Should only American citizens vote in our elections? Take a stand!

Steve Abernathy of the Davidson County Election Commission needs our help!.  He is fighting to ensure that only U. S. citizens are allowed to vote in our elections and he is being resisted in this effort.  There will an important vote on this issue this Thursday, March 21st.  The letter from Steve Abernathy below offers more details about this issue.  I plan to attend this important meeting. Please join me and take a stand for fair and honest elections.

What: Davidson County Election Commission Meeting
When: Thursday, March 21st, 1PM
Why: To ensure only American citizens can vote in our elections
Where:  800 2ndAvenue South, Davidson Conference room

Please arrive early.  The room will only hold about 50 people but there will be overflow rooms with monitors to watch the proceedings.  We need to pack the rooms and the halls.  Show the Elections commission we care about this issue. 

 

An Open letter from Steve Abernathy of the Davidson County Election Commission

Dear Friends

I am writing to you this morning asking for your prayers, wisdom, and strength.  Many of you know me from the community in Southeast Nashville I live in, some from Clarksville High School where I attended, and others that I have worked with over the years with the Bell System.  I retired from the Bell System via Avaya Communications in 2001 after 28 years, and then worked 9 more years for PM Telco that worked closely with Avaya.

For the last four years I have been working as a Davidson County Election Commissioner supporting the Electoral process.  In case you don’t know where Davidson County is, that is Nashville, Tennessee.  Prior to that appointment, I had worked in several elections as  a Poll Officer, so I understand the process pretty well.   We have just finished our review of the November Presidential Election and from that effort I have discovered some disturbing things that cause me great concern about our Electoral process, not just in Tennessee, but across this great country of ours.

 The most serious issue surrounds non-US Citizens being registered to vote.  We are not talking about illegal immigrants who have entered our country illegally. They are not allowed to vote, unless they use forged documents which is very rare.  We are talking about legal immigrants who have followed the law and because of instructions and guidelines in a Federal Law called the “Motor Voter Act”, that was signed by Bill Clinton in 1993, and was mandatory in all 50 states by 1995, these legal immigrants are being mistakenly registered to vote in some instances.  There are two serious problems with this happening that should concern you and your Secretary of State where you live.

Number one, because these legal immigrants are being mistakenly registered to vote when they obtain their Driver’s license, their vote could disenfranchise your vote.
 

Number two, when these legal immigrants work through the process of US Citizenship and it is discovered by the Immigration authorities they have registered to vote or actually voted, they would be guilty of a felony and could be deported.

Both these issues are terribly unfair to US Citizens and the legal immigrants who are doing the right thing, but getting caught in a trap that they are unaware of until it is too late.  

I have personally been to the Tennessee Department of Safety and watched the process work.  There are two group that can obtain a Tennessee Driver’s license. Group one includes US citizens that have a birth certificate showing they were  born in the United States or people born outside the United States, but who have completed the naturalization process to become a US Citizen.  The 14th Amendment to the Constitution specifically states that only US Citizens are allowed to vote in our Federal elections and most of the State elections depending on the laws in your individual state.
 

Group two includes non-US citizens that are in the United States legally and are classified as a “Lawful Permanent Resident”.  They can use many documents to prove they are in the country legally, such as a Green Card (I-551), Foreign passport saying that the holder has been processed for an I-551, Permanent resident Re-entry permit(I-327), Travel document for refugees (I-571), or an I-94 document.   These non-US citizens are required to get a Drivers license in order to drive in their particular state and because of the instructions in the “Motor Voter Act”, they are automatically asked if they want to ”Register to Vote”, even though the documents they are using to get their Drivers license clearly indicate they are not a US Citizen.  The Tennessee Department of Safety employees can tell the applicant that only US Citizens are allowed to vote, but if the non-US citizens don’t have a good understanding of the language or laws governing who is allowed to vote, they may say they want to register to vote.  The TDOS employees are required to work with the applicant to complete the voter registration document and send it to the respective County Election Commissions for processing. Unfortunately, the documentation that would show the County Election Commission the applicant is not a US Citizen is not transferred with the Voter registration documentation.
 

