Red State Candidate Forum

(Best button I saw last night at the Red State Candidate Forum...Is it 2012 yet? That brought a belly laugh straight to my soul.)

Ahhhhhhhhhh, the pleasure of sitting in a room full of hard core conservatives is as close to nirvana as I get. For me, it is like sitting in my church, feeling the waves of connection to our Creator. Like minds, like purpose, like direction.

As always, my hat goes off to those ladies who make things happen and the fellas who back them up with time, effort and expertise. The tables were full in the conference center last night, everything looked befittingly gorgeous and patriotly themed with flares of downright creative ingenuity.

And of course, I always look forward to the warm, rich voice of Jerry Anderson singing the heartfelt patriotic songs that seem to be slowly kicked to the curb these days of political correctness like the words of praise to our Creator during Invocation and Benediction so eloquently phrased last night by our very dear Bishop Milsap. Gulf War Veteran and Sheriff candidate Mike Foster led the Pledge of Allegiance, and as always, I got choked up. It is pretty sad when I feel like a "rebel" for praising patriotism and God in the same night. How is everyone liking that "Change" thing so far?!

Before the Forum began, I had the great pleasure of being endorsed by the Tennessee Federation of Republican Women. Federation President Susan Witcher gave a rousing speech that ended with the endorsement. I couldn't be more humbled yet proud by that honor. My SEC male counterpart Lynn Sebourn and I both gave quick speeches. Lynn is one of my favorite political braniac junkies who I respect and adore, it is a pleasure to work with him and hope we both end up with the SEC seat.

Esteemed SMTRLG Leader David James got the ball rolling, looking incredibly sharp might I add, and introduced the Forum moderator and my favorite warrior in the legislature Rep. Judd Matheny. I can remember his early days on the Hill when he would carry his gun EVERYWHERE including the House floor...until Speaker Naifeh got a little paranoid and asked him not to. Now THAT was funny.

Judd introduced our three Republican Governor Candidates via submitted bio. I always find it interesting what everyone puts in their intro bio, it tells alot about their priorities and their focus. I think alot of candidates miss the boat on their intro bio, they either don't put enough effort in tailoring it to the specific audience or the message gets way too watered down with alot of information. The Governor candidates definitely did a better job at this than the 4th District Congressional candidates. Fortunately for everyone on the podium last night, there was an eager and politically educated audience in attendance. We were there to make a decision and wanted as much information as they would give us...although I did see some eyes glaze over.

I didn't take notes, so I am going to refrain from making a detailed list of each candidates points nor do I specifically remember the questions asked except that they mostly dealt with education, jobs and budget priorities. I will just give you the "impressions" I got from the words being said.

Ron Ramsey took strong stances and never waivered, gave great analogies and down-to-earth explanations on why things work and don't work in Tennessee and what needs to happen to fix them. Bill Haslam had more measured responses, he was logical and gave educated answers. I couldn't disagree with pretty much anything he had to say. Zach Wamp cited past accomplishments and vision for the future. His final three minutes sounded more like the Zach Wamp I remember from years past. I don't mean to sound melancholy on that last note, but Zach was our Representative before redistricting so long ago. Back then he was a firebrand and extremely focused on being close to the people...even in Grundy County where he never won the majority. I haven't seen that Zach in a long time. Sometimes I really hate Washington....and that feeling grows deeper every day lately.

Next were the 4th District candidates. I really only knew Kent Greenough from his last run amd then from his involvement in Lincoln county politics and the Tea Party movement. Ron Harwell came to our June meeting in Grundy even though I told him that 99% of our residents were white and there was probably a reason for that. I kinda said it tongue in cheek, but he came anyway and that impressed me. Then he spoke and that impressed me even more. My dad loved him and that is REALLY saying something. I am a very hard core conservative for a reason. I didn't know Jack Bailey, but he was pretty polished amd you could tell he has worked in politics. I didn't know Scott Desjarlais even though he practices medicine in Jasper, just down the road from us. I have never seen him at a GOP meeting in Marion County...and I have kept a pretty good tab on them. All that being said, good for him for running. I just think he lacked a certain perspective gained from grassroots activism. I DEFINITELY don't remember the questions on this one, it was getting late and I was tired. But I do remember Ron Harwell stealing the show with his Libertarianesque answers.

Then there was the Straw Poll results.

Ron Ramsey won the Governor Poll. Ron Harwell won the 4th District Congressional Poll.

Why do I think they won? I think Ron Ramsey's years of visits to the area helping candidates paid off for him. His plain talk, his aggressive State's Rights attitude resonated well with this part of the state. I think the same could be said of Ron Harwell. He was quick, clean and precise with his strong statements. Both winners didn't pull any punches and the people liked it. I am not sure what the rest of the state will do, but for us, we were looking for warriors and that is how the people voted.

