Donelson Republican breakfast with Spcial Guest Dr. Ming Wang

Shoney's at the Airport location/Donelson

546 Donelson Pike, Nashville, TN   (615) 883-8110

Sat, 8/24, 8:30 am

with

Dan Davis

 Mr. Davis will talk about the mission of the Tennessee Republican Minority Coalition and its activities.

and

Dr. Ming Wang, MD, PhD

Appreciating Freedom in America -

Living through China’s Cultural Holocaust

Harvard & MIT (MD, magna cum laude); PhD (laser physics)

President, Tennessee Chinese Chamber of Commerce (www.tccc.us)

Wang Vision 3D Cataract & LASIK Center (www.wangcataractLASIK.com)

Wang Foundation for Sight Restoration and Wang Foundation for Christian Outreach to China

Dr. Ming Wang, a Harvard and MIT graduate (MD, magna cum laude) and one of the few cataract and LASIK surgeons in the world today who holds a doctorate degree in laser physics, will present a talk entitled “Appreciating Freedom in America – living through China’s Cultural Holocaust”.

Dr. Wang is the only surgeon in the state who performs 3D LASIK (ages 18-60), 3D Forever Young Lens surgery (ages 40-65) and 3D laser cataract surgery (ages 60+). He has performed over 55,000 procedures, including on over 4,000 doctors. Dr. Wang has published 6 textbooks and a paper in the world-renowned journal "Nature", holds several U.S. patents, and founded the Wang Foundation for Christian Outreach to China and the Wang Foundation for Sight Restoration, which has helped patients from over 40 states in the U.S. and 55 countries, with all sight restoration surgeries performed free-of-charge.

Growing up in China during the Cultural Revolution, Ming--a teenager at that time--faced the devastating fate of being deported by the Communist government to the poorest parts of China where he, along with millions of other Chinese youth, would be condemned to a life of poverty and hard labor. Ming learned to play the Chinese er-hu violin as a way to avoid deportation. A chance meeting with a visiting American professor helped Ming come to America, so in 1982 with $50 and a Chinese-English dictionary in his pocket, he arrived here in the U.S.

Having suffered through and survived China’s Cultural Holocaust, Dr. Wang is deeply troubled by the direction towards dead-end socialism that America is heading today. Because he has “been there, done that,” and knows that socialism does not work. He will talk about his “Great American question,” namely, why was the idea of freedom able to take root in America over two hundred years ago, yet was not able to take root  in many parts of the world even in the 21^st century today? Dr. Wang will share his feelings on the importance of protecting our freedom!

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Dan Davis seeks Chairman GOP Nashville

From Dan Davis:

About Dan Davis

Dan Davis is the Current 1^st Vice-Chair of GOP Nashville and has been an active member of  GOP Nashville since 2009. Dan resides in Antioch and is a teacher and assistant football coach at Pearl-Cohn Entertainment Magnet High School in Nashville. Dan has also worked in the golf industry as a golf pro and product rep. His experience in the school system and in the golf industry has given him a unique view of how things work in both the public and private sectors.

Involvement in GOP Nashville

Dan has been actively involved in the Davidson County Republican Party since 2009. Dan successfully ran for 2^nd Vice-Chair in 2009 and was elected 1^st Vice-Chair in 2011. During his tenure, Dan helped re-write the county party bylaws, helped candidates fund-raise and campaign, helped create programs to promote the Party and has worked to build relationships with other Republican groups.

Two of his most successful efforts have been the Conservative Groups of Middle Tennessee and the Tennessee Republican Minority Coalition (The Minority Coalition). Under his leadership, the Conservative Groups of Middle Tennessee has evolved into a solid and committed network of Republicans across the region who collaborate on projects and host events to promote the Party. Dan is also a founding member of the Minority Coalition, which has made its mission to actively reach out to the different minority groups in area in an effort to grow the Party in Nashville.

Vision for GOP Nashville

Dan’s vision for GOP Nashville is growth – through outreach and participation.  It's Dan's belief that in 2013, GOP Nashville is poised to become a true political force in Davidson County and in the state of Tennessee. Dan's plan for that growth is outlined in the following:

Growth: Dan intends to grow the party from the grassroots up – both financially and politically.

