Next, a scathing editorial from the Memphis Commercial Appeal. What do the state’s Republicans do with complete control of the General Assembly for the first time in over a century? They sulk and push through “wrong-headed legislation” that does nothing to ease the economic or social problems that plague the state:
When there was a show of [Republican] unity, it involved wrong-headed legislation to allow holders of handgun carry permits to take their weapons into places that serve alcohol and into local and state parks.
…
On the ethics front, GOP Rep. Curry Todd of Collierville proposes to do away with independent oversight of lawmakers, charging that pressure from the media led to creation of the Tennessee Ethics Commission in 2006 following the Tennessee Waltz corruption scandal. Curry and others want the ethics commission to merge with the Registry of Election Finance.
As for the judicial selection question, many hard-line conservative Republicans seem intent on requiring state Supreme Court justices and other appellate judges to run in contested elections. Their apparent aim is to get rid of any appellate judges who issue rulings they don’t like.
Meanwhile, worthwhile projects such as a proposed five-megawatt solar generation plant in Haywood County and a companion solar research institute for the University of Tennessee at Knoxville appear in jeopardy as Republican legislators seek to trim the state budget.
That and other cuts in social programs totaling about $12 million prompted Bredesen last week to call the proposed GOP cuts “stupid.”
Stay tuned, taxpayers, because unfortunately there’s more to come.
It’s going to be a long week.
