state law. If Fitzhugh is going to insist that I can't make copies of the written requests and can only view them in person, is he also going to insist that the only way I can view the requested emails is to log on to his PC at legislative plaza and read through his emails? Of course not. So, naturally, in order for his office to comply with that portion of my open-records request, they will have to copy the emails. I would be happy if they printed them and sent me the printed copies, but it would be easier for them and me if they just hit the "forward" button and emailed them to me.
Either way, they are required by state law to
(TCA 10-7-505 (d), referenced above) to give me "the fullest possible public access to public records," including the emails.
And yet, Fitzhugh's office has failed to even acknowledge my open-records request for the emails.
Media reports on the community grants, such as today's report in The Tennessean, include lists of grants sought by local lawmakers, but if you look at the list you see that much of the information is generic and doesn't list the specific intended recipient of the grant, nor the dollar amount. That lack of information makes the list virtually worthless if you wanted to, for example, cross-reference the grant requests with each lawmakers' campaign donations data from past elections or in the coming election cycle.
Now you can understand why Fitzhugh perhaps wants to make the information as difficult to access as possible.
The right of the citizenry to have the fullest information possible about what its elected officials and its government are doing is crucial in a democracy, and Fitzhugh's office is doing its best to frustrate that right.
Update: Kleinheider weighs in.
UPDATE: VICTORY!
Blogger Sued
A Hawaii blogger is being sued by someone who wants to force the blogger to give up her confidential sources...
For the last five years, Hawaii Reporter has repeatedly shown what a few dedicated and talented people can do with hard work, a very few bucks, and a nose for news. The independent Internet publication covers every aspect of island life and politics, and its watchdog role is an absolute necessity in what is virtually a one-party state.
Now editor Malia Zimmerman is under subpoena for her confidential sources, e-mails, phone records, notes and photographs, for a story she reported about the failure of Ka Loko Dam on Kauai, which resulted in the deaths of seven people. The subpoena comes from lawyers for landowner James Pflueger, who owns much of the land around the dam, and whose responsibilty for the accident is under investigation.
More is at issue than the details of the case, as Pflueger's lawyers are challenging Zimmerman's status as a journalist and her entitlement to protect her sources, merely because no trees are killed to create her publication.
"It seems to me that if a blogger is a journalist, everyone can produce a blog and never be subject to a subpoena," Pflueger's attorney said. His position received support from University of Hawaii constitutional law professor Jon Van Dyke.
"How does she differentiate herself from the zillions of other people who use the Internet, posting things on MySpace or whatever?" he asked. "If we're going to give special protection to the press, we should have some idea of who's in it and who's not."
The consitutional law professor ought to be smarter than that. The lawsuit seeks to force Zimmerman to give up her confidential sources, e-mails, phone records, notes and photographs. Those are things a journalist would have and use - which is pretty good evidence that Zimmerman was doing journalism, which means she is a journalist. That's how she's differentiated from the zillions of MySpace posters.
Take a look at Hawaii Reporter. There is no doubt that it is anything other than journalism.
May 23, 2007
Well Said
I rarely watch Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, but I caught a few minutes of it tonight and found two lines very funny. Of the Congressional Democrats agreeing to send President Bush an Iraq war funding bill with no timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq, Steven Colbert remarked that the Democrats "cut and run from their own cut and run." And regarding the "compromise" immigration reform bill's inclusion of amnesty a "path to citizenship" for the 12 million or more illegal immigrants in this country, Colbert said it's like punishing the Hamburgler by giving him a Happy Meal.
Statehouse Dems Lying About GOP's No-New-Taxes Budget Plan?
I have received copies of some budget documents passed out Tuesday night to Democratic members of the state House which outline their budget proposal and purport to compare it honestly to the House Republicans' budget proposal released last week. The House Democrats have not released an actual budget document, as the Republicans did, but merely a summary.
The Democrats' "comparison" of their plan with the GOP plan includes false information about the GOP plan, according to state Rep. Glen Casada, R-Franklin. Casada says House Democrats are still trying to justify a 40 cent cigarette tax to their members now that their members have seen the Republican "no tax" budget that funds education first and still makes other improvements to the budget. In fact, according to Casada, the House Democratic leadership is lying to their members saying that the House Republicans don't have funding for higher education capital improvements and that Republicans can't fund education, employee raises, etc. without a cigarette tax increase.
