From:
Updated Information: We have
over 2,000 signatures but we need
5,000. Please sign and then pass the
web address on to Friends and Family.
Thank YOU!
PLEASE Sign the Petition:
Tennessee Deserves a
Conservative Alternative to
Lamar Alexander
Just Click HERE: ChangeTN.com
PLEASE share this web address, ChangeTN.com and
ask your friends and family to sign also. It is absolutely essential
that we show support for the idea of a conservative alternative to Lamar
Alexander. The more support we show, the more likely someone who
can raise money and has statewide name recognition will step forward.
If you have trouble with the link or simply want to handle this by email
just REPLY to this email with the Names, email addresses and ZIP
codes of those who would like to sign. Thank YOU!
My comment:
Why I won't be signing the Petition
I am not sure to whom this petition is to be addressed. It does not say but I won't be signing it. I am occasionally disappointed with Lamar Alexander myself, but not disappointing enough to sign this petition. I am currently disappointed that he is pushing the bill that would require vendors of Internet sales to be tax collectors for all fifty states. I think that is a bad bill. Other than that bill however, I am not that disappointed in Lamar. I have a vague impression that he is not sufficiently conservative, but I actually often agree with Lamar on the issues that cause some conservatives to criticize him.
I guess one reason I support Lamar is because of nostalgia. I remember when we had a terribly corrupt governor in Ray Blanton. The State was for sale, including selling of pardons and payrolls. Lamar was an unknown, but walked across the state in a red plaid flannel shirt and picked up name recognition and support. The contrast between Blanton and Alexander could not have been stronger. Alexander was clean-cut and fresh and honest and Blanton was the slim-ball selling pardons. After the election I joined in an event to walk to the capital with Lamar. Lamar led the pack as hundreds of us wearing red flannel shirts walked up Charlotte Ave to the Capitol building. I had never attended or thought about attending an inauguration ball or a swearing in before, but I attended Lamar's. Lamar was actually sworn in a couple days early to keep Blanton from pardoning a massive number of criminals. This was a time of high drama and Alexander was the hero.
Some of the criticism of Lamar is because of his support of the new START treaty. I am not an expert on nuclear arms control but think that with the end of the cold war and the US by far being the most heavily nuclear armed country in the world that this treaty, which would ensure that the weapons we do have actually work and that would allow inspection of Russia's nuclear warheads, was not a bad treaty. The last six Republican secretaries of state supported it. One can not be an expert on everything and rather than trust the opinion of the critics of Lamar, I prefer to trust the opinion of the last six Republican Secretaries of State.
I also generally support Lamar's clean air and conservation record. I want to add acreage to our parks and protect critical habitat and I support reducing the toxins spewed from coal-fired plants. I sort of like clean air.
It is a futile effort to run a candidate against Lamar. He is unbeatable. He already had $4 million in his campaign war chest in January, and he has the support of almost all elected Republican officials. The co-chairs of his election campaign are Gov. Bill Haslam and Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey. In addition, campaign co-chairs will be Senator Bob Corker, the state speaker Beth Harwell and U.S. Reps. Marsha Blackburn, Chuck Fleischmann, Diane Black, Stephen Fincher and Phil Roe. Rep. Jimmy Duncan Jr., a 13-term congressman, will chair Alexander’s campaign.(link)
For a while Monty Langford, political fund raiser, conservative leader, and former congressional candidate from Franklin, considered a run against Lamar, then decided against it and instead endorsed him saying:
I’m supporting Lamar because he stands up for Tennesseans:I agree with the above statement. If Lamar Alexander is conservative enough for Monty Langford, Lt. Gov. Ron, Ramsey, and U.S. Reps. Marsha Blackburn, he is conservative enough for me. Please think about it before you sign that petition.
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.
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Why I won't be signing the Petition
ReplyDeleteI believe the current 2013 congressional oversight committee’s investigation of the IRS for misconduct pertaining those requesting 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status is bogus.
This is due to the fact that in 2010 members of Congress requested the IRS to investigate social welfare groups generally, or specific groups, on the grounds that they were potentially engaging in excessive lobbying or other activities prohibited by the tax code.
More importantly, by March of that year, some members of Congress had pressured the IRS to investigate the legitimacy of the tax-exempt status of some organizations which took advantage of the newly-relaxed rules to engage in campaign activities. This was due to the January 21, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which overturned many previous restrictions on political campaign spending.
Therefore, leading members of Congress not only were aware that the Internal Revenue Service had begun investigating the political activity of would-be 501(c)(4) Tea Party groups that winter, but were actively putting pressure on the agency to take a closer look at tax-exempt conservative organizations in the wake of the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling.
I cannot speak for others, however, I can speak for myself.
I found it interesting that the congressional oversight committee made the decision not to reveal their own involvement with the IRS’s investigation (of the tax-exempt status of some organizations which took advantage of the newly-relaxed rules to engage in campaign activities) prior to starting their 2013 investigation of the IRS for their misconduct.
This is why I came to the conclusion that the congressional oversight committee’s investigation of the IRS for their misconduct is a bogus investigation and is nothing more than that which has become known as the “Blame Game"