Tennessee Government News:

Bredesen Administration: Some Public Records Aren't, May 8, 2008
Matt Pulle reveals the Bredesen administration's rather bizarre (and wrong) claim that some emails created by state government employees on state government computers aren't public records, even though state law clearly says they are. The Bredesen administration is no friend...

"We Will Prevail", May 7, 2008
Matte Pulle - surely the odds on favorite to replace the irreplaceable Liz Garrigan as editor of the Nashville Scene - has a hilarious piece in this week's edition of the paper's "Desperately Seeking the News" column that in one...

Live-Blogging the Budget Cuts, May 7, 2008
WSMV reporter Cara Kumari live-blogs the governor's budget cuts announcement, beating all other media in bringing the details to the public. That's two days in a row that broadcast bloggers have beaten the ink-stained wretches. Blogging is the most agile...

Bredesen's Educrats Attack Home-Schoolers, Church Schools, May 6, 2008
A coalition of Tennessee home-schoolers and church-related schools have beaten back an attempt by a group of Democrat lawmakers and Tennessee Department of Education bureaucrats to declare their diplomas invalid for the purposes of certain kinds of employment. I must...

Return of the iPod Tax, May 6, 2008
Some bloggers appear to have caught Tennessee Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr in an untruth about the state's tax on digital music downloads, thanks to a ruling approved by Farr himself and issued just a few weeks ago which categorically states...

At Least He Didn't Claim To Have Voted For It Before He Voted Against It, May 4, 2008
The Kingsport Times News reports on the case of the mysteriously unrecorded vote, starring state Rep. Nathan "No Vote" Vaughn. Update: The legislation at issue would have caused ex-lawmakers convicted of felonies to lose their state-paid health insurance, just as...

Not-So-Open-Records Update, May 2, 2008
It has now been 52 days since I made a rather routine open-records request to the Bredesen administration, and specifically Department of Finance & Administration public information officer Lola Potter, for the video taken of blasting (for that underground ballroom)...

Phil's Baggage, May 1, 2008
The Tennessean reports that Gov. Phil Bredesen won't tap the state's record-level "rainy day" reserves to prevent or at least delay layoffs of large numbers of state employees as the state's revenue deficit balloons (and the folly of his $1.5...

Check Under the Hood This Time, April 30, 2008
City Paper reporter John Rodgers makes a smart suggestion:In a speech to the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce today, Gov. Phil Bredesen said ECD Commissioner Matt Kisber's "pipeline" is full of companies looking to move to Tennessee, "including some really,...

What Does Naifeh Know That You Don't?, April 30, 2008
Should Tennessee taxpayers continue to pick up the tab for health insurance and benefits for lawmakers convicted of felony crimes in connection with their official elected-office duties? Most taxpayers probably would say no, but Democrat House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh on...

Democrat Math, April 28, 2008
The image above is a scan of a letter-to-the-editor published in today's Tennessean, questioning why Gov. Bredesen would rather cut spending on Pre-K education than cut the millions going to build a fancy underground ballroom at the governor's mansion....

Revenue Department Plans to Be More Secretive With Tax Law Changes Next Year, April 25, 2008
From today's Tennessee Journal:Each year the Department of Revenue sends the legislature a "technical corrections" bill, intended partly to tighten loopholes in tax laws and keep the state a step ahead - or at least not too far behind...

Money for Volkswagen In Bredesen's Tax Plan?, April 24, 2008
Tennessee lawmakers (and the capitol hill press corps) should scrutinize the forthcoming "technical corrections" legislation from the state Department of Revenue, given today's news that Tennessee is one of three states where Volkswagen is considering building an auto assembly plant...

Here Comes the iTax, April 24, 2008
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen's Department of Revenue is planning to tax your iTunes downloads, and all other digital media you purchase online and download including music videos, movies, news and entertainment programs, music, ringtones and electronic books. Under current law...

Get Ready for the iTax, April 23, 2008
Hey, Tennessee residents. The Bredesen administration is considering taxing your iTunes downloads. Details tomorrow......

"No Rep. Briley. Do You?", April 23, 2008
State Rep. Rob Briley was a mean and pathetic drunk. Sober, it turns out, he can be quite the jerk. The Tennessean tells the story of how Briley verbally assaulted state Rep. Stacey Campfield with a series of inane, irrelevant...

Boom and Bust, April 18, 2008
Just a thought, but how many fewer workers at the Tennessee Department of Children's Services would have to be laid off due to impending budget cuts if the Bredesen administration was spending $8 million more there and $8 million less...

ACK is BACK, April 18, 2008
A.C. Kleinheider, who blogged brilliantly for WKRN Channel 2 for nearly two years at VolunteerVoters.com before 'KRN pulled the plug for budgetary reasons, has returned to the blogosphere today with Post Politics, at NashvillePost.com. The direct link to the free...

Briley Tries To Have It Both Ways, April 18, 2008
According to a report in today's Nashville City Paper, state Rep. Rob Briley "repeated his defense of closed-door meetings of a powerful judicial panel Thursday, despite Gov. Phil Bredesen’s efforts to shine light upon its proceedings." Specifically, the administration pushed...

Not-So-Open Records Update, April 16, 2008
It has now been 36 days since I made a rather routine open-records request to the Bredesen administration, and specifically Department of Finance & Administration public information officer Lola Potter, for video taken of blasting (for that underground ballroom) at...

Secret Selection, April 15, 2008
Dan Pero's American Courthouse blog has some interesting perspective on Tennessee's Judicial Selection Commission....

Hitting the Target, April 14, 2008
The NRA fires back at House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh.House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh's recent actions on self-defense votes in the Tennessee General Assembly were hypocritical and ignored the will of tens of thousands of law-abiding Tennesseans. Here's why. Speaker Naifeh enjoys...

Sales Tax More Stable Revenue Source than Income Tax, April 13, 2008
A few years ago, during the great Tennessee Income Tax War, the pro-income tax experts often asserted that an income tax would protect the state against revenue shortfalls during an economic slump. They repeated it like a mantra, especially during...

Judge Not, April 11, 2008
A City Paper story which reports that the law that created Tennessee's "Judicial Selection Commission" may be allowed to expire contains an interesting juxtaposition of viewpoints on the way Tennessee's judges are appointed. Republican Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, who as...

What's The Difference?, April 10, 2008
The Tennessean reports that legislation to end public access to state and local employees' home addresses and phone numbers has passed the state House.The measure sponsored by Democratic House Majority Leader Gary Odom of Nashville was approved unanimously. The companion...

Lola Potter: Public Information Obstacle, April 10, 2008
I'm beginning to understand why the Tennessee Center for Policy Research felt it had to sue Lola Potter, the public info officer for the state Department of Finance & Administration, to force her to stop ignoring their legitimate open records...

An Academic Exercise, April 8, 2008
Vanderbilt University law professor Herwig J. Schlunk is pushing for Tennessee to adopt a "broad-based income tax" on top of its retail sales tax. His 74-page paper is a theoretical exercise based on a series of assumptions and hypotheses, though...

Bottle Battle, April 8, 2008
If you think Tennesseans ought to pay a new tax, er, "fee" of about 8 cents per bottle or can of juice, cola or water, and the state ought to force retailers to set up bottle deposit-and-return programs, and the...

Bredesen Budget Crisis Deepens, April 8, 2008
Revenue data released this morning by the Tennessee Department of Finance & Administration indicates the state's revenue crisis is going to be twice as bad as the Bredesen administration had previously indicated. With eight of 12 months of revenue now...

Covering His Tracks, April 4, 2008
A Knoxville blogger reports that the official video of the legislative subcommittee at which House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh engineered the defeat of a piece of gun-related legislation mysteriously cuts off just before the events in question. I haven't reviewed the...

Return Fire, April 3, 2008
The Tennessee Department of Safety has issued more than 339,000 handgun carry permits since October 1996. Yesterday, state House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, using his usual thuggish tactics, killed legislation that would have safeguarded the personal information of those carry permits,...

Bredesen Administration: It'll Cost Ya $200 To Copy That Public Document, April 1, 2008
Here's the latest on my attempt to get the Bredesen administration to release the video shot at the governor's mansion during blasting for the underground ballroom: Lola Potter, the Bredesen administration flack who is currently being sued for failure to...

Do Tennessee Tax Dollars Fund Terror?, April 1, 2008
Are Tennesseans' tax dollars helping fund terrorism? It's a question I first raised on this blog more than three and a half years ago, and one the legislature is now also asking. According to this report in yesterday's Tennessean, the...

A Pattern of Hiding Things, March 27, 2008
Yesterday's story about that lawsuit filed against the Bredesen administration for ignoring multiple open-records requests for more than nine months reminded me of the scathing 187-page order handed down by a federal judge last fall ordering a "forensic inspection" of...

Newspapers Ignore Open Records Case, March 27, 2008
After nine months of its open-records requests being ignored by the Bredesen administration, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research's lawsuit to force the administration to release the records is, ironically, now being ignored by most of the state's news media....

Not-So-Open Records?, March 26, 2008
Terry Frank has a report on a lawsuit filed by the Tennessee Center for Policy Research regarding the failure of the Tennessee Department of Finance & Administration - and, specifically, the department's spokesperson, Lola Potter, to comply with open-records requests...

