Listen anytime to “Gals About May Town” with Betsy Phillips and Councillady Emily Evans on Blog Talk Radio.
Guest host Betsy Phillips, author of the blog Tiny Cat Pants, contributor to the Nashville Scene’s blog, Pith in the Wind, and upcoming guest blogger at Feministe joined me to talk about Governor Sanford’s sex life, being a Dem in TN, Robin Smith, Al Franken, and, along with our guest, Councillady Emily Evans, the controversial May Town plan for Bells Bend.
During an appearance on Dial-Global’s nationally syndicated Bill Press Show this morning, newly elected U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-MN) spoke out about recent comments made by fellow Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) who called the former Saturday Night Live comedian and Air America Radio host “a clown.” Suggesting perhaps the Oklahoma Senator might be a fan of clowns Franken told Press, “I don’t know how Senator Inhofe regards clowns, but it might be an incredible compliment.”
Al Franken won his Senate seat in Minnesota because every vote was counted.
Wait. Scratch that.
Al Franken won his Senate in Minnesota because every vote could be counted.
You see, Minnesotans get to vote on something called “paper ballots.” And these “paper ballots” can be recounted when there is a close election. Crazy, I know. For those of us in Tennessee who can only vote on electronic black boxes with secret vote counting (flipping?) software, the Franken victory seems mythic.
Election Integrity journalist and BradBlog.com writer/producer Brad Friedman explains:
Although the victory was sealed today, the Republican claims of “voter fraud” became impossible to support long ago, because hand-marked paper ballots – nearly three million of them – as cast by the voters in the squeaker of an election, were actually being counted, in full view of the media and any interested citizen alike. To a ballot, they were all accounted for, and any disagreement about voter intent on those ballots was adjudicated in an open process by a bipartisan state canvassing board. All but a handful of those votes were determined unanimously by the board to have been cast either for Franken, for Coleman, for a third party candidate or for nobody at all.
The only question remaining after the weeks-long, painstaking, public hand-count was whether a number of uncounted absentee ballots, rejected as per the state’s strict standards for counting, should, in fact, be counted.
Minnesotans and their damn-near perfect elections are the envy of Election Integrity activists everywhere. What with their “paper ballots,” audits, a mandated automatic hand-counted recount of the “paper ballots” if an election is close, an open counting process, citizen vigilance over the ballot chain of custody, etc. etc..
What’s a Tennessean gotta do to get some secure and verifiable elections? Learn to ice fish?
On Monday, Tony Cani and Michael Chapman of Change That Works campaign, a project of the Service Employees International Union which is focused on building a grassroots network across the country in support of healthcare reform, joined us to talk about healthcare. Michael, a registered nurse, told us one particularly harrowing story of a man who, along with his family, was living the American dream until a healthcare crisis took it all away.
You can listen to our interview with Michael and Tony here or by clicking on the arrow below.
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Tomorrow, you can join Michael, Tony, and other Nashvillians in support of healthcare reform as they gather at 12 noon at Congressman Jim Cooper’s office on Church Street to sign a “Declaration for Affordable Healthcare” and to present personal mementos demonstrating what they have had to give up in order to afford health insurance coverage.
This event has been coordinated with other events organized nationwide by the SEIU and Change That Works to call on Congress “to make healthcare more affordable, give people the freedom to choose their coverage, and offer the working people the same quality healthcare that members of Congress receive.”
Congressman Cooper’s office is located at 605 Church Street (at the downtown public library).
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Summary: Our guests include John Spragens, District 24 Councilman Jason Holleman, Tony Cani of the SEIU Change That Works campaign, Michael Chapman, and Elbert Ventura, of Media Matters for America.
