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Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Gun activists again take aim at GOP. They are gunning for Charles Sargent.
by Charles Sisk, The Tennessean, April 28, 2014 - Debra Maggart knows what it’s like to be targeted by gun rights groups.
Two years ago, the Hendersonville Republican chaired her party’s caucus in the state House of Representatives, a job that placed her below only House Speaker Beth Harwell and Majority Leader Gerald McCormick in their hierarchy. Her opposition that summer was a campaign novice whose only previous involvement in politics had been leading prayers and role-playing historical figures at tea party events.
The National Rifle Association shook up what could have been an easy road to re-election. Through an onslaught of advertising and campaign workers, the gun rights organization transformed that newcomer, Courtney Rogers, into a serious contender. When the tallies came in on election night, Rogers had taken 57 percent of the vote and Maggart was out of a job.
“They came after me, and now the seem to be coming after Charles Sargent,” Maggart said last week. “Charles doesn’t deserve it. Charles hasn’t done anything to warrant it.”
Note: Steve Gawry is Charles Sargent's challenger.
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Leadership Institute Middle Tennessee Campaign Workshop
Middle Tennessee Campaign Workshop
West Precinct Community Room
5500 Charlotte Pike
Nashvlle, TN 37209
Saturday, 3rd May 2014,
$25 (lunch included)
9:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m.
This program will include the basics of organizing and running a campaign for local office or state legislative races. It will include developing and delivering a persuasive message, targeting and identifying voters, and voter contact and turn-out operations
Lectures include:
- Developing a Persuasive Message
- Voter ID & Targeting
- Building Coalitions
- Earned Media & PR
- GOTV (Get Out YOUR Vote)
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Bill Clinton Speaks To Nashville Charter Students
NewsChannel5.com | Nashville News, Weather
"Young people today will need higher levels of education than ever
before and therefore those of you who are responsible for these young
people being here, and the young people in these pews, are giving them a
gift that they cannot even begin to appreciate, but they will someday
and I thank you for it," he said.
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Monday, April 28, 2014
Give to Tea Party Patriots and a lot goes to consulting fees and little goes to the candidate.
I financially support causes and candidates and the Republican Party. I am a person of modest means and do not have a lot of money to spend, but I do what I can. When I give, I want to know that my contribution is being used effectively and for the purpose for which I intended it. I don't always know that. Recently I got a solicitation from Patriots for Economic Freedom asking me to contribute to them to support the Tim Scott campaign. Tim Scott is someone I really want to see reelected. I almost contributed, but did a little research first and found out that the race in South Carolina is virtually over. Scott only has token opposition in the Republican primary and the most prominent Democrat running dropped out, leaving Scott with an unknown city councilman who will be his Democrat opponent. (link) Patriots for Economic Freedom made it sound like he would lose the election if I did not contribute.
The Washington Post has done an expose' of Tea Party Patriots and their campaign spending. Tea Party Patriots is supporting challenger Matt Bevin in Kentucky who is attempting to unseat Mich McConnell. So far Tea Party Patriots have only spend $56,000 directly on Bevin's behalf and it has spend twice that much on consulting fees to Beth Martin, president of the Tea Party Patriots.
In looking at combined spending of several tea party political action committees, the reporter found that, "Out of the $37.5 million spent so far by the PACs of six major tea party
organizations, less than $7 million has been devoted to directly
helping candidates, according to the analysis, which was based on
campaign finance data provided by the Sunlight Foundation."
I know that it cost money to raise money and people who work full time promoting the cause of conservatism deserve to make a decent income, but I sometime feel that some people are more interested in building there own little fiefdom and lining their own pockets than they are getting conservatives elected. While this article focused on tea party organizations, I don't doubt that is just as bad on left.