Democrats May Block Vote on Ballroom, March 18, 2008
You can mark state Rep. Craig Fitzhugh, D-Ripley, as another pro-ballroom Democrat in the state legislature. Fitzhugh, chairman of the House Finance Committee, is trying to block a vote on an amendment to routine bonding authority legislation that would revoke...

Budget Bloat at Blasted Governor's Mansion, March 17, 2008
The nonpartisan Tennessee Center for Policy Research has looked into the budgetary bloat in the renovation of the Tennessee governor's mansion and issued the following statement today:Taxpayers Charged Millions for Extravagant Embellishments to Governor's MansionRenovations including $321,000 kitchen, $14,000 dimmer...

Chilling, March 15, 2008
Here's an update on the Bredesen administration's plans to subject more than 1 million children across Tennessee to mental health screenings without parental notification and consent, which I blogged about back on March 7....

Your Children Are Not Your Children, March 7, 2008
In California not long ago a judge ruled that California parents do not have a constitutional right to home-school their children. It can't happen here, right? Well, Tennessee's governor and a group of Democrat lawmakers in the state House believe...

You Can Lead Donkeys To Water, But You Can't Make 'Em Think, March 3, 2008
The Chattanooga Times-Free Press reports that Georgia's attempt to force a redrawing of the state's border with Tennessee - in order to get access to Tennessee River water to slake the endless thirst of Atlanta - could go directly to...

That Giant Sucking Sound, February 29, 2008
Have you heard the joke about Georgia trying to move its border northward into Tennessee? Here's the punchline: It's no joke. And it's time Democrats in Nashville start taking it seriously. Because Georgia isn't the only neighboring state that isn't...

Solutions Not Soundbites, February 28, 2008
Republican Legislators Offer Long-Term Healthcare Reform Plan. And that's certainly more than Democrat Gov. Phil Bredesen has done in five-plus years in office. Despite his vaunted healthcare business acumen, Gov. Bredesen has done nothing - absolutely nothing - about reforming...

Lottery News, February 28, 2008
Interesting bit of data in the latest MTSU Poll: “Most Tennesseans (65%) approve of the current requirement that college students maintain a “B” average or better to keep a lottery-funded scholarship." Democrats in the state legislature want to lower standards...

Schooling the Legislature, February 28, 2008
Public outcry against his legislative attack on home-schoolers has forced a Memphis Democrat legislator to back off a bit. Public protest can stop legislative tyranny in its tracks. Those home-schooled children who went down to Legislative Plaza yesterday to protest...

Talk is Cheap., February 27, 2008
The Kingsport Times News takes state Rep. Nathan Vaughn's side in its story about the battle over a proposed pro-life amendment to the state constitution. But the KTN ignores the elephant in the room: The Kingsport Democrat talks pro-life, but...

Honesty in Budgeting, February 24, 2008
Stacey Campfield's got a rather illuminating snippet of video from the Tennessee legislature, and reports,Our leadership caught this video of two Democrats talking honestly about the governor and some wasteful spending between two committees. I wish they would be as...

Looking For a Fresh Angle on the Ballroom Story?, February 20, 2008
A challenge to the press corps down at Legislative Plaza in Nashville: Poll the members of the legislature, Republican and Democrats, to find out how many of them are opposed to the ballroom project. Let your readers or viewers know...

Playpen Politics, February 20, 2008
Tennessee Democrats get downright petty with a bill designed to affect just one business in Tennessee, which happens to be owned by a Republican state legislator and her husband. As the City Paper reveals, the idea to play politics with...

CON Job?, February 20, 2008
State Rep. Susan Lynn has some thoughts about Tennessee's "certificate of need" process for permitting new hospitals and medical facilities, over her blog. Multiple posts. Follow her links. Her history of the certificate-of-need process is very good....

Ballroom Press Conference Video, February 19, 2008
Video from Tuesday's press conference at the Tennesseee Governor's Mansion with several state legislators calling for cancellation of the costly underground ballroom project is now online at the Tennessee Republican Party's YouTube web page Or you can view it here:...

Ballroom Update, February 18, 2008
There is bipartisan opposition to the construction of an underground ballroom at the Tennessee governor's mansion - costing taxpayers around $8 million - but it appears that it is only mostly Republican legislators who are willing to make their opposition...

Tennessee Democrats Discover Water, February 18, 2008
After six years of ignoring the growing water infrastructure crisis in Tennessee, the state's Democrats are finally starting to pay attention. That's right, six years after the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) put the total water infrastructure needs...

Balance of Power, February 18, 2008
The Tennessean previews the upcoming campaign battle for control of the Tennessee state Senate, and also looks at the House side, stating the opinion that "all 99 state House seats are up for re-election this year, but chances of a...

Only One Drink, February 17, 2008
Is Gov. Phil Bredesen misleading the public - and costing the state millions in federal highway dollars - with his stance on proposed tougher DUI laws? State Rep. Stacey Campfield thinks so. First, the Knoxville News Sentinel had this to...

Two Good Bills, February 17, 2008
The Tennessean has stories today about two pieces of sensible legislation, including state Rep. Stacey Campfield's bill that would prohibit public school teachers from discussing homosexuality and transgenderism with elementary and middle school students, a bill that has been batted...

Long Term Care Update, February 15, 2008
Tennessean reporter Theo Emery reports on the governor's "me too!" proposal on restructuring TennCare to offer more long-term care options than just nursing home care. Also, the AP ran a story on it, but the only place I could find...

Bredesen Comes Around to GOP Position on Home-Based Care, February 14, 2008
Gov. Phil Bredesen addressed the Tennessee Press Association winter convention in Nashville this morning and announced that he would be proposing legislation, the "Long Term Care Community Choices Act," that would begin to shift TennCare nursing home dollars to home-based...

Bredesen Sees Gas Tax Ahead, February 13, 2008
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen is talking about the need to raise the gas tax. But Tennesseans are already getting only 60 percent of the roads they already pay for through the current gas tax....

Bredesen Longs For Higher Gas Tax, February 13, 2008
The Daily News Journal report on Gov. Phil Bredesen's speech to the Murfreesboro Rotary Club includes mention of Bredesen's support for increasing the state's gas tax.Bredesen also spoke about the eventual need for a possible increase to the 22-cent per...

Better Late than Never, February 13, 2008
Tennessee needs to give residents more long-term health care options beyond nursing homes, Gov. Phil Bredesen told members of the Murfreesboro Rotary Club Tuesday, reports the Daily News Journal in the 'boro. Republican legislators have been pushing for exactly that...

A Long, Long Time Ago..., February 13, 2008
State Rep. Frank Buck, D-Dowelltown, is retiring after 18 terms in the state legislature - which means that, for the first time since 1972, the year Buck was elected, the voters in the 40th House District won't have an incumbent...

Trial Lawyers Still Love Briley, February 11, 2008
THe Nashville City Paper combs through the latest campaign finance disclosure of state Rep Rob Briley and finds something interesting: While the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association dumped their chief legislative lobbyist after it was revealed that she was having an...

Cracking Down on Drunk Driving, February 9, 2008
The Tennessean highlights efforts by Republican state legislators to strengthen Tennessee's drunk-driving laws. Democrats have slow-walked reforms in the past at the behest of the liquor lobby, though the arrest last summer of the Democrat chairman of the House Judiciary...

Stop Blaming God, February 8, 2008
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen seems to be blaming God for the Super Tuesday tornados that ripped through Tennessee, destroying hundreds of homes and killing at least 34 people. Check out this quote in an Associated Press report:"It looks like the...

Dems Split on Making State Government More Accountable to the People, February 8, 2008
Are Tennessee state House Democrat leaders at odds with their party's state chairman? In a Tennessean story two weeks ago, Tennessee Democrat Party Chairman Gray Sasser said elected officials are "more accountable" to the people than are appointed officials."This benefits...

Water War Update, February 8, 2008
Once again, when the Tennessee Republican Party speaks, Democrat Gov. Phil Bredesen is moved to respond. Especially, it seems, when the issue involves water....

A Lesson From Campfield, February 7, 2008
State Rep. Stacey Campfield comments on a story in today's Tennessean:The facts regardless of what you may read is that Republicans are fighting for the best, most efficient use of our limited resources. We can spend it on expanding a...

Border War, February 7, 2008
The Associated Press reports on Georgia's latest attempt to steal Tennessee's water. Here's the Tennessee GOP's press release on it. Tennessee's governor has yet to step up on this issue......

Name That Party!, February 2, 2008
Hamilton County Sheriff Billy Long has been arrested on federal charges of bribery, money laundering and providing a gun to a felon. He's a Democrat, but you don't find that out until the 25th paragraph of story at Chattanoogan.com. The...

Don't Stop, Thief!, February 2, 2008
When the Tennessee Republican Party speaks, Democrat Gov. Phil Bredesen listens. Here's his latest attempt to co-opt a longstanding Republican proposal:Tennessee GOP Press Release, Dec. 13, 2007:The Tennessee Republican Party today blamed Gov. Phil Bredesen's failure to support Republican efforts...

