State Sen. Bill Powers of Clarksville not running for Mark Green's seat; Brandon Ogles is, Cheatham County Republican activist Mark Moore maybe.

Rep. Brandon Ogles

by Rod Williams, Feb. 22, 2024- According to The Tennessee Journal, State Sen. Bill Powers of Clarksville says he won’t be running for the U.S. House seat being vacated by Rep. Mark Green. 

Mark Moore

"For me, family is more important than any congressional title in Washington, D.C.,” Powers said in a Facebook post. “I’m honored to be your state senator and have no plans to run for Congress.”

So far, only former state Rep. Brandon Ogles is the only Republican to announce a bid for the 7th District seat. Brandon Ogles served in the Tennessee House of Representatives from January 8, 2019 to January 10, 2023. He represented District 61, located in northern Williamson County, which includes the city of Brentwood and part of Franklin.

Cheatham County Trumpinista Republican activist Mark Moore has posted on social media that he is interested in a bid. 

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Sunshine Cities and Sinkhole Cities

by Rod Williams, Feb. 22, 2024- At the end of the fiscal year 2022, 53 cities did not have enough money to pay all of their bills. This means that to claim their budgets were balanced—as is required by law in the 75 cities—elected officials have not included the actual costs of the government in their budget calculations and have pushed costs onto future taxpayers. Together, the 75 cities had $307.4 billion worth of assets available to pay bills; their debt, including unfunded retirement benefit promises, amounted to $595.3 billion. Pension debt totaled $175.9 billion, and other post-employment benefits (OPEB), mainly retiree health care, totaled $135.2 billion.

It should be noted that this is not a value judgement as to whether or not a city is overtaxed or undertaxed, if the city has the right priorities, or the quality of life in the city, but a measure of the fiscal soundness of the city. It asks the question, does the city has enough money to pay its bills.  

Nashville and Memphis are the only two cities included in the 75 cities graded and ranked. Both received a grade of "C." Memphis ranked 44th and Nashville ranked 48th out of the top 75 U.S. cities in the report.  If one looks at cities which may be consider peer cities of Nashville, Austin received a D grade, Charlotte a B, Jacksonville a D, Orlando a C, and Tampa a B. 

Certain cities have an excess of money to pay their bills and the TIA calls the best five of these "Sunshine Cites" and the five with the greatest deficits TIA calls "Sinkhole Cities." Below is that list.

To see the full report follow this link.

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Nashville, Memphis given 'C' in Financial State of the Cities report

By Jon Styf | The Center Square,  Feb 19, 2024 - Nashville and Memphis were both graded a “C” in Truth in Accounting’s annual Financial State of the Cities report.

Memphis ranked 44th and Nashville ranked 48th out of the top 75 U.S. cities in the report from the think tank that analyzes government financial reporting.

The methodology is to examine the cities' bills, their respective number of taxpayers and determine if there is burden or surplus for each. Grades of "A" or "B" are given to governments making their balanced budget requirements; "C" for passing if it comes close; and "D" and "F" when it is not balanced and there are significant taxpayer burdens.

The new report looked at the comprehensive financial reports for cities through 2022 and found that Memphis went from having a surplus in 2021 to a burden of $4,000 per taxpayer in 2022 despite increased tax collections and federal COVID-19 funds.

“Memphis continued to spend large amounts of federal COVID-19 relief funds, and as the U.S. economy reopened the city took in additional tax revenue,” the report said. “Such economic gains were offset by significant decreases in the value of the city’s pension investments.”

Memphis has 94 cents set aside for each dollar of promised pension benefits and 51 cents per dollar of promised retiree health benefits.

Nashville, meanwhile, has a burden of $4,500 per taxpayer.

“While the pension liability increased due to a deterioration in the value of pension investments, the amount of promised retiree health care benefits decreased due to changes in benefit terms and changes in the way this OPEB debt was calculated,” the report said.

Nashville has just 8 cents set aside per dollar of promised retiree health benefits.

The 2022 Nashville numbers were an improvement in taxpayer burden of $6,800 per taxpayer.

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Memphis gets a "C" in Truth in Accounting's State of the Cities Report

 by Rod Williams, Feb. 22, 2024- Annually, Truth in Accounting analyzes the country's 75 largest cities finances and ranks and grades the cities.  It should be noted that this is not a value judgement as to whether or not a city is overtaxed or undertaxed, if the city has the right priorities, or the quality of life in the city, but a measure of the fiscal soundness of the city. It asks the question if the city has enough money to pay its bills. 

Most cities are required by law to balance their budgets, however, often governments do not include the actual costs of the government in their budget calculations and push costs onto future taxpayers. Municipalities balance budgets by using accounting tricks such inflating revenue assumptions, counting borrowed money as income, delaying the payment of current bills until the start of the next fiscal year so they aren’t included in the budget calculations and other devices. One of the most common ways governments understate the cost of government is by inadequately funding their pension obligations and health care obligations of future retirees. 

