Ted Cruz appoints kooky Kevin Kookogey as Tenn. Chair of his campaign.

by Rod Williams, June 9, 2015- I really hate to see this. I have had mixed views of Ted Cruz.  I have heard some of his speeches and have been stirred. I want our country to change course and I believe Ted Cruz is one of the people who, if he were president, could make that happen. He would take us in the direction I want to go. He also has a compelling personal story.  I am convinced he is a principled conservative and he is very smart.

On the other hand, his 21-hour filibuster was a  kind of a phony self-aggrandizing political stunt. It served no purpose. It was not really a filibuster as it didn't block anything. Senate rules set a limit on how long he could delay a vote and the outcome of the vote to fund the government and avoid a government shut down was never in doubt. Cruz even voted to advance the bill he was "filibustering," joining a 100-to-0 vote to take up the spending bill.

Despite my view of his filibuster, Curz was still one of my favored top contenders for the Republican nomination, not on top but somewhere below Marco Rubio and Bobby Jindal but ahead of Rand Paul and way ahead of Jeb Bush and Donald Trump.  With his appointment of Keven Kookogey to be his Tennessee Chairman, he dropped a few points in my favorability rating.

Kookogey is the former one-term chairman of the Williamson County Republican Party. While I do not have first-hand knowledge of what he did as Chairman of the Williamson County Republican Party, I have heard that he greatly damaged the party, that contributors withheld funds and that many Republicans were embarrassed by him.   As County Party chairman he advanced an anti-Muslim and anti-Agenda 21 agenda and he advocated purging the party of insufficiently conservative members and was critical of Gov. Haslam and other elected Republicans.

The anti-agenda 21 movement which has now pretty much disappeared was based on a weird theory that the United Nations planned to kill 96% of the world's population by poisoning them with aspartame and fluoride, although to be fair, most opponents of Agenda 21 probably were never aware of that part of the theory.  In its milder form, the anti-Agenda 21 movement believed that Agenda 21 was a United Nations plan to take away American sovereignty, redistribute wealth and take away property rights in the name of environmentalism.

Across the nation anti-Agenda 21 activists opposed everything from traffic calming, to reintroducing wolves into the wild, to sidewalks, smart meters, and almost all forms of planning and mass transit as being part of agenda 21. This anti-agenda 21 movement originated with the John Birch Society and was spread by people like Alex Jones and Glenn Beck. Anti-agenda hysteria worked its way into the Republican Party with the National GOP adopting an Anti-Agenda 21 party platform plank. The national GOP party platform plank however was short and vague. The Williamson County Republican Party under Kookogey adopted a strongly worded Anti-Agenda 21 resolution that you can still find at this link.  When Kookogey was County Party chairman, the party's webpage had a tab devoted to Agenda 21. After he was no longer chair, the website was redesigned, and no longer featured an Agenda 21 tab.

Kookogy's anti-Islam activism included being part of the group taking out a full page ad against Gov. Haslam over his administration's hiring of a qualified Muslim, Samar Ali,  to work in the Department of Economic and Community Development.   The Williamson County party under Kookogey also hosted an event for controversial Dutch anti-Muslim politician Geert Wilders.  I am not naive and think we must be diligent in protecting ourselves from terrorism. I even hope Arabic speaking FBI agents are attended mosques and I am not opposed to a little profiling,  but by the same token I do not want to let a legitimate concern over terrorism and a clash of cultures lead to bigotry and betraying our constitutional rights.  It was irrational to oppose a person with Ms Ali's talent and experience just because she is a Muslim. Also, against all logic, the $5,000 full-page ad condemned Haslam by saying he was seeking to impose Sharia Law in Tennessee.  Now that is just kooky!

Kevin Kookogey is a part of that embarrassing, and maybe even dangerous, fringe of the Republican Party. Ted Cruz should not have burdened himself with the baggage of Kevin Kookogey as his Tennessee state campaign chairman. The campaign for the GOP nomination will most likely be wrapped up by the time of the Tennessee presidential preference primary anyway, but if Ted Cruz is appointing people like Kevin Kookogey to be his campaign chairmen in other states, then his campaign is doomed. If this is the kind of people he is comfortable with, I would not want him to be president.

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Kookogey Abandons GOP Challenge of Sen. Alexander

Kookogey Abandons GOP Challenge of Sen. Alexander Memphis Daily News

Joe Carr's decision to get into the race two weeks ago. Kookogey's original plan was to announce his candidacy on Wednesday. But he said he doesn't want to ...

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Kookogey says he's 'unannounced candidate' for US Senate

Kookogey says he's 'unannounced candidate' for US Senate The Tennessean

Lamar Alexander is soon likely to get another primary challenger from the right. That revelation came as Kookogey, who left his post in 2012 and has been ...

“As an unannounced candidate, however, I have decided to withdraw from the remainder of the scheduled events, lest my attendance confuse your process.”

I don't know how one is an official unannounced candidate.  I guess this means he want be stepping aside to support the single best anti-Lamar candidate. If so, this is good news for Lamar.

