Republican Senator Bill Ketron of Murfreesboro is an insurance salesman. He has taken in over $20,000 in campaign cash from big insurance and large homebuilding special interests. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that he sponsored a new state law to force small contractors and subconstractors to spend their hard-earned profits with him and his insurance buddies instead of spending it on their families in tough economic times.
Public Chapter 1041, sponsored by Senator Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro) and Rep. Jason Mumpower (R-Bristol) was lobbied for heavily by the Tennessee Hombuilders Association (a special interest group that represents large development companies) and the Tennessee Insurors Association, who greased the wheels of government with copious amounts of campaign cash for Republican lawmakers in order to further the interests of big business over the little guy. It would require all contractors to purchase workers’ compensation insurance even if their only employee is themselves. The new law took effect January 1st, and small contractors are howling mad about it:
Gerry Fridlund, owner of Skybright Metal Roofing in Memphis, found out about the law the hard way when his insurance company sent him a bill for $4,300 last summer.
“I told them I wasn’t going to pay it,” Fridlund told NIT. “When I asked who was responsible for this I was told the Home Builders Association pushed this through. I think they wanted to stop the little guy from bidding up against the big boys. They want to squeeze the sole proprietors and make it difficult for people to start small businesses.”
The new law’s Senate sponsor, Sen. Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro), is himself an insurance salesman who benefits from raising premiums on small contractor businesses. During his current term, special interest PACs representing large home builders, developers and insurance industries gave more than $20,000 to Ketron’s campaign war chest.
The new law’s House sponsor, Rep. Jason Mumpower (R-Bristol), has received $18,000 from special interest PACs representing large home builders, developers and insurance industries during his current term.
Its all fine with Bill Ketron, who will be sending out grossly inflated insurance bills to his customers this year. He doesn’t really care that jobs may be killed to pay for it as long as he gets paid.
Thankfully, Rep. Joe Pitts (D - Clarksville) and Sen. Tim Barnes (D-Clarksville) have listened to the voices of Tennessee’s small business owners and are seeking to delay the enforcement of the new law in Special Session of the General Assembly next week. HB1899 and its companion bill SB2055 delay Ketron’s law until July 1st of 2010. As usual, its up to Democrats to finally stand up for small business owners when republicans and their big business cronies try to sneak in sweetheart deals for themselves.
Republicans controlled this year’s session of the Tennessee legislature for the first time since reconstruction (1870’s). They took over in a time of unprecedented economic hardship and sagging revenues, adding up to a budget mess that required quick action. What did republicans do with their newfound leadership opportunities? They plugged the budget holes with the very stimulus money they protested, passed “Guns in Bars”, and headed home with their pockets full of per diem checks.
All the while, far right Tennessee Republicans made impassioned speeches about “following the Constitution”, the evils of the stimulus package (yet spent it to plug budget holes), and “limited government”. They even formed a committee to study secession.
Now a Chancery Judge has ruled that the “Guns in Bars” law is unconstitutionally vague, citing that it is problematic for police and small business owners (you know, the ones republicans claim to protect). Following the Constitution to the letter is the one thing all republicans pride themselves in and espouse constantly. This year, when they finally took power for the first time since reconstruction, they couldn’t even do that. The City Paper has the story
In her ruling, [Chancellor] Bonnyman agreed the law was too vague and “does violate the due process rights of the public in general and plaintiff gun permit holders.” The chancellor based her decision on the fact that permit holders cannot determine whether or not they are in violation of the law.
“The principle business being conducted cannot be known to the ordinary citizen,” Bonnyman said. “Inquiry would not be satisfactory or helpful.”
It’s not clear whether or not the Attorney General will appeal the ruling, which effectively eliminated the statute from the law. The legislature is likely to address a new version of the bill in the next session but it is unclear whether or not a guns-in-bar provision will see the same support.