You can see the Democratic documents here and a comparison of the competing budget plans prepared by Republicans here.
90 Seconds
The office of state Rep. Craig Fitzhugh, the House Finance committee chairman, continues to refuse to fully release all documents related to the controversial "community enhancement grants" aspect of the House Democrats' budget plans. Since last week I have been asking for copies of the original community grants request documents as turned in to Fitzhugh's office by legislators wanting to designate how their $100,000 in pork was to be allocated.
According to a memo sent to legislators regarding the community enhancement grants:
Each member must file with the House Finance Office (LP 33) a written request for inclusion in the community enhancement grant program.
I have been asking Fitzhugh and his office for copies of those original "written requests" - documents that I am legally entitled to under the state's open records laws.
Initially, during a phone call with me, Fitzhugh agreed and his assistant, Eunice Golden, would provide me copies of those documents, but apparently Fitzhugh later decided against it as Golden advised me they would not be making copies or faxing copies of those original documents.
Fitzhugh's office also stonewalled A.C. Kleinheider at VolunteerVoters.com.
It would take no more than 90 seconds for Golden to stack the written requests into the fax machine, enter my and Kleinheider's fax numbers, and hit the "send" button. She refuses to do so, most certainly at the orders of Rep. Fitzhugh.
The open records law was not intended to make public records available only to members of the public who live within driving distance of Legislative Plaza.
Meanwhile, I have also asked Fitzhugh and Golden for copies of all emails between Fitzhugh and other legislators regarding the community enhancement grants. Legislators' emails are public records. They have not even acknowledged the request.
State GOP Lawmakers Should Take the No-Tax-Increase Pledge
I have just emailed the following letter to the 46 Republican House members and 17 Republican senators in the Tennessee General Assembly:
Dear Fellow Republicans,
As you all are well aware, the budget season is upon us. Despite massive tax revenue surpluses the Bredesen administration and its Democratic allies in the General Assembly remain committed to increasing taxes and opposed to cutting taxes or returning a dime of the surplus to taxpayers.
Gov. Bredesen's budget requests greatly exceeds the state constitution's Copeland Cap on the growth of state spending.
The Copeland Cap was amended into the state constitution in 1978 to keep the growth of government in line with the growth of the state's economy, so that government does not grow faster than the people's ability to pay for it.
A historical analysis of the state budget and tax rates since the mid 1980s shows that breaking the Copeland Cap, which has happened 12 times in the past 22 years, leads inexorably to tax increases.
The cost of Tennessee government is now rising faster than the incomes of average Tennesseans, and the proposed budget with its massive spending above the Copeland Cap and its proposed tax increase will only accelerate that trend - and make future tax increases more likely.
Even the Democrats likely have the votes in the House and the state Senate to pass a tax increase, there is sound reason for Republicans to stand up and say no to new taxes.
Six years ago, in the face of larger Democratic majorities and an administration hellbent to pass an income tax, Republicans said "no." Many of you who were in the legislature during the income tax fight signed "no new taxes" pledges. The income tax failed. And the next election saw anti-income tax Republicans gain ground in the legislature as pro-income tax legislators were defeated or retired rather than face the voters.
Standing up to higher taxes - especially at a time when Tennessee is already seeing record revenue - is good fiscal policy and it is good politics that will help build a Republican majority in both houses of the General Assembly. That's why, today, I am asking each of you to pledge that you will not vote for a budget that includes any tax increases or any fee increases that aren't directly related to the cost of delivering the service. If this leads to no budget being passed any time soon, then so be it. The Tennessee Republican Party should be proud to be the party that obstructs tax and fee increases - especially on people who are already overburdened by the cost of their government.
I intend to publish the names of each one of you who will pledge to oppose any budget that increases our taxes and fees. The grassroots of the Republican Party, including myself, and the vast majority of taxpayers will stand in unity with those of you who stand up for us.
Please reply to this email if the taxpayers of Tennessee can count on you to be their advocate in the State Capitol.
I look forward to sharing your response with my readers.
A Humble Taxpayer,
Bill Hobbs
Editor, BillHobbs.com
I'll let you know what kind of response I get.