Bipartisan Opposition to the Ballroom, February 1, 2008
Another interesting tidbit in today's edition of the subscription-only Tennessee Journal:Reps. Rob Briley (D-Nashville) and Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) filed a House resolution urging Gov. Phil Bredesen to delay construction of Conservation Hall, "no matter how worthwhile," during "these times...

Just How Do They Propose To Make Portable Classrooms More Energy Efficient?, February 1, 2008
Today's edition of the subscription-only Tennessee Journal reports that Gov. Phil Bredesen has flip-flopped on using surplus lottery revenue for school construction.With well over $400 million sitting in lottery reserves - much of it accumulated before the scholarship program had...

Your Tax Dollars (Not) At Work, February 1, 2008
Nashville's WSMV Channel 4 News profiles a hard-working Democrat elected official. As my Daddy often asked, "Are you working hard, or hardly working?"...

WKRN Covers GOP DUI Proposals, February 1, 2008
WKRN Channel 2 News in Nashville covers the story of tough new anti-drunk driving legislation proposed by Republicans in the state legislature - legislation that would implement automatic license revocation, lower the legal blood alcohol content levels for certain offenses,...

Vote Fraud?, February 1, 2008
NewsChannel5 has uncovered a clearcut case of vote fraud, in which a severally mentally disabled woman somehow is recorded as voting in recent elections in Davidson County. NewsChannel5 doesn't say it, but I've confirmed that whoever registered and voted using...

Phil Versus Jimmy, February 1, 2008
Are the state's two most powerful Democrats at odds with each other? The Associated Press reports that Gov. Phil Bredesen "is questioning the approach by House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh in the fight to change cable-permitting rules in Tennessee to encourage...

Republican Legislators Push DUI Crackdown Legislation, January 31, 2008
Republicans in the state legislature have introduced comprehensive legislation to combat drunk driving in Tennessee, legislation that would deploy a multi-faceted approach to the problem that includes automatic license revocation, lowering legal blood alcohol content levels for certain offenses, greater...

Overselling Pre-K, January 31, 2008
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen has a physics degree from Harvard, so it's pretty certain that he knows how to read. The question, then, is did he read the recently published study from his own Department of Education on the effectiveness...

Another Day, Another Stupid Utterance From the Governor, January 31, 2008
Apparently, being a lame-duck second-term governor has freed Gov. Phil Bredesen to say a growing number of stupid and, frankly, offensive things. First, he called Chinese immigrants of the 1800s an offensive and derogatory name. Next he admitted on video...

Who is Stupid?, January 28, 2008
"He's spending $12 million for a party room and he's criticizing spending the reserves? How stupid do you have to be to do that?" - That's just one of a list of reader comments below this AP story slamming Gov....

Op-Ed, January 20, 2008
The Tennessean has published an op-ed I wrote on their website. I'm 800 miles from Nashville so I don't know if it's in the paper edition or not....

Walk the Line, January 19, 2008
Tennessean political columnist Larry Daughtrey put the Democratic spin on the debate over lottery-funded scholarships:The demographics of lotteries are well known: the poor buy the most tickets and the middle and upper classes get most of the scholarships. The Democrats...

Voter ID Debate, January 18, 2008
Somebody posting on the forums at the newly (and well) redesigned Tennessean.com posted a link to my blog article yesterday on Democrat legislation that would require you to show a photo ID to sell scrap metal to a junk dealer,...

Blasting the Ballroom, January 18, 2008
There is a very well-written letter to the editor at Tennessean.com regarding Bredesen's Ballroom. Writer Garrett Varner of Franklin says, "Perhaps the biggest irony is that a project so blatantly wasteful of taxpayer money is to be named 'Conservation Hall'."...

Putting the Brakes on Excess Spending, January 17, 2008
My state representative, Glen Casada of Franklin, has announced he will be filing some much-needed legislation to stop a long-standing state spending practice which I and many others believe violates the state constitution. In a press release from the House...

Dial Victory, January 16, 2008
The Bredesen administration has just taken sides in the legislative battle between the cable industry and AT&T. Bredesen's communications director is leaving to join a lobbying firm that represents AT&T, according to NashvillePost.com, and fellow Democrat House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh's...

Democrat Pushes For Photo ID Requirement - But NOT For Voting, January 16, 2008
A recent edition of The Tennessee Magazine, a publication of the Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association, notes some interesting - and ironic - legislation being pushed by a couple of Democrats in the Tennessee legislature. Senate Bill 1038, filed last year...

Sen. Jackson Repeats the Bredesen Ballroom Lies, January 15, 2008
The report in today's Tennessean about yesterday's Legislative Fiscal Review hearing on the ballroom project at the governor's mansion could have enlightened taxpayers as to the real cost of the ballroom, but settled for merely presenting what each side of...

Thank You, Gov. Bredesen, January 14, 2008
The Tennessee Republican Party sincerely thanks Gov. Bredesen for his honesty about taxing and spending. His candor is refreshing, even if the way he said it was arrogant and insensitive to the people from whom he has such "fun"...

Money Grab, January 14, 2008
State Rep. Stacey Campfield says that the proposal by a Democrat state Senator from Memphis for a big increase in the "per diem" given to legislators when they are in session is nothing but a grab for more money that...

The Biggest House in the Neighborhood, January 14, 2008
Four years ago next month, the members of the Tennessee General Assembly heard an important speech about the future of TennCare. Here's a few graphs from that speech, "Saving TennCare," delivered Feb. 17, 2004:"I want to begin with a story,...

Bredesen: My Wife Will Have Her Ballroom, January 14, 2008
Gov. Phil Bredesen says he doesn't care what people think about the ballroom he and his wife are building - with taxpayer's money* - at the Tennessee governor's mansion. * Yes, I know, on paper it says the ballroom is...

Governor: I Like Spending Your Money., January 12, 2008
In a moment of complete candor while announcing a $1 million state grant to help restore The Hermitage, the historic former home of Andrew Jackson, Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen admitted what he loves best about being governor: "One of the...

Thin-Skinned Phil, January 11, 2008
Tennessee's hyper-sensitively thin-skinned Gov. Phil Bredesen lashed out at Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey yesterday because Ramsey had the temerity to question the spending of more than $10 million in tax dollars to build a lavish underground party ballroom at the...

Bucking Bredesen, January 10, 2008
Bredesen's Ballroom gets some opposition from within his own party. Jimmy Naifeh can stop claiming its a partisan attack now - the opposition is bipartisan! Update: Here's the Tennessee GOP statement on the budget-busting ballroom today....

Sen. Kyle's Coup, January 10, 2008
State Sen. Jim Kyle wants to give the governor the power to appoint temporary replacements for sitting legislators who are "unable to fulfill the duties of that member's office." Kyle, a Memphis Democrat, has filed legislation that would authorize a...

Unexcused Absence, January 10, 2008
Wednesday afternoon, a link to this story appeared on the home page of the website of The Tennessean, under the "latest news and updates" tag. A few minutes later it disappeared and, as of Thursday morning, it does not appear...

If You Can't Dazzle 'Em With Brilliance, Baffle 'Em With..., January 9, 2008
According to press reportsTennessee First Lady Andrea Conte claimed today that the renovation of the governor's mansion - a project now approaching $20 million in total cost, including $11 million from taxpayers - will save taxpayers money in the long...

Naifeh Fuzzy on Ethics, January 9, 2008
House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh's disdain for legislative ethics requirements was on full display yesterday as he opened the 2008 session of the Tennessee General Assembly. Under a new law passed in 2006, lawmakers are required to attend an annual ethics...

Numbers, January 8, 2008
Good budget news from the state government today: The state won't get to blow all of last year's surplus after all, and likely won't have one to blow next year either. The Tennessean puts a little different spin on it:State...

Up In Smoke, January 7, 2008
Today we learn from the Associated Press that the Tennessee Department of Revenue's massive law enforcement dragnet to stop Tennesseans from bringing more than 2 cartons of cigarettes across the border - presumably to evade the state's highest-in-the-region cigarette tax...

Taking On the Establishment, January 7, 2008
Another East Nashville attorney is lining up to run against state Rep. Rob Briley, the Nashville Democrat convicted of drunk driving after leading police on a dangerous high-speed chase across two counties after leaving the scene of an accident where...

Harbinger?, January 7, 2008
From The Tennessean's preview of the legislative session that starts tomorrow:Other points of partisan contention will include taxes, with Republicans pushing to lower the state sales tax. Democrats, Naifeh said, have some reservations in a year when the budget is...

It Matters Who Governs, January 6, 2008
I had the pleasure of appearing on This Week with Bob Mueller on Nashville's WKRN Channel 2 Sunday morning - actually, it was taped Friday afternoon. You can watch the segment, which also features City Paper reporter John Rodgers and...

Pate Update, January 6, 2008
I have confirmed that the campaign-related email sent by state House Democratic Caucus press secretary Addison Pate to the members of the Davidson County delegation, which you can read here, was emailed from Pate's legislative email account. I wasn't aware...

Tennessee Democrats' Big Donor Goes to Prison for Fraud, January 5, 2008
Norman Hsu, a major financial benefactor of the Tennessee Democrat Party, was sentenced Friday to three years in prison for the multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme fraud that earned him chunks of the millions he donated to Democrats across the country. The...