Outreach: Dan has demonstrated a commitment to growing the Party by reaching out to a diverse   constituency – diverse in gender, race, ethnicity, religion, cultural background and age – and actively engaging them in the Republican Party. It's Dan's belief that a Party that more closely reflects the diversity of Nashville only strengthens GOP Nashville's position and ability to shape the political landscape in Davidson County.

Participation: Dan believes that outreach should include extending a seat at the table and giving those who want to participate the information, resources, and ability to do so. Under his leadership, GOP Nashville will continue to focus on local issues, local political races, and growth, but it will also focus on becoming more inclusive, which in turn will garner more support and more votes for the Party.

I have posted announcements of several candidates who are seeking leadership positions with the Nashville GOP. Posting of a candidate's announcement should not be construed as an endorsement of that candidate. Who ever is elected I will wish them the best and will continue  to support the Party. Rod

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Report from a Tennessee Republican Assembly Meeting

Below is an email received from Pat Carl. I am posting this email with Pat's permission. Pat is the Regional Vice Chair of the Davidson County Republican Party for the South East Region. TRA is the Tennessee Republican Assembly, a group that claims to be the only real Republicans in the Republican Party. The rest of us are all RINOs (Republican in Name Only), according to TRA.  Matt Collins is the person who four years ago came within one vote of defeating Kathleen Starnes for the chairmanship of the Party. He was elected First Vice Chair at that time, but after much controversy, the Party removed him from that position. Matt is a Ron Paul supporter and is Chairman (I think) of the Tennessee chapter of Campaign for Liberty. Dan Davis is the current First Vice Chair of the Party and is running for Chair in the upcoming elections. Tony Roberts is currently the Second Vice Chair and is running for reelection for that position. "Robert" is Metro Councilman Robert Duvall who is running for Chair of the Davidson County Republican Party. "Sharon" is Sharon Ford the Vice Chair of the TRA. 

In other  TRA news, current chairman Glen Hughes is leaving Nashville moving to New Orleans for a job. Rod

From: Pat Carl <hhtpat@aol.com>
Date: Sat, Feb 9, 2013 at 6:48 PM
Subject: Tennnessee Republican Assembly
To: xxxx

I attend the TRA meeting today to support Robert.  They were having the Chairman Candidates speak, Q&A, and then planned to vote on who they would support.  The room had been stacked with Libertarians, including Matt Collins.  I was so angry toward the end of the meeting, I just had to get up and leave.  Dan Davis told everyone to just show up at the caucus and someone would vouch for them--there wouldn't be any problem with them being delegates.  Sharon Ford stated "you shouldn't be turned away because of your voting record"- basically, your word should be enough. 

 

Dan spent at least half of his time telling them everything the DCRP had done wrong and the other half playing blurbs of one of Robert's radio appearances with Carl Boyd, Jr., taking it totally out of context by playing Robert stating "we can't win the 5th District".

 

Dan's demeanor and voice were very combative.   Did you know "DCRP has refused to have a Reagan Day Dinner even though he and Tony have begged to have one", DCRP has not cared about or been involved in any of the local races for council and "forget school board, they won't even talk about it".

(Frankly, I was tired just listening to Dan tell how hard he had worked for the DCRP).

 

After the meeting, Sharon was going around telling everyone to vote for Dan; he was what they needed.

 

In my opinion, they are plotting and planning to try to take control of the convention.  I will never attend another of their meetings; I've never seen such a negative meeting.  But, we need as much help as possible to rally the troops for Robert.

 

Just thought I would share....

Pat Carl

 

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Update: What Happened at the June 5th Council Meeting: budget passes on 2nd reading.

 06/05/12 Council Meeting

This is the council meeting of June 5th. This meeting includes the lengthy public hearing on the budget which is on second reading. This meeting is over five hours long! Below are the highlights.