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Kevin Kookogey possible Lama Alexander opponent

While opponents of Lamar Alexander are vocal, they do not yet have a candidate to challenge Lamar. Two potential candidates are the professional wrestler dude, Glenn "Kane" Jacobs,  and Brenda Lenard, the Black single mother UT graduate student who is allegedly a convicted felon guilty of writing bad checks and who has been guilty of "abusive filing" of bankruptcies (link).

Now another candidate is being mentioned, Keven Kookogey. He is the former Chairman of the Williamson County Republican Party. While he himself has not announced, Ben Cunningham, Chair of the Nashville Tea Party and Chair of Tennessee Tax Revolt recently mentioned him as a potential candidate (link).

Kookogey served one term as Chair of the Williamson County Party and did not seek reelection. While I do not have first hand knowledge of what he did as Chairman of the Williamson County Republican Party, I have heard that he greatly damaged the party, that contributors withheld funds and that many Republicans were embarrassed by him.

Kookogey is either a fringe kook or is a patriot advancing real conservative values depending on whom you talk to. As County Party chairman he advanced an anti-Muslim and anti-Agenda 21 agenda and is now involved in the anti-Common Core campaign.  He has advocated purging the party of insufficiently conservative members and has been critical of Gov. Haslam and other elected Republicans.

The anti-agenda 21 movement is based on a weird theory that the United Nations plans to kill 96% of the worlds population by poisoning them with aspartame and fluoride, although to be fair, most opponents of Agenda 21 probably are not aware of that part of the theory.  In its milder form, the anti-Agenda 21 movement believes that Agenda 21 is a United Nations plan to take away American sovereignty, redistribute wealth and take away property rights in the name of environmentalism. When Kookogey was County Party chairman, the party's webpage had a tab devoted to Agenda 21. The website has since been redesigned and no longer features an Agenda 21 tab.

Across the nation anti-Agenda 21 activist have opposed everything from traffic calming, to reintroducing wolfs into the wild, to sidewalks, smart meters, and almost all forms of planning and mass transit as being part of agenda 21. This anti-agenda 21 movement originated with the John Birch Society and was spread by people like Alex Jones and Glenn Beck. Anti-agenda hysteria has worked its way into the Republican Party with the National GOP adopting an Anti-Agenda 21 party platform plank. The national GOP party platform plank however is short and vague. The Williamson County Republican Party under Kookogey adopted a strongly worded Anti-Agenda 21 resolution that you can read at this link.  

Anti-Islam activism included being part of the group taking out a full page ad against Gov. Haslam over his administration's hiring of a qualified Muslim, Samar Ali,  to work in the Department of Economic and CommunityDevelopment.   The Williamson County party under Kookogey also hosted an event for controversial Dutch anti-Muslim politician Geert Wilders.

Engaging in actions such as the above is not normally a function of a Party chair.  Many see the roll of the Party chair to raise money, elect Republicans to office and increase Party ranks. I am sure Kookogey did not make many friends as county Party chair and many were glad to see him go. I have never heard Mr. Kookogey speak nor have I met him, but I understand that he is attractive and has charisma, still I doubt that someone that far out of the mainstream could take the nomination away from Lamar Alexander.

Alexander has the endorsement of  all of Tennessee's living former Republican governors, former Republican U.S. Senators, the current and all former State Party Chairmen, Senator Bob Corker, Gov. Bill Haslam, Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, Speaker Beth Harwell, all seven of Tennessee's Republican U. S. Representatives and scores of state senators, state representatives and many more.  In addition, he has a war chest of $3 million. You can't beat somebody with nobody and all of the somebodies have already endorsed Alexander. If the opponents of Alexander are going to run someone who is more than just a token opposition figure, they haven't found him yet. I really don't think it is Kevin Kookogey.

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"Confronting the Common Core" vedio is now available

From THE TENNESSEE FREEDOM COALITION:

Rod -

We are excited to share this news with you.

April 30, 2013 the Tennessee Freedom Coalition participated in the event "Confronting the Common Core." Recently, the video from that event became available.

Because this issue is of such great importance to the people of Tennessee, we at the Tennessee Freedom Coalition ask that you would share this video via email, facebook, twitter, and any other way you share important information. The future of our children's education depends on getting the word out about this critical issue

Click here to go to the YouTube page where all 12 video are hosted.

Here is a message from Kevin Kookogey, the leader of this event.

*****
Ladies and Gentlemen:

With apologies for the unexpected lengthy delay (we can thank the IRS for that!), we have finally uploaded the video from our April 30, 2013, "Confronting the Common Core" event.  The link is below.

Due to this footage being shot from one still camera straight-on from the back of the room, the presentation is not up to our standards in either audio or visual quality.  But we were working within the confines of our budget and could only do so much with the raw material provided to us at the end of the night by our production team. 

Nevertheless, the content is there in a sequence of separate segments for each speaker and/or each subject matter of the evening. 

My thanks again to everyone who attended and to our sponsors for making this event possible. 

