Washington County Republican Party

Lamar Alexander Outlines “Republican Ideals” On Senate Floor

Senator Lamar Alexander, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, delivered a speech on the Senate floor Thursday morning “arguing about what he believes to be a key philosophical differences in governance that distinguishes Democrats from Republicans—the ‘comprehensive’ versus the ’step-by-step’ approach.”
…(read more) http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_167205.asp

Corker raises budget point of order on Health Care Bill

Exclusive: Rep. Parker Griffith switches to GOP

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30896.html

POLITICO has learned that Rep. Parker Griffith, a freshman Democrat from Alabama, will announce today that he’s switching parties to become a Republican.

Wamp: Republicans poised for a great year in Tennessee

By HANK HAYES (Johnson City Press)
NET News Service
Republican gubernatorial hopeful Zach Wamp predicted Monday that GOP candidates across Tennessee are “going to make history on almost every front” next year.
Wamp, who addressed about 50 people attending a Washington County Republican Women’s luncheon, made the statement amid the announced retirements of Democratic congressmen John Tanner in West Tennessee and Bart Gordon in Middle Tennessee.
“Tennessee is one of the two states in our country that voted more Republican in ’08 than in ’04,” Wamp pointed out. “The agenda in Washington is very much out of sync with what people in Tennessee would like to see. I think Republicans are poised for a great year in Tennessee in 2010. … I think we’re going to grow the numbers in the legislature and elect the first Republican governor to go with a Republican legislature in the history of our state. Now I’m quite certain the congressional delegation is going to become more Republican as well.”
The Chattanooga Republican chose not to seek re-election to his congressional seat and is now competing for the 2010 GOP gubernatorial nomination with Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey of Blountville, Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam and Shelby County District Attorney General Bill Gibbons. Democrat Gov. Phil Bredesen is term limited and cannot seek re-election.
Wamp branded himself as a “middle-aged, middle-class American” who has the support of stars in the country and Christian music industry.
He declared Washington County up for grabs despite being located in Ramsey’s political back yard.
“It doesn’t matter where anybody lives or how much money anybody has. This county is wide open,” Wamp said.
Wamp said he wants to make Tennessee healthier, more prosperous, safer and leaner in state government.
“Thirty-seven percent of the people in this state are technically obese,” Wamp said of Tennessee’s health level. “I don’t want to regulate this, but as governor I want to convene our state around the cause of wellness, prevention, fitness and exercise because we have to become a healthier state. You cannot create enough government health care programs to deal with this problem successfully unless Tennesseans are more healthy.”
Wamp said there are opportunities to grow defense industry as well as agriculture jobs.
“Agriculture traditionally was just a great engine of the economy in our state, but under this current (Bredesen) administration, it is like an afterthought,” Wamp claimed. “The Farm Bureau will tell you that. Your growers and producers will tell you that. Agriculture is not what it used to be in our state and should be.”
Wamp promised to be tough on crime.
“There are 400 people in Shelby County that have been arrested over 100 times,” he noted. “The police know who these people are, but they bond them out early and they go right back to what they are doing, and we’ve got to have the fortitude in this state no matter the cost, because it costs a lot more to let them wreak havoc on the streets.”
Lastly, he pledged to downsize state government.
“Forty-two thousand people worked for the state of Tennessee in the year 2000,” Wamp said. “Today 48,000 work for the state of Tennessee. I know budget cuts and layoffs are hard, but it’s necessary. Budget cuts and layoffs are happening all over this state in the private sector. Shouldn’t the government do that, too? Of course they should.”
Before the luncheon, Wamp was asked whether he supports the reinstatement of state House Speaker Kent Williams of Elizabethton back into the Tennessee Republican Party (TRP).
At its December meeting, TRP’s executive committee chose not to consider letting Williams back into the party. He was expelled from the party early this year after he won the speaker’s election with his vote and the votes of 49 House Democrats.
Wamp said he considers Williams a friend and wants him back in the party.

Corker, Alexander, Roe on Obama’s plan for troops

Corker, Alexander, Roe have a ‘wait-and-see’ reaction to Obama’s Afghanistan war plan

By Hank Hayes

Tennessee Right To Life’s endorsement of Dem has GOP up in arms

By Hank Hayes
Kingsport Times

Published November 29th, 2009

A new pro-life organization could emerge out of a disagreement between a group of Tennessee House Republicans and Tennessee Right To Life (TRL), House Majority Leader Jason Mumpower says.