Political organizations are not the only ones with people raising money to line their own pockets and increase their own power at the expense of supporting the cause. Televangelist have been guilty of this and it has been exposed time and tiem again. Trinity Broadcasting Network's Paul and Jan Croch had a opulent lifestyle, with several multimillion dollar mansions throughout the world, private jets and all the luxuries one could imagine. To think of lonely elderly people living on social security sacrificing and scrimping to send money to Trinity Broadcasting to do the lord's work and the money going to support the decadent lifestyle of the Croches sickens me. The Croch's may be an extreme example but there were plenty of others in the field of big religion doing the same thing.
While not a lot of non-profits have out and out charlatans like the Croch's taking advantage of people, lots of non-profits have high overhead. Whether it is religious organizations, charities, or political causes, there will always be people who are mismanaging money, exaggerating and lying and manipulating to encouraging contributions, and people more concerned with building their own power base and lining their own pockets than they are with supporting the stated cause.
The conservative movement and good candidates need our support. I encourage people to put their money where there mouth is and financially support the cause. We all need to think, however, before we give. Don't be swayed by emotional appeals. Do some research before you give. Give to established organizations you know can trust. If one wants to see Mitch McConnell defeated they would be better off giving directly to his opponent than funding consulting fees for the President of Tea Party Patriots.
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Thank you President Clinton for your support of educational excellence and student achievement
I am ready to but partisanship aside for a day and welcome former President Bill Clinton to Nashville and thank him for his support of education excellence. He is speaking today to the graduating seniors of Leed Academy, 100% of whom are college bound. That is a remarkable achievement! Leed students are mostly inner city Black kids. Eighty-four percent of LEAD’s seniors will be the first in their family to ever attend college and 80% of them are low income. For 100% of this demographic to be accepted into college is fantastic.
Former President Clinton is to be commended for speaking to these graduating seniors. With many in the academic community, such as school board member Amy Frogge, seeing charter schools as a threat to public education and with union opposition, it is almost controversial to recognized the unprecedented success of charter schools and to recognized the achievement of charter school students.
by Joey Garrison, The Tennessean, April 27 - Jamila Hill has her script ready for when she takes the mic Monday to introduce someone she admits probably needs no introduction — Bill Clinton.The LEAD Academy senior, who like all her classmates is college-bound, will trace his rise from a young Arkansas governor to the 42nd president of the United States.Most importantly, though, she'll note that his ascendance included stops and degrees at some top-tier universities: Georgetown and Yale."No disrespect to President Clinton, but back then, the education system in Arkansas was a lot like my neighborhood in Nashville in 2007," Hill plans to say. "It was rare to see kids like me go to college and do amazing things.
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Only 47% of Tennesseans think Tennessee is the best or one of the best places to live.
I am surprised Tennesseans did not rank our state higher. I think the natural beauty of our state is unsurpassed. I think for the most part we have honest government and we have low taxes. I love living in Nashville and would not choose to live anywhere else. There are 21 other states that rank higher than Tennessee, where the citizens of their state say their state is the best or one of the best places to live. Tennesseans rank their state higher than do the citizens of the neighboring states of Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas.
Tied for number one as the state with the most people who think their state is a great place to live is Alaska and Montana. Seventy-seven percent of the residents of those states say their state is the best or one of the best places to live. I have never been to Alaska and I am sure it is beautiful but I have never wanted to live anywhere where the winters are long and cold.
On the other end of the spectrum is Rhode Island with only 18% of the residents thinking highly of their state, followed by Illinois, Mississippi, and Louisianan. I am surprised that Louisianan ranks so low. Louisianan has always been plagued by corruption but with the unique food and music and heritage of the state, I would have thought that would have created a lot of pride. My daughter lives in New Orleans and I visited for almost a month last fall. She loves it there and I certainly enjoyed my vacation there. If I had to live somewhere else, I think I would like New Orleans.
Other rankings that I found interesting is California ranked as best or one of the best by 51% but worst place to live by 6%. New York ranked as best or one of the best by 41%, but worst by 12%.
I think it would be interesting to correlate this ranking with other rankings, such as average income, poverty rates, crime rates, climate, and if the state is identified as a red state or a blue state to see if there are any common factors that make people think they live in a great place. To see the complete ranking and learn more about this survey, follow this link.
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