Toothless in Tennessee, January 1, 2008
The Tennessee AP profiles the Bredesen administration's toothless new public records "ombudsman office." Not only does the office have no actual power or authority, it also won't be getting involved in disputes over state government records, only local governments, because...

Voter Photo ID Unfair?, December 31, 2007
Nathan More comments on the suggestion of requiring Tennessee voters to have a photo-ID voter registration card in order to be allowed to vote:The argument advanced by some here in Tennessee is that such a vote will "depress turnout". And...

Ballroom Update, December 31, 2007
The Memphis Commercial-Appeal's legislative reporter, Richard Locker, updates the Bredesen Ballroom controversy in a big story today that glosses over some key facts. While Locker accuses the Tennessee Republican Party of making "exaggerated claims" in this news release on the...

Sen. Kyle's Latest PR Stunt, December 31, 2007
Democrat state Sen. Jim Kyle http://e-paper.nashvillecitypaper.com/Default/Layout/Includes/CityPaperD/ArtWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=CityPaperD&BaseHref=TCP%2F2007%2F12%2F31&ViewMode=HTML&PageLabel=7&EntityId=Ar00700&FontSize=g1&AppName=1">wants to lock the barn gate now that the horse has already escaped. He is proposing legislation that would require the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance to levy a fine equal to the amount a...

Theft of Nashville Election Commission Laptops Highlights Need for Voter Photo ID Law, December 29, 2007
The Tennessean reports on a new state law effective New Year's Day designed to make it harder for criminals to snatch Social Security numbers.The law bans companies, nonprofit groups and even government agencies in most cases from sending mailings containing...

Flip Flop Mike, December 21, 2007
State Sen. Micheal Williams, the ex-Republican-turned-Independent, is running for re-election in the solidly Republican 4th district, reports the subscription-only Tennessee Journal. According to the TJ, Williams sent a reelection fund-raising letter to lobbyists this week declaring that he's in a...

Get Ready, Oak Hill, December 21, 2007
The Bredesen administration's 30-day delay on blasting for the underground ballroom at the Governor's Mansion in residential Oak Hill will have expired one week from today....

Ballroom Bredespin, December 21, 2007
The Chattanooga Times-Free Press rounds up the views of various Chattanooga-area lawmakers on the massive underground ballroom complex that Gov. Phil Bredesen and his wife, Andrea Conte, are trying to build on the grounds of the Governor's Mansion. State Rep....

Democrats In The News, December 20, 2007
Tennessee's Democrats are in the news today. Here's a sampling... Culture of Sleaze - Nashville Scene In the culture of sleaze at the Capitol, it seems that no behavior is too audacious for some Democrats. They take bribes, drive blind-drunk,...

Ballroom Shell Game, December 19, 2007
Tennessee Republicans aren't just focused on Democratic sleaze at the state capitol - we're also concerned about the waste of tax dollars, especially when the waste is tied up with arrogance, secrecy and lies from the executive branch of...

Culture of Sleaze 1, December 19, 2007
Excellent story in tomorrow's Nashville Scene on the "culture of sleaze" gripping the Democrat caucus in the Tennessee legislature. It's the Dec. 20 edition, on newsstands today. I'll link to the story when it's online. Here's the link....

It's Getting Bad Reviews, December 19, 2007
Click image to enlarge. Pop culture reference....

Briley's Believe It Or Not, December 19, 2007
How does state Rep. Rob Briley, a Tennessee Democrat of real conviction, recollect the day he got arrested for drunk driving and a myriad of other misdemeanor and felony charges? John Rodgers at the City Paper tells us....

Ballroom Dancer, December 18, 2007
Gov. Phil Bredesen tries to do the do the hustle as he dances around blame for why there is controversy over his planned $12 million taxpayer-funded underground ballroom at the Governor's Mansion. Gov. Ballroom claimed on Monday that opponents are...

Chick-A-Boom: Are Bredesens Aiming to Beat New Blasting Regulations?, December 17, 2007
A commenter at a previous post Monday [The Bredesen Boom], suggests that Gov. Phil Bredesen and his wife may wish to start construction of the $12 million taxpayer-funded underground ballroom at the Governor's Mansion before the end of 2007 because...

Did Rob Briley Get Off Easy?, December 17, 2007
According to news reports, state Rep. Rob Briley will only serve 10 days in jail, and pay a $350 fine, for his DUI conviction - and related felony charges including evading arrest after his flight from cops across two counties...

The Bredesen Boom, December 17, 2007
Gov. Phil Bredesen and his wife may be rushing to start construction of their multi-million-dollar underground ballroom before the legislature comes back into session in January. I've received confirmation that neighbors near the Governor's Mansion in Oak Hill have begun...

Birds of a Feather, December 17, 2007
The City Paper reveals that former state Sen. Bob Rochelle, D-Lebanon, may have played a role in the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance's decision to ask the Attorney General if they have the legal authority to fine former state Sen....

Tennessee: Crisis State for Healthcare Access, AMA Says, December 16, 2007
According to a January 2007 report by the American Medical Association, 17 states, including Tennessee, are currently in “medical crisis” in terms of numbers of physicians and specialists, available facilities, and affordable insurance coverage. In its new report, Medical...

Small Potatoes, December 16, 2007
The state paid $20,000 more for a new wheelchair lift at Legislative Plaza than the price the contractor bid, The Tennessean reports. Small potatoes. I mean, when the state is spending $20 million on a renovation and largest-in-the-country lavish underground...

The Past or the Future, December 15, 2007
The Associated Press reports that state Sen. John Wilder, D-Somerville, plans to run again for the state Senate in 2008. Wilder, who will be 87 on election day, served as Senate Speaker and Lt. Governor for 36 years until the...

Thoughs on the Nursing Home Crisis..., December 13, 2007
Another day at the office, another chance to thump Democrat failures....

It's the Spending, Stupid, December 13, 2007
Various news media are reporting that Tennessee Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz is predicting the state will have a "revenue shortfall" of about $200 million this year, a fgure he arrived at by averaging the revenue projections from various economists who...

Tennessee's $114.6 Million Surplus, December 12, 2007
Tennessee Gov. Bredesen's budget deficit shrank just a little in November as tax collections came in slightly above estimates. Overall, the administration has collected $126.4 million less revenue than it expected to collect four months into the fiscal year. Business...

The Cooper Loophole, December 12, 2007
The City Paper reports that the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance is not sure it has the legal authority to fine former state Sen. Jerry Cooper $120,000 for stealing nearly $95,000 from his campaign donors. State law says the maximum...

Confirmed: Bredesen's Bunker Would Be Largest Ballroom at Any Governor's Mansion in the Nation, December 12, 2007
Ask and ye shall receive. As noted here earlier today I emailed the administrator of the Arkansas Governor's Mansion seeking specifics about the size of the mansion's "Grand Hall." Here is mansion administrator Ron Maxwell's response:The Arkansas Governor's Mansion Grand...

Bunker Mentality, December 12, 2007
The new non-partisan Tennesseans for Accountability in Government has done some fine research which they released at their press conference yesterday - and which the news media promptly ignored - showing that of the other 49 states, 35 do not...

Tax Talk, December 12, 2007
Today's must-read in Tennessee's political blogosphere is Terry Frank's look at data showing why the future economic health of Tennessee depends on it staying a low-tax state with no income tax. Exit question: Which political party in Tennessee has endorsed...

Democrats in the News, December 12, 2007
Former state Sen. Jerry Cooper, D-Morrison, goes before the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance today to appeal the $120,000 fine the TREF levied on him for his brazen act of stealing nearly $95,000 from his campaign donors over a two-year...

Democrat Math, December 11, 2007
Five years ago, Gov. Bredesen and his wife, Andrea Conte, told the people of Tennessee that they would renovate the state's official governor's residence for $9.5 million, of which only $1.5 million would come from funds collected from taxpayers. Now,...

Gov. Pass-the-Buck, December 9, 2007
Gov. Pass-the-Buck today blamed the legislature for the state's revenue shortfall, claiming it over-estimated revenues for the current fiscal year. But the budget passed by the legislature was not significantly different than the budget requested by Gov. Phil Bredesen. The...

Bredesen: Democrats Corrupt Because They've Been in Power A Long Time, December 7, 2007
Bribery. Theft. Fraud. Drunk Driving. Corruption. That's the face of the Tennessee Democrat Party these days, and the lead Tennessee Democrat, Gov. Phil Bredesen, says the root of the culture of corruption gripping his party's state legislative caucus is the...

The Long List, December 7, 2007
A few days ago I wrote a press release for the Tennessee Republican Party, and also blogged about it here, warning taxpayers to be on the alert as the Tennessee Revenue Department was looking for more tax exemptions to eliminate...

Is Tennessee's Hall Tax About to Be Declared Partially Unconstitutional?, December 7, 2007
Tennessee Department of Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr told a joint legislative committee on business taxes Wednesday that he would recommend the state begin applying the Hall tax to income from in-state municipal bonds, which are currently exempt from the tax...

Cooper Resigns - Fourth Corrupt Democrat to Leave State Senate in Disgrace in Past Two Years, December 7, 2007
It's official - state Sen. Jerry Cooper, the Morrison Democrat who in recent years became a poster child for the Tennessee Democratic Party's tolerance of a culture of corruption in its legislative caucus, has resigned from the legislature Thursday under...