UPDATE:
"The bill to increase the cigarette tax is it's own bill. I will vote NO on the cigarette tax bill." - Rep. Susan Lynn, 57th District.
"I will not support any tax increase." - Sen. Jack Johnson, 23rd District.
"I am a no vote on new taxes. I continue to support a tax decrease and no pork." - Sen. Mae Beavers, 17th District.
"I will not vote for the proposed tax increase...40,25,20, or 2 cents. No Quarter of a billion dollar tax increase. Surplus (over tax collection) does not equal a tax increase." - state Rep. Matthew Hill, 7th District.
"Add me to the list." - Rep. Mike Bell, 23rd District.
"I appreciate you wanting to make a list, however, my vote will speak for itself. I do appreciate everything you do. Regards," - Sen. Paul Stanley, 31st District.
May 22, 2007
Rep. Fitzhugh No Friend of Open Government
On Monday, state Rep. Craig Fitzhugh, D-Ripley, chairman of the House Finance Committee, assured me via telephone that his office would provide me a copy of the original "community grants" requests filed by state House members who made a request under the plan to let each lawmaker designate how to spend $100,000 of the state's surplus tax revenue on various pork projects in their districts.
Today, Fitzhugh's office assistant, Eunice Golden, is refusing to do so, instead saying that the only document to be provided to the public will be a list of the community grants, which will be posted on a bulletin board inside Legislative Plaza.
The original documents of the requests as filed by lawmakers with Fitzhugh's office are considered "public records" under the state's open record laws but that doesn't seem to matter to Fitzhugh and Golden - Golden told me via email that "we will not be making individual copies," and "we will not be faxing copies or emailing copies." I assume "we" means Golden and her boss, Rep. Fitzhugh.
Does Fitzhugh really believe in open, honest, transparent government? It sure doesn't seem so today.
Don't Ban Incandescent Light Bulbs!
The growing movement around the world to ban incandescent lightbulbs in order to force a mass switch to compact flourescent bulbs as a way to fight global warming is misguided policy-making for a number of health, environmental and economic reasons. I explain why such political meddling in the marketplace is counterproductive over at Ecotality today.
Business Community Ranks Tennessee Seventh-Best Legal System
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform last month released a state-by-state ranking of state legal systems, based on a survey conducted by The Harris Poll. The 2007 State Liability Systems Ranking Study was conducted for the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform among a national sample of in-house general counsel or other senior corporate litigators to explore how reasonable and balanced the tort liability system is perceived to be by U.S. business. It's an annual survey - and Tennessee ranked seventh.
You can see how your state ranked here and also download the full 114-page study. The web pages for each state include links to a news about tort reform and legal liability issues in each state. This is a great resource for bloggers writing about tort reform in their state.
Growing the "Red" Blogosphere
"Growing the 'Red' Blogosphere" - now posted at TechRepublican.com.
May 21, 2007
GAO Asked to Probe "Carbon Offsets"
Two members of Congress have asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate the growing business of selling "carbon offsets," those modern-day environmental "indulgences" that let individuals and organizations claim to be "carbon neutral" in terms of their carbon dioxide emissions. About 60 different companies sell carbon offsets to U.S. consumers but operate under virtually no standards.
At first glance, the GAO doesn't seem like the right body to investigate carbon offsets - it exists, after all, to audit/investigate government agencies and programs. But there's a reason the request makes sense - a very good reason: Congress is considering multiple bills this year to curb global warming, including a proposal to require federal agencies to use a portion of their budgets to buy offsets. I have details on the possible GAO probe, and the legislation that would result in tax dollars going to carbon offsets sellers, in this post at Ecotality
Also, if you're interested, I've posted a copy of the Congressional Research Service report, Climate Change: Greenhouse Gas Reduction Bills in the 110th Congress, at Ecotality. The report provides a side-by-side-by-side comparison of the various major legislation pending in Congress on greenhouse gas reduction.
Trunk Show
It's been awhile since my last list of new posts over at ElephantBiz.com. Here's some of the better stuff I've posted over there in recent days:
Growing the "Red" Blogosphere
What Were They Thinking?
Changing the Game
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford Surveys the GOP Field
The Kerik Factor
Is an Aging Jimmy Carter Losing His Memory?