I want to be clear on this issue. The Tennessee Department Safety employees are just following the voter registration process as defined by the Motor Voter Act. They are not doing anything wrong according to their guidelines.    The Motor Voter Act guidelines are the problem and negatively impact the accuracy of our Voter rolls across this country.

On March 21st, 2013, there will be a meeting at the Davidson County Election Commission, 800 2ndAvenue South, Davidson Conference room, beginning at 1 pm.  I will be attempting, with the help of my fellow Election Commissioners,  to “fix” this problem for Davidson County.  If we are successful, it could change the electoral process for all of Tennessee and possibly across this Nation.  This is why I am writing you this morning. I am fighting forces that are trying to keep the size of this problem hidden from the American public.  Those forces are the Department of Justice, Metro Nashville Legal department, and unfortunately members of both political parties.  This should be a non-partisan issue because we must all follow the laws and Constitution of the United States if we want our county to remain a free democracy.
 

 If your schedule will allow and you can come to the meeting and show your support for my efforts, I will be forever grateful.  We will have stickers you can put on your shirt or blouse showing your support.  Please feel free to share my email with family members or your neighbors so they can be involved in this effort.   If you can’t attend, send an email to your Secretary of State and ask them what they are doing to insure non-US Citizens are not being registered to vote by mistake.

 

The Secretary of State for Tennessee is Tre Hargett, his email address is Tre.Hargett@tn.gov or you can call his office at 615-741-2078.

 

God Bless America!

 

Steve Abernathy

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What happened in the Metro Council on March 19,2013

Council OKs $1Bilion in debt. Emily Evans votes "no."

This council meeting is only 41 minutes long. I have not watched the video yet but will update when I have done so. The city issued $1 billion dollars in bonds.  Council member Emily Evans objected. The article below explains the issue.

Nashville council OKs $1B in bond issues to fund building, infrastructure projects

by Michael Cass, The Tennessean - Metro government will be able to issue more than $1 billion in debt to finance building and infrastructure projects after the Metro Council signed off on three resolutions Tuesday......
.........Councilwoman Emily Evans, who works in the municipal bond industry, said on the council floor that she was voting against all three resolutions because they didn’t comply with Metro’s debt management policy.

“We are supposed to repay debt on a level 20-year payment and we are supposed to use competitive bid,” Evans explained in a text message later. (read more)

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Stacy Ries Snyder, Candidate First Vice-Chairman, Davidson County Republican Party

My Name is Stacy and I am asking for your vote for First Vice-Chairman of the Davidson County Republican Party this Saturday, March 23rd.   

         I have had the good fortune to meet many of you before while campaigning for my father, Bob Ries, who ran for Congress this last time in the 5th District.  Some of you, I have just recently met at the Caucus and you may not know my background.

         I am a Belmont University graduate with a BA in French.  I spent the first part of my life in music and art and the second part, so far, working with my family at our bakery, The French Confection.  I have managed our bakery for the last 14 years.  For the first 13 years, we created wedding and groom's cakes for our wonderful Nashville area brides.  In November of last year we decided to "retire" from wedding cakes to grow our wholesale business -selling cakes to hotels and restaurants.   As some of you are aware, our business has grown and we are among the few businesses who have added workers in this economy.

        If you elect me as your First Vice Chairman, I will use the skills I have acquired both at our business and in my father's campaign to do three main things.  

FUNDRAISING: 
        I remember (a little nostalgically since I was a Young Republican at the time) the large and elegant Lincoln Day Dinners we had at the Opryland Hotel years ago and I would love to bring our fund raising up with both large scale events like these dinners and smaller events that are just plain fun.  These events are not only a way to grow our coffers but a way to grow our numbers as well.  

ORGANIZING OUR VOLUNTEERS AND OUR PRECINCTS   
        I firmly believe we need to organize our volunteers in a usable database by precincts. We need to do this not only to continue to grow the party but to be a viable help to our candidates.  In this past November Election, we had MANY wonderful folks "come out of the woodwork" to help the Republican Party and the nominee.  If we do not organize these people now, help them find a permanent place in the party and utilize their time, abilities and talents, they will fade away again.   Yet, these volunteers are the backbone of our party! And we need them all year - not just the election years.