All my best,
Kevin Kookogey

http://kevinkookogeypresents.com/
*****
The Board of Directors
Tennessee Freedom Coalition 

From time to time this blog may post information that I think would be of interest to the conservative, libertarian, or greater community. Such information is posted as a public service and the fact that I post it should not construed as an endorsement. As it relates to Common Core, I tend to think Common Core is a positive education reform. For other post on the topic of Common Core, follow this link. Rod  

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Kevin Kookogey says his group was IRS target

Kevin Kookogey, former chairman of the Williamson County Republican Party says his attempt to get tax exempt status for a conservative group he founded, Linchpins of Liberty, was held up by unreasonable and burdensome request for information and delays. Here is the story in the Tennessean.

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Confronting Common Core event

I am posting as an FYI, unfortunately this event is already sold out. I waited too late to register. Keven Kookogey is the former chairman of the Williamson County Republican Party.

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Kookogey not to seek second term as Willliamson Couty GOP chair

Williamson County GOP Chairman Kevin Kookogey has announced he will not seek a second term according to a story in today's Tennessean. While I do not have first hand knowledge of what is going on in the Williamson County Republican Party, I have heard comments that he has greatly damaged the party, that some contributors were withholding funds and that many Republicans were embarrassed by Kookogey.

Kookogey is either a fringe kook or is a patriot advancing real conservative values according to whom you talk to. He has advanced an anti-Muslim, anti-Agenda 21 agenda.  He has advocated purging the party of insufficiently conservative members and has been critical of Gov. Haslam and other elected Republicans.

The anti-agenda 21 movement is based on a weird theory that the United Nations plans to kill 96% of the worlds population by poisoning them with aspartame and fluoride, although to be fair, most opponents of Agenda 21 probably are not aware of that part of the theory.  In its milder form, the anti-Agenda 21 movement believes that Agenda 21 is a United Nations plan to take away American sovereignty, redistribute wealth and take away property rights in the name of environmentalism.

Across the nation anti-Agenda 21 activist have opposed everything from traffic calming, to reintroducing wolfs into the wild, to sidewalks, smart meters, and almost all forms of planning and mass transit as being part of agenda 21. This anti-agenda 21 movement originated with the John Birch Society and was spread by people like Alex Jones and Glenn Beck. Anti-agenda hysteria has worked its way into the Republican Party with the National GOP adopting an Anti-Agenda 21 party platform plank. The national GOP party platform plank however is short and vague. The Williamson County Republican Party has adopted a strongly worded Anti-Agenda 21 resolution that you can read at this link.  

Anti-Islam activism included taking out a full page ad against Gov. Haslam over his administration's hiring of a qualified Muslim, Samar Ali,  to work in the Department of Economic and CommunityDevelopment.   The Williamson County party has also hosted an event for controversial Dutch anti-Muslim politician Geert Wilders.

Engaging in actions such as the above is not normally a function of a Party chair.  Many see the roll of the Party chair to raise money, elect Republicans to office and increase Party ranks. I am sure many will be glad to see Kookogey go. If anyone has insight into what has happened with the Williamson Country Republican Party under the leadership of Keven Kookogey, I would welcome hearing from you. 

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So who is this apparent jihadist in waiting?

State tea partiers focus anti-Islamic sentiment on highly accomplishedKookogey claimed that the Haslam administration has continually defended Ali's experience with Shariah finance by saying that for the state to be in business ...
nashvillecitypaper.com/.../state-tea-partiers-focus-anti-islamic-s...


This well-written article from the City Paper is a summary of the issues surrounding the hiring of Waverly Tennessee native Samar Ali who is Muslim, and the resulting criticism of Governor Haslam by the anti-Sharia movement.  It includes comments by Williamson County GOP chairman Kevin Kookogey who has taken a leadership role in attacking the Haslam administration and the response from Client Brewer of the Haslam Administration. The role this controversy is playing in the race between incumbent Senator Mark Norris of Shelby County and challenger Woody Degan is examined.

New in this article is more information about Samar Ali.  Below is an excerpt from the article reporting  comments made by Samar Ali at Vanderbilt's “Come Together” service following 9-11:

“I was asked to speak to you all today as an Arab-American Muslim,” she said. “All I know to do is to tell you something from my heart, and my heart is filled with pride to be a student of this amazing Vanderbilt community. Look at us; we are a family. I am proud to be an American and to feel the patriotism right here, right now.”

As a Muslim, she said, she was upset and wondered how anyone could carry out such horrors in the name of her religion. She said she had received more than 40 phone calls on the day of the attacks, from “Arab Americans, Palestinians, and people in Syria and Jordan.” She concluded by looking to the future.

“We cannot let these terrorists succeed and fill our hearts with hatred,” she said. “We cannot allow them to split us apart as Americans. We must come together; we have come so far. We must not fight hate with hate.”

She continued, “The people who did this are a disgrace to mankind. While they claim to be fundamentalist Muslims, they are of no religion at all. I know of no true religion that celebrates a loss of lives. Islam condemns these acts. The people who did this do not represent any true religion or any ethnic group. These are individual attacks, and they are horrific and absolutely terrifying and must be prevented.”

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