Metro Police Chief Ronal Serpas spoke out in support of Bonnyman’s decision, and said his one concern he had was that the ruling would allow the issue to “again take center stage during the next legislative session instead of the vitally important issue of keeping convicted felons behind bars.”
During a time of unprecedented budget constraints, mass state employee layoffs and furloughs, and penny pinching on the part of Democratic Governor Phil Bredesen, our new Republican State Comptroller Justin Wilson has decided to give his office a personal stimulus check on the Tennessee taxpayers’ dime.
Luckily, Democrat Joe Haynes, who sits on the Fiscal Review Committee, caught the error and is calling Wilson out. WSMV has the story.
WASHINGTON – Congressman Bart Gordon supported three bipartisan bills today aimed at helping small businesses in Tennessee and around the country. Each bill was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.
The House approved the Small Business Health Information Technology Financing Act (H.R. 3014), which would create a loan program in the U.S. Small Business Administration to help medical professionals purchase health information technology.
“Numerous studies have shown that if doctors and hospitals started using secure health information technology systems, like electronic medical records, billions of dollars could be saved each year nationwide,” said Gordon who has been a longtime advocate for reducing the costs of practicing medicine.
Earlier this year, the President implemented a tort reform initiative that Gordon developed to reduce the number of frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits that doctors face.
The House also passed the Small Business Early-Stage Investment Act (H.R. 3738) and the Expand Entrepreneurship Act (H.R. 1842). Both measures aim to support new, promising small businesses.
“Early-stage businesses have been found to be some of the best job creators, but starting a new business is no easy task,” said Gordon. “These bills create important SBA programs that will assist small businesses in getting up and running. Helping small businesses grow is especially important for Tennessee’s economy, where more than 95% of our state’s private workforce is employed by small businesses.”
The Small Business Early-Stage Investment Act creates an SBA investment program tasked with providing grants to small businesses involved in health information technology, digital technology, defense technology, and agriculture research and development. The Expand Entrepreneurship Act directs the SBA to develop a comprehensive plan that identifies a strategy for each SBA region to create jobs through its programs.
Having passed the House, the three bills will now move to the Senate for consideration.
On this Veterans Day, more than 190,000 of our brave men and women are currently fighting for our country in Afghanistan and Iraq. Going to war takes incredible courage, and each and every service member currently deployed is in our thoughts and prayers. All Americans appreciate their commitment to defending our freedoms.
We owe them more than just our gratitude though; we have an obligation to serve those who have volunteered to serve our country. The unfortunate reality is that here at home, there are about 185,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who are unemployed and looking for work. These veterans bravely served our country, and the skills they developed during their military service – from their strong work ethic and unwavering loyalty to their commitment toward achieving goals bigger than themselves – would be of great value to any business.
Many, however, have been caught in the turmoil of the current economic climate. As the United States climbs out of this recession, my goal has been to support efforts aimed at helping them obtain the additional skills needed to compete for today’s jobs.
Last year, Congress passed the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, legislation that expanded educational benefits for military veterans who have served since September 11, 2001. In August, military veterans throughout Middle Tennessee and across the United States started receiving benefits from the new G.I. Bill, which includes covering 100% of a four-year public undergraduate education.
I strongly supported this bill because it will allow an estimated 2 million veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to return to the classroom and get the education they need and deserve without having to worry about costs. Not only does the new G.I. Bill cover tuition, but it also helps with books and housing expenses.
In addition to the new G.I. Bill, the U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the Veterans Retraining Act, which will further help veterans obtain the skills needed to get a new job. This legislation would authorize the U.S. Labor Department to pay monthly living and housing stipends to veterans enrolled in employment-training programs that teach skills in particular demand.
In Smyrna, the Department of Veterans Affairs recently announced its plans to open a new patient service call center to help serve veterans and 19 VA hospitals. This center is expected to create as many as 450 new jobs. Hiring will begin later this year, and the federal government will offer veterans special preference for these jobs, which will provide much needed job opportunities for veterans in our area.
