What happened at the Nov 18th Counicil meeting? The limit-pawnshops-meeting. (Updated)

Councilman Peter Westerholm's memorializing resolution endorsing President Obama's plan to force coal-fired power plants to close was pulled off of the consent agenda and deferred. Westerholm failed to appear before  the Rules Committee so the vote was deferred "by rule." The plan to force Pedal Pubs to get a certificate of necessity was deferred one meeting.

Council meetings are not quite as boring if you know what the Council is voting on. To get your on copy of the agenda, the staff analysis and my commentary, follow this link. I normally notate the timestamps of the portions of the meeting worth watching, but there is nothing noteworthy worth watching in this meeting.



Here is the items worth mentioning:

RESOLUTION NO. RS2014-1269 extends the term of the Study and Formulating Committee to March 31st, 2015. Every five years the mayor has to appoint such a committee to study and make recommendations on employee benefits. The work of the committee is not finished and the staff analysis says this extension is needed. Without an extension the work of the committee will have to be completed by November 19, 2014. This resolution was deferred last meeting. Any recommendation of the Study and Formulating Committee would have to come back before the Council.  Any recommendation would not change benefits of current employees but only future employees. I wish the employee retirement plan would be changed to a Metro defined contribution plan rather than a defined benefit plan, but I don't think that will happen anytime soon. Most private sector plans, if there is any retirement plan, is a defined contribution plan rather than defined benefit. A defined contribution plan is less risky to the employer. A defined contribution plan specifies the employer make contributions on a regular basis and within a set range of options, the employee decides how his contributions will be invested. A defined benefit plan specifies how much retirement income the retiree will receive. This resolution to extend the term of the committee fails by a vote of 16 aye's and 17 no's.

RESOLUTION NO. RS2014-1289  is the bill to offer incentives to Bridgestone to get them to stay in Nashville.  Actually, if I were in the Council, I would vote for this but I wish that was not the way business was done, but if we don't bribe them to stay, some other city will pay them to relocate so we have to play the game. They will bring 1700 jobs to downtown and build a new 30-story tower in SoBro. They already have about 1100 employees in Nashville but the lease on their location near the airport is expiring and they were looking at relocating.  The metro incentive is about $50 million, mostly in a exemption on paying taxes for some years on the new building they will build downtown. In addition to the Metro incentive the State is also offering an incentive. You can read The Tennessean's story about this deal at this link. It is deferred one meeting to "track" with the bill on first reading which addresses the same issue.

Three bills on First Reading sponsored by Councilman Westerholm are pulled from consideration as  bundled with all other bills on First reading and he them moves to have them passed and deferred to the public hearing in February.  As I had it explained to me, Westerholm had put bills on the agenda to rezone property and the owners of the property did not request the rezoning. They were not even aware of the rezoning proposal before they were introduced. This is almost unheard of. Councilman Robert Duvall explains this and speaks against the bills and says they should be defeated. Council member Megan Barry speaks against defeating of the bills. The bills do pass on first reading. I heard several "no's".  I wish the "no's" would have requested a machine vote. If Westerholm would like to explain how this happened, I would be pleased to post his explanation.

BILL NO. BL2014-925 on second reading would regulate pedicabs and pedal pubs. Pedicabs are the three wheeled non-motorized vehicles that travel in the 2nd Ave and lower Broad area. Pedal pubs are those traveling taverns powered by the customers, about eight on each side. These regulations would require a certain amount of insurance and certain safety requirements. I am OK with that. What I don't like is that Metro would allow them only after they prove a necessity for the vehicles.  Metro can say "we have enough" and not allow new providers to get in the market. I don't think any business should have to show a need to enter the market.  Let whoever wants to try to make a go at it, have a shot. No one should be protected from failure or competition.  What if one had to show a need before one could open a new restaurant? We would not have the great restaurants we have today, but we would have some really mediocre restaurants. There is probably never a "need" for a pedal pub.  One pedal pub may succeed because of the type of beer they sale or the price of the beer or the bartender tells good jokes or the barmaid is cute and shows cleavage. Let them compete and let the market determine which ones survive.   If I were in the Council, I would vote against this bill.   The bills is deferred one meeting. As I had it explained to me, it would not be lawful to require a certificate of necessity for Pedal Pubs.

BILL NO. BL2014-926 on second reading subsidizes the cost of a rain barrel purchased form a company Metro will contract with to provide them. The justification for this program is that it will help with storm water management.  It sounds like a waste of money to me. I would have voted against it. It passes.

