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Extended Review: Representative Terri Lynn Weaver

Posted on by Clittleton

Download a PDF of this report here.

How does your legislator stack up? What is their grade?

Here is the good news about your State Representative, Terri Lynn Weaver.

Serving district 40 since 2009, she has been a mighty warrior for conservative values. This year she is the highest scoring member of the entire Tennessee House of Representatives, scoring a remarkable 98% in a very tough year.

Corporate welfare defined this legislative session, but we believe public risk for private benefit is wrong. Our state government should not be giving taxpayer money to private entities. Kudos to Ms. Weaver for choosing to defend taxpayers and small business owners instead of billion dollar corporations.

Weaver showed remarkable courage, defying lobbyists and leadership by voting NO on three major corporate welfare bills:

  • Voted AGAINST bills to provide over $1 billion dollars for an electric vehicle plant in West Tennessee
  • Voted AGAINST a bill to provide a half billion dollars for a new Titans stadium
  • Voted AGAINST a bill to give an 80% tax-break to Cincinnati Reds farm team

Rep. Weaver earned an A for leadership, accruing an impressive 80 merits in sponsorships, co-sponsorships, and other meritorious actions.

She supported constitutionally conservative bills selected by this organization, including on education. She passed a bill that requires passing a civics exam for high school graduation, a bill that makes obscene or pornographic material in school libraries a criminal act, and she voted against the new education funding formula which provided more money, but did little to reform key problems in Tennessee schools.

Principles supported: education reform, medical freedom, gun rights, fiscal responsibility, governmental transparency, election integrity, and constitutional fidelity.

It’s important to retain legislators that hold the line and represent ordinary Tennesseans, and just as important to replace those that do not.

For information on all 132 members of the Tennessee General Assembly, go to: tnreportcard.org

Your Tennessee Legislative Report Card Team

Extended Review: Senator Jack Johnson

Posted on by Clittleton

Download a PDF of this report here.

How does your legislator stack up? What is their grade?

Here is the bad news about your State Senator, Jack Johnson.

First elected to the State Senate in 2006, Johnson has never had an opponent in

the Republican primary, and his extremely low score of 62 reflects that lack of challengers. Johnson is the fourth lowest scoring Republican in the Senate.

Johnson previously voted to raise the gas tax by 25%,

driving fuel costs higher than necessary in Tennessee.

And this year, corporate welfare defined the legislative session. We believe public risk for private benefit is wrong. Our state government should not be giving taxpayer money to private entities. Sadly, Senator Johnson refused to defend taxpayers and small business owners, and gave their money to billion dollar corporations by voting YES on three major corporate welfare bills:

  • He voted YES to provide over $1 billion dollars for an electric vehicle plant in West Tennessee
  • He voted YES to provide a half billion dollars for a new Titans stadium
  • He voted YES to give an 80% tax-break to Cincinnati Reds farm team

Senator Johnson earned a C for leadership, which is particularly significant when he is the Senate Majority Leader and has great influence over the other Republican members.

In just one example, Senator Johnson feigned an objection to the $500 million for the new Tennessee Titans Stadium by removing it from the budget, but then went on to vote for it when the time came.

The Tennessee Legislative Report Card grades legislators on bills and leadership that allow every Tennessean to thrive, paying particular attention to education reform, medical freedom, fiscal responsibility, property rights, and cronyism.

We are sad to report that Senator Jack Johnson is not living up to those principles. It’s important to retain legislators that hold the line and represent ordinary Tennesseans, and just as important to replace those that do not.

For information on all 132 members of the Tennessee General Assembly, go to: tnreportcard.org

Your Tennessee Legislative Report Card Team

2019 Tennessee General Assembly: The Art of Timidity

Posted on by Clittleton

This article was compiled by multiple people who spent countless hours and days in committee meetings, the halls of the statehouse and legislators’ offices. Pay special attention to the “procedural ruses” listed below. An ongoing goal of Tennessee Rising is transparency and accountability, and that requires knowing how the sausage is made.

Before or after reading the 2019 session summary, make sure to look up your legislator’s report card, and share the site with your friends.

2019 Tennessee General Assembly: The Art of Timidity

In the 2019 session of the Tennessee General Assembly, there was a lack of resolution on the part of most members. Preservation of one’s status with leadership and lobbyists, re-election and general popularity seemed more important than doing what is good for the state and district constituents. Most legislator’s lacked either courage or leadership. Sometimes both. One word can some up 2019’s legislative session, timidity.