TIA says governments can accumulate debt while claiming balanced budgets because most budgets are prepared on a cash basis. This antiquated accounting method includes cash inflows, including loan proceeds as revenue, and outflows—in other words, only checks written.

In analyzing a city's financial status, if the city is insufficiently counting its obligations or inflating its income or doing both, the actual deficit is divided by the number of citizens and that is called a taxpayer's burden. If the city has more income that obligations, that excess income is divided by the number of citizens and is called the taxpayer surplus.

You may view the full report at this link. Below is the report on the city of Memphis. To see the report on Nashville, follow this link. 

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High-profile Republicans head for the exits amid House GOP dysfunction

 Mark Green isn't the only House member heading toward the door.

CNN, Feb. 19, 2024- House Republicans were shocked by some of the recent high-profile retirements announced by their colleagues, which have included powerful committee chairs and rising stars inside the GOP.

But given the miserable state of affairs inside the House right now, they also weren’t exactly surprised.  “They’ve signed up to do serious things. And we’re not doing serious things,” said Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, a conservative who is retiring after bucking his party on several key issues.

Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, a moderate who represents a key swing seat, pointed to his party’s struggle to govern as driving the departures. ... And Rep. Carlos Gimenez of Florida, ...  I thought that some of our members would be smarter.”

Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington is not even term-limited yet in her plum post, while China select committee Chair Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, a 39-year-old who was once seen as the future of the party, recently announced he was leaving Congress after facing intense blowback for voting against impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

And on the Energy and Commerce Committee alone –... eight Republicans who are retiring.

Rep. Greg Pence of Indiana, who is among the members on the panel hanging up his voting card. 

... “It’s unfortunate because you think of the brain trust you are losing. I blame a lot of the ‘crazy eights’ led by Gaetz. They want to make this place dysfunctional to try to wear people out,” McCarthy said, speaking to reporters in the Capitol recently. “It’s very sad … It makes it more difficult for getting people to run in the current climate.”

.... House Republicans wonder: ‘Is it worth it?’

This session of Congress, lawmakers have already experienced a historic 15-ballot race for speaker, the unprecedented ouster of a speaker, a rare expulsion of a member and a number of embarrassing, failed floor votes as Republican leadership has struggled to corral its paper-thin majority – all which has all contributed to members’ fatigue.

Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, even cited the gridlock in his recent retirement announcement, saying: “Our country – and our Congress – is broken beyond most means of repair.”

Rep. Debbie Lesko of Arizona, who announced her retirement ... ... Rep. Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota, who is leaving Congress to run for governor. “It’s gonna be a nail-biter, and we should all be ready for it.”

And some of the Republicans who are retiring are seen as dealmakers who are dedicated to good governance, like Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, which is fueling concern about who might be left in Congress – and who might be taking their place.  (read more)

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Nashville gets a "C" in Truth in Accounting's State of the Cities Report

by Rod Williams, Feb. 20, 2024- Annually, Truth in Accounting analyzes the country's 75 largest cities finances and ranks and grades the cities.  It should be noted that this is not a value judgement as to whether or not a city is overtaxed or undertaxed, if the city has the right priorities, or the quality of life in the city, but a measure of the fiscal soundness of the city. It asks the question if the city has enough money to pay its bills. 

Most cities are required by law to balance their budgets, however, often governments do not include the actual costs of the government in their budget calculations and push costs onto future taxpayers. Municipalities balance budgets by using accounting tricks such inflating revenue assumptions, counting borrowed money as income, delaying the payment of current bills until the start of the next fiscal year so they aren’t included in the budget calculations and other devices. One of the most common ways governments understate the cost of government is by inadequately funding their pension obligations and health care obligations of future retirees. 

TIA says governments can accumulate debt while claiming balanced budgets because most budgets are prepared on a cash basis. This antiquated accounting method includes cash inflows, including loan proceeds as revenue, and outflows—in other words, only checks written.

In analyzing a city's financial status, if the city is insufficiently counting its obligations or inflating its income or doing both, the actual deficit is divided by the number of citizens and that is called a taxpayer's burden. If the city has more income that obligations, that excess income is divided by the number of citizens and is called the taxpayer surplus.

You may view the full report at this link. Below is the report on the city of Nashville. 

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Bellevue Breakfast Club Welcomes Senator Jack Johnson, March 2

 

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Tucker Carlson’s pitiful propaganda tour of Russia.

by Nick Catoggio, The Dispatch, Feb 16, 2024 -  Like the commie simps of yore (and not so yore), Carlson has found himself dazzled by the urban niceties Russia’s government wants visitors to be dazzled by and scrupulously oblivious to the poverty and anomie that stalks a country whose GDP per capita is one-fifth of America’s. 

