Tea party seeks to get Rick Womick elected speaker.

Normally, the election of speaker is a pretty tame affair and the public does not get involved, but not this year. An article from the Times Free Press reports that various organizations have jumped into the fray. Here is an excerpt from the article:

With Rep. Rick Womick, R-Rockvale, challenging Republican Speaker Beth Harwell in Wednesday's GOP Caucus election, various tea party groups, anti-Common Core activists and the Tennessee Firearms Association have been bombarding Republican representatives with emails and phone calls in support of Womick.

Just last week, the Tennessee Republican Assembly and the heads of the Chattanooga and Nashville tea parties entered the fray, praising Womick as a "true patriot" and "true conservative" and arguing that his elevation to speaker "would further the true intention of Tennessee voters as expressed in the recent elections."

I am hoping the House reappoints Beth Harwell as speaker.  Under the current Republican leadership of Haslam, Harwell and Ramsey, Tennessee has cut taxes, has the nations absolutely lowest per capita debt of any state, has a pension liability that is over 90% funded, has had a remarkable improvement in education and the Republican majority has grown in the House. I don't know what more anyone could want. 

The Tennessee Firearms Association is irrational and is obsessed with the right of gun owners and think gun rights go way beyond the protections affirmed in second amendment and want the right to carry a gun onto the property of others even if they do not want guns on their property.  The Tennessee Republican Assembly thinks they are the only real Republicans and will never be satisfied.

If any state Representatives are reading this I urge you to reelect Beth Harwell as speaker.  We do not need as speaker someone who believes that requirements that restaurant parking lots be paved and that getting a permit before the installation of large flag poles is part of some bizarre United Nations plot.   I do not believe the intent of the voters in the recent election was for the State to go off on wild tangents, but to continue the rational, reasonable, responsible, commonsense conservative path we are on.

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