Inside Fred Thompson's Unconventional Campaign
Huckabee Gaining Ground?
Partisans Can Be Civil, Too
Campaigns Do "Test Marketing" in the Blogosphere
Boo Hoo
The City Paper reports that the new effort by the Davidson County (Nashville) Sheriff's Department to run immigration checks on every foreign-born arrestee could result in between 3,000 and 4,000 illegal aliens being deported over the next year and that "now has local labor experts concerned" because of "the impact a loss of 3,000 to 4,000 potential workers would have on the Nashville economy."
Well. Do we really need 3,000 to 4,000 criminals in our local work force? Here's what "local labor experts" don't address: Removing 3,000 to 4,000 illegals from our local work force will open up jobs for 3,000 to 4,000 legal residents and American citizens.
Spending the Surplus Will Smash the Copeland Cap
Tennessee should return some of its huge tax revenue surplus to the taxpayers who paid it, says state Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Mt. Juliet, in an op-ed she was asked to write for The Tennessean, although it doesn't appear to have been published yet. But the op-ed is published on Lynn's blog.
In it, Lynn correctly points out that spending the surplus will mean breaking the state constitution's cap on the annual growth of state spending - a fact the mainstream media have avoided in their reporting on the surplus and various budget and tax stories. Lynn shows the media how to summarize the the Copeland Cap in two sentences:
The Copeland Constitutional Amendment Cap restricts the rate of state budget growth to the estimated rate of growth of the economy. Thus, if the economy is projected to grow at 3%, constitutionally, this year's budget may only be 3% more than last year's budget.
Lynn says spending the surplus will require breaking the cap "by two fold."
None of Tennessee's major newspapers have yet found space to tell readers that information.
Who Lobbies for Taxpayers?
Employers of lobbyists spent upwards of approximately $19 million over a six-month period to lobby state officials at the Capitol and across the state, a review of state ethics commission disclosures by The City Paper shows. The paper has a story and an editorial.
May 19, 2007
"Raising Taxes With State Awash in Revenue is Disgraceful."
Frank Cagle is right. Raising taxes at a time of record state tax revenue is a disgrace, and fiscally irresponsible. Yet some Republicans in the state legislature are actually working actively to help Gov. Bredesen and his Democratic allies to do just that - and to pad the state budget with pork and exceed the state constitution's cap on the year-over-year growth of state spending by tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars.
Even though they nominally control the state Senate, Republicans do not have the votes to stop Gov. Phil Bredesen and his Democratic allies from raising taxes, unless Republicans stand united against the tax increase and at least one Democrat joins them. Not gonna happen. But voting for a tax increase, even one that's lower than the governor is seeking, at a time when Tennessee state government is flooded with surplus revenue, is political insanity for Republicans, who are supposed to be the party of limited government and low taxes.
Any Republican who votes for a tax increase at a time of record revenue surpluses deserves to face a primary challenger in 2008.
Corker to Vote "No" on Illegal Immigration Amnesty Bill
U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, has issued the following statement regarding the immigration reform bill now pending in the U.S. Senate, legislation that would, effectively, provide amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants while reducing the length of the planned border fence:
On Monday, Senators are being asked to start voting on a complex immigration reform bill that most members have not had a chance to read or review. There is no doubt we need to secure America's borders and reform our broken immigration system, but this should not be done hastily by cramming through a largely unknown piece of legislation in a few days.
After reading several summaries of this bill, I have serious concerns and for that reason I will vote 'no' on proceeding to the bill on Monday. I hope in the near future the Senate will return to immigration reform in a framework where Senators will be given the time necessary for serious debate on an issue of this magnitude.
Corker is right to counsel slowing down and getting it right. The 12 million illegals aren't going anywhere.
Joe Slumlord, D-Brentwood
S-town Mike at Enclave says it is pretty well confirmed that the owner of a rental property in Nashville's Salemtown neighborhood that is allegedly used for prostitution is a board appointee of Gov. Phil Bredesen, as S-Town speculated a few days ago.
May 18, 2007
Bacon Bits
Some folks, including sate Rep. Curry Todd and VolunteerVoters.com blogger A.C. Kleinheider, are down on state Rep. Brian Kelsey because he objected to the state House Democrats' plan for $20 million in pork projects by waving an envelop full of bacon. (Ben Cunningham has video of WSMV's story on Kelsey's bacon bit.)