Still, the Moscow subway is pretty nice.

It’s understandable that a Western Putin apologist would end up there as he grasps for arguments that, of the two nations, it’s the U.S. that’s a third-world country and not the autocracy ruled by a former KGB agent where more than 20 percent of the population lacks indoor plumbing. 

... The “grocery-store gap” with Russia has been a point of pride for the U.S. since the Cold War. To this day, free-marketeers fondly remember how Russian President Boris Yeltsin reacted when he visited an American supermarket in 1989, visibly astonished by the abundance and variety of goods. Comparing the experience of food-shopping in Russia favorably to the experience here takes real commitment to the bit, like taking a dump in one of Russia’s many, many outhouses when it’s 20 degrees below zero and admiring through chattering teeth at how well-built it is.

... spending a pittance on groceries in an impoverished country shouldn’t convince one that that country is better run or less prone to inflation, Lord knows. As any American tourist could tell you, goods often seem “cheap” in poor nations only because Americans are rich relative to the locals. If you tried to get by in Russia on the average Russian’s salary, a grocery bill like Tucker’s would cannibalize an enormous share of your meager monthly wages.

... when he was asked about Navalny a few days ago during a stop in Dubai, before the man had died and international opinion about him had turned raw, Carlson sounded different. “Leadership requires killing people.” That sounds familiar.

Even so, I don’t expect “leadership requires killing people” to become the leading spin to Navalny’s death among the right’s Russophiles—although there will be spin, of course. If they weren’t willing to ditch Putin for killing tens of thousands of Ukrainians, they’re not going to ditch him for whacking a single activist exalted by the very Western leaders whom they aggressively despise. (read more)

Rod's Comment: Tucker Carlson is a despicable person. He is a Putin propagandist. He is the Tokyo Rose and Hanoi Jane of our era. 

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Why Conservatives Should Support Zoning Reform

suggested reading

 BY RON SHULTIS, The Beacon Center, February 18, 2024 - Typically, proposed laws at the local level rarely get any attention, let alone make national news. But here in Tennessee, we’re anything but
typical. Recently, several zoning reform proposals were introduced in Nashville’s Metro Council garnering considerable local and even some national media attention. Some of these proposed policies include eliminating the requirement that lots be a certain size in higher-density zoning districts, allowing apartments in districts typically reserved only for businesses, and allowing duplexes city-wide and triplexes and quadplexes in more areas of the city.

Sadly, there is often the habit of dismissing or being skeptical of ideas coming from people you typically disagree with. And these reforms proposed by liberal Nashville councilmen and women are no exception.  We’ve seen and heard more conservative Tennesseans express skepticism of these proposals. But rest assured, zoning reform is something that everyone, especially conservatives, should be in favor of. Here are four reasons why conservatives should support zoning reform:

1. Zoning laws are in essence a restriction on property rights

At their foundation, zoning laws regulate usage and density on private property. In other words, zoning laws determine what you can build on your property, how much you can build on it, and where you can build it.  Want to make some extra money by building and renting out a carriage house in your backyard? Probably not allowed as many jurisdictions often prohibit you from building them, let alone renting them out to a tenant. Got a way bigger yard than you need and want to subdivide your lot and sell it to someone else? Zoning laws like minimum lot sizes are likely to get in your way.

2. Zoning regulations prevent the free-market from working

We’ve all heard the law of supply and demand: the idea that when there is demand for a product or service, business will rush to meet that demand. But just like in so many other industries, the housing industry is prevented by the government from building enough homes to meet market demand. How? Well, when the vast majority of a city is zoned for single family homes with large minimum lot sizes only or commercial uses, there are literally only so many homes that can be built. That’s why one national housing group estimated Tennessee needed an additional 56,000 homes as of 2020. Zoning laws create an artificial shortage and bidding war that drives up prices, making it hard for low and middle-income families to afford housing, just like any other government meddling with the free market.

3. Zoning laws can rob property owners of value and investment potential

People often oppose zoning reform because of the assumption that it protects their home values. This is understandable, as a house is typically the largest investment somebody will make in their lifetime. However, there are many instances where zoning laws can have the opposite effect because they limit the allowable uses allowed on a piece of land. By allowing more uses—from allowing an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) in your backyard to granting apartments to be built over commercial spaces—the value of a property can increase because it can be used for more things.