• When the council adjourns, it adjourns to June 12, 2012 at 6pm for consideration of the capitol improvement meeting and any other matter the vice mayor may deem appropriate. 
• Reappointment of Mr. Brian Winfrey to the troubled Transportation Licensing commission is deferred. Why? I don't know. 
• The first bill on public hearing is the capital improvement's budget. This appropriates no money. It is a planning document and establishes priority for proposed capital improvemeents. This hearing starts at 8:43 and ends at 15:26. The principal of Stratford speaks in favor of improvement of that school. The capital improvements budget is approved and rereferred to the Budget and Finance Committee.
• The vice mayor explains that if a majority of the council votes against the operating budget or abstains the Mayors budget automatically goes into effect.
• Proponents of the Mayor's proposed operating budget starts at 15:55. One after the other people plead for approval of the budget. Proponents plead for a yes vote because they advocate for headstart, for all services, for better schools, for paramedics, for the arts, for a summer writing program, lots of advocates for public transportation, and to get a pay raise.   Many are metro employees. Lots of policemen and lots of teachers speak.  Below are some of the more interesting examples of testimony of those in favor of the budget.
• Robert Weaver, the head of the Fraternal Order of Police.(21:25)
• David Peters, a business man with Universal Robotics. He is with the Chamber's report card project. (22:30)
• Doug ? with the Auto Diesel College. Pro mass transit. Students have no cars. Pro public safety.
• Bert Matthews, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. He gives the address of the chamber but not his address. Should he have been allowed to speak? Favors mass transit and support of the Chamber.
• Ginger Cook, president of the Realtors. Again, she give the address of the organization but not her address. Is she a Nashvillian?
• Jane, Ellis, Chair of the Nashville arts.(1:22:28)
• Steven Entre representing the Greater Nashville Hospitality industry. (1:45:10)
• Eric Cole, a former council member. (1:51:00)   

• The opponent of the tax increase start speaking at 1:54:10)
• Burce McNealage (?). Watch this one. He is a real estate investor buying lots of slum property and turning them into nice places to live. This is a person who has been active in the anti tax movement.  
• Ken Jakes, citizen activist and former candidate for Metro Council. (1:57:30) He argues we do not need a department of internal audit. Very good. He argues against the arts. Is that art, he ask after giving a couple examples of bad art.
• Bob Ries, candidate for Congress. We should be expanding the tax base, not the tax rate.  (2:11:53)
• Daniel Lewis, Chairman of the Davidson County Libertarian Party. Taxation is theft! China, a communist country, is privatizing transportation. Many functions of government could be privatized. (2:17:43)
• Dan Davis, a Metro School teacher and the Vice Chair of the Davidson County Republican Party. Great job! Watch this one. The city's liabilities exceed it's assets. (2:21:27)
• Lonnie Spivak, a former candidate for Congress and a leader of the tea party in Nashville. He addresses how much more we spend on education than surrounding counties. Where are the teachers. Too many chiefs, not enough Indians. (2:29:34)
• Ken Marrero, blogger at Blue Collar Muse and local tea party leader. Great passionate speech. "I am not an ATM."  (3:00:47)
• Connie Hunter, former school board member. (3:05:36
• Ed Zeigler. Ed is humorous. Good plea against the increase.(3:24:32)

The public hearing ends at 3:29:20, The budget passes on a voice vote and is referred back to the Budget and Finance committee. Also, the tax levy is passed and referred back to committee.


In other Council action: 


There is a public hearing on a Granny White Pike area zoning bill (BILL NO. BL2012-151) that would interest no one but those in the vicinity. It last an hour. I pity the folks who came to speak on this zoning bill who had to sit through the public hearing on the budget. I think the Council needs to change their rules so public hearing on zoning bills do not occur on the same night as public hearing on the budget. The bill was approved on second meeting and Councilman Todd said he would defer it one meeting on third reading.


A bunch of bills are appropriately passed on the consent agenda, (281, 282, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 295, 297, 298, 299).

Several bills, such as bills to adopt an employee pay plan and bills that would issue bonds are deferred to follow the outcome of the budget.  