REVIVING THE PARTY
        The Republican Party IS the party of our country.  More folks agree with our principles than they do those of the Democratic Party - they just don't know it.  On a national scale, the Republican Party does the very WORST job of defining who we are. Because of this, people do not realize they ARE one of us. I believe we can change this on the county level and that strength of identity will help ALL of our candidates.  Then the candidate will be able to simply talk about their strengths instead of trying to define the party for their electorate.  

        I am asking please for your vote this weekend on Saturday, March 23rd.    I believe I have new and energetic ideas to bring to the party and with your vote and your help, we can make the Davidson County Republican Party the strongest it has ever been and get some GREAT Republican candidates elected!

Thank you.
~Stacy

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Tonya Miller seeks Regional Vice Chair- South Central Region - Council Districts 16, 17, 18, 19, 21‏

From Tonya Miller:

It would be an honor to serve the South Central Region as the Regional Vice Chair. As many of you know, the convention is this coming Saturday, March 23rd at the Ellington Agricultural Center at 9:00 am. We will vote in our party leadership which will last through the next election cycle. 2014 is a very important election year, primarily for judges. As a full-time Spanish interpreter for six years, I see firsthand how a judge's mindset can sway his/her interpretation of the law. Attached is Stan Scott's user-friendly breakdown of the 2014 elections. Please, take a moment to look at the challenges that face us.

My skill-set for the RVC is ideal. I am an excellent communicator and am already familiar with many of the local social/neighborhood/leadership groups in the area. Some main responsibilities for the SCRVC include: planning, coordinating, directing and reporting activities in the region’s five council districts; assisting the district chairs and vice-chairs recruit precinct captains and neighborhood coordinators. An experienced party member said that the main purpose of our party leadership is to organize and mobilize. I know I am able to assist and have the time flexibility to devote to the party. I admire the other positions' candidates and know that I will work well on the team.

Your support is appreciated. Please, if you have any questions or ideas you would like to share, please email me personally. If not, see you Saturday!

Kind Regards,
Tonya
millertonya@hotmail.com
 document link

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Monty Lankford Won't Challenge Alexander For Senate

Political fund raiser, conservative leader, and  former congressional candidate from Franklin, Monty Lankford has said he will not challenge Republican U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander next year. Below is the text of his letter to friends and supporters:

Dear Friend,

Over the past several months I have followed a deliberative process in Washington, D.C. and Tennessee as I considered running against Lamar Alexander for the U.S. Senate. After much prayer I have decided not to run and I have pledged my full support to Lamar. In the past few weeks Lamar has been to my home, he’s met with me and my family, and I have shared with Lamar my commitment to help him win his re-election to the U S Senate.

We all know the liberal news media puts a filter on what we hear about our leaders, only to create division within our party. Today, more than ever, they are trying to twist Republicans into a party of negative infighting. The media does that to distract our country from the bigger issues - tackling the debt, stopping Obama from eroding our rights and infringing on our free enterprise system.

I’m supporting Lamar because he stands up for Tennesseans:

1) In 2011 and 2012 Lamar received a 100% rating from the National Federation of Independent Business and a 100% rating from the National Right to Life. The NRA gave Lamar an “A” in its most recent evaluation of his record.

2) He’s committed to fixing the debt by restraining out-of-control spending. He has had the courage to introduce a specific plan that reduces entitlement spending by $1 trillion, he voted for the Budget Control Act which is now law and cuts $2.2 trillion in spending, he has introduced legislation to require a Constitutional amendment to balance the budget and he’s cosponsored the No Budget, No Pay Act. He doesn’t want anyone in Congress to get paid if they don’t do their job.

3) He has fought to stop unfunded federal mandates his entire time in Congress. Lamar challenges legislation that sends Tennesseans the bill for Washington’s mandates because he believes the best thing Washington, D.C., could do for the state of Tennessee is stop imposing federal mandates that soak up our tax dollars.

4) He believes, as I do, that the Republican Party is the party of opportunity. In 2012, he voted with the majority of Republican senators 83% of the time.