Farr: Sales Tax Revenue Lost to Online Sales A Lot Lower Than Forecast, December 6, 2007
Tennessee Department of Revenue commissioner Reagan Farr admitted Wednesday that the state isn't losing nearly as much in sales tax revenue from online sales than previously forecast by University of Tennessee economist Bill Fox. Online merchants that have no physical...

Bredesen Administration Fights Court Order on Releasing Computer Records, December 6, 2007
The Bredesen administration continues to fight a judge's order that it turn over "forensic copies" of hard drives, file servers and storage media where documents, e-mails, databases and other information relating to a huge lawsuit alleging TennCare is failing to...

Technical Difficulties, December 6, 2007
Well, I tried yesterday to attend that legislative tax committee hearing I had written about here Tuesday but it turns out the committee moved the meeting time. Based on the various versions of the meeting notice that I have in...

Bredesen Administration Moves to Make Day Care Less Available, More Expensive, December 5, 2007
Tennessee's Democrat adminstration, being compassionate and all that, has announced a new policy intended to help welfare recipients with children in day care - but which may, in reality, put day cares out of business or force them to turn...

First, They Came to Tax Your Barbecue..., December 4, 2007
The Bredesen administration will reveal tomorrow which current tax exemptions it hopes to kill in the upcoming legislative session in order to raise more revenue. Tomorrow in Nashville, Gov. Phil Bredesen's Revenue Commissioner will present to a joint legislative tax...

Hangin' Mr. Cooper, December 4, 2007
News media and the blogs are all over the story of Sen. Jerry Cooper's reported intention to retire and not seek re-election, in the wake of his being fined $120,000 by the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance for stealing nearly...

Cooper Cashes Out, December 3, 2007
State Sen. Jerry Cooper is asking the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance to reduce his $120,000 fine they TREF levied against him for stealing nearly $95,000 from his campaign account, over two years and 23 separate checks, pocketing it for...

Bredesen Continues Blame-Shifting on Water Woes, December 3, 2007
After previously professing a "let them eat cake" attitude about local communities across Tennessee that lack sufficient access to water, Gov. Phil Bredesen seems to be having second thoughts. That doesn't change the fact that the governor and his administration...

Fiscal Responsibility Focus in Next Legislative Session, Lynn Says, December 2, 2007
State Rep. Susan Lynn - the Mount Juliet Republican who last June exposed how Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen's administration has been lying to legislators and the people of Tennessee by how much its spending has exceeded the state constitution's limit...

More from the Nathan Vaughn Whinery, December 2, 2007
More blame-shifting and excuse-making from Tennessee state Rep. Nathan Vaughn, D-Kingsport, in the Kingsport Times-News, trying to defuse the criticism over his failure to help local community organizations get their share of the state's Community Enhancement Grants money. In today's...

Democrat Wants a Do-Over, December 1, 2007
A Democrat state legislator in East Tennessee, Rep. Nathan Vaughn, failed to follow the rules or meet the deadline for the state's Community Enhancement Grants program, costing worthy would-be grantees in his district $100,000 in state funding. Does he take...

Ooby Doobie, November 19, 2007
The Saturday edition of The Tennessean carried an AP story about Democrats in the state legislature pushing legislation to legalize "medical marijuana." As written, though, the Democrat legislation would make it extremely easy for just about anyone to get a...

Sounding the Alarm, November 19, 2007
If you were listening to the Michael Delgiorno show on Supertalk 99.7 WTN this morning, you heard Michael and I discussing how the Bredesen administration is spending Tennessee into another fiscal crisis. There's more information on that topic here....

Revenue Crisis Update, November 17, 2007
Today's Tennessean carries the AP report on the state's growing tax revenue "shortfall," which doesn't mention at all the role of the state's over-spending in creating the new fiscal crises. The Tennessee Republican Party issued a statement to the media...

Growing Budget Crisis Exposes Bredesen Administration's Excessive Spending, November 16, 2007
Gov. Phil Bredesen's administration announced today that, three months into the fiscal year, the state budget has a $135.9 million revenue shortfall, and blamed lower-then-projected tax collections. What they won't tell you is that the shortfall isn't a revenue problem....

Coddling Corruption, November 15, 2007
David Oatney thinks that the way Tennessee Democrats have handled the scandalous and criminal behavior by state Rep. Rob Briley and state Sen. Jerry Cooper bespeaks a party that has grown arrogantly comfortable with power. Oatney's right, the Democrats have...

Cooper Coverage, November 15, 2007
Here's NewsChannel5's story on the record $120,000 fine levied on state Sen. Jerry Cooper, D-Morrison, for his theft of nearly $95,000 from his campaign account. (Hit the play button after the page loads. If it doesn't load properly, you can...

Making Crime Pay, November 14, 2007
This is George Harding of Lebanon, Tennessee. He was the only member of the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance to vote against fining state Sen. Jerry Cooper, D-Morrison, $120,000 for diverting nearly $95,000 in campaign funds to his personal account...

Another Top Bredesen Official Gets Ticket Favor, November 14, 2007
If you're a leadfoot driver and don't want to have to pay your speeding tickets, you might want to apply for a job in the Bredesen administration. Added bonus: If you sell THP promotions for campaign donations you won't get...

Did Crutchfield Vote Illegally?, November 13, 2007
Did former state Sen. Ward Crutchfield, one of three Democrat state senators convicted for taking bribes in the Tennessee Waltz investigation, cast a vote illegally in the special state senate election in the 10th district to pick his replacement? Felons...

More Questions for Sen. Cooper, November 12, 2007
State Sen. Jerry Cooper faces a hearing before the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance this week (Nov. 14th) regarding his illegal diversion of $95,000 in campaign funds to his personal bank account several years ago. Registry officials ought to expand...

Open Meetings Law Update, November 11, 2007
The Associated Press takes a look at efforts by some elected officials trying weaken the state's Open Meetings law, and by others to protect the law or even strengthen it and give it some teeth....

How Much Tax Money Is Being Spent on the "Privately Funded" Renovation of the Governor's Mansion?, November 10, 2007
NewsChannel5 reports on how difficult it is to get to the truth about just how much tax money is being spent on the renovation of the Tennessee Governor's Mansion, a project that was asserted for years as being funded by...

Let Them Drink Sand II, November 10, 2007
The AP reports that Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen says the state won't help communities improve their water systems. Which begs the question of why the state bothers to regularly compile updated reports on the status of public water systems infrastructure...

A Poll Question For Tennessee Taxpayers, November 8, 2007
 Should the state of Tennessee give $190,000 of taxpayers' dollars to a corporation that projects profits of $15 million to $17 million next year on revenues of $747 million? YesNo view resultsFree vote poll Gov. Phil Bredesen yesterday announced...

Rudeness, November 8, 2007
Gov. Phil Bredesen has always been a tad thin-skinned, and it shows in today's AP story about the proposed underground party room he wants to build at the Governor's Mansion, a project that will cost taxpayers $3.86 million. "They were...

Democrats Play the "We Too" Game, November 7, 2007
Statehouse Democrats got some decent media play this week for their proposal to give $1,000-per semester lottery-funded scholarships to veterans of the War on Terror, but the media didn't tell readers that Republicans pushed legislation in the House and Senate...

Let 'Em Drink Sand, November 7, 2007
Gov. Phil Bredesen is spending $3.86 million in tax dollars for adding a party room to the Governor's Mansion. That's ten times what it would cost to install a new water pipeline so the drought-stricken people of Orme, Tennessee, could...

The Grand-Standing Governor and the Town That Almost Died of Thirst, November 6, 2007
Democrat Gov. Phil Bredesen's grand-standing on the issue of protecting Tennessee River water from being taken by other states doesn't make up for his administration's gross neglect of the state's water infrastructure needs for five years running, the Tennessee Republican...

Where There's Smoke..., November 6, 2007
Yet another state official appointed by Democrat Gov. Phil Bredesen needs a refresher course in ethics and conflict-of-interest. This time its Education Commissioner Lana Seivers....

Alcoholic Beverage Commission Runs Amok Under Bredesen's Management, November 5, 2007
The Sunday Tennessean report on the cozy relationship between the state Alcoholic Beverage Commission and liquor and wine wholesalers caught breaking the law more than 300 times exposes yet again the managerial incompetence of the Bredesen administration - as does...

Federal Judge Orders Forensic Review of Bredesen Administration Computers in Huge TennCare Lawsuit, November 5, 2007
The Tennessee Journal reports today that U.S. District Judge Joe Haynes has ordered the Bredesen administration to allow a forensic inspection of computers used by Gov. Phil Bredesen, Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz, and 158 other "key custodians" of records related...

Refocusing Government on Its Spending Problem, November 5, 2007
In 2003, the voters of Spring Hill, Tennessee, approved a city charter change that requires that property tax increases be approved by voters in a referendum. Today, the city of Spring Hill is facing a bit of a revenue shortfall...

TACIR Report Comes Under More Fire, November 4, 2007
The Shelbyville Times-Gazette continues to expose questionable data in the recent report released by the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations estimating the cost of future public infrastructure needs across the state.But while TACIR corrected figures for Bedford County schools,...