Is it 2012 yet?

TWRA Holding OHV Community Hostage

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Iva Michelle Russell, iva@ivamichellerussell.com

TWRA Holding OHV Community Hostage

Nashville, TN – Legislative negotiations broke down Tuesday as the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) continues to hold the Tennessee Off-Highway Vehicle community hostage over federal funding expenditures.

“I just can’t believe a governmental agency could be allowed to callously disregard the mandates of an Act that was passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor of this state” comments Iva Michelle Russell, Legislative Chairman for the Tennessee Off-Highway Vehicle Association (TOHVA) and Executive Director of OHV4TN. “The last time I checked, the needs of the people of this state were more important than governmental primacy”.

The legislative negotiations revolve around the 2004 Tennessee Off-Highway Vehicle Act, sponsored by now Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey which started as a Governor’s initiative in the late 1990’s. The Act created an Off-Highway Vehicle program in the state of Tennessee that mandated a statewide system of environmentally sustainable trails as well as adult and youth safety education.

TWRA, the OHV program’s current agency home, began receiving OHV federal grant money in 2004. TWRA has been exclusively using the funds at their Royal Blue facility in East Tennessee while also taking in OHV permit fees that have risen steadily over the years to over $64,000 in 2007. Discounted Hunting/OHV permits are not included in this figure. There is still $1.1 million in unused grant funds to date. The TWRA Commission has voted each year not to create further trail systems across the state nor create the adult and youth safety education programs stipulated in the Act.

The 2009 OHV legislative agenda (SB280, HB365) would transfer the OHV program from TWRA to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), allow TWRA to keep their Royal Blue facility, and mandate an equal distribution of federal funding between each grand division of the state. “TDEC is in the trail building business and we certainly don’t want to be with an agency that has no desire to do anything with our program except take our money. There are over 880,000 OHV users in our state that are not currently being served and that is ridiculous.” states Russell.

In the Tennessee Governor’s 2002 Off-Highway Vehicle Study, OHV recreation had an estimated statewide economic impact of $3.4 Billion. Neighboring states have created trail systems that have successfully aided local rural economies as well as tax revenue. In a recent study, West Virginia saw an increase of $622,752 in state and local tax revenue, direct income of $2.7 million and 146 new jobs from their Hatfield-McCoy Trail System located in 8 WV rural counties.

-end-

Lt.Gov Ron Ramsey

My day on the Hill yesterday revolved around my meeting with our Lt.Gov. The rest was just fun filler which I will describe later.

I say this alot lately, but it does matter who governs. Sitting in our Lt.Gov's office reminded me of that. Ron Ramsey has a style of governing that is reflective of his constituency. He is down-to-earth and honest with his assessments. It is about people and policy, not policy and more policy. He sees the genuine absurdity of bad policy, that is refreshing, and he offers solutions thru people not more policy. Once again, even more refreshing.

When you delve into politics on this level, there is alot of absurdity in policy.
The absurdity factor is why I will always be a champion for LESS government.

I would also be remiss if I didn't thank Sen. Eric Stewart for attending the meeting and sponsoring our bills in the Senate. We may be on opposite sides of the fence, but I actually like him alot. He was the only Democrat I have ever knowingly worked with and that was only because he was county commissioner at the time. He is a fiscal conservative and has strong family values. We may not agree on everything, but I can usually trust where his head is at when it comes to serving his constituents.

Observations from a window seat at the legislature cafeteria:

Lots of women in tight skirts and very high heels.
Lots of gray haired lions.
Lots of harried soldiers.
Lots of people with big red hand signs that said "Hands Off of our Civil Rights" or something like that.
Lots of young people in suits (I thought that was cool).

Overheard at a PTA meeting in House Chambers (Speaker was TEA rep):

Bills on Charter schools are bad.
Bills on Home Schooling are bad.
Bills on Virtual education are bad.
Tenure is good.
The new House committee structure makes us nervous (I think he was referring to the Republicans).

Attending the Consumer and Employee Affairs Committee meeting:



I was thrilled to see my dear friend Rep. Judd Matheny chairing his first full Committee. It has been a long road since 2002 and he has fought battle after battle against the absurdity that seems to permeate state government. I am sooo very proud to have him on our team and I know his constituents think so too.

The first committee meeting presentation was a meaty one. Unemployment resources and gameplan updates. I couldn't stay. It was good to see Rep. Eric Swafford, Rep. Brian Kelsey and my favorite Rep. Stacey Campfield on the committee. Like Judd, the left just loves to pick on them. That makes me like them even better.

Yep, as I reread this, my new favorite word for bad government is "absurdity". Funny how things stick it your mind like that. I must be reading too much stimulus propaganda.