Part 1 - A Showstopper! Well, Maybe Just a Surprise Call John Spragens, soon to be ex-communications director for Coop!, calls us early in the show and updates us on what went on in Washington with Healthcare reform and with Congressman Jim Cooper. Wait…ex? [31MB download mp3]
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Part 2- Interview with Councilman Jason Holleman The councilman joins us to talk about the exciting world of zoning (no really, its interesting!) and the Bells Bend redevelopment plan - also know as May Town Center. We learn about the origins of the plan, where it is now, and if it ever go away. [25MB download mp3]
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Part 3- Celebrity Deaths Aren’t the Only Thing That Comes in Three’s After a brief remembrance of some recently passed celebrities, its time to highlight the complex dynamics of the extramarital affairs of our elected officials. [11.3MB download mp3]
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Part 4- Its Back! Media Matters for America Smackdown MMFA research fellow Elbert Ventura returns to tell us all the shenanigans swirling around the healthcare and energy policy legislations. [18MB download mp3]
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Part 5- Healthcare: The Next Frontier Toni Cani of SEIU’s Change That Works campaign and RN Michael Chapman have returned from a trip to Washington, where they met with the staff of the Tennessee congressional delegation on the subject of healthcare. Toni Cani talks about the efforts to keep “public option” in the foreground of the discussions and Michael Chapman lets us in on the harsh realism of our present healthcare system. The stories will curl your hair. Later we take your calls about your own healthcare concerns and experiences. [54MB download mp3]
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This morning, the Tennessee secretary of state, Tre Hargett, released an official Q&A [PDF] that his spokesperson, Blake Fontenay, says addresses “what their office has done to implement the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act.” Below is each question and answer. And my answers to his answers.
What is the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act? The Tennessee Voter Confidence Act is a state law that requires all 95 of Tennessee’s counties to use paper ballots with optical scan voting machines by November 2010.
The law also adds two additional and extremely important provisions to our election law. First, there is a provision mandatory, random hand-counted audits a specific percentage of precincts. The hand-count is in place to catch any problems with the optical scan machines i.e. not counting the ballots correctly. The second provision is that the paper ballot become the ballot of record in the case of a close election or recount. This should be of special interest to both candidates and election officials who want to make sure that the will of the people is done. These two provisions add an additional layer of security and verifiability to Tennessee’s elections.
What is the Tennessee Department of State’s position on the Voter Confidence Act? The Department of State is committed to helping counties implement the act. There are, however, significant financial and logistical hurdles that counties will have to overcome in order to meet the 2010 deadline.
Not so significant, as you will see.
What’s the advantage in switching to optical scan machines? Supporters believe the machines make it easier to conduct recounts and verify election results.
What’s will all this “Supporters believe…” stuff?!?! What supporters know is that the advantage of switching to optical scan machines is that we will be switching to PAPER BALLOTS to record the intent of our vote before the optical scan machines even touches it. It’s the PAPER BALLOTS which will make recounts even POSSIBLE and give us verifiable elections results. The touch-scree machines without paper ballots that we use now are not capable of giving a meaningful recount. A recount with the machines we use now consists of pressing the same button and getting the same total every time. And don’t even get me started on verifiable elections with the machines we use now. Our votes now are counted in secret by secret counting software and we have no idea what happens to our vote once it is put into the machines we use now. No idea. Nada. Zip. Zilch.
Does the Department of State oppose the use of optical scan machines and paper ballots? No. The Department of State already allows Tennessee counties to use optical scan machines if they choose.
Good to know.
Who pays for the optical scan equipment? The state will pay the cost of purchasing the machines. However, county governments will be responsible for other costs associated with the act, such as ballot printing, ballot storage and election worker training.
The state will pay the cost of purchasing the optical scan machines with federals dollars given to us when the Help America Vote Act was passed. We have 34 million of HAVA funds. 25 million of which will be used to purchase the machines. There is approximately 11 million in extra funds that could be used to offset the costs for each county. That said, no one has of yet given a good reason why the cost estimates used as evidence that implementation of the TNVCA would be cost prohibitive were so wildly disparate. Privacy booths would cost $10.00 each in Haywood County and $750.00 each in Cannon County? Couldn’t we leverage economies of scale here and have all the counties get the lowest cost and then get a discount on top of that for bulk purchases?
Will voters get printed “receipts” that show how they voted? No. That’s not a requirement of the Voter Confidence Act.
Correct. A “paper receipt” would violate the “vote in secret, count in public” that is the very foundation of our free and fair election system and what we are fighting so very hard to bring back to Tennessee.