Wealthy Bredesen Accepts Taxpayer-Funded Healthcare, November 4, 2007
Here's Tom Humphrey's article in the Knoxville News Sentinel on the financial disclosures filed by Gov. Phil Bredesen and U.S. senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker in which it is revealed that Bredesen - whose net worth is somewhere above...

TACIR Report Update: More Errors?, November 2, 2007
Earlier today I blogged an article in Thursday's Shelbyville Times-Gazette which revealed that the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations had grossly over-estimated the amount of new school construction is needed in Bedford County, and questioned whether the rest of...

Tennessee Schools Report Card Released, November 2, 2007
Is our children learning? You can find out by sifting through the Tennessee Department of Education's Statewide Report Card for 2007, online here....

TACIR Overstates Tennessee's Infrastructure Needs, November 2, 2007
A new report released by the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) claims that Tennessee needs at least $5.7 billion spent on new infrastructure for education - that means new, expanded or renovated school buildings between now and 2009....

Gov. Bredesen Ignores the Sad Truths About China, November 2, 2007
Knoxville News Sentinel columnist Greg Johnson says Gov. Phil Bredesen's gushing about China glosses over the real - and horrifying - truths about that country. The real scandal of the Chinese toys being recalled for lead paint isn't that they...

Puff for the Kids, October 31, 2007
When you stop and think about it, the way Congress funds the S-CHIP program is borderline insane. But it's not just Congress. Here in Tennessee the Bredesen administration needs you to smoke so it can fund education. In fact, with...

Read the RICO Lawsuit Against Bredesen, October 30, 2007
News media looking for a copy of the lawsuit filed Oct. 12 in Davidson County Chancery Court against Gov. Phil Bredesen and certain current or former members of his administration alleging federal racketeering and civil rights violations can download a...

Will Others Follow?, October 29, 2007
State Rep. John Hood, D-Murfreesboro, has announced he will not run for re-election in 2008, a decision that creates a high likelihood that the Republican Party will capture the seat as the 48th district, which includes a big swath of...

Let's Hear It For Open Government, October 29, 2007
The Memphis Commercial Appeal had an excellent editorial Sunday regarding the attempt by Tennessee Democrats to gut the state's open meetings law. Here is what the Tennessee Republican Party had to say about that same issue:This week state Democrats have...

Bredesen, Admininstration Hit with RICO Lawsuit, October 29, 2007
There's big news of a potentially serious lawsuit against the Bredesen administration - alleging RICO violations in its internal TennCare-related decision-making a few years back from blogger Sharon Cobb, who first exposed many of the documents at the heart of...

There Goes the Sun, October 28, 2007
Knoxville News Sentinel editor Jack McElroy, writing about the ongoing attempt by some public officials to gut the state's open meetings law:That fact is, the members of the Tennessee Municipal League and the County Services Association do understand the purpose...

Briley Q&A, October 25, 2007
Reporter John Rodgers of Nashville's The City Paper has a pretty good interview with state Rep. Rob Briley, the Nashville Democrat who recently was arrested on multiple felony charges after driving drunk, leaving the scene of an accident and leading...

Tennessee Democrats Push For Less-Open Government, October 24, 2007
A legislative "study committee" voted yesterday to roll back part of the state's Sunshine Law, a move that, if adopted by the legislature, would make both state and local boards that discuss the public's business less open to the public's...

It Matters Who Governs, October 23, 2007
The Tennessee Republican Party issued a press release yesterday in the wake of a series of news reports about the failure of Tennessee to track teachers accused of sexual misconduct toward children. The Tennessee General Assembly's Democratic-controlled House Education Committee...

Tennessee Trial Lawyers Dump Lobbyist at Center of Briley Scandal, October 22, 2007
The Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association has dumped their chief lobbyist after revelations that she had an affair with the chairman of the Tennessee House Judiciary Committee while also lobbying the committee and its Democratic chairman, state Rep. Rob Briley, on...

Tennessee Bets $70 Million of Taxpayers' Money on Risky Switchgrass Gas Scheme, October 22, 2007
Conservationists consider it wildlife habitat and farmers have long thought of it as a weed, but if a new pilot cellulosic ethanol plant being built in Tennessee proves successful, "it" could soon be the source of fuel to replace up...

Local-Government Officials Seek To Gut Tennessee's Open Meetings Law, October 22, 2007
The Tennessee Municipal League and the Tennessee County Commissioners Association are lobbying the legislature to allow city and county governments to conduct more meetings in secret. The changes they are pushing would "gut" the state's Open Meetings Law, says Frank...

Cool Hand Phil, October 22, 2007
On Newsbusters: Why Gov. Phil Bredesen's use of a racist slur to describe Chinese workers who built the railroads across the American West in the 1800s hasn't - and likely won't - spur a media firestorm....

Bredesen Uses Offensive Ethnic Slur, October 19, 2007
Gov. Phil Bredesen used an offensive ethnic slur to describe Chinese workers who built the railroads across the American West in the 1800s, in a dispatch sent from Beijing and published in two Tennessee newspapers. Don't his PR folks or...

See No Evil, October 18, 2007
You can add state House Majority Leader Gary Odom and state Rep. Randy Rinks, the longtime chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, to the list of Democrats now claiming, most certainly dishonestly, that they didn't know that state Rep. Rob...

Protectionism At Its Worst, October 16, 2007
State Rep. Susan Lynn explains the history of the regulatory process by which the state of Tennessee is denying HCA the right to build a hospital in Spring Hill, Tennessee, a fast-growing city that has no hospital. Lynn calls the...

Healthy Competition, October 15, 2007
A Tennessee judge has issued a ruling limiting the supply of health care for the people of Spring Hill, Tennessee, and the surrounding communities. Frankly, I fail to see how limiting the supply of health care is likely to either...

Not the First Time, October 14, 2007
The Tennessee Department of Revenue thumbs its nose at the state's open records laws. It's not the first time that Revenue officials have tried to skirt the clear intent of the open records laws....

Briley/Naifeh Update, October 11, 2007
Here is the link to the Tennessee Republican Party's press release yesterday in the wake of the Nashville Scene story that revealed that state House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh knew of Democrat Rep. Rob Briley’s ongoing affair with the lobbyist for...

The $95,000 Question, October 11, 2007
An Associated Press story out today has me worried that the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance may be about to let state Sen. Jerry Cooper, D-Morrison, off easy for diverting $95,004 in campaign funds to personal use. Today's AP story...

Tennessee GOP Slams Naifeh's "Culture of Corruption", October 10, 2007
The Tennessee Republican Party has released a statement blistering the "culture of corruption" in Democratic House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh's state House of Representatives in the wake of today's disclosure in the Nashville Scene that Speaker Naifeh knew of Democrat Rep....

Nailing Briley ... and Naifeh, October 10, 2007
The Nashville Scene reports what the political blogosphere has known for weeks - state Rep. Rob Briley, D-Nashville, until recently the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, was having an affair with Mary Littleton, chief legislative lobbyist for the Tennessee...

20 Years Ago Versus Now, October 10, 2007
If Tennessee Democrats want to make an issue of a 20-year-old dismissed DUI charge against a Republican candidate for the state senate, I have two words for them: Rob Briley. The Chattanooga Times Free Press has dredged up a 20-year-old...

A Vote for Berke is a Vote for Higher Health Care Costs, October 9, 2007
Four years ago, voters in the state of Texas voted for a constitutional amendment capping non-economic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits at $250,000 and death suits at $1.6 million, one of the lowest caps in the country. The result: Texas...

10th District Senate Race: Berke Is Part of the Problems He Says He Wants to Help Solve, October 9, 2007
Chattanooga trial lawyer Andy Berke, the Democratic nominee to replace convicted bribe-taker and fellow Democrat Ward Crutchfield in the Tennessee state Senate, is part of an industry whose very impact on the Tennessee economy creates many of the problems he...

Brock Offers Entrepreneurial and Financial Background For State Senate Seat, October 9, 2007
Chattanooga businessman Oscar H. Brock, son of former U.S. Sen. Bill Brock, is the Republican nominee for the state Senate seat vacated by Democrat Ward Crutchfield, who resigned because of his conviction on federal bribery charges. The general election is...

Farr Fumes, October 3, 2007
State Rep. Stacey Campfield's blog post about the unanswered constitutional questions raised by Tennessee Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr's plan to have state troopers monitor Tennesseans' cigarette purchases at stores just across the border in neighboring states causes Farr to lose...

Disclosures Aplenty, September 27, 2007
The Tennessee Center for Policy Research found four Tennessee government officials who haven't filed the required financial disclosure forms, despite repeated reminders to do so from the Tennessee Ethics Commission. None of the four are "big fish," and it's worth...

Secret Taping in the Bredesen Administration, September 21, 2007
So, under the Bredesen administration, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation started secretly taping phone calls and face-to-face meetings with members of the public. WSMV broke the story. The City Paper has a very good commentary. Republicans in the...

Hsu Confesses to Massive Fraud - Now Will Tennessee Democrats Give Up Their Hsu Money?, September 21, 2007
Terry Frank wonders if, now that big-time Democratic Party fund-raiser Norman Hsu has confessed to orchestrating a massive fraud scheme, "will the Tennessee Democrat Party return the $58,000 they received in 2006 to run state and federal races?" I hope...