Three proposed charter amendments (278 and 278 and 298) are deferred indefinitely.  


original post 6/5/2012

Outside the Council Chamber about 6:30 PM

I just finished watching the Council hearing on the budget. It passed unanimously on a voice vote, as it should have. Had the combined majority either abstained or voted "no" the mayor's budget would have become law. The council had to pass this budget tonight. That is the way the charter requires it. The budget is now passed on second reading and referred back to the budget committee. It is amendable on third reading.

I arrived at the council chamber about 5:15 but by the time I got there the chamber was already full and about 200 people were on the mezzanine unable to get in the chamber. I had my remarks prepared and fully intended to speak. However, I had my wife Louella and her caregiver and our friend Sue with me. Louella has Alzheimer's and we had not had dinner and Louella got antsy. The pros got to speak first. By 7PM there was a very long line of "pros" waiting to speak and I knew it would be a very long, long time before I would get to speak and I had to leave.  I did get a chance to speak to my Council member and a couple others I know and I urged them to oppose the Mayors budget. I went home and watched the rest of the hearing on channel 3. The budget hearing was not over until about 10PM.

The people who spoke, for the most part, made intelligent and thoughtful remarks. Most of the "pros" were Metro employees who wanted the promised 4% salary increase or those who benefit from doing business with Metro or whose industry benefits from more Metro spending.  However, some of the "pros" were people who genuinely think Nashville needs more funding to move forward, especially people who believe we need more funding for schools. I disagree with them, but respectfully disagree. I think they are simply wrong; not bad people.

I was very impressed by the quality of comments from our side of the issue. I know many of these people and I was impressed. Connie Hunter, former school board member; Ken Marrero, blogger at Blue Collar Muse, tea party leader and a Davidson County Republican Executive Committee member; Ken Jakes, citizen activist and former candidate for Metro Council; Bob Ries, a candidate for the 5th Congressional District; Lonnie Spivak, former candidate for the 5th Congressional district and tea party leader; Ed Zeagler, a former member of the Davidson County Republican Party Executive Committee who's remarks were not only good but humorous; Daniel Lewis, Chairman of the Davidson County Libertarian Party; Dan Davis, Vice Chair of the Davidson County Republican Party; and others. I am proud of these people. I am not only proud of these people, but pleased that so many citizens cared enough to come out and miss a meal and stay late to be heard.

Now, it is up to the Council. I hope the Council will develop an alternative to the Mayors budget which does not increase taxes. Realistically, I expect some tax increase. The challenge of the opponents is to craft an alternative to the Mayor's budget. While I hope that the alternative is a no tax increase budget, to get a majority will probably require some compromise which is greater than no increase but less than the mayor's requested 13% increase. Unfortunately, the charter gives an edge to proponents.

As soon as the video of the meeting is available I will post it and provide notations to what I see as the best comments, so you can see the best parts and skip the rest. Stay tuned for updates.  

Here are my prepared remarks that I did not get to give: 

 My name is Rod Williams of 758 Roycroft Pl, Nashville. As a former member of this body I appreciate the difficult task you face.  I know the challenges you face in passing a no tax increase budget but I urge you do to so. 

Of the proposed 13% tax hike, 44% is slated to go to schools.  The largest part of that additional money for schools is a proposed increase in the starting salary for teachers, raising that starting salary to $40,00.  We are told starting salaries for teachers are too low in Davidson County. We are told that without raising the starting salary, we will lose teachers to other school districts.

I do not believe this. The facts do not support that argument.  

Thirty-nine of 133 districts do pay a higher starting salary. That means 93 of 133 school districts pay a lower starting salary.

For those that pay a higher starting salary, how much more do they pay? The one immediately above Nashville in starting salary pays $119 more per year. That is $2.23 more per per week.  Of the next seven, they pay less than $500 dollars a year more. Not much difference.

Where are the better paying districts? Only one, Murfressboro City schools, is in this vicinity. Those paying more include Memphis and Sevier County and Maryville City and other districts which are over 200 miles away. Several others including Bristol city, Johnson City and Kingsport are more than 300 miles away. Those are not our competitors.

There are a lot of reasons people choose to live and work where that do.  I do not believe we are losing talented educators to other districts.  If we are, it is not due to starting salaries of our teachers.

