Tag Archives: Ron Ramsey

Hargett, Ramsey not quite satisfied with Voter ID ruling

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After the Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld the state’s requirement of voters to show photo identification at the polls, but also upheld library cards as valid forms of identification, Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey said the following:

While allowing library cards clearly violates the legislative intent of this law, the court rightly affirmed the law’s constitutionality. Just yesterday, we saw Democrat Party voter fraud efforts make national news in Virginia, as the son of a U.S. Congressman was caught on tape explaining how to commit fraud at the ballot box. This is exactly the type of illegal behavior our law will stop. Tennessee’s voter ID law is necessary, proper and completely constitutional. This has been made plain by the courts and remains undisputed.

Secretary of State Tré Hargett plans to appeal the ruling on library cards.

Pols react to Supreme Court ruling on healthcare law

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Gov. Bill Haslam:

We will review the entire Supreme Court’s opinion to fully understand its impact on the State of Tennessee. From initial reports, it appears the individual mandate has been ruled Constitutional and has been upheld. My primary issues with ObamaCare are that it takes away the flexibility for states to encourage healthy behavior, will cost Tennessee hundreds of millions of dollars, and does nothing to solve the crisis of the cost of health care in America. What was unanticipated is the section of the opinion that says states cannot be forced to expand their Medicaid program. This particular portion of the ruling is significant, but it is premature to know the exact ramifications. Now it is up to Tennesseans and Americans to turn their attention to the November election. By electing Mitt Romney, we can be sure that the entire law will be repealed.

Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey:

It is intensely disappointing that this court failed to recognize what constitutionalists and conservatives know deep in their hearts: A federal government which can coerce its people to buy a product is a government unrestrained and out of control. Democrat Governor Phil Bredesen called Obamacare the ‘mother of all unfunded mandates’ and stated it will cost Tennesseans 1.1 billion dollars in the next few years. However, the fight does not end here. The court may have made its decision today but the people have yet to speak. When they do, Mitt Romney will be elected president and I will do all I can to aid him as he fulfills his solemn promise to repeal this insidious law.

U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann:

The Supreme Court made the wrong decision today. The Constitution places specific limits on the government, and the court unfortunately did not recognize those limits in allowing Obamacare to stand. While the Supreme Court may consider the individual mandate a tax, the Obama administration repeatedly claimed that this was not a tax when they tried to pass Obamacare. Like many conservatives, I believe the individual mandate cannot be justified as a tax. Not only does Obamacare force Americans to buy insurance whether they want it or not, but it also forces Americans to subsidize birth control even if it violates their faith. Additionally, the law creates IPAB, the Independent Payment Advisory Board. This board is anything but advisory. It has the power to control Medicare payments, and its decisions carry the full force of law. The results of Obamacare are clear: Higher healthcare costs, hundreds of billions in tax increases, top down government control of healthcare, and a continuation of our massive deficits. Now, it is time for Congressional Republicans to demonstrate our commitment to smaller government, and continue the fight to repeal Obamacare. Our healthcare, our nation’s finances, and our national character demand nothing less.

U.S. House 3rd District candidate Bill Taylor (D):

That the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act this morning is “a victory for the common man,” said Bill Taylor, Democratic candidate for Congress in the 3rd District. “The ACA was created to stop the unfair advantage that insurance companies have gained over people’s ability to afford healthcare. “Our country currently ranks 37th in the world in terms of quality of healthcare. This decision will help us move forward in creating a system of affordable, quality care that is available to everyone.” Taylor noted that there is “still work to be done to make the healthcare system more efficient and workable. As an expert in healthcare, I can help to move this process forward in Congress in a leadership way.”

U.S. House 3rd District candidate Weston Wamp (R):

More will be posted as they become available.

More at Post Politics. Still more at Chattanoogan.com.

Who will evaluate the evaluations?

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As announced by Gov. Bill Haslam today, SCORE, the organization founded by former U.S. Sen. Bill Frist, and headed by former state Sen. Jamie Woodson, has been asked to conduct a formal assessment of the teacher evaluation process that was put into place as part of an education reform package that landed Tennessee a prize package of federal dollars in 2010.

An accompanying legislative resolution is sponsored by Rep. John Forgety (R-Athens) and Sen. Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville).

Here are video snippets of Wednesday’s announcement:

Here is the press release provided by the governor’s office.

Updated 27-Feb-2012 to correct a spelling error.

Bell Ops

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State Sen. Mike Bell of Riceville (District 9) has been named Chairman of the Government Operations Committee by Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey. Blogger David Oatney examined this move, and came away pleased:

What is most impressive about Mike Bell, however, is his work ethic. This writer will never forget the morning that he joined Representative Bill Dunn (R-Knoxville) in the office that he then shared with Mike Bell, as the two began work on procedural and legislative matters at 6:00AM-their secretaries arrived nearly two hours later, and they were already hard at work on the day’s business. To say that the Lieutenant Governor has made a wise choice to chair the Senate Government Operations Committee would be a major understatement.

The press release from Gov. Ramsey’s office follows:

Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey has announced the appointment of Sen. Mike Bell (R – Riceville) as the new Chairman of the Senate Government Operations Committee. He replaces Sen. Bo Watson who serves as Senate Speaker Pro Tempore.

