Todd Gardenhire

Senator Todd Gardenhire (R): District 10, 1st Vice-Chairman of the Senate State and Local Government Committee. Senator Gardenhire, although considering a huge number of bills, has only endorsed one TLRC chosen bill with his co-sponsorship:

SB0474/HB0855 – Powers/Powers – All businesses are essential in emergencies; no discrimination allowed (passed).

TLRC chose to sponsor one of Senator Gardenhire’s bills:

SB0240/HB1049 – C. Sexton/Gardenhire – Transparency bill: requires a comptroller audit of government entities whose books are not open to public (passed).

Senator Gardenhire lost points because of two bills he supported that TLRC opposed:

SB0736/HB0141 – Johnson/Lamberth (a Governor’s bill with which we take issue) – Special tax exemption for the film and video industry which was supported by a large majority of the General Assembly (passed). TLRC does not support special carve-outs for cherry-picked industries. The government should not be picking winners and losers.

SB0783/HB1204 – Massey/Zachary – Authorizes a special sales and use tax allocation to finance Randy Boyd’s Baseball stadium in Knoxville at the expense of Tennessee taxpayers. Boyd is a mega millionaire (passed).

Media Stories on the subject:
Boyd Sports to Profit from Events Held at Taxpayer-Funded Stadium – Tennessee Star

Member of Senate Committee Considering Legislation for Randy Boyd’s Taxpayer-Funded Baseball Stadium is Employee of Law Firm That Could Benefit From Bill’s Passage – Tennessee Star

Five Sponsors of Bill Enabling Randy Boyd’s Taxpayer-Funded Baseball Stadium Received More Than $90,000 in Campaign Funds from Individuals with Ties to the Project – Tennessee Star

TLRC opposed those bills on fairness, fiscal-responsibility, and constitutional principles.

Gardenhire also lost points for opposing two bills that TLRC recommended for passing:

SB0230/HB0016 – Hensley/Cepicky – Teacher’s discipline freedom; creates a path for the removal of unruly student (passed).

SJR2 – Kelsey – Puts Right-to-Work into our Tennessee constitution, making it much more difficult to rescind (passed).

Senator Gardenhire sponsored forty-five bills, twenty of which passed into law, one of which TLRC scored. To access, go here.

We do not need more laws; we need better laws, and enforcement of the laws already on the books. The grassroots are looking for courage in our legislators: courage to stand up for constitutional principles over pressure from leadership and paid lobbyists. Senator Gardenhire is not that warrior; he does not seem to fully understand the constitutional limitations imposed on government and what is in the best interests of Tennesseans, Americans, and the preservation of our precious republic.

We are at a crisis point and now is the time to stand for the people instead of special interests, the wealthy, and well-connected, and against those who assume power through corruption and coercion. If we do not, we could very well lose our republic and our liberties.