Posts Tagged ‘Kent Coleman’

Republicans Refuse To Honor Bart Gordon’s Service

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

bartgordonYesterday, Rep. Kent Coleman sponsored a simple resolution in the Tennessee House to recognize Bart Gordon’s 26 years of service to the State of Tennessee. 37 Republicans refused to sign it. The Nashville Post and WPLN have the story:

Such a resolution is routinely “co-sponsored” by all the members of the House and Senate so that all their names appear on the framed document for the Congressman’s wall.

But this time most of the names on Gordon’s “thank you” will be Democrats. Coleman was asked by Republicans not to add them as co-sponsors.

“I think with the maybe increased partisanship that exists in government today. It was probably a better idea to allow people to sign on to the resolution and not make that type of motion and cause a political disturbance.”

Only thirteen of the 50 Republicans in the state House signed on to the resolution honoring Gordon’s services.

UPDATE: Donna Rowland (R-Murfreesboro) was among those refusing to recognize Gordon, even though she represents his home city and county of Rutherford.

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Posted in Radical Republicans, Rep. Bart Gordon (D-6), Rep. Donna Rowland (R-34), Rep. Kent Coleman (D-49) | No Comments »

Ketron Admits He Votes For Legislation He Doesn’t Read

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

billketron1NOT AWARE HE VOTED FOR INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS

The Daily News Journal’s weekly columnist Sam Stockard asked Bill Ketron why he voted for Race To The Federal Trough along with every other Republican legislator from Rutherford County. Here is what Ketron said:

Asked if he knows what the international benchmarks are, state Sen. Bill Ketron said, “I do not. We were told they would come from the U.S. Department of Education. The thing was on a fast track,” Ketron said. “We barely had time to read through it. It’s voluminous.”

Yet Ketron and fellow Republicans, Sen. Jim Tracy, of Shelbyville, Rep. Donna Rowland of Murfreesboro, Rep. Joe Carr of Lascassas and Rep. Pat Marsh of Shelbyville, members of the Rutherford County delegation, voted for it. Only state Rep. Kent Coleman, a Murfreesboro Democrat, voted against it.

So Republican Senator Bill Ketron admits that he voted for a massive overhaul of Tennessee’s education system without knowing much of what it actually accomplished. He also admits that as a “conservative” Republican, he thinks its just great to beg for half a billion dollars in stimulus cash with strings attached - strings that could bind our teachers to international standards. Sounds like something Tennessee’s Tea Party crowd would really oppose, but they are deathly silent on the matter because the legislation was backed by their republican overlords Ron Ramsey and Glen Casada. Just more evidence that the Tea Party crowd are willing to ignore their own stated beliefs if republicans tell them to, just like they did when they gave George W. Bush free reign to plunge our nation into huge war debts and pass unfunded federal mandates like No Child Left Behind.

Did Senator Ketron also sponsor workmans’ compensation legislation he didn’t understand, or did he know that he would be taking independent contractors’ hard earned profits while helping his insurance business’ bottom line by enacting Public Chapter 1041? What other legislation has Bill Ketron helped to pass without reading or knowing the consequences?

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Posted in Education, Legislation, Rep. Donna Rowland (R-34), Rep. Joe Carr (R-48), Rep. Kent Coleman (D-49), Republican leaders, Rutherford County Republican Party, Sen. Bill Ketron (R-13), Sen. Jim Tracy (R-16), Tea Parties | No Comments »

Kent Coleman Stands Up For Teachers Against All Odds

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

h49_sidebar-1Here’s how Rutherford County’s delegation voted when it came to tying teachers’ jobs to factors beyond their control: Kent Coleman (D) - NO, Joe Carr (R) - YES, Donna Rowland (R) - YES, Bill Ketron (R) - YES, Jim Tracy (R) -YES.

Last week’s Special Session called by Governor Bredesen to overhaul Tennessee’s education system was a locomotive speeding towards passage that even Superman could not have stopped. This massive legislation was debated in committees for a single day, and passed on the Senate and House floor the next.

Every Republican Representative voted to seek stimulus cash through federal Race To The Top grants, and our Democratic Governor and Democratic Caucuses backed the measure as well even though it meant adopting federal guidelines tying teachers’ performance to mere test scores . Only a handful of Democrats (8 to be exact) were willing to stand up for teachers and say ‘NO’ to a governor of their own Party and their own caucus leadership.

Our own Rep. Kent Coleman was the only Rutherford County legislator to stand on principle and stand up for teachers when it came time to vote, even though he knew he was also standing right in front of a speeding locomotive. It took the courage of Superman to rise and say this on the House floor last Friday night:

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Posted in ARRA, Education, Legislation, Rep. Donna Rowland (R-34), Rep. Joe Carr (R-48), Sen. Bill Ketron (R-13), Sen. Jim Tracy (R-16) | No Comments »

Kent Coleman Answers the Hard Education Questions

Sunday, January 10th, 2010

h49_sidebar-1ANSWERS EMPHATICALLY THAT TENNESSEE DEMOCRATS’ PRIORITY IS EDUCATION AND WHAT WE STAND FOR

Rep. Kent Coleman (D-Murfreesboro) answered hard questions put to him by the Daily News Journal in Sunday’s edition. While other lawmakers are tiptoeing around education issues being handled in an upcoming Special Session of the General Assembly, Coleman clearly and precisely expressed his opinions on the matter of federal Race To The Top funding and teacher tenure, even when they differed from those of our Democratic governor. He also did the best job in recent memory of calling out Republicans for voting against education funding and then claiming the credit when Democrats got it done, and stating precisely why the Democratic Party of Tennessee is the only party in the state that has proper education of our children as its top priority:

Coleman: I do believe the Democratic Party has the strongest commitment to public education between the two parties. And I’ll give you an example. A few years ago, Gov. Bredesen put forth a proposal to raise about $250 million for school systems through a tobacco tax, and it raised (about) $20 million recurring money for Rutherford County and (Murfreesboro) city school systems. I was the only person in that commission meeting last week that voted to raise that money. But I sat there and listened to the members of the opposing party. I know one of them said something to the effect of a BEP reduction would be the last thing they would vote to do to our county, and I’m having to sit there and think, ‘You didn’t vote to raise the $20 million for Rutherford County,’ and all these commissioners, I don’t any of them realized that. So, someone’s got to communicate to the public education system that the Democratic Party has always had a strong conviction to the belief of equal education, public education, desegregation, and a lot of those of those issues haven’t been popular in the past, but they remain the strongest basis or the reason the Democratic Party exists in Tennessee, because education is our main expenditure at the state level.

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Posted in Budget, Democratic Party, Education, Gov. Phil Bredesen, Legislation, Rep. Kent Coleman (D-49) | No Comments »