BILL NO. BL2014-896 on third reading rezones 238 acres in east Nashville to allow accessory dwelling units on properties in the rezoned area. I think rezoning like this is a positive development, we need to promote affordable housing but not use the heavy hand of government to mandate it. Accessory dwelling units on a lot can provide more affordable units of housing and increase density which is necessary to have successful mass transit and it combats urban sprawl. This is deferred two meetings.

BILL NO. BL2014-902 on third reading is a zoning bill disapproved by the Planning Commission and there is some discussion of the bill but it really doesn't interest me very much. The contentious issue is the bill allows an LED sign. It passes. I would have been persuaded to vote for it if I were in the Council. If anyone is interested, see the timestamp at about 46:00.

BILL NO. BL2014-908  imposes proximity limits on what are often called predatory lenders, places like check cashing businesses, title loan businesses and payday lenders and pawn shops. These  businesses, except for pawn shops, could not be located within 1/4 a mile of each other and pawnshops could not be located within 1/4 mile of another pawn shop. I think this is a misguided effort and if I were in the council, I would have opposed it. To see my commentary on this, follow this link. When the bill was on public hearing, I was surprised that no one showed up in opposition.  Those in support did not speak and there was no discussion and the bill passed unanimously by voice vote.  I oppose this bill but it passes and there is little discussion.

Here is the Tennessean's report on the meeting: Limits on way for Nashville pawnshops, payday loan stores.
Here is the Nashville Business Journal's report: Bridgestone incentives clear first council hurdle.
This is the WSMV report: Ride-sharing regulations pass first Metro Council reading.

Top Stories

Diane Ravitch Cheered By Anti Education Reform Crowd In Nashville

In case you missed it, Diane Ravitch Cheered By Anti Education Reform Crowd In Nashville.     There is a certain element that does not want tough standards or excellence in education. They would prefer the one-size-fits-all model of education.  They think that what we have is good enough.  If if means bad teachers never get fired and many students never get educated, they would prefer that to meaningful reform.

Top Stories

Obama's Already Made the Legal Case Against Executive Amnesty

President Obama clearly know he does not have the authority to do what he is about to do.  Time and time again he said he did not have the authority to do it, but he is doing it anyway. He said he can't do it because he is not an "Emperor. "  He is willfully trampling the constitution and he damn well knows it. This is not a matter of dual interpretation of vague provisions of the law; he is willfully and intentionally exercising authority he does not have.

Top Stories

Corker Hits Expected Obama Executive Order On Immigration

“He’s incredibly weak, and candidly, he is doing these things because he doesn’t have the ability to lead and is not willing to put the effort out to do the work to actually cause things to pass in  Congress.”

Top Stories

Nashville Business Journal: How Lamar Alexander would fix Obamacare

By Eleanor Kennedy -When Republicans officially take control of the Senate at the start of 2015, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) will land the role of chairman on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor &Pensions. Since Alexander hails from a state where health care is, in many ways, king, I chatted with the senator Wednesday morning to get a sense of what he'd like to see happen to the Affordable Care Act under a Republican-controlled Congress.

"Obviously we would prefer to repeal and replace this. And there will probably be a vote and I will vote for it," Alexander said. He added, though, that it's very unlikely Barack Obama would sign a law repealing the signature health reform bill that colloquially bears his name. Even if a repeal effort fails, "the responsible thing is for Republicans to look past it," Alexander continued, and find ways to "repair the damage done."

"Fundamentally," he said, "we want to give Americans more choices and lower costs for their health insurance." Alexander provided examples of piecemeal steps the Republican Congress could take that would, in his view, improve Obamacare's provisions. Those include strengthening health savings accounts, allowing small businesses to band together to offer coverage, improving access to plans across state lines and allowing for major medical health plan options — all provisions that have been proposed by Senate Republicans.

Alexander himself is the lead Senate sponsor of a bill that would free employers to incentivize healthy lifestyle choices like quitting smoking or losing weight. Alexander said he also supports multiple bills that call for the repeal of the medical device tax, which he said "adds to the cost of health care and is driving companies out of Tennessee," especially Memphis, where medical device companies are common. But here in Nashville, hospital companies are the dominant player, and I asked Alexander how his goals are informed by those companies' experience. HCA Holdings, LifePoint Hospitals and Community Health Systems have reported early benefits to their bottom lines from the increased number of patients with insurance coverage, either via the online marketplace or Medicaid expansion in states that chose to expand the program.