“As Republicans, one of our highest callings is to increase accountability and efficiency in government,” said Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey. “Government Operations is where the real work of shrinking the size and scope of government gets done and Senator Mike Bell is the perfect choice to lead that effort.”

“Speaker Pro Tem Watson and Chairman Johnson have done great work transforming this committee into an active and industrious engine of reform,” Ramsey continued. “I am confident that Mike Bell will continue in that mold and excel in this new position.”

“I appreciate Lt. Governor Ramsey giving me the honor and opportunity to serve as Chairman of this committee,” said Senator Bell. “I look forward to working with the Lt. Governor to reduce the size of government and make Tennessee’s system more efficient and effective.”

The Government Operations Committee is responsible for legislation concerning the creation or reauthorization of new departments, commissions, boards, agencies or councils of state government. It also oversees licensing and certification of occupational and professional groups and reviews regulations promulgated by Tennessee departments, commissions, boards or agencies.

Kurita, where’ve you been so long?

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From Richard Winger’s Ballot Access News:

Sixth Circuit Finally Sets Hearing Date for Tennessee Political Party Rights Case
November 4th, 2011
The Sixth Circuit will hold oral arguments on January 17, 2012, in Kurita v State Primary Board of Tennessee Democratic Party. The hearing will be at 1:30 p.m. in Cincinnati. This is the fascinating case, filed in 2008, over whether a party has a constitutional right to set aside the results of its primary and designate the primary loser as the party’s nominee.

Funny thing about that phrase “whether a party has a constitutional right”: a search of the Tennessee Constitution yields not one mention of the term “political party.” I’m not suggesting that answers the question; just that it’s not answered as easily as one might hope.

You remember the case of former Sen. Rosalind Kurita, right? She was the one Democratic senator who, as the 105th General Assembly got underway in January 2007, voted against her party’s choice (the late former Lt. Gov. John Wilder), and made Ron Ramsey the Speaker of the Senate. Members of her party were incensed by this (even though they had enjoyed similar “turncoat” support for Wilder by two Republicans just two years prior), and they vowed to defeat her in the next primary election.

Well, they tried, but they didn’t. Kurita won that election over Tim Barnes by a very slim margin of nineteen votes. Denied their sweet revenge, some of the Democrats backing Barnes challenged the election. Since it was a primary, the ruling body presiding over the matter was the State Executive Committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party.

But wait. These were as a whole, in theory, the very people who were upset by Kurita’s 2007 vote, and though the party’s central committee and executives don’t officially involve themselves in primary contests (save in exceptional circumstances like the Tennessee Republican Party and perennial congressional candidate James L. Hart), one can only surmise the general attitude.

So it was that the state party decided to defer to local party officials in the district where the primary had been fought; and they, in turn, decided to install Tim Barnes as their candidate. Barnes went on to win the general election and is now Senator Tim Barnes of the 24th District.

Case closed, right? Here’s how one Democrat sees it:

Unfortunately for Kurita, the Tennessee Democratic Executive Committee is the ultimate arbiter of primary election results, and after what I thought were some rather dubious arguments of “fraud,” the election was kicked back to the county parties which voted for Tim Barnes to be the nominee.

Of course, it didn’t end there…Kurita filed a frivolous lawsuit against the TNDP, even though the Tennessee Code gives them clear authority, with little-to-no guidelines on how to interpret primary contests.

I can’t quite agree with Braisted’s characterization of Kurita’s lawsuit as “frivolous.” Where this gets muddy is in the very concept of public elections that are held to decide, not the holder of some office, but a certain political party’s choice for said contest. The Tennessee Democratic Party wanted its cake and ate it too.

Giving the party itself the authority to undo an election that was financed and administered by the people of the State may fly in the face of constitutional intent for elections. This is the matter that is before the Sixth Circuit.

Bottom line, this fact is inescapable: a small group of party activists overruled a public election and installed a nominee who was not the winner. (Yes, current law says that they may do so.) While there may have been some votes cast by citizens who usually consider themselves Republicans, the law says that if they were not challenged and proven at the time, it doesn’t matter. Tennessee does not have voter registration by party, and allows any voter to declare as a participant in a given primary.

Regardless of the outcome of this particular case, a change is needed to clarify where the authority truly lies in our elections. Some feel that instituting party registration and closing primaries to only registered members is the answer. Others would take party nominations out of the public arena altogether, and let the parties put up nominees by convention or other self-funded means. Both of these, as well as other options, have their good points and their drawbacks.

The status quo, however, is not acceptable. Now that ballot access has been made slightly more available to additional parties, major structural components of current state election law are in need of re-engineering. Political parties are naturally entwined in the electoral process; but a political party is not a branch of government. Just don’t tell the Democrats or Republicans that.

Fighting the parties on this is not going to be easy. It will be like entering an arm-wrestling contest and finding that one’s opponent is big and strong, has been doing this a long time, and, most importantly, gets to use both arms.

Note: this post is not intended to make me a de facto amicus curiæ in the Kurita case. Unless someone wants me to be.