We are always told a tax increase is "for the children." I am not buying it. Please do not pass the mayor's budget.  Thank you.

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Report from the Tennessee Republican Assembly Convention

I just now received this report from someone who attended the convention of the Glen Hughes and Sharron Ford wing of the Republican Party that goes by the name of Tennessee Republican Assembly. (Well, not a wing of the party; more like a feather of the Party) This communication is from someone who prefers to remain anonymous and was speaking frankly. The characterizations in this communication are those of the anonymous reporter and not mine.  I was hesitant to post this because I do not think it contributes to Party unity. However, Glen Hughes calling everyone who does not march in lockstep with his views, a RINO does not contribute to Party unity either.

There were about 200 "Paulistinians," who showed up just to vote for the Ron Paul.  I estimate about 75 TRA, and an additional 50 who showed up to be seen (Marsha Blackburn included).  Why are people like Tootie, Nathan James, Duane Dominy, and William Morgan lured to this type of meeting?  Beats me.  Overall, yawn.  Speakers were boring and Angle has nothing of interest to add.  No wonder Reid beat her like a drum.  She was hawking her book, yawn again.  The Paulistinians were the most interesting.  If you think Glenn Beck is out there, then just talk to these folks.  The Lunatic Fringe calls them the Lunatic Fringe.

I used to belong to TRA and at some point just stopped paying my dues and attending meetings. I mainly stopped because I was, at the time, coordinating the Davidson County Republican Party "Egg and Bacon" summits which were weekly Saturday morning breakfast groups. At one time we had six of these groups and every Saturday of the month was taken attending these and TRA's meetings were also on Saturday mornings. I could not attend both.

When I was attending TRA, I did not feel out of place or unwelcome. I enjoyed the speakers and the good conversation and camaraderie. A couple years ago, I attended their annual convention myself.  Since then however, Glen Hughes and Sharron Ford have taken over TRA and somehow decided that I am really not a Republican but a RINO (Republican in Name Only).   I don't think I would feel comfortable attending the TRA convention. Also, when I was attending, they did not seem so fringe. They seemed pretty mainstream Republican. Even when I was active in TRA however, I was never sure why we needed the organization.

TRA calls itself the "conservative wing of the Republican Party."  Officially of course, TRA is Republican only by self identification and has no official association with the Republican Party. They state as their mission, "to work to recruit committed conservative activists to become involved in the Republican Party, earning and taking leadership positions within it and displacing RINOs ("Republicans in Name Only") who do not reflect the overwhelming majority position of Republicans across America."

Started in California in 1932, the first Republican Assembly worked to take back the California Republican Party from a liberal elitist faction that controlled the Party at that time. By 1964 the California GOP was in the hands of Goldwater Republicans. The California GOP has been in conservative hands since then.  In 1996, The Republican Assembly became a national organization.

Why is TRA necessary? There are no more Rockefeller Republicans. As far as I can tell, the Republican Party nationally, and certainly in Tennessee, is a fairly conservative party. I am not familiar with the Party in each state and maybe in some states there are Republican Parties that are controlled by liberals but not in Tennessee. Certainly there are disagreements and various factions within the Party and there are some people who care more about some issues than other issues and people who identify more with one candidate than another candidate, but I just do not see a big ideological divide in the Tennessee Republican Party.

Our own Davidson County Republican Party has as it's chairman Kathleen Starnes. Does anyone think Kathleen Starnes is a liberal?  We have on the Executive Committee people like Ken Merraro who blogs as The Blue Collar Muse and who is a TEA party activist,  Lonnie Spivak who ran for the 5th Congressional District Republican nomination and who is a leader of a conservative organization, Dan Davis and Tony Roberts organizers of Conservative Groups, David Hall who was the Party's 2010 5th Congressional District candidate,  Dave Patterson who ran on the Party ticket for a State House seat, and Brent Pierce who leads a chapter of the Ron Paul affiliated Campaign for Liberty. If you know any of these people, or became familiar with them when they were running for office, do you think they are liberals? Are they RINO's?

Who is the TRA trying to take the party from?  If they think the Davidson County GOP is liberal, what would a TRA dominated party look like?

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