As the current economic climate improves, I remain committed to ensuring that veterans are part of the recovery.
WASHINGTON – To build upon the new solar technology jobs being created in Tennessee, Congressman Bart Gordon used his chairmanship of the House Science and Technology Committee to advance the Solar Technology Roadmap Act. The bipartisan bill overwhelmingly passed the full U.S. House of Representatives in a vote of 310 to 106 today.
“If solar power isn’t the first thing you think of when I talk about Tennessee, I’ll forgive you,” Congressman Gordon said during his opening remarks about the Solar Roadmap bill on the House Floor today. “But over the last few years we’ve really seen first-hand the major potential that solar energy has to create new jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil in the process.”
The Solar Roadmap bill, H.R. 3585, would establish a comprehensive process to facilitate the research, development and demonstration of American solar technology in partnership with the private sector. The bill would also direct the Department of Energy to award grants to entrepreneurs, research agencies and academic laboratories that are leading the field in solar technology development and solar manufacturing.
“Solar technology is creating jobs throughout Tennessee and the rest of the country,” explained Gordon. “The short- and long-term roadmap that will be written as a result of this bill is modeled on the successful National Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors, which has been instrumental in creating thousands of jobs and helping the semiconductor technology industry advance rapidly over the past two decades.”
The Solar Roadmap bill would require the U.S. Secretary of Energy to appoint an 11-member Solar Technology Roadmap Committee to write, review and update a Solar Technology Roadmap. Moving forward, the roadmap will provide a path to make solar technology more dependable and widely available to American consumers.
“The solar technology plants in Clarksville and Cleveland, as well as Nissan’s electric car and battery plant in Smyrna, are going to be instrumental in making Tennessee a leader in the new clean energy industries that will help our country become more energy independent,” added Gordon. “This bill will help additional solar projects get off the ground and boost job growth in the process.”
The Solar Technology Roadmap Act has been endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In a letter of support, the Chamber wrote, “Increased research, development, and demonstration of solar technology is crucial to America’s energy security needs, and H.R. 3585 would help move one step closer to that goal.”
The bill has also been endorsed by the National Association of Manufacturers, the Solar Energy Industries Association, BP, IBM, Intel and National Semiconductor. Having passed the House, the bill now moves to the Senate for consideration.
WASHINGTON – Over the past five years, China has been violating international trade laws by flooding the United States with cheap Chinese-made tires. In response, the Obama Administration announced over the weekend that it would impose an import tax on Chinese-made passenger and light truck tires – a move that Congressman Bart Gordon urged the Administration to take in May.
“This was the right decision. Chinese tire companies have been violating trade laws, which has contributed to more than 5,000 Americans losing their jobs in the U.S. tire industry,” said Congressman Gordon. “We’ve seen the effects in Middle Tennessee – in January, Bridgestone tires announced it would stop producing passenger and light truck tires at its La Verge plant, and hundreds of workers were laid off.”
In late May, Gordon wrote a letter to the U.S. International Trade Commission, urging that Section 421 of the Trade Act of 1974 be enforced “to restore balance in international trade” of tires. “Your positive action on this matter,” as Gordon explained in the letter, “is essential to saving thousands of U.S. jobs and preserving a vital part of our industrial base.” Section 421 gives workers the right to seek import relief when there are surges of products that have caused injury to affected industries.
After examining the evidence, which showed that cheap Chinese tires in the U.S. market had increased from 5% in 2004 to 17% in 2008, the U.S. International Trade Commission recommended an import tax be imposed. On Friday (Sept. 11), the Administration announced it would act on these recommendations and impose a 35% import tax on Chinese tires, which will go into effect on September 26.
“When China joined the World Trade Organization, it agreed to live up to international trade laws,” Gordon added. “By flooding our country with cheap tires, U.S. tire companies have not been able to compete. A crack down on Chinese tire imports that unfairly undermine American workers has long been overdue.”