The disagreement came to light after Mum- power and House GOP Caucus Chairman Glen Casada drafted a letter criticizing TRL’s decision to endorse Democrat Ty Cobb over Republican Pat Marsh in a recent special House election in Middle Tennessee.

Marsh won, and the letter was never sent to the pro-life advocacy group with 501 nonprofit status.

But e-mails containing the draft letter text, and a number of GOP lawmakers’ responses to the letter, were leaked to the news media.

“By your own actions of supporting Democrat candidates you are saying you hope Democrat leaders once again are in the position of power, and by your own actions you will help history repeat itself and you will help insure pro-life legislation is defeated,” the Mumpower/Casada draft letter to TRL said.

Mumpower, R-Bristol, said the caucus response to the letter has been more positive than negative.

“Of the members in the caucus who have responded, we’ve had more respond that they want to sign the letter than not sign the letter,” he said at a recent GOP gathering in Kingsport. “But we haven’t gotten finished polling the rest of the caucus yet. Again, because this issue has received media attention, we’ve gotten to begin some good discussions and there are actually right-to-life activists here in Sullivan County and other counties that might want to start a new organization called the Tennessee Alliance for Life. … This issue has transcended the letter. It’s not about a letter. It’s about a message, and I think the message has been delivered.”

House Speaker Kent Williams, a self-proclaimed Carter County Republican who is not recognized as a Republican by the Tennessee Republican Party, opposed the letter and its message.

Williams pointed out the legislature’s second approval of a constitutional amendment banning abortion, Senate Joint Resolution 127, will need 66 votes in 2011.

“While I am optimistic our caucus will increase our majority in 2010, and would love to have over 66 House Republicans, it is unrealistic to place all our hopes on this,” Williams wrote. “Tennessee Right to Life recognizes that to win passage of SJR 127 it will require votes of Republicans as well as Democrats who believe in the merits of the resolution. I wish more thought had gone into the decision-making process on the memo and the letter that we received. While it may be politically expedient to condemn and denounce the Tennessee Right to Life organization, it is not fair, it is not right, and it will not go toward achieving our mutual goal of having the 66 votes required to achieve the final passage of SJR 127.”

State Rep. Tony Shipley, R-Kingsport, endorsed the Mumpower/Casada letter and said TRL “has driven itself into irrelevancy with me.”

“For those churches that don’t know or understand, perhaps we should all make some effort to explain that if (TRL) had their way in 2008, SJR 127 would still not be a reality and Planned Parenthood would still be using taxpayer money to fund pro-choice agendas, including abortion,” Shipley said in an e-mail response.

Neither Shipley nor his 2008 Democratic opponent, former state Rep. Nathan Vaughn of Kingsport, was endorsed by TRL in an election narrowly won by Shipley.

Vaughn had received a 100 percent score in his 2008 voting record from TRL but was criticized by Shipley for casting votes in past House speaker’s elections for pro-choice Democrat Jimmy Naifeh of Covington.

“The Sullivan County Right To Life chapter supported Republican Tony Shipley and for some strange reason, Tennessee Right To Life decided to jerk their charter after the election,” Mumpower said.

TRL President Brian Harris said the organization is a nonpartisan pro-life organization and always has been.

“The former Sullivan chapter was disaffiliated due to the group’s unwillingness to conduct their activities according to Right to Life guidelines and (Internal Revenue Service) requirements for tax exempt nonprofit organizations,” Harris said in an e-mail. “Their failure to remain neutral in the House 2 election (between Shipley and Vaughn) put the entire organization at risk and resulted in the Tennessee Right to Life Board voting unanimously to remove the chapter’s affiliation in March. The decision was reviewed and reaffirmed unanimously at the July meeting of the board.”

TRL’s political action committee handles endorsements based on a candidate survey and interview, and an examination of the person’s past voting record.

Still, Mumpower suggested TRL should be more partisan.

“We have clearly seen that when Republicans win in Tennessee, the cause of life advances,” he said. “When Democrats win in Tennessee, the cause of life suffers. … We were trying to ask them to be more politically savvy in the way they do business. They are a great advocacy group, they have just had a tin ear politically.”

http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9018699

Corker on Hardball comments on healthcare reform

Road to Victory Rally in Blountville, TN

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 03, 2008
9:45 AM to 12:45 PM

Please wear something red to remind everyone to keep Virginia and Tennessee Red on Tuesday!

If you have any questions please email: Virginia@JohnMcCain.com

Please click here to RSVP online and print your ticket for this event