 Alexander acknowledged hospitals have budgeted for a larger number of covered lives, and said the best way to continue to reap those benefits "would be for the Obama administration to be flexible enough to allow Gov. [Bill] Haslam to develop an expansion of ...TennCare that the [state] Legislature would approve."

"As a former governor, I understand Gov. Haslam's caution" not to implement an expansion program that would "bust the budget," Alexander said, noting that TennCare represents more than triple the percentage of the state's budget than it did when he was governor in the 80s. The senator said he has encouraged HHS Secretary Sylvia Matthews Burwell to be as as flexible as possible to make Medicaid expansion in Tennessee a reality.

Outside of reform, Alexander said his biggest health-related priority as chairman of the health and education committee will be to restructure and reform the Food and Drug Administration to make it more responsive to modern times. For example," Alexander said, "in the current ebola crisis, if there's a vaccine or a treatment or a rapid-response diagnosis test that's promising, we need to make it easy for those new ideas to make their way through the FDA process as rapidly as possible and still be safe."

This article was reposted from Lamar Alexander's website. 

Top Stories

Rep. Rick Womick disavows and condemns attacks on Speaker Beth Harwell

RICK WOMICK STATE REPRESENTATIVE 34TH LEGISLATIVE DISTRICK PRESS STATEMENT - There are several emails that have been showing up in legislative and personal email boxes that are attacking Speaker Harwell, her staff, and other legislators on a personal level, ultimately targeting the character and personalities of all involved. While I appreciate the efforts of undisclosed supporters across the state, I am not responsible, do not condone, and do not support these, or any future emails, that degrade, attack, or misrepresent the character of any individual associated with the Tennessee House of Representatives.

My bid for speaker is based on a fundamental disagreement in leadership style and a lack of accountability to the members of the Republican caucus. My challenge to Speaker Harwell is not of a personal nature and I will not allow it to degrade into a campaign centered around character assassination.

As I stated in an earlier press release, serving as Speaker of the House is a very serious matter and an extremely important position in our state's government. Such a position of leadership should not be treated as an inconsequential popularity contest for class president.  Instead it should be fully vetted before anyone is allowed to assume the office.

Over the next two weeks, I will be addressing the serious issues and misgivings that confront the current House leadership, as well as, revealing the truth, the facts, and the evidence as it pertains to their tenure. In return, I will offer the option of new leadership, with new direction, fresh ideas, accountability to its members, and a House that truly belongs to the legislators and the people they represent.

I will continue to be professional and respectful as I begin to detail the serious grievances and improprieties that confront the Republican caucus during this election for speaker-select. I have encouraged my fellow legislators not to be persuaded by disparaging attacks or hurtful innuendos that are beyond our control. It is my desire that we stay focused, get beyond personality differences, and address the most important aspect of our election, which is the constitutional governance entrusted to us by the people of Tennessee. (end of press release)

To read more about this issue, follow this link: Email urging Speaker Harwell's ouster casts her as puppet.

Here is an except from the story: 

The latest email featured House Clerk Joe McCord as a puppet master, pulling the strings of Finance Committee Chairman Charles Sargent and Speaker Pro Tempore Curtis Johnson from one hand and House Speaker Beth Harwell and former Republican Caucus Leader-turned education lobbyist Debra Maggart on the other.
“It is time to cut ties,” the image says in bold, capital letters. “Vote Rick Womick for speaker. No one will pull his strings.”

Top Stories

What's on the Council Agenda for Nov. 18th? Endorsing Obama's EPA Carbon Emission Rules, Bribing Bridgestone and Regulating Pedal Pubs.

Council meeting are really boring if you don't know what the Council is voting on, with an agenda  and council staff analysis the meetings are not quite as boring. Follow the highlighted links for you copy.  

The big item on this agenda is a move by Westerholm to put the Metro Council on record endorsing President Obama's controversial job-killing EPA Carbon Emission Rules which will raise electricity rates, $50 million is subsidy to Bridestone to stay in Nashville and expand, and new regulation of Pedal pubs and Pedicabs.  Here is the agenda summary.

There are five appointments to Boards and Commission on the agenda, and they will all be approved without question or dissent as is always the case.