Rep. Joe Carr (R-Lascassas) told Channel 4 today that he is refusing a request by voters to return thousands of dollars he recently told the Tennessean he “inadvertently” took from the tax payers and now claims he’s “entitled” to it.
Rep. Carr also told Channel 4 he took over $18,000 (more than any other lawmaker) in expenses to pay for hotel rooms, but no one seems to understand why he’d need that much money when he lives less than an hour from the state Capitol.
In the video above, Rep. Carr couldn’t explain how he “inadvertently” drove himself to the bank to “inadvertently” cash 13 weeks worth of bogus meal and hotel expense checks.
Joe had the nerve to challenge his fellow big spending county Republicans to join him in not accepting anymore expense claims for the entire calendar year after we caught him with his hand in the tax payer’s pocket.
The state legislature may be out of session but according to local media reports Rep. Joe Carr (R-48) has been spending a lot of summer days at the Capitol claiming per diems, a day’s pay for showing up. Rep. Carr was at the top of the list when it came to which Republican requested the most per diems after the session was already over.
It’s gotten so bad that Republican House Speaker Kent Williams issued a letter to all Representatives asking them to follow some basic guidelines to cut per diem requests. You can read the letter here.
Rep. Carr must not have gotten the memo because he kept requesting money all summer when he thought no one would be watching. Rep. Carr didn’t think twice about pushing his own bill in the last session demanding Gov. Bredesen not accept federal stimulus funds for extended jobless benefits for his district’s growing unemployed. Now that Rep. Carr needs a stimulus of his own, he’s off to collect his directly from the tax payers.
We’ll take a closer look at Rep. Carr’s summer per diem requests later, but first, let’s look at how much our county’s delegation is costing us.
What the list of our county delegation’s per diem requests for the entire session factually shows the voters of our county is a record of spending on the part of the Republican delegation. Rep. Donna Rowland (R-34) doesn’t look that bad on the surface, but then she’s got a lot of making up to do for being deemed the most expensive Republican in the entire House for filing resolutions honoring everything from campaign contributors to her new boyfriend.
The list below does not include per diem requests made after the session, which ought to put Rep. Carr over the top.
WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. House passed legislation to extend the recently created “Cash-for-Clunkers” program, which has succeeded in encouraging Americans to purchase new fuel-efficient cars and trucks. The program allows consumers to trade in their old, gas-guzzling cars for vouchers, worth up to $4,500, to help pay for new vehicles that get more miles per gallon (MPG).
“Since we created this program, participating auto dealers throughout Middle Tennessee have reported increased sales,” said Congressman Bart Gordon. “This is not only important for our economy as it recovers, but it also strengthens our national security – as consumers purchase more fuel-efficient cars, we reduce our dependence on foreign oil.”
The Cash-for-Clunkers program is expected to reduce U.S. oil consumption by more than 250 million gallons of gas. Nationwide, more than 200,000 cars have been purchased through the program since July 1, 2009.
“This is a good bill, especially because it provides additional funds without increasing the federal deficit,” said Gordon, who is a strong advocate for ensuring that new federal spending is completely offset. “For every new dollar we spend, we’ve got to find a U.S. dollar to pay for it, and this bill does just that.”
The bill provides the Cash-for-Clunkers program with $2 billion in additional funding, which was diverted from an existing energy loan program in the U.S. Department of Energy. The legislation also extends the program through September 2010. The Senate is expected to pass the House bill before August 7.
To qualify for a voucher, consumers must trade in an older vehicle that gets 18 MPG or less, and purchase or lease a new car or truck that gets at least 22 MPG. If the fuel economy of the new car is at least four MPG higher than the old vehicle, the voucher will be worth $3,500. If the fuel economy of the new car is at least ten MPG higher than the old vehicle, the voucher will be worth $4,500.
For more information about the Cash-for-Clunkers program or to locate a participating dealer in Middle Tennessee, contact the program’s toll-free hotline at (866)-CAR-7891, or visit www.cars.gov.