But Martin Kennedy defends Kelsey:
Republican Rep Curry Todd rose to rebuke Rep Brian Kelsey who is choosing to reject money that legislators might get to spend in their respective districts. He characterized what Kelsey was doing as "grandstanding" and "trying to attract media attention."
Good Rep. Todd. If you want to stay in the minority you are doing precisely the right thing.
Read the whole thing - Kennedy's right.
Some legislators have a minority mentality. They actually, deep down, prefer to be in the minority because they have the prestige of position without the responsibility of having real power. They can carp from the back bench, or play the majority's games and win scraps from the majority's table, but when push comes to shove they can tell the voters in their district that it isn't their fault they can't get things done.
Rep. Brian Kelsey is not one of those losers.
Prayer Request
My mother, Harriet Hobbs, has breast cancer for the second time. She's 77 and had it about five years ago, and treatment was effective. But now it has returned - stage-4 metastatic breast cancer. Treatment this time with Herceptin, a new drug approved since her last battle with the disease, in combination with the drug Navelbine, has been very effective. The tumors in her lungs and liver have disappeared. (God bless the evil greedy pharmacos!). But she has multiple tumors in her brain. Herceptin does not work on breast cancer tumors in the brain. In layman's terms, the herceptin molecule is too big to go into the brain.
If you pray, please add my mother to your prayer list.
Just Say No
The Nashville City Paper is reporting that Republicans in the state Senate may have some backbone - they're saying the only way they will compromise and support some portion of Gov. Phil Bredesen's cigarette tax increase is if some "tax relief" is given in the form of a sales tax holiday on food.
Since February, Bredesen's 40-cent cigarette tax hike proposal has met stiff resistance from Republicans in the state Senate, who say they can vote for a cigarette tax hike, just not 40 cents. Wednesday, to try and break a "logjam" with Senate Republicans after discussions broke down earlier this week, Bredesen said he is now proposing phasing in his 40-cent cigarette tax increase over a two-year period - 25 cents in the first year and 15 cents in the second year.
Bredesen didn't propose any sales tax on food cut.
Senate Speaker and Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey (R-Blountville) said Thursday that he could support some level of a cigarette tax hike if the GOP could pass its sales tax on food tax cut plan and not fund any "pork" projects.
According to the City Paper, Bredesen called the idea of cutting the food tax - even temporarily - "crazy."
What's crazy is that Tennessee is piling up huge revenue surpluses and could easily afford to both fully fund the governor's requested budget and eliminate the state sales tax on food entirely without raising taxes, but Bredesen and his Democratic allies instead are hell-bent to raise taxes, fund a growing recurring expense (education) with a shrinking revenue source (cigarette tax), setting the state up to need another tax increase in a few years, while sticking this year's surplus in the bank so they can spend it next year or the year after that.
The Republicans in the state Senate are demanding too a small thing - a temporary food tax "holiday" is small thinking when there's enough surplus revenue to demand a budget with no new taxes.
Immigration Update
As the debate over Congress' "compromise" immigration reform bill rolls on, Sen. Bob Corker, Sen. Lamar Alexander and Tennessee's nine House members should Mary Sadler.
Tennessee May Ban Rebates for Home Sales
Legislation that would interfere with the right of real estate agents to use rebates - a common practice in other businesses - to price and promote their services competitively, has gone to Gov. Phil Bredesen for his signature. He should veto it. The legislation sticks the state's nose where it doesn't belong.
May 17, 2007
A Costly Mistake
Instapundit notes the passage of the new federal budget:
WHILE EVERYONE'S TALKING IMMIGRATION, this passed: "Congress gave final approval on Thursday to a $2.9 trillion budget plan that promises big spending increases for education and health care and a federal surplus in five years." It lets the tax cuts expire, too.
It lets the Bush tax cuts expire? The ones responsible for a surging economy, record federal tax revenue and huge tax revenue surpluses for state governments in almost every state?
There won't be a federal surplus in five years if voters don't elect a Congress and a president who will revive the Bush tax cuts and make them permanent.