The few courageous new members that boldly come forth with freedom friendly bills were not well supported by veteran members as a whole, but were shut out and their pro-activity discouraged. Those bills were not always perfectly constructed, but instead of advising and helping to improve the bill, often the treatment was early rejection in sub-committee without much discussion as to the merits of the idea behind the bill.

A number of the bills supported by TLRC were passed in the House and made it through a Senate committee, only to be killed in the final Senate committee or on the Senate floor. In these cases, the House, more closely representing the citizens of Tennessee by virtue of smaller districts, has responded to the wishes of their constituents by sponsoring, discussing, and passing the legislation, but, at the last stage, only to have the senate disregard their wishes and their efforts in a “we know better” attitude, killing the bill and the hopes and expectations that it would become law.

With regards to abortion, two important bills were killed. The first was written to deny abortion once an unborn child’s heartbeat is detected. The other denies state or taxpayer money to entities providing abortions. Another bill prohibited governmental entities from contracting with a person who does not provide evidence of work authorization status.

Like many others, the 3 bills above were passed in the House of Representatives but were defeated in the Senate. Far more frequently, good legislation was killed in committee before a full vote even occurred. Tennessee Rising wanted more activity with regards to reform of civil asset forfeiture, occupational licensing, certificates of need, sentencing/criminalization reforms, transparency in government payments to private parties, proof of citizenship for Department of Health services and much more. Legislation existed on all of these items, but none of them came to fruition.

In 1975 Ronald Reagan said: “Our people look for a cause to believe in…raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues…” He continued with the banner metaphor saying, “It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell its numbers.”

This year was disappointing, not because of bad votes, but because of the general timidity that led to very few freedom friendly pieces of legislation becoming law. Instead, the legislature hoisted a banner of pale colors and shied away from anything bold.

Look up your legislators and view their report cards.
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For the upcoming activists, you should know these common procedural ruses:

SUMMER STUDY – Sometimes an actual time is set during the summer to further study the issue and attempt to come up with a better bill. More often it is just a graveyard for bills and issues they would rather not have to deal with.

FISCAL NOTES – One way to make certain a bill does not pass is to put an unaffordable price-tag on it. “Behind the budget” means it was tagged with a fiscal note; the measure had not been considered in the budget and it did not fall “within the sweep” or within limited fungible money that was included in the budget.

DEFERMENTS – Kicking the can down the road; send to another committee or to “next year”.

HEAD PAT – A vote or action to appease some organization or constituency that doesn’t actually mean anything.

MEME – A false argument or rumors, perpetuated to cloud reality.

SHINY OBJECT – Legislation or an issue with good talking points but no substance, contrived to distract from the real issue.

SHOW VOTE – A vote that doesn’t amount to anything, but gives lawmakers a talking point for their constituents. Often this comes after the whip count and they know their vote won’t change the outcome of the bill but, when it’s useful, they can tell their constituents they voted the other way.

HAMSTER WHEEL – Long, drawn out busy work designed to keep people busy: special committees or actions, investigations that are designed to go nowhere, waste people’s time, and generate headlines while keeping folks happy, allowing them to be seen doing something, even though it is not productive.

SHOW SPONSORSHIP – Co-sponsorship of a bill that doesn’t amount to anything, but gives lawmakers a talking point for their constituents. Often this comes when they know the bill won’t go anywhere (get “killed” somewhere along the way), but, when it’s useful, they can tell their constituents they sponsored the bill.

Tracking your legislators is crucial to accountability. The Tennessee Legislative Report Card is one of the most revealing ratings. By forewarning legislators of TLRC “key votes,” the General Assembly knows we are watching and will hold them accountable for which side of an issue they take. We will make sure each office has the information they need to take an informed, conservative position before casting a vote. We strive to evaluate every issue, big and small, to ensure accuracy of our scoring methods by making sure members stick to principles.

Thanks for reading our 2019 summary. If you can spare $5, help support our ongoing efforts.

Chris Littleton, Tennessee Rising Founder

2019 Tennessee Legislative Report Card Scoring Overview

Posted on by Clittleton

By Jackie Archer, leader of the Tennessee Legislative Report Card project.

You can search for your Tennessee legislators from the home page here.

You will notice some interesting contradictions between individual member’s vote scores and their leadership grades this year. There is a simple explanation. It is the difference between voting on very few divisive bills vs sponsoring good legislation.

Blind to who sponsored, we chose 37 bills to score; based only on the bill’s probable effect on our fellow Tennesseans in terms of liberty, fiscal responsibility, transparency, and fidelity to their oath (not to their cronies and special interests).