5) He wakes up every day working hard for us and standing up for Tennesseans. He believes that we must preserve our Constitutional rights so that our children and our grandchildren have the same opportunities and freedoms that we have enjoyed.

In my role as the Chairman of the Defenders of Freedom PAC and the Leaders of Tennessee PAC, I’m proud of the ambitious goals we’ve set and achieved. Several years ago we said that working together we could achieve a majority in the Tennessee General Assembly, and for the first time since reconstruction control the redistricting process. We exceeded that goal and today have a supermajority.

Working together in 2014 we can win back the U.S. Senate from Harry Reid’s control, and increase our capacity in the House. The first step in that effort is to return Lamar Alexander to the U.S. Senate with unprecedented support from our party across the state of Tennessee.

In the weeks and months ahead Senator Alexander and I will be working together to continue building a united and strong Tennessee Republican Party. I hope you will go to Lamar’s website and join me by adding your name to those conservatives who support Lamar Alexander.

Sincerely,

Monty Lankford Chairman, Defenders of Freedom

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The 20 Best Quotes from CPAC 2013

20) “I was told I got 10 measly minutes, but just in case, I brought 13 hours worth of material.” -- Rand Paul
 
19) “American Journalism is dead… They have behaved like hockey goalies in front of Barack Obama’s net.” -- Roger Noriega

18) “The GOP of old has grown old and moss covered.” -- Rand Paul
 
17) “If standing for liberty and the Constitution makes you a Wacko Bird, then count me a proud Wacko Bird.” -- Ted Cruz

16) “If these experts keep losing elections, keep raking in millions, if they feel that strongly about who should run in this party they should buck up and run or stay in the truck. The architects can head on back to the Lone Star State and put their name on the ballot.” -- Sarah Palin

This is good. I was glad I was there to hear it. To see the rest of the list, click here. 

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Labor Department Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner Resign

The commissioner of the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development has resigned. The deputy commissioner also resigned, though the reasons were unclear. Full Story

What is the real story? 

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In Case You Missed It: Senator Corker on Fox News Sunday

In an appearance on Fox News Sunday, U.S. Senator Bob Corker, R-Tenn., told host Chris Wallace that the country will know President Obama is serious about getting our fiscal house in order when the president "begins to say publicly to the American people... that he understands that Americans are only paying a third of the costs of Medicare, and that has to change for the program to be here down the road."

Corker, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also applauded U.S. placement of missile interceptors in Alaska following recent North Korean nuclear and missile tests but urged the Obama administration to also locate missile defense capabilities on the East Coast to guard against threats from inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). He also questioned the administration's decision to cancel a portion of the European-based missile defense system originally agreed to as part of Senate negotiations over the New START treaty with Russia.

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The Coming (Quiet) Push For A National Internet Sales Tax

by Matt Collins

There is a very quiet push to implement what is effectively a national sales tax scheme on all Internet purchases. They have already tried to sneak it into bill previously, and they will likely attempt to sneak it through again in the near future POTENTIALLY EVEN THIS WEEK. It is called the Marketplace Fairness / Main Street Fairness Act.

The legislation would seek to overturn a 1992 Supreme Court decision called Quill vs North Dakota which ruled that businesses who do not have a physical presence in a state cannot be forced to collect sales tax for that specific state government. Not only does the Quill decision protect online businesses from having to collect tax for all 50 states, it also prevents taxation without representation by prohibiting state governments from forcing their laws on business outside of its borders.

The Marketplace / Main Street Fairness Act would force each online retailer to create different pricing structures for every individual customer, a massive burden and significant increase in cost to doing business. These costs would of course be passed on to the customer, causing the price of all online purchases to increase in addition to the new taxes imposed as a result of this Act. These types of regulation would be stifling to online commerce and detrimental to the economy overall.

Mandating a national Internet sales tax collection scheme is focusing on the symptom instead of the actual problem. Politicians are attempting to raise revenue when they should be cutting spending since state tax revenues are back to pre-recession levels. The concept of a “revenue problem” is pure mythology. This mandate would be a “tax-and-spend” solution for many state governments that find themselves in fiscal hot water due to spending overruns.