What are some of the hurdles to meeting the implementation deadline? Cost is obviously one, during an economic climate in which many local governments are struggling financially. However, a much bigger issue is the lack of availability of the equipment. The act requires counties to use equipment that meets the security and reliability standards adopted by the federal Election Assistance Commission in 2005. Currently, there are no vendors who sell equipment that meets those standards – in Tennessee or elsewhere in the country. Additionally, the commission’s certification process is very thorough, so it appears there is insufficient time for a vendor to complete that process and become certified before the 2010 deadline.
Cost - see “Who pays for the optical scan equipment.” As for the claim that there is a lack of available equipment - while it is true that the TNVCA requires counties to use equipment certified to the EAC’s 2005 standards, this could have easily been amended during the last legislative session to state that the counties would be required to use machines certified to the EAC’s 2002 standards, of which there are significant amounts. That said, there are additional problems with this statement. First, the EAC’s 2005 standards are almost the exact same as the 2002 standards. The only difference is that some language to accommodate voters with disabilities has been changed. In addition, no machines certified to the 2002 standards were de-certified when the 2002 standards were reissued as the 2005 standards. As a matter of fact, two Tennessee counties are using these machines.
So why did the Secretary of State’s office spend 6 months trying to delay the implementation of the TNVCA when all it had to do was amend the law to include the ability to purchase machines certified to the EAC’s 2002 standards?
More importantly, the answer to this question puts the emphasis of the TNVCA on the wrong element - the machines. The emphasis of the TNVCA has always been on the PAPER BALLOTS, not the machines. We are moving to paper ballots because machines cannot always be trusted to perform correctly - no matter what standards they are certified to.
So what are the alternatives then? One would be for the General Assembly to lower the security and reliability standards for the equipment. Another would be to delay implementation of the Voter Confidence Act until 2012.
Oh no you didn’t. See above. Requiring machines purchased to the 2002 standards would no be lowering the “security and reliability” of anything. And any attempt to change the TNVCA’s requirement standards from 2005 to 2002 was rejected by the sponsors of the bill that would have delayed implementation - Rep. Curry Todd and Senator Bill Ketron.
Isn’t supporting a delay just a way of killing the act? Not at all. Anything worth doing is worth doing right. And it makes more sense to take the time necessary to get the best quality equipment rather than settle for equipment that’s less reliable and less secure.
Oh, no. Again no you didn’t. What could possible be less reliable and secure than the machines we use now in 93 out of 95 counties!?!? You know, the touch screen black boxes that take our votes and does God knows what with them in it’s secret little counting software before it spits it out when the machine operator hits the tally button!!! Wait…stop…ok…I’m ok…Again, optical scan machines certified to 2002 standards are not “less reliable and less secure.” They are used in 2 counties in Tennessee and 49 other states.
Is this an issue in which partisan politics comes into play? It shouldn’t. During the General Assembly’s recently completed legislative session, a bill that would have delayed implementation until 2012 passed the House of Representatives with broad bipartisan support. That bill came one vote short of the constitutional majority needed for passage in the Senate.
But not as much support as the original TNVCA paper ballot bill had in 2008. It passed almost unanimously in the House (3 “NO” votes) and unanimously in the Senate. When given facts instead of excuses - which kept changing - a simple amendment that would have amended the TNVCA could have easily passed.
Instead, the secretary of state’s office spent six months lobbying for a delay.
If the secretary of state had a real desire to give the people of Tennessee the secure and verifiable elections we clamor for, he would have found a way instead of excuses.
1 p.m. — Tea party wraps up with stirring suggestion from Phil Valentine to mail golf balls to our lawakers, “because if they don’t have any, we’ll send some to ya.”
12:55 — Freedom yell was intro for Phil Valentine. Hi, Phil Valentine!
12:55 — Again with the freedom yelling.
12:50 — Two more speakers to go. Crowd is urged to consider the Vitamin D they’re absorbing from the blazing sun right now.
Hi, Drew Johnson! Lay some libertarian think tanking on us.
Remember that time Johnson and the Tennessee Center for Policy Research revealed Al Gore’s electric bill to the world? He says they got a dozen death threats after that. Hmm.