Last Friday was the fourth time Rutherford County’s anti-government Tea Party Republicans took to the streets to protest. Republicans oppose federal stimulus spending aimed at turning around the Bush recession that started in December 2007.
But this time, Tea Party Republicans were out numbered 10 to 1 by Rutherford County voters supporting health care reform.
It takes a lot of courage to stand on the street and publicly protest paying your taxes, reforming healthcare, enhanced healthcare for Rutherford County’s veterans, Nissan’s $1.6 billion government loan creating 1,000 new jobs of the future and the millions of dollars now being spent in our schools, roads, and extended unemployment benefits. It’s not surprising that Hidalgo hid in his office the entire time.
When voters reflect on how our nation addressed the deep Bush recession, they will see one party who acted swiftly with change that works and one party that protested every effort and yearned for four more years of the same failed policies.
Throughout the 1990s the success of pay-go rules in the United States Congress helped reign in deficit spending that flourished under President George H. Bush. Pay-go rules put in place under Democrats turned those deficits into record surpluses under President Bill Clinton.
Pay-go rules were later abandoned by Republicans under President George W. Bush and the resulting borrowing and deficit spending produced the nation’s largest deficit in United States history, plunging the nation into a deep, long-lasting recession.
Pay-go rules require any new spending by the United States Congress to be paid for by a reduction in spending or tax increases. Under pay-go rules, the Republican policy of borrowing and deficit spending give way to the kind of fiscal responsibility working families are used to. If you don’t have the money in the bank, you don’t spend it or go looking for the credit card.
Yesterday, Democrats, including Rep. Bart Gordon, put these pay-go rules back into effect, but not a single Republican from our state voted for it. The person who has now come to represent opposition to this proven fiscally policy is none other than Tennessee Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn.
Watch this video and listen as Rep. Blackburn makes the Republican case for saving more money by letting Americans die in future national emergencies like “Katrina” and “tsunamis.” Rep. Blackburn’s proposal was met with such national outrage that her spokesperson had to issue a pathetic apology that said Rep. Blackburn’s mouth gets ahead of her brain sometimes.
We totally agree, but an apology for her vote against fiscal responsible pay-go rules would have sufficed.
Over the past few months several job creation announcements for working families of Rutherford County have given us a glimmer of hope in a recovering economic recession that began in the first part of 2008.
Thanks to a $1.6 billion federal government loan to Nissan, 1,000 workers will be hired and help position Tennessee as a leader in a green auto revolution. Thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, construction firms are bidding on three shovel-ready road projects, and millions more is being spent to retrain workers for these jobs of the future.
Rutherford County’s Tea Party Republicans have taken to the streets 3 times in the last 3 months protesting the tax revenues spent creating these new jobs. They also protested the very incentives being provided companies to relocate manufacturing jobs here in the United States.
What’s worse are Republicans like Sen. Bill Ketron (R-13), Sen. Jim Tracy (R-16) and Rep. Joe Carr (R-48) gleefully taking credit for those jobs.
“We’re going to relight Middle Tennessee,” said Ketron, who was involved with some of the discussions involving the LED business partnerships. “Tennessee is poised to be the alternative energy capital of the world.”
Ketron attended the press conference along with state Sen. Jim Tracy, R-Shelbyville, state Rep. Joe Carr, R-Lascassas, and Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey.
Companies like NCS Power had strong economic incentives to ship jobs to China throughout President Bush’s 8 years in office. Now months into the Obama Administration those incentives are changing, and NCS Power now sees strong incentives to move 2,000 jobs back to Murfreesboro, TN.
The fact is county Republicans have gone out of their way to oppose changes that help working families. Rep. Carr authored a bill this year demanding Gov. Phil Bredesen reject stimulus funds that extended unemployment benefits for our county’s growing unemployed as well as funds to retrain workers for these new jobs of the future.