There are two resolutions on public hearing, both for restaurants that already have a liquor license but not a beer license. They are within the Metro beer code prohibited distance limit of a home or other type facility such as park, school or church.  It seems silly to me that one can sell tequila  but not beer in a restaurant.  I think the metro code should be changed so that any restaurant that has a liquor permit, automatically has the beer code distance requirements waived but that is not the case.

There are ten resolutions on the agenda, all on the consent agenda at this time.  A bill is placed on consent if it is assumed to be non-controversial and stays on consent it it passes the committee to which it was assigned unanimously. However, on the floor, any Councilman may ask to have a bill moved off of consent and considered separately or may ask to have himself recorded as abstaining or voting "no."  Here are the resolutions of interest:

• RESOLUTION NO. RS2014-1269 extends the term of the Study and Formulating Committee for a year. It is slated to expire on March 1, 2015. Every five years the mayor has to appoint such a committee to study and make recommendations on employee benefits. The work of the committee is not finished and the staff analysis says this extension is needed. This resolution was deferred last time, why I don't know.
• RESOLUTION NO. RS2014-1289  is the bill to offer incentives (bribe) to Bridgestone to get them to stay in Nashville.  Actually, if I were in the Council, I would vote for this but I wish that was not the way business was done, but if we don't bribe them to stay, some other city will pay them to relocate so we have to play the game. They will bring 1700 jobs to downtown and build a new 30-story tower in SoBro. They already have about 1100 employees in Nashville but the lease on their location near the airport is expiring and they were looking at relocating.  The metro incentive is about $50 million, mostly in a exemption on paying taxes for some years on the new building they will build downtown. In addition to the Metro incentive the State is also offering an incentive. You can read The Tennessean's story about this deal at this link. 

Please note that Westerholm's pro Obama EPA bill may slip though on the consent agenda, if no one opposes it. Memorializing resolutions get added to the Consent agenda if they pass the committee to which they are assigned unanimously. Memorizing resolutions only go to the Rules committee.

There are fifteen bills on First Reading but I usually don't pay much attention to them until Second Reading. First Reading is a formality that allows a bill to be considered and it is bad manners to vote against a bill of First reading unless it is really atrocious. Here are some to watch however:  

• BILL NO. BL2014-951  regulates short-term vacation rentals in homes. 
• BILL NO. BL2014-952 regulates non-taxi livery services such as Uber and Lyft.  Someone in the industry tells me these regulations are reasonable and do not include price-fixing. 
• BILL NO. BL2014-953 is part of the Bridgestone deal and approves the 20-year tax abatement.

 There are nine bills on Second Reading. These are the ones one of interest:

• BILL NO. BL2014-925 would regulate pedicabs and pedal pubs. Pedicabs are the three wheeled non-motorized vehicles that travel in the 2nd Ave and lower Broad area. Pedal pubs are those traveling taverns powered by the customers, about eight on each side. These regulations would require a certain amount of insurance and certain safety requirements. I am OK with that. What I don't like is that Metro would allow them only after they prove a necessity for the vehicles.  Metro can say "we have enough" and not allow new providers to get in the market. I don't think any business should have to show a need to enter the market.  Let whoever wants to try to make a go at it, have a shot. No one should be protected from failure or competition.  What if one had to show a need before one could open a new restaurant? We would not have the great restaurant we have today, but we would have some really mediocre restaurants. There is probably never a "need" for a pedal pub.  One pedal pub may succeed because of the type of beer they sale or the price of the beer or the bartender tells good jokes or the barmaid is cute and shows cleavage. Let them compete and let the market determine which ones survive.   If I were in the Council, I would vote against this bill.   
• BILL NO. BL2014-926 will subsidize the cost of a rain barrel purchased form a company Metro will contract with to provide them. The justification for this program is that it will help with storm water management.  It sounds like a waste of money to me.