The uglier and darker side to this issue is that larger businesses are lobbying the government to pass this scheme which would severely hurt their smaller competition. Barriers to entry on the Internet are miniscule and practically anyone can start an Internet retail presence for their home based business within a matter of minutes. However attempting to keep up with regulatory and taxation jurisdictions for 50 states is not easy, nor would it be functional for the vast majority of small Internet retailers.

More broadly, this issue is reflective of a bigger question, that of how much authority will the government hold during the Internet Age? Will states get to exercise power outside of their borders, or will there be an unlimited reach available to every government? Taxation without representation is always appealing to the politicians because they cannot be held accountable by the people they are taxing. We are at a fork in the road and can move forward with either more freedom, or move backwards with more government; Internet taxation is one of the first steps in deciding which direction we’ll take.

It should be noted that free market groups like Cato Institute, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Americans for Tax Reform, Nat’l Taxpayers Union, Heartland Institute, Heritage Foundation, Reason, and even eBay and the Direct Marketing Association are opposing this measure.

Republican elected officials who are joining Dick Durbin, Dianne Feinstein, and Al Franken to support this measure should know that recent polling shows almost half of Americans do not want an expansion of sales taxes on the Internet and 63% of conservatives are opposed to it. When the question is framed about states pushing their laws outside of their borders 61% of Americans oppose it and 77% of conservatives do too. In fact 84% of Republicans oppose any sort of expansion of governmental power over the Internet, especially taxation or regulation. It is likely that any Republican who supports this massive expanse of government power will see a primary challenge because of it.

Matt Collins is a Republican activist in Nashville.

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Great Time at CPAC!

Rod Williams and Gene Wisdom at CPAC

I just returned from the three-day annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington D. C. and had a wonderful time! For a conservative political junkie activist like myself, the experience of CPAC must be similar to what a hard core country music fan feels when they attend fan fair. CPAC is three days of political rally, workshops, education, training, and networking. It is educational, motivating and exhilarating.

The event was actually in Maryland, across the river from D. C. at the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center in National Harbor. I went to the event with my friend Gene Wisdom. We flew up together and shared a room at the Hapton Inn, directly across the street from Gaylord Hotel but a lot less expensive than the Gaylord.

CPAC is sponsored by The American Conservative Union which is America’s oldest and largest grassroots conservative organization founded in 1964. The ACU has hosted CPAC in the Nation’s Capital since 1974. I never did get a confirmed count of the number of people attending but heard numbers of between 8000 and 10,000. There is no liberal equivalent of CPAC.

Senator Marco Rubio

It is hard to summaries the three days, there was so much going on. At any one time there was one big event going on in the big room and from one to four other break-out session going on at the same time. In addition, there was the exhibition hall with several hundred booths where you can talk to the representatives of various organizations promoting their various causes. In the exhibition hall you can learn a lot about what these groups are doing and about issues and how to get involved. You can also get lots of freebies. I came home with nine tee shirts, a ball cap, four books, several tote bags, a poster of Ronald Regan, and numerous ink pens, and label pens and buttons.

At the back of the exhibition hall there is a place where book signings occur. While I did not pursue getting autographed copies of books, for those who do it is a chance to get the autograph, shake hands with and get your picture taken with the big names in the conservative movement. Even though I did not get in line to get a book autographed, I accompanied Gene to get several autographs and it is fun to see the famous politicians and authors up close. In addition to all of this there are movies and documentaries being shown in a theater. Not being able to do it all, I skipped all of the movies but many of them sounded interesting.

Sarah Palin pokes fun at New York Mayor Michael

Bloomberg's call to ban large sodas

While it is great to be in the big hall hearing the leading conservative luminaries of the day making their speeches, the room is so big that you are not close to the speaker. Unless you are in the VIP seating, which is more expensive, you are really seeing them on big screens. While it is a thrill to know you are seeing them live and be in a big hall with maybe eight thousand people joining in the applause and cheering, you are not up close and personal with the speakers. In the break-out sessions, you can be close. Those events are much more intimate and most have a question and answer period following the speech or panel discussions.