Tennessee Democratic Party Largest Recipient of Hsu Money, September 17, 2007
Suitably Flip has crunched tons of campaign finance data and has the latest totals on all the money that flowed into the campaign coffers of dozens of Democratic candidates and party organizations in recent years from convicted felon fund-raiser Norman...

Gregory Fires Back, September 17, 2007
The Kingsport Times News reports that major Republican campaign donor John Gregory "is going on offense in an attempt to clear up his professional record and counter future attacks by Democrats" tied to his financial support for the Tennessee Republican...

Tennesseans for Higher Taxation, September 17, 2007
NewsChannel5 reports that Tennesseans for Fair Taxation, a liberal pro-income tax group generally aligned with the Tennessee Democratic Party, wants to reduce or eliminate the state's 5.5 percent sales tax on food. But in the 2007 session of the state...

Boot Briley, September 14, 2007
Various news media outlets and blogs are reporting that state Rep. Rob Briley, arrested last weekend for drunk driving, evading arrest and vandalizing a police car, has resigned his chairmanship of the House Judiciary Committee. That's good news, but the...

Briley Update, September 14, 2007
A.C. Kleinheider has two good updates on state Rep. Rob Briley, arrested last weekend for drunk driving, evading arrest and vandalizing a police car, here and here....

If It's Not A Business Relationship, What Is It?, September 13, 2007
VolunteerVoters.com blogger A.C. Kleinheider does some fine journalistic work and surfaces an interesting factoid: state Rep. Rob Briley's lawyer, one Mary Littleton, also is the registered lobbyist for the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association. Now, who is the lobbyist for the...

Does Naifeh Think Bredesen is a "Lowlife?", September 13, 2007
Tennessee House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh famously called people "lowlifes" who called for the resignation of state Rep. Rob Briley in the wake of his arrest on charges of drunk driving, evading arrest (for a lengthy high-speed chase) and vandalism of...

The Full Briley, September 13, 2007
Christian Grantham passed along the link to the full 16 minute dash cam video of the arrest of state Rep. Rob Briley, who is charged with drunk driving.evading arrest, and vandalism. The Tennessean has put a five-minute excerpt on its...

Cooper On the Hot Seat, September 12, 2007
Happily, My prediction earlier today that the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance wouldn't go after state Sen. Jerry Cooper for diverting $95,004 from his campaign fund to his personal account will not come true as TREF voted to investigate. Details...

Briley Update, September 12, 2007
Nashville's WSMV Channel 4 News has the police car dashboard camera video of the drunk-driving arrest of state Rep. Rob Briley, D-Nashville. No chase video, though. Does chase video exist? If so, who will publish it first - the news...

Will They Really Do Anything?, September 12, 2007
Tennessee election finance officials today will consider the allegations that state Sen. Jerry Cooper took nearly $100,000 in campaign funds and deposited it into his personal bank account, the Tennessean reports on its website. Writing on the paper's politics blog,...

Briley Update, September 11, 2007
State Rep. Rob Briley, the Nashville Democrat arrested over the weekend in Wilson County for drunken driving and vandalism after, allegedly, driving drunk, leaving the scene of an accident, leading police on a high-speed chase, and vandalizing a police car,...

DUI Legislator Update, September 10, 2007
State Rep. Stacey Campfield has more here and here on the various criminal charges facing state Rep. Rob Briley, a Nashville Democrat accused of driving drunk, leaving the scene of an accident, leading police on a lengthy high-speed (100mph) chase,...

Living In the Past, September 10, 2007
The Tennessee Democratic Party evidently still thinks it is July 4th....

DUI Lawmaker Urged to Resign, September 10, 2007
DUI. Evading arrest. Those are just two of the charges facing state Rep. Rob Briley, D-Nashville, after his weekend arrest in Wilson County just east of Nashville. Various Republicans, including the state party, are calling on him to resign. VolunteerVoters.com...

Court: Tennessee "Crack Tax" Unconstitutional, September 7, 2007
The Tennessee Court of Appeals has ruled the state's "crack tax" to be unconstitutional, violating both the state and federal constitutions. The Tennessee Center for Policy Research, which has done research showing that the "unauthorized substances tax" http://billhobbs.com/2006/07/tennessee_to_continue_collecti_1.html">costs taxpayers more...

Tennessee GOP: Hsu, Gregory Not the Same, September 5, 2007
The Tennessee Republican Party has issued a press release regarding the widening scandal involving the Tennessee Democratic Party, national Democrats and convicted-felon fund-raiser Norman Hsu - and the attempts by the Tennessee Democratic Party and allied bloggers to deflect attention...

Critics: State's Report on Impact of Illegals Purposely Biased, September 4, 2007
From NewsChannel5: Critics Charge State Comptroller's Immigration Report Is Biased.Several lawmakers are accusing the comptroller's office of skewing the facts and presenting a biased report to possibly shape future legislation. Another critic Carol Swain, a law and political science professor...

Is Bredesen Administration Double-Counting Revenue to Set Higher Spending Baseline?, August 30, 2007
Goetz: Using Revenues as Baseline OK Even Though Constitution Says OtherwiseNASHVILLE - Tennessee state Finance Commissioner David Goetz claims in a Nashville City Paper article that it doesn't really matter if the state follows the clear language of the state...

Bredesen's spokesman on illegal budget: "We feel comfortable with what we've done.", August 29, 2007
NASHVILLE - Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen's press secretary says the governor "has not seen" the state attorney general's legal opinion that says, in effect, the budget the governor signed into law is unconstitutional, but, says press secretary Lydia Lenker, "We...

TN Attorney General: State Budget Violates Constitution, August 29, 2007
(Editor's note: This post updated Wednesday afternoon with response from governor's office at end.) NASHVILLE - Tennessee Attorney General Robert E. Cooper Jr. has issued his legal opinion and, although he doesn't come right out and say it, the implication...

The Road to Disaster is Paved With Bad Fiscal Policy, August 28, 2007
A reader emailed a story suggestion for this blog that, unfortunately, I lack the time to dig into. But it's a good story idea.In the aftermath of the bridge collapse in MN, The Tennessean did a story titled "More drivers,...

Honored to be Nominated, August 23, 2007
A.C. Kleinheider is taking a poll on the question "Who is the best political writer in Nashville?" You vote here....

Tennessee Does Not Currently Tax Home-Brewed Biofuels, August 22, 2007
Yesterday on the blog I asked if Tennessee taxed home-brewed biofuels, after reading a story from North Carolina about a man there hit with big fines for not paying the state's motor fuels tax on some bio-diesel he made at...

Does Tennessee Tax Home-Brewed Biodiesel?, August 21, 2007
The Charlotte Observer has the story of a man who ran afoul of the North Carolina tax authorities when he converted his 1981 diesel Mercedes to run on biodiesel made from soybean oil.Bob Teixeira decided it was time to take...

Democrats to Help Williams, August 15, 2007
I mentioned yesterday that Mike Faulk is running to replace former Republican Micheal Williams in the state Senate. Now comes a report that prominent Democrats are angling to help Williams stave off the challenge. I think this actually helps Faulk...

TCPR Files Complaint Over Cooper Taking Nearly $100,000 in Campaign Funds for Personal Use, August 10, 2007
The Tennessee Center for Policy Research plans today to file a sworn complaint against state Sen. Jerry Cooper, D-Morrison, with the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance, asking the TREF to investigate whether Sen. Cooper illegally diverted nearly $100,000 in...

TN GOP Goal: Majority by 2010, August 7, 2007
From today's Nashville City Paper:As her No. 1 goal, new state Republican Party Chairman Robin Smith has her sights trained ultimately on 2010 so Republicans can redraw legislative districts to the GOP's liking. In order to get there, Smith has...

Drug Pushers at the Legislature, August 6, 2007
The Tennessee Center for Policy Research has a bombshell report today - emails indicating some employees of the Tennessee state legislature are selling or distributing prescription drugs, possibly even "black market" drugs, which would be a violation of all kinds...

Bredesen Moves Qualifacts Out of Blind Trust, July 27, 2007
Financial disclosures signed by Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen indicate that, sometime in the past year, the governor moved Qualifacts Systems, a healthcare software company he founded before becoming governor, out of the "blind trust" in which most of his investments...

City Paper: State Budget May Violate State Constitution, July 23, 2007
The City Paper becomes the first mainstream news outlet to report on the likelihood that the Tennessee state government has repeatedly violated the state constitution and state law in how it calculates the annual cap on the growth of state...

Tennessee MSM Continues to Ignore Bredesen Administration's Flagrant Violation of Key State Constitution Budget Provision, July 19, 2007
As I reported Wednesday afternoon, state Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Mt. Juliet, has requested Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper to issue an opinion as to the constitutionality of the method by which the state currently calculates how much it may increase...

Challenging the Bredesen Administration on Its Copeland Cap Violations, July 18, 2007
State Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Mt. Juliet, has requested Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper to issue an opinion as to the constitutionality of the method by which the state currently calculates how much it may increase the state budget each year...

