Sen. Andy Berke, a Chattanooga Democrat, discusses the Green Jobs Bill (SB 3120 – HB 3654 by Rep. Mike Stewart) he is sponsoring in the Tennessee legislature.
Tennessee has a great opportunity to be first in the U.S. in providing good paying, long-lasting jobs that will help to create a better future for ALL Tennesseans.
Money quote: “We CAN do well by doing good.”
More from TAPTN and TN Conservation Voters on their magically delicious Green Jobs / St. Patrick’s Lobby Day.
Summary: Featuring guests Dr. Joseph Romm, Senior Fellow for Center for American Progress and editor of ClimateProgress.org and Karl Frish Senior Fellow for Media Matters for America. Listen to the full Weekly Radio Address from President Obama at whitehouse.gov.
Part 1: Best. Invention. Ever. Make a simple hyperbolic statement and soon we’re discussing discussing politics, energy sources, and the existence of God with our listeners all in the context of just what is the Best. Invention. Ever. Remo, Mary’s dad, even calls in with his unique take. Plus the rich are getting richer and we call “shenanigans” on the guy making fun of the President for using a teleprompter while he was, you know, using a teleprompter. [20.59MB download mp3]
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Part 2: Best. Invention. Ever. The discussion continues and we conclude that the Best. Invention. Ever. just might be Tennessee State Senator Andy Berke. Plus, a debrief of a trip to our nation’s Capitol (and making plans for another), a listener calls in with a fantastic energy saving idea, an interview with Dr. Joseph Romm of ClimateProgress.org on why now is the time to pay attention to the science of climate change and not the weather, and Karl Frisch, Senior Fellow for media watchdog organization Media Matters for America, covers Conservative Political Action Conference. [23.7MB download mp3]
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In these times of economic distress when people are losing their houses, savings, and any hope of access to the American Dream because of health care insecurity, which is more important, fighting for nullification – a battle already fought and lost in 1833 – or fighting for affordable health care for all?
The latter, of course and our intrepid Capitol Hill correspondent Dean (Hey Dean! You’re now our intrepid Capitol Hill correspondent!) posted a synopsis of Senator Andy Berke (D-Chattanooga) taking a stand today for what really matters most to Tennesseans:
In other HC news, the Tennessee Senate on Wednesday passed a bill to require the state attorney general to mount a legal challenge to any federal law to require participation in a health care system.
The “Tennessee Health Freedom Act” sponsored by Republican Sen. Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet) passed without debate on a 26-1 vote, with five abstentions.
Beavers, showing her ignorance, said her proposal seeks to check congressional power. Otherwise the federal government “could mandate that each of us buy a Chevrolet every year so we could help pay of the loans that were made to the industry,” she foolishly said.
Only Democratic Sen. Andy Berke of Chattanooga had a clue. He said the bill “