There is no way to see it all, so I missed Allen West (who I saw in the hall), Dr. Ben Carson, Rick Santorum, and Rick Perry, Donald Trump, Mitt Romney, Mitch McConnell, Newt Gringrich, Jeb Bush and others. I don't feel any great loss in missing some of them but others I wish I would have seen but could not be two places at once. I did however get to see Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Phyllis Schlafly, Sen. Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, Paul Ryan, Ann Coulter and several others. Some of the speakers were only given fifteen minutes so they gave a cheerleading-type stump speech; others had more time. Ted Cruz was the closing speaker and he must have talked for an hour but it never got boring. He was able to more fully developed a thesis.

Gene gets Ann Coulter's autograph

Who did I really like? It is hard to say; I liked so many of them. Surprisingly, I loved Ann Coulter. She has never been one of my favorite conservatives but she was charming and funny and clever with a biting sarcastic wit. Sarah Palin was a delight. She was entertaining and is full of personality and is so darn cute. Rand Paul, fresh from his filibuster was a crowd favorite and had people cheering. I also liked Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, and Ted Cruz. I guess Marco Rubio was the politician who impressed me most.  His speech was less raucous and more inspirational, yet it was close. Rand, Ryan and Cruz were all good.

The break out session covered a broad range of topics. There were sessions on how to win with generation X; the legacy of Andrew Breitbart; tax policy including discussion of the Fair Tax, the Flat Tax, and tax reform; using social media; Conservative journalism; liberty and environmental issues; immigration; fatherless children and the problem of poverty; fracking and energy policy issues; religious freedom (Diane Black was on this panel); fundraising; the social issues of abortion and gay marriage by sociologist and award winning author Charles Murray; "Can we cut defense spending and still defend America;" "How to get a job in Politics;" the status of the pro-life fight forty years after Roe v Wade; Benghazi and Middle East foreign policy, conservatives in Hollywood, and many, many more.

A few of my favorites were those put on by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. One, was "still questing after all the years" and was a discussion of Robert Nesbitt's The Quest for Community. Four distinguished scholars discussed the legacy of this book and the issues of place, community and the problem of alienation in society.

 I guess my favorite of the breakout sessions was, "The Conservative Intellectual Movement: Then and Now." The speaker for this event was George Nash, the author of the influential book, The Conservative Intellectual Movement, first published in 1976. Our book club had read this book recently and it was such a thrill to hear a presentation by the author. He spoke for about 30 minutes and then afterwards he stood in the hall answered questions and engaging in discussion for about another thirty minutes. I felt fortunate to get to have a conversation with this great scholar of the conservative movement.

Gene Wisdom and M. Stanton Evans

Another thrill was getting to chat with M. Stanton Evans, former long-time associate editor of
National Review, managing editor of Human Events, one time head of ACU and author of numerous books.

In addition to all of the official programs, it was fun to just talk to so many other conservative activist from across the country. One thing that pleased me is that there was almost none of the right wing nut fringe featured at this event. There was no John Birch Society or Alex Jones Inforwars booth and very little of the embarrassing elements of the conservative movement.

If you are a conservative activist and have never been, plan to go next year. I hope to return.

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Rand Paul wins CPAC 2013 Straw Poll

Rand Paul

CPAC, March 16, 2013, WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC 2013) concluded with Senator Rand Paul winning the CPAC Straw Poll. The Straw Poll was sponsored by The Washington Times and conducted by Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates.

In first place, Rand Paul secured 25% percent of the vote by registered CPAC attendees, followed by Senator Marco Rubio at 23% percent.  Former Senator Rick Santorum received 8% percent of the vote, closely followed by Governor Chris Christie with 7% percent and Representative Paul Ryan with 6% percent.

A total of over 60 names were either listed or written in.  The top two names received nearly 50% of the vote.
“We convened thousands of energized conservatives today at this 40^th Annual National CPAC 2013 from across the entire country,” said ACU Chairman Al Cardenas. “It’s been a long-standing and fun tradition at CPAC National as well as our regional CPACs to poll the attendees and get their opinion on a number of important issues.”