Betting on the Wrong Horse?, July 16, 2007
Is Tennessee about to bet $70 million of the taxpayers' money on the wrong horse? While the state of Tennessee is preparing to spend some $70 million in taxpayers' money subsidizing an effort to develop an ethanol industry based on...

Wonderful and Crooked, July 12, 2007
There's an amazing bit of information in today's Chattanooga Times-Free Press story regarding state Sen. Ward Crutchfield's decision to plead guilty on the eve of his trial on federal bribery and extortion charges stemming from the FBI's Operation Tennessee Waltz...

Bredesen Breaks Oath of Office, Violates Constitition By Signing Unconstitutional Budget Into Law, June 30, 2007
The City Paper reported Friday that Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen has signed the state’s nearly $28 billion budget into law, having done so on Thursday, two days before the beginning of the new fiscal year. The City Paper outlines the...

Swallowing the Camel, June 18, 2007
In the final days of the 2007 session of the Tennessee General Assembly, State Treasurer Dale Sims admitted that, for years, the state has ignored the state constitution and state law regarding the limit on the annual growth of state...

Sen. Cooper Illegally Pockets Campaign Cash, June 14, 2007
State Sen. Jerry Cooper has taken $95,000 from his campaign account and put it in his personal bank account over the years, according to evidence that surfaced during his recent trial on federal fraud charges. That's illegal. The Tennessee Registry...

Caught on Video: State Treasurer Admits State Ignores the Law on Spending Limits, June 13, 2007
As a follow-up to my post yesterday reporting that the state budget may include nearly $1 billion in unconstitutional spending, Ben Cunningham has posted the video of an exchange on the state House floor between state Rep. Susan Lynn and...

State Budget Nearly $1 Billion Over the Cap, June 12, 2007
All hell may be about to break loose in Tennessee, politically speaking, regarding the state budget. But, you say, the legislature has already passed the budget, the debate is over, right? Well, perhaps not. My sources tell me new $28...

Bredesen Administration Launches New Assault on the "Copeland Cap", June 12, 2007
As I warned back in April, Gov. Phil Bredesen's administration indeed has pushed legislation through the General Assembly to once again break the state constitution's cap on the year-over-year growth of the state budget in order to fund Gov. Phil...

Trooper Alleges Bredesen Administration Hasn't Cleaned up the THP, June 12, 2007
Has the pay-to-play administration of Gov. Phil Bredesen really cleaned up its act in the Tennessee Highway Patrol and ended its corrupt practice of basing promotions on political affiliation and campaign contributions? One state trooper says no, and he's saying...

The Latest Daughtrey Debacle, June 10, 2007
In his latest Sunday column, Tennessean columnist Larry Daughtrey loads up on the misinformation and misdirection again regarding the state legislature's debate over the state budget and taxes. Daughtrey describes the coming half-cent reduction in Tennessee's sales tax on food...

New State Budget Offsets Major Tax Increase With Minor Tax Cut, June 8, 2007
The Tennessee legislature is close to an agreement on a $28 billion state budget that includes a minor tax cut, a major tax increase, and plenty of pork. After raising taxes by approximately $250 million per year, via the 42-cent...

Bipartisan Tax Cut Fever at the Legislature? Not Really..., June 6, 2007
The Associated Press reports that a bit of a bidding war has erupted between Democrats and Republicans in the state legislature over how and how much to cut the state's highest-in-the-nation sales tax on food.Senate Republicans have been championing a...

Funds For Abortion Provider Remain in Proposed State Budget, June 5, 2007
The Tennessee state Senate Finance Committee rejected attempts to strip funding for abortion-provider Planned Parenthood out of the proposed state budget Tuesday. Tennessee Right to Life reports......

Senator Calls for Deleting Money for Abortion Provider, June 5, 2007
State Sen. Diane Black, R-Gallatin, wants to amend the governor's budget proposal to strip out the $1.3 million the Bredesen administration wants to give to abortion-provider Planned Parenthood, The Tennessean reports....

Awash in Surplus Money, Legislature Raises Taxes Anyway, June 5, 2007
The state House has passed the 42-cent increase in the cigarette tax, already passed by the state Senate. Kleinheider has the details and the inside baseball. What I want to know is, who were the 13 Republicans who voted for...

Clueless?, June 1, 2007
I have tried a few times to craft a response to Tennessean political columnist Larry Daughtrey's latest offering published last Sunday, but I can't do it. The column is resistant to serious fisking or even parody. Daughtrey's column defends pork-barrel...

Democrats Raise Taxes Amid Record Revenue Surplus, June 1, 2007
Faced with a $1.3 billion revenue surplus, Tennessee's Gov. Phil Bredesen did what comes naturally to a Democrat: He called for a tax increase. And, faced with a $1.3 billion surplus, the Democrats in the state Senate, with the help...

Bredesen Administration Reponds to "Political Payoffs" Charge, June 1, 2007
Gov. Phil Bredesen's office has issued a statement in response to the report yesterday from the Tennessee Center for Policy Research that compared Bredesen's budget pork with the contributions to his 2002 and 2006 campaigns and found the nearly every...

Bredesen Budget Funds Abortion Provider, May 31, 2007
Gov. Phil Bredesen's proposed budget includes $1.1 million tax dollars for Planned Parenthood, the world's largest promoter and performer of abortion, reports Tennessee Right to Life. While, technically, the money is earmarked for non-abortion services offered by Planned Parenthood, the...

Bredesen Pork Political Payoffs?, May 31, 2007
The Tennessee Center for Policy Research has compared Gov. Phil Bredesen's budget pork with the contributions to his 2002 and 2006 campaigns and found something rather startling: Nearly every proposed private, nonprofit and non-governmental recipient of Bredesen's last minute half-billion...

Bredesen Signs Anti-Consumer Ban on Real Estate Rebates, May 31, 2007
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen has signed into law legislation that reinstates a ban on real estate agents offering cash rebates for home sales and other real estate transactions - even though such a ban likely violates federal law. The Tennessean...

"We Should Not Even Be Contemplating a Tax Increase.", May 31, 2007
House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada, R-Franklin, has an op-ed in today's Tennessean contrasting how the Republicans and Democrats in the state House view fiscal policy.The fundamental difference between Democrats and Republicans has been revealed this year: The Democrats want...

Either/Or, May 31, 2007
The Tennessean is running this poll on its website today. Early Thursday morning "toll roads" was winning by about a 2-1 margin. You can follow the results here. I didn't vote in the poll because it presents the question as...

Bredesen WILL Bust the Copeland Cap, May 30, 2007
Tennessee Finance Commissioner David Goetz says in today's Nashville City Paper that Gov. Phil Bredesen's proposed $28 billion budget would not break the state constitution's "Copeland Cap" on the year-over-year growth of the budget. I don't believe him - they...

"He Felt There Was Really No Need to Do the Tax Relief.", May 30, 2007
Gov Phil Bredesen is a wealthy man. A very wealthy man. His estimated net worth, amassed by running HMOs, is around $150 million. So he probably really didn't feel that there was any need to include a little tax relief...

Bredesen's Behemoth Budget, May 30, 2007
Gov. Phil Bredesen's behemoth budget proposal - at $28 billion it is half a billion dollars larger than the budget Bredesen proposed three months ago and $10 billion more than the state budget when he took office five years ago...

Bredesen: Millions for Big Biz, Nothing For You, May 30, 2007
Today's Tennessean front-pages a story about the raft of new corporate tax breaks being proposed by the Bredesen administration, tax breaks the administration is seeking even as it also refuses to cut the state's high sales tax on food and...

No Tax Increase Pledge Update, May 29, 2007
One week ago I emailed all 46 members of the Tennessee state House of Representatives and all 16 Republicans in the state Senate and invited them to respond to a pledge to not vote for any tax increases this year,...

Bredesen Administration Seeks End to Budget Safeguards, May 29, 2007
The Bredesen administration is trying to gut the Tennessee Government Accountability Act, passed just five years ago to add "performance-based" budgeting standards to the budgeting and financial operation of state government. State Sen. Jim Kyle, who carries the Bredesen administration's...

Up in Smoke, May 29, 2007
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...

Reviving the Discussion, May 27, 2007
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...

Porky Pigs, May 25, 2007
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...

The Pork List, May 24, 2007
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...

No Tax, No Pork, May 24, 2007
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...

No-Tax-Increase Pledge Update, May 24, 2007
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...

Tax Increase Amid Surplus Looks More Likely, May 24, 2007
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,...

Fitzhugh Update, May 24, 2007
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......

Statehouse Dems Lying About GOP's No-New-Taxes Budget Plan?, May 23, 2007
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...

90 Seconds, May 23, 2007
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...

State GOP Lawmakers Should Take the No-Tax-Increase Pledge, May 23, 2007
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...

Rep. Fitzhugh No Friend of Open Government, May 22, 2007
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...

Business Community Ranks Tennessee Seventh-Best Legal System, May 22, 2007
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....

Spending the Surplus Will Smash the Copeland Cap, May 21, 2007
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...

Who Lobbies for Taxpayers?, May 21, 2007
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...

"Raising Taxes With State Awash in Revenue is Disgraceful.", May 19, 2007
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...

Joe Slumlord, D-Brentwood, May 19, 2007
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...

Bacon Bits, May 18, 2007
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 Hous