12:46: You know who’s having a good day? Hosea the flag vendor. Suddenly those little yellow Don’t Tread on Me flags are everywhere.
Please say you’ll do us a solid and be there to bring the funny again tomorrow…? Thanks! We owe ya one.
For over four years, Liberadio(!) with Mary Mancini and Freddie O’Connell has broadcast on Vanderbilt University’s WRVU 91.1 FM for two hours, one day per week. Beginning Wednesday, July 1, the popular talk radio show will expand to include an additional live hour every Tuesday through Friday from 9:00 to 10:00 am (CT) on BlogTalkRadio.
BlogTalkRadio launched in August 2006 and is a web-based social radio network which will enable Liberadio(!) to host a live, call-in talk show every weekday. Shows stream live directly from the Liberadio(!) Blog Talk Radio web page and, when finished, are archived automatically and made available at Liberadio.com, iTunes, and other RSS feed readers. More than 1.9 million listeners tuned into BlogTalkRadio in December.
“After every Monday morning show on WRVU, there is still so much to talk about,” says Liberadio(!) senior producer and co-host, Mary Mancini, “We look forward to continuing the conversation with our listeners and special guests every weekday.”
Liberadio(!) on BlogTalkRadio will debut Wednesday, July 1, with local election integrity activist Bernie Ellis, who was recently investigated for making “terrorist threats” by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation at the behest of the Secretary of State.
Upcoming guests also include P.J Tobia, a journalist based in Afghanistan and author of a blog at TrueSlant.com; Betsy Phillips, author of the blog Tiny Cat Pants, contributor to the Nashville Scene’s blog, Pith in the Wind, and upcoming guest blogger at Feministe; Nashville Metro Councillady Emily Evans; Teddy Bart, author and Beyond Reason host; Steve Scarborough, environmental activist and proprietor of RoaneViews.com; and Bob Moser, author of “Blue Dixie: Awakening The South’s Democratic Majority” and Editor of The Texas Observer.
The schedule is:
Wed, 7/1: Bernie Ellis
Thursday, 7/2: PJ Tobia
Friday, 7/3: The Gals About May Town with Betsy Phillips and Councillady Emily Evans
Tuesday, 7/7: Bob Moser, author of Blue Dixie: Awakening The South’s Democratic Majority
Wednesday, 7/8: TBA
Thursday, 7/9: Teddy Bart
Friday, July 10: Steve Scarborough of Roaneviews.com
Tuesday, July 14: TBD
Wednesday, July 15: Wednesday, July 15: Evonne Tisdale from the Center for Community Change; Robert Grant, Jr. of Second Chances, and Nell Levin with Tennessee Alliance for Progress
“Since the terrestrial radio landscape for commercial talk is almost all conservative all the time in our local market,” says producer and co-host, Freddie O’Connell. “It’s been important for us to embrace the Web and online media. This is just one more step in our “Screw You Guys, We’re Doing It Ourselves” business model.
To listen to the Liberadio(!) on BlogTalkRadio, go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/liberadio every Tuesday through Friday at 9:00 am (CT). To call-in and join the conversation, dial (347) 677-0660.
Since Mary Mancini & Freddie O’Connell began broadcasting together in 2004, they have been voted one of Nashville’s “Best Radio Personalities” in the Nashville Scene’s Best of Nashville Readers’ Poll three times. In April of this year, they were named to Talkers Magazine’s “Frontier Fifty,” a list of 50 talk radio acts that best represent “the important pioneering work taking place in the burgeoning world of internet talk media.” For more information, please contact us at feedback@liberadio.com or visit the website at www.liberadio.com.
There’s a nice picture of Attorney John Harris, executive director of the Tennessee Firearms Association, on the front page of the Tennessean today.
Apparently, he’s upset because he carries his gun at all times and if Davidson County opts out of allowing permit-holders to carry in parks, he’ll be unable to cut through the grassy area on Church Street to get to his office.
Guests for Monday, June 29, 2009: John Spragens, District 24 Councilman Jason Holleman, Tony Cani of the SEIU Change That Works campaign, Michael Chapman, and Elbert Ventura, of Media Matters for America..
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This morning, the Tennessee secretary of state, Tre Hargett, 
