Rep. Donna Rowland (R-34) issued a press release a couple of weeks ago saying resolutions waste tax payer money, but she couldn’t explain why no other legislator in her class has sponsored more resolutions than she has.

Rep. Rowland’s own wasteful spending on resolutions even earned her the title “The Most Expensive Legislator” by a Republican blogger. Even the Republican Speaker of the House Kent Williams called Rep. Rowland out on her hypocrisy.

In today’s Daily News Journal, Rep. Rowland finally explains why her resolution honoring her boyfriend, Ronnie Barrett, wasn’t wasteful at all.

When state Rep. Donna Rowland issued a statement recently showing her dissatisfaction with the amount of time and money spent on memorials and congratulatory resolutions in the General Assembly, she failed to mention she passed a resolution in May 2007 honoring her current boyfriend.
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“That’s one of a handful I passed since my freshman year,” Rowland, R-Murfreesboro, said Monday. “It was my attempt to honor an outstanding individual in the community.”

The House joint resolution Rowland sponsored two years ago commended Ronnie Barrett as the the 2006 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

“WHEREAS, this prestigious award recognizes leaders and visionaries who are creating and building world-class businesses; and WHEREAS, a born problem solver and innovative thinker, Mr. Barrett passionately pursued his belief in a .50-caliber rifle that could be shoulder-fired; in 1982, at the age of twenty-eight and through self-taught engineering and personal research and development, Mr. Barrett designed and manufactured the M82 .50-caliber rifle … ” and it continues, extolling the virtues of Barrett’s invention and manufacturing.

Republican House Speaker Kent Williams is the latest Republican to remind Tennessee that Rep. Donna Rowland’s (R-34) actions do not match her words.

House Speaker Kent Williams, in response to a reporter question, said had noticed Rowland pushing the blue light on consent calendars, but did not know why she did so. Williams said he was “curious” how Rowland arrived at her cost estimate.

He recalled Rowland “standing in the well,” taking a prominent place in the proceedings, for passage of resolution honoring The Rogers Group, Inc., a construction firm, on its 100th anniversary.

“Maybe she paid for that one. I don’t know,” he said.

Rowland is listed as a co-sponsor of the Rogers resolution on the legislative website — and as voting ‘aye.’

Rep. Rowland issued a press release this week defending her voting record, but a closer examination of her votes by Republican blogger Matthew Hurtt found Rep. Rowland is the most expensive legislator to the tax payers of Tennessee.

Crunching the numbers, Representative Rowland has spent an average of $35,000 more than the next-most expensive legislator elected in the same cycle. The range - the space between the most expensive and least expensive - is $95,200. The AVERAGE cost here is $58,880 - with Representative Rowland’s fiscal request costing $55,000 more than that!

WORDS: Rep. Rowland says in a press release that she refuses to vote for resolutions because “these little things” waste tax payer money.

ACTIONS: According to Hurtt, Rep. Donna Rowland has filed more resolutions than any member in her class at great cost to the tax payer. Some of the resolutions Rep. Rowland sponsored honor campaign donors. The resolutions Rep. Rowland voted against honored achievements of our children, our heroes and our community leaders.

Tell Rep. Rowland to stop wasting money on lobbyists and campaign donors and start focusing on our priorities.

Republican blogger Matthew Hurtt reports today that Rep. Donna Rowland (R-13) is the most expensive legislator in the Tennessee House of Representatives.

If the cost is roughly $800, as Representative Rowland notes, then one might ask why she has sponsored more than $113,000 worth of “pats on the back” since she was first elected to the General Assembly. In her class (those who were elected in the same cycle), no other member even comes close to the number of memorializng resolutions filed as those sponsored by Representative Rowland. It should be noted, too, that I only took into account those resolutions where the member was the prime sponsor, and I did not even consider wading through the mess of co-prime sponsors and even final votes on a given resolution. The costs are in the untold hundreds of thousands of dollars.

So, breaking it down for my readers, here’s the list - reorganized - from most expensive legislator to least expensive, according to the number of memorializing resolutions sponsored between the 102nd and 106th General Assemblies:

* Representative Donna Rowland - $113,600
* Representative David Shepard - $78,400
* Representative Glen Casada - $64,000
* Representative Mike Turner - $20,000
* Representative Johnny Shaw - $18,400

Crunching the numbers, Representative Rowland has spent an average of $35,000 more than the next-most expensive legislator elected in the same cycle. The range - the space between the most expensive and least expensive - is $95,200. The AVERAGE cost here is $58,880 - with Representative Rowland’s fiscal request costing $55,000 more than that!

Hurtt’s report comes a day after Rep. Rowland issued a press release defending her voting record.

Rep. Rowland tried to explain why she refuses to vote for most resolutions that honor the achievements of our children, our heroes and our community leaders. Her release has instead brought more bi-partisan scrutiny of her voting record.