There are 16 bills on third Reading, most of them are zoning bills which would interest no one but the near by neighbors. Here are the ones of interest: 

• BILL NO. BL2014-896 rezones 238 acres in east Nashville to allow accessory dwelling units on properties in the rezoned area. I think rezoning like this is a positive development, we need to promote affordable housing but not use the heavy hand of government to mandate it. Accessory dwelling units on a lot can provide more affordable units of housing and increase density which is necessary to have successful mass transit and it combats urban sprawl. 
• BILL NO. BL2014-908  imposes proximity limits on what are often called predatory lenders, places like check cashing businesses, title loan businesses and and payday lenders and pawn shops. These  businesses, except for pawn shops, could not be located within 1/4 a mile of each other and pawnshops could not be located within 1/4 mile of another pawn shop. I think this is a misguided effort and if I were in the council, I would have opposed it. To see my commentary on this, follow this link. When the bill was on public hearing, I was surprised that no one showed up in opposition.  Those in support did not speak and there was no discussion and the bill passed unanimously by voice vote.  I oppose this bill.
• BILL NO. BL2014-922 would prohibit the throwing of free newspapers or advertising into the yard or on the right of way by classifying it as litter.  This bill is hardly worth the effort because the biggest offender, The Tennessean, will be exempt from its application because regulating these free throws, if they contain any news, would be considered an infringement on the freedom of the press.

There are three Memorizing Resolutions on the agenda. A memorializing resolution is an expression of the will of the council and has no legal impact. The first two are not important. Here is the one of interest:

RESOLUTION NO. RS2014-1300 expresses support for President Obama’s "Clean Power Plan" to reduce carbon pollution from power plants. I do not think the Council should be opining on matters like this.  The Council has enough to do to solve local issue. Let Congress deal with nations issues. If members of the Council want to opine on national issues, let them blog.  If we are going to consider matters like this, then I think the handful of Republicans on the Council should sponsor a memorizing resolution urging the president do follow the constitution and a resolution urging the President to not use an executive order to grant amnesty to five million illegal immigrants. Each council meeting could be devoted to memorialize the Congress on national issues. 

The new Congress plans to go after these new rules and overturn them. It is a certainty that the new rules will cause higher electric bills and they will most likely slow the recovery.  This is not a simple matter where all of the positives are on one side. The Council should vote against this.  There are about eight members of the Council who are identified as Republicans. They should vote against this. The Republicans on the Council have in the past voted for memorializing resolutions endorsing otherliberal position. These memorializing resolutions do not come out of no where but are part of a national effort to influence the Congress.  Council members who would argue against this resolution don't have to argue that global warming is not real or argue in favor of dirty air, they just need to say that this is not an issue the Council should be debating. To read more about this issue follow this link and A Dangerous Plan - EPA Proposal Perilous for State  and a story form the Tallahassee Democrat Mike Murtha: EPA’s Clean Power Plan would hurt Florida.  

Top Stories

Nashville gets a "C" rating for being transportation-friendly.

This is not the map. To view the interactive map and scorecard that grades 50 cities on their regulatory openness toward car services click this link: View the Map.   From the map click on a city to learn about the regulatory environment of that city. Out of 50 cities rated for how transportation friendly they are, Nashville ranks 36.  That is not good, but had not Nashville ended their price-fixing in January of this year, we would have probably been in last place. Actually Nashville did not end price-fixing but reduced minimum fares for limousines from $45 to $9 which essentially made it of no impact. Below is what Ridescore had to say about Nashville.

• Taxi Friendliness D
• Limo Friendliness B-
• Transportation Network Friendliness B-

Nashville has a highly regulated vehicle-for-hire market that imposes significant barriers to competition and innovation.
Competition in the Nashville taxi market is restricted by a regulatory limit on the number of entrants, which takes the form of a medallion system. Commodifying the right to do business is far worse than a fleet cap, as it creates a rent-seeking cartel of medallion owners with incentive to influence policymakers and promote regulatory capture.
Limos in Nashville operate relatively freely, but still face common legacy regulations that undermine their ability to innovate and be competitive. While there is a minimum fare in place that we’d like to see removed, it is only $9.
The regulatory environment in Nashville has been accommodating to transportation network companies, although policymakers have not officially legalized their operation.

Top Stories

Special Joint Meeting of Metro Council Committees to discuss regs for non-taxi livery (Uber, Lyft)

This is the Special Joint Meeting of the Metro Nashville Council Budget & Finance Committee and the Traffic and Parking Committee on November 17, 2014 for the purpose of discussing ORDINANCE NO. BL2014-952. The city of Nashville and the Metro Council have had a very dismal record in regard to alternative forms of transportation. Initially when a innovation appeared in Nashville with a new business model that offered improved service and lower prices, the city did all it could to drive them out of business. Early this year the city reversed itself and made it possible for phone app dispatched ride-share services like Lyft and Uber to operate in Nashville.  I still to not trust the Council to do the right thing however.  Instead of being motivated by any commitment to free markets and capitalism, the council made a pragmatic decision to allow a service the tourism sector needed and wanted.