Senators Ketron, Tracy and other county Republicans wanted four more years of Bush’s failed economic policy and years more of the results from which we’re slowly recovering.
When Nissan begins hiring 1,000 Rutherford County residents due to the massive government backed auto loan they protested, expect Sen. Ketron, Sen. Tracy and Rep. Carr to pray to God that you’ve forgotten their vocal opposition to those jobs as they gleefully take credit for the hard work it took to bring them here.
Republican protesters even had the nerve to tell our county’s veterans that they don’t deserve the enhanced health care benefits provided them by the federal government’s stimulus funds. Presumably they’d like four more years of the cuts to veteran care that occurred over the past eight years under Republican control of the White House and U.S. Congress. In 2008, Democrats said it’s time the American people honor our heroes who deserve better. American agreed and put Democrats in power to deliver, and that’s just what we did.
The well fed, lawn-chaired crowd of Republicans protested paying taxes, yet the only taxes a majority of the crowd will see increase this year are local property taxes.
County Mayor Ernest Burgess just pushed through one of the largest property tax increases in Rutherford County history. Burgess campaigned in 2006 on cutting county government spending 10% across the board and promised no property tax increases. Mayor Burgess has failed to live up to his promise, and every Tea Party protester will get the bill.
When Republicans take tothe streets in protest, you don’t hear anything about real tax increases Rutherford County voters will soon pay. If Tea Partiers focused on Tax & Spend Republicans like County Mayor Ernest Burgess, they just might be relevant.
WASHINGTON – As broadband internet access becomes an increasingly important component of the global economy, many rural communities throughout Tennessee and around the United States lack sufficient access. Congressman Bart Gordon recently called upon the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the agency developing a national broadband internet plan, to ensure that broadband access is extended to rural communities.
Gordon, along with members of the Congressional Rural Caucus, sent a letter to Michael Copps, Acting-Chairman of the FCC, stating, “The lack of broadband access for…private and public sectors have far-reaching consequences to our rural communities…it reduces their opportunities for employment, reduces their quality of life, and stifles their potential for economic development.”
A recent survey found that 64% of Tennessee residents living in urban areas have broadband internet service compared to only 37% of those living in rural communities.
“Broadband internet access throughout Tennessee and our country is essential to maintaining America’s competitiveness in the global economy,” added Gordon. “The national plan being devised by the FCC must connect the whole country and place particular attention on rural communities that are difficult to reach.”
Congress recently provided funds to the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program and the Rural Utilities Service with the express purpose of expanding broadband throughout the country. To ensure that this and future broadband funding is spent effectively, Congress required the FCC to devise a national broadband plan.
In 1996, Congress passed a law that created the Universal Service Fund (USF), which has been instrumental in bringing phone service to nearly every American. The letter sent by Gordon and his colleagues concluded by stating, “broadband should be a supported [USF] service and special efforts should be made…to achieve the final goal of universal service.”
Republican Senator Bill Ketron of Murfreesboro is an insurance salesman. He has taken in over $20,000 in campaign cash from big insurance and large homebuilding special interests. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that he sponsored a new state law to force small contractors and subconstractors to spend their hard-earned profits with him and his insurance buddies instead of spending it on their families in tough economic times.
Republicans controlled this year’s session of the Tennessee legislature for the first time since reconstruction (1870’s). They took over in a time of unprecedented economic hardship and sagging revenues, adding up to a budget mess that required quick action. What did republicans do with their newfound leadership opportunities? They plugged the budget holes with the very stimulus money they protested, passed “Guns in Bars”, and headed home with their 
WASHINGTON – Congressman Bart Gordon supported three bipartisan bills today aimed at helping small businesses in Tennessee and around the country. Each bill was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.
In the video above, Rep. Carr couldn’t explain how he “inadvertently” drove himself to the bank to “inadvertently” cash 13 weeks worth of bogus meal and hotel expense checks. 