“The Washington Times is honored to partner with CPAC to measure the pulse of conservatives at this key moment in the movement,” said Larry Beasley, President and CEO of The Washington Times.

 The Washington Times-CPAC 2013 Straw Poll results help benchmark how conservatives perceive key issues and their preferred candidates heading into the next election. To view the final results of the poll, click here.

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What is on the Council Agenda for 3/19/2013

You can get your own copy of the Metro council meeting agenda at this link: Metro Council Agenda. You can find the analysis at this link: Metro Council Agenda Analysis. Council meetings can be really, really boring if you don't know what the Council is voting on. With an agenda and analysis, they are just really boring. This agenda is more boring than most and this should be a short meeting. There is nothing controversial on the agenda. Don't bother watching unless you just have nothing better to do. I will watch it for you.

There is one resolution on public hearing about a beer permit but it would interest no one except the immediate neighbors.

There are twelve resolutions all of which are on the consent agenda. A resolution is put on the consent agenda if it is likely to be non-controversial and it stays on the consent agenda if it passes the committees to which it was assigned unanimously. Since Bills on the consent agenda are usually not controversial and tend to be routine matters, such as accepting grants from the Federal or State Government or authorizing the Department of Law to settle claims against the city or appropriating money from the 4% fund. Resolutions on the consent agenda are passed by a single vote of the Council rather than being considered individually. However, any member of the body may have a bill pulled off of the consent agenda. I do not expect any to be pulled off of the consent agenda. I don't see any controversial resolution.

Bills on First reading almost always pass. There are nine bills on first reading. They are considered as a group and are seldom discussed. First reading is a formality that allows the bill to be considered. Bills are not assigned to committee or analyzed by council staff until after they have passed first reading. I have not carefully reviewed the bills on first reading, but see nothing of any consequence and will review them more carefully before second reading.

Bills on Second Reading. It is on Second reading, after bills have been to committee, that discussion usually takes place. There are only six bills on second reading. None of them seem terribly important but below are a couple worth noting:

BILL NO. BL2013-381 by Councilman Tygard would require periodic reports regarding the energy and water savings from Metropolitan Government buildings and facilities constructed using sustainable building principles and practices. This report would determine if LEED certified building are saving any money over non-LEED certified buildings of similar size. This seems like a good move. We need solid data to determine if the cost of expensive energy efficiency measure pay for themselves or if they are just feel-good measures.

BL2013-388 repeals the local residency requirement for liquor store owners. The Tennessee Attorney General recently opined that the residency requirement violates the U. S. Constitution because it discriminates against interstate commerce. This opinion is based on a recent ruling in a similar matter.

Bills on Third Reading: Third Reading is the final reading. If a bill passes third reading it becomes law unless it is vetoed by the Mayor, which has only rarely happened. There are sixteen bills on third reading. Most of them are zoning bills and none of the bills on third reading are controversial. While not controversial, the following bills are worth noting:

ORDINANCE NO. BL2013-379 tweaks the backyard yard chicken policy.

ORDINANCE NOS. BL2013-376 & BL2013-377 change sign policy in the downtown commercial area.

ORDINANCE NOS. BL2013-383 & BL2013-384 are bills that authorize the mayor to submit the 2013-2018 plan for community development programs for Metro Nashville and the 2013 analysis of impediments to fair housing to HUD. This is required to get money from several different programs. The goals of the plan are to increase the supply of affordable housing, increase access to healthy food choices, reduce homelessness, and promote community and economic development. These two bills are routine. The plan for community development programs provides for several categories of expenditure but before any money could be spend the council would have to specifically approve the spending. One good provision I am pleased to see in this bill is that none of these funds will be used for any property acquisition involving the use of eminent domain.

Memorializing Resolutions: There is one memorializing resolution and it ask TVA to change its current policy of clear-cutting all trees fifteen foot or taller in a TVA easement. Currently that policy applies even to trees that are slow-growing and ornamental and that will never reach the height of a TVA power line. This ordinance also ask TVA to give homeowners a 60 day notice before cutting trees on their property that are within the TVA easement.

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