4. Zoning laws change existing communities by dictating urban sprawl 

One of the reasons you typically hear people hesitant to enact any kind of zoning or land-use reform is this sense of needing to protect the “character” of one’s community. That’s certainly noble. But talk to many long-time Middle Tennessee residents, especially those in the more rural fringes of the greater Nashville area and you’ll hear this sense of how their small-town community that they grew up with has been somehow “lost” in the recent growth of the past few years. If you’ve ever been to Atlanta, where I grew up, you’ve seen this first hand. As more and more people moved to Metro Atlanta, zoning laws incentivized and even mandated building out not up, and turned north Georgia into one giant metropolis of never ending subdivisions and excruciating traffic. That’s because zoning laws, the very tool people think will save their community, forces urban sprawl out to more rural areas for cheaper and available land to build on. Sure, particular streets might remain the same, but larger communities are transformed. By reforming zoning laws and allowing for more density, particularly in our urban cores, those who prefer a more dense, walkable community can do so. Meanwhile, those who prefer a more rural lifestyle but like having a larger metro within a reasonable drive can have that as well.

In this day and age, it’s rare for an issue to exist that can unite both sides of the ideological spectrum. But truly, pro-housing policies like zoning reform can be one of those issues. While reasons for supporting it may differ, there’s nothing more free-market than getting rid of or loosening arbitrary government regulations like zoning that restrict our property rights and prevent the free-market from doing what it does best.

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Feds sue Tennessee over registering HIV sex workers as violent sex offenders

 By Brett Rowland | The Center Square, Feb 15, 2024 - The federal government filed suit Thursday against Tennessee and its Tennessee Bureau of Investigation over enforcement of the state's aggravated prostitution statute. 

The state law requires people with HIV convicted of aggravated prostitution to register for life as a violent sex offender. The federal suit seeks to stop enforcement of the statute. 

The U.S. Department of Justice said the state law violates the Americans with Disabilities Act by discriminating against people with HIV. Justice Department officials sent a letter to state officials in December 2023 warning of a lawsuit if the state continued to enforce the law. 

"The enforcement of state criminal laws that treat people differently based on HIV status alone and that are not based on actual risks of harm, discriminate against people living with HIV," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement. "People living with HIV should not be subjected to a different system of justice based on outdated science and misguided assumptions."

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti's office said that it is reviewing the DOJ's lawsuit.

Skrmetti's office on Thursday filed a motion to dismiss a similar lawsuit. In that motion, the office defended the law. 

"The challenged statutes’ approaches to stemming the spread of a dangerous, communicable disease more than pass rational-basis muster. Plaintiffs admit that HIV is an incurable disease. If left untreated, HIV will almost always lead to the final stage of the infection or AIDS, followed by death in one to three years. As of 2022, HIV/AIDS has killed over 608,000 people in the United States, and despite recent advances in HIV therapies, more than 32,000 new cases of the deadly disease were recorded in 2021," they wrote "And when Tennessee adopted its aggravated prostitution statute and made offenders register ... things were worse."

The Justice Department's investigation found that the state and the Shelby County District Attorney's Office "subject people living with HIV to harsher criminal penalties solely because of their HIV status, violating Title II of the ADA." 

The Justice Department findings were detailed in a Dec. 1, 2023, letter to Skrmetti.

The state's aggravated prostitution statute is a felony. A person convicted of aggravated prostitution faces three to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. A person convicted of a misdemeanor prostitution charge faces a sentence of no more than six months and up to a $500 fine. The aggravated prostitution statute applies statewide, but the Justice Department previously said it has been enforced most frequently in Shelby County, the largest county in the state.

The state's Sex Offender Registry restricts registrants from living or working within 1,000 feet of any school, childcare facility, or public park or playground. The Justice Department said this leads to increased homelessness.

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Included in the list of countries which a President Trump would encourage a Russian invasion are France, Canada, Italy, Spain and ...

 by Rod Williams, Feb.12, 2024- Included in the list of countries which a President Trump would encourage a Russian invasion are France, Canada, Italy, Spain and all of the countries below the green line in the chart below. 

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Tennessee bill will no longer attempt to ban cold beer

 By Jon Styf | The Center Square, Feb 16, 2024 - A Tennessee caption bill that would have banned the
retail sale of refrigerated beer will no longer attempt that ban.

Rep. Ron Gant wrote that that “that was one of the many ideas discussed and considered by the many stakeholders across our state as potential item to be included in the legislation.”

Gant was involved in a fatal 2022 two-car head-on crash where the other vehicle crossed the center line and hit his vehicle, killing the other driving and leading Gant to get flown by helicopter to a Memphis hospital, the Tennessee Journal reported.

Gant previously told the Journal his goal is to create a two drink maximum for wine or mixed drinks in the state and a three-beer cap unless someone can prove they have a designated driver or alternative transportation.

Several House sponsors withdrew from House Bill 2845 before it has been assigned or heard in committee.

"I am not going to infringe on the constitutional rights of honest law abiding citizens and be unfair to certain businesses and not others, whether I agree with this idea or not, due to a few bad actors that choose to drink and drive," Gant wrote.

Rod's Comment: See Tips from the Rod Williams School for Drunk Driving. 

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