I hope someone is watching the Council like a hawk.  A friend of mine in the Black Car business, who was previously a victim of the Council's crony capitalism and price-fixing, tells me ORDINANCE NO. BL2014-952 only imposes reasonable regulations and will not drive alternative forms of livery service out of business. I have simply not had time to study this 34 page bill.  I wish someone could give me a one-page synopsis of the bill. I have not yet watched this meeting, but hope to before the day is out. I am posting it so that if anyone has an interest in the topic, either a financial interest as a provider of ride-share service or an advocate of free enterprise, they can be informed and attempt to influence the Council, should the Council again try to do something detrimental to free markets and transportation innovation.

Top Stories

Liberty on the Rocks, Thursday, November 20th

Who: A group of people, numbering anywhere between 8 and 25, who love liberty and who range in age from 18 to 80, and who vary in occupation from students to laborers to attorney's and businessmen, who are generally labeled "right of center" and may call themselves, libertarian, tea party, Republican, conservative, constitutionalists, Objectivist, and maybe an occasional anarcho-capitalist.
What: Liberty on the Rocks which is a get-together that involves eating and drinking and talking and respectfully disagreeing and exchanging of ideas usually about some political topic (but not always) which could be the news of the day, or foreign policy, or the monetary system, or the roll of the family and gay marriage, or legalization of drugs or prostitution, or privacy and the NSA, or the welfare state, or education reform, or criminal justice and prison reform, or the death penalty, or immigration policy, or morality, or just whatever topic one brings up. There is no program.
When: Thursday, November 20th from 5:30 until everyone leaves which usually people start leaving about 9:30, but sometime later but you can come as late or leave as early as you please.  
Where: Mafiaoza's on the patio, 12th Avenue South, Nashville, TN.
Why: For the enjoyment of good conversation with like-minded people.

Top Stories

Gruber, who said lying to the stupid America voters was necessary to pass Obamacare, was paid $5.9 for Health Care consulting

It is now clear that the Affordable care act was written in such a way to deceive the American voter. Jonathan Gruber who was the paid technical adviser to the Department of Health and Human Services and unofficial adviser to congressional Democrats has said so in very clear language. He is caught on video telling an audience at a University of Pennsylvania health care conference last year.

“This bill was written in a tortured way to make sure the [Congressional Budget Office] did not score the mandate as taxes.  Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage. Call it the stupidity of the American voter, or whatever.”

Now, Democrats are saying he was a minor player in developing the ACA and they don't even remember him. For someone who Nancy Pelosie can't remember, saying "I don't know who he is"and "He  didn't write our bill," he sure got paid a lot of money. It is now revealed that he got paid $6.7 million for work on health care consulting since 2000 and most of that was for work connected to the Affordable Care Act. $392,600 was from the Dept of Health and Human Services for his Affordable Care Act consulting. 

Below are a couple of the videos where he candidly explains how deception was used to pass the Affordable Care Act. 

I know President Obama will veto it, but as soon as the new Congress takes office, they should repeal the AFC. After the veto, then they should began amending the hell out of it. 

Top Stories

Say it Loud; Black, GOP, and Proud

Race hustlers and limousine liberals go ballistic when Blacks start wondering off the liberal plantation. Despite fifty years of Democrat political loyalty and millions of spending by the government to subsidizing poverty, the state of Black America is pretty dismal.  Not many, but some Black Americans are starting to question the wisdom of staying loyal to the Democrat party.  On some issues such as education reform and abortion, some Blacks are realizing they are more aligned with Republicans than Democrats. And some Blacks are beginning to realize that they fare better under free enterprise than hand-outs and quotas.

The Civil Rights establishment and race hustlers do not celebrate achievements by Black Republicans. Clarence Thomas, Condoleezza Rice, or Colin Powell are denounced as "tokens" or Uncle Tom's or not authentically Black. This year their were some historic firsts: Mia Love became the first Black female Republican elected to the House, Tim Scott became the first Black Republican from the South elected to the Senate since Reconstruction, and Will Hurd the first Republican Black man from Texas elected to the House since Reconstruction.

In response to these achievements, the Civil Rights establishment and race hustlers have expressed revulsion and contempt rather than celebration. In this article Black Democrat political analyst Juan Williams examines this: Williams: Say it loud: Black, GOP and proud.

Top Stories