No Amnesty For Wrong Vote on Illegal Immigration
Remember when U.S. Senate candidate Bob Corker ran that ad with him down at the Mexican border walking along that border and talking tough on illegal immigration? Well, now the time has come for Sen. Corker to show that he meant it - by voting against the sell-out "compromise" immigration reform bill that amounts to less of a border fence and a big, fat amnesty "path to citizenship" for the 12 million or so illegals already in the country.
The Conservatives for Corker blog today recalls what Sen. Corker said during the campaign...
Illegals need to be PENALIZED, FORCED TO RETURN BACK to their point of origin AND placed at the back of the processing line behind those orderly submitting themselves to our nation's immigration statutes.
Here's what the compromise bill does, according to the Washington Post:Under the tentative deal, undocumented workers who crossed into the country before Jan. 1 would be offered a temporary-residency permit while they await a new "Z Visa" that would allow them to live and work lawfully here. The head of an illegal-immigrant household would have eight years to return to his or her home country to apply for permanent legal residence for members of the household, but each Z Visa itself would be renewable indefinitely, as long as the holder passes a criminal background check, remains fully employed and pays a $5,000 fine, plus a paperwork-processing fee.
Eight years to go home and get legal. They're not calling this amnesty, but it sure isn't as tough as what Corker said he'd support.
There are few single issues on which I would base a vote or non-vote on any candidate for federal office. The war is one - I'll never cast a vote for any senator or representative who votes for a scheduled defeat in Iraq. Illegal immigration is another. I'll never vote for any candidate or incumbent who votes for any immigration reform that doesn't build the fence first, and only after it is completed and the border is secured and the invasion of America by illegals is ended, contemplate measures to address the 12 million who are already here.
There should be zero contemplation of "temporary-residency permits" and "Z Visas" or a "path to citizenship" for any such effort to legalize 12 million illegals until the fence is completed.
For phone numbers to call Corker, Sen. Lamar Alexander or Tennessee's nine House members, see the Conservatives For Corker blog here.
Memo to U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn: Vote against this travesty and there's a Senate seat in your future.
Cheeseburger in Paradise
McDonald's, Downtown Nashville.
Another Blogger Threatened With Lawsuit
Texas blogger Sal Costello, who takes on the powerful and the politically connected, is being threatened with a lawsuit by the powerfully and politically connected target of his recent blogging. He does not appear to be backing down.
Floyd Landis Update
If you're interested in the case of Tour de France winner Floyd Landis and the drug/doping allegations against him, you might want to check out this post at Lynne Kiesling's blog, Knowledge Problem. Also, Kiesling, a Northwestern University economics professor, wrote a few months back about Landis' "wiki defense" strategy involving posting case documents online and enlisting "the wisdom of the crowds." (The June 2007 edition of Bicycling, with Landis on the cover, also includes the wiki defense strategy in its article.) Kiesling: "Floyd's defense is an open-source project, and is likely to be much better because of the cumulative knowledge of the cycling community. And it's not just cycling knowledge; it's chromatography, forensic chemistry, law, statistics, etc."
Earmarks Fever Grips State House
The Tennessean reports on a plan by Democrats in the state House to spend $20 million of the state's revenue surplus on individual lawmakers' pet projects. The story is disappointing for two reasons. First, the reporter continues the Tennessee media's general failure to inform readers that the spending will require breaking the state constitution's cap on the year-over-year-growth of the state budget. And, second, lawmakers are working hard to make sure you can't know which lawmaker sponsored which project, as the bad Congressional practice of "earmarks" comes to the Tennessee legislature...
Inspired by Tennessee's flush financial times, state lawmakers are working to give themselves a collective $20 million to spend on pet projects in their own districts. ... House lawmakers want to give themselves $100,000 apiece for community projects.
Proposals for how they'd spend that cash are due today to Finance Committee Chairman Craig Fitzhugh, a Ripley Democrat. Fitzhugh on Wednesday would not let The Tennessean review the proposals already turned in to his office. "Members can still change it," Fitzhugh said. "I don't want to put something out there if it's not what the member wants."
When all the proposals have been collected, they will be rolled into one all-inclusive bill that will not show which legislators asked for what, he said.