Of those 37 bills, 5 did not survive the first sub-committee, therefore very few members were given the opportunity to vote, yeah or nay.

Most Democrats vote in block. When their leadership decides what their position should be on a bill, with a few exceptions, they all vote accordingly. The Republican majority is 28 to 5 in the Senate, and 73 to 26 in the House, so the partisan opposition makes little difference. The differentiating votes are those that divide the majority.

Of the 32 remaining bills only 3 were controversial enough to receive mixed votes from the Republican majority. Those 3 were:
1] HB0001 – the sports gambling bill which we opposed
2] HB0850 – the alcohol sales and consumption on campus bill which we opposed
3] HB0077 – the “Heartbeat” bill which we supported.

HB0001 and HB0850 passed; **HB0077 failed.

With only three bills controversial enough to divide the Republican majority, that means, of the 32 that were scored in cases where all, or most all, of the members had an opportunity to vote, there were only 2 or 3 bad votes. That results in a pretty good vote score for most Republicans.

Leadership grades are based on other actions: sponsorships and co-sponsorships of worthy bills, and other observed good deeds that promote the values stated in paragraph two above. A few courageous members sponsor multiple ambitious bills. Less courageous members could co-sponsor those bills but fail to do so, even though they support them with their votes. Questions and arguments in the hearings can improve or diminish a bill’s chances. These actions are observed and noted. Members who do little but vote on the chosen bills do not earn points in the leadership column.

Members are given advanced notice of our methods and our reasoned positions on chosen bills, so they can easily earn points if they agree and act accordingly. We assume they are not accustomed to being so closely observed and judged. It is our hope that our vigilance will create incentive for them to be more accountable to their constituents in the future.

**It should be noted that HB0077 is slated to be studied at 1:00 P.M. on August 12, 2019 in House Hearing Room I at the Cordell Hull Building in Nashville with the premise of being rewritten and reintroduced in 2020. If you wish to be there to support the sponsors, it will be open to the public, as always.

Correction

Posted on by Jackie Archer

Notice:  A score has been revised for one of our distinguished members of the Tennessee House of Representatives.  Chairman Cameron Sexton received an incorrect vote score.  His corrected vote score is 98%, raising his Leadership Grade to a B+.  We regret the error and ask our readers to share this important revision.

 

For scoring and grading methodology, use the METHODOLOGY tab on the home page.

Did PAC Money Influence House Votes On The IMPROVE Act?

Posted on by Jackie Archer

Like most political action committees (PAC), the Tennessee Highway Contractors PAC contributes money to state legislators’ campaign accounts.  But would it surprise you to know that those contributions to State House members peaked in 2017, when the gas-tax and registration-fee increasing IMPROVE Act was voted on and passed by the Tennessee General Assembly?

The image above depicts the distribution of campaign contributions to State House members over a period of more than five years, starting in 2013 through the pre-primary report filed in July 2018.  Nearly half the PAC’s total contributions to House members were made in 2017, the year the IMPROVE Act was passed.

The table below depicts how House members voted for the IMPROVE Act relative to how much money they received from the Tennessee Highway Contractors PAC and the member’s political party.  Note that the PAC played no favorites when it came to political party, generously spreading contributions on both sides of the aisle.

As can be plainly seen, when contributions from the PAC were in excess of $2,500, only two House members found the wherewithal to vote against the IMPROVE Act, David Hawk and the late Ron Lollar.  Glen Casada was not on the House Floor at the time of the vote.

The top 25 recipients of Tennessee Highway Contractors PAC cash can be seen below along with what year they received the bulk of the contribution.  All of the top 25 recipients voted for the IMPROVE Act.

(Note:  The Top 25 from highest to lowest – Bill Dunn, Kevin Brooks, Tim Wirgau, Sam Whitson, Susan Lynn, Eddie Smith, Raumesh Akbari, Barry Doss, Craig Fitzhugh, Art Swann, Beth Harwell, Mike Stewart, Bill Beck, Patsy Hazlewood, Gerald McCormick, Antonio Parkinson, Ron Travis, Karen Camper, Gary Hicks, Curtis Johnson, Glen Casada, Curtis Halford, John Holsclaw, Dan Howell and Kelly Keisling.)

The contributions from the Tennessee Highway Contractors PAC is just the tip of the iceberg, in that there were many other IMPROVE Act interested parties and PACs that made contributions to House and Senate members.

For those who attended the various House Committee meetings and Floor Sessions and witnessed the repeated standing room only situations, this is what all those “suits” in the room yielded.