It seems Fitzhugh and the House Democrats are trying to copy Congress' practice of "earmarks," doling out pork anonymously. The identity of lawmakers sponsoring each specific earmark ought to be made public. Perhaps an open-records request and the threat of a lawsuit against Fitzhugh might prompt a change of heart.
The House wants to extend the earmarks practice to the state Senate, the paper reports.
House members have suggested - and some senators seem favorable to the idea - that each lawmaker in the upper chamber receive a project allowance of $300,000. (Tennessee has three times as many House members as it has senators.) All told, that would take about a $20 million hunk out of Tennessee's anticipated $250 million budget surplus.
Yes it would. And it is part of the surplus-spending frenzy that will require the legislature to exceed the Copeland Cap, a provision in the state consitution that limits the annual growth of state spending to the rate of economic growth in the state, though most Tennessean taxpayers don't know that because the mainstream media in Tennessee has, so far, failed to tell them.
Update: I just spoke with someone in the office of House Finance Committee Chairman Craig Fitzhugh, the Ripley Democrat who told The Tennessean he wouldn't release list of legislators' specific earmark request. Under Tennessee's open records laws all documents pertaining to those earmark requests are public record, but I was told Fitzhugh wouldn't release them because he's accepting earmark requests until 4:30 p.m. today and doesn't want to release information that might later be changed.
Technically under state law Rep. Fitzhugh doesn't have the legal right to make such a distinction. Any document he has pertaining to those earmark requests is a public record even if the lawmaker who filed such an earmark request later withdraws it or amends it.
BillHobbs.com will be filing an open-records request for all earmark request documents, including records related to requests later amended or withdrawn, and expects Rep. Fitzhugh and the House Finance Committee staff to comply fully and not violate state law.
May 16, 2007
On the Blogroll... Really
Several months ago I mentioned a new blog that I thought would be a good one to put on your blogroll, and then I promptly forgot to add it to my blogroll. It's called Webutante, by Jane Whitson, a former Nashville journalist who a degree in civil/environmental engineering and has worked also as a fundraiser, and most recently a professional fly fishing guide out West. On her blog, Whitson writes, "I have never met a hiking trail, small trout stream, a leafy green vegetable, an articulate, conservative humanoid or a string of pearls I didn't like." Check out Webutante. It's going on my blogroll. This time I meant it.
Whitson's been doing a little blogroll shuffling of her own this week, and has a list of several interesting blogs she thinks you ought to take a look at.
And while we're on the subject of Nashvillian former newspaper writers now blogging, former Tennessean writer Carrie Ferguson now blogs at Bilingual in the Boonies. Whenever CNN reports that Castro is ill, I think of Carrie Ferguson - and hope it's worse than CNN is reporting.
Lucky Guy
And everyone else too.
"All of Their Arguments are Losing Steam"
Tennessee's House Republicans are telling Gov. Phil Bredesen and the Democrats they won't vote for a budget filled with pork spending and new taxes.
In a press release and at a press conference, House Republican Caucus, House Minority Leader Jason Mumpower, R-Bristol, and House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada, R-Franklin, challenged House Democrats to pull the pork spending out of the budget and called on Bredesen to submit a "no new taxes" budget. "It's time to be honest with Tennesseans," Mumpower said. "The people in this state are being told that in order to fund education, we must have a $219 million tax increase. As evidenced here, that is simply not true."
The press release continues:
Both leaders emphasized their commitment to challenging House Democrats to live within their means, cut the pork, and reduce the sales tax on food.
Currently, the state of Tennessee has a rainy day fund of $497 million, with a proposed $36.6 million to be added. The state will have over $680 million recurring, and $833 million in one-time money. Casada cited these over-collections and the unprecedented revenue growth that Tennessee is experiencing as reasons to return some of the money in the form of sales tax relief on food. "We have a unique opportunity here to help everyone in this state, across the board," he said. "What you are seeing is the fundamental difference between Democrats and Republicans. They want to take your money and spend it for you. Republicans advocate letting the people in this state make their own decisions with regards to their money. We need to return some money to the taxpayers."
"There is absolutely no justification for a tax increase right now - all their arguments are losing steam," said Mumpower. "We have plenty of money to fund education, take care of state employees, and give the people a rollback on the food tax. What we don
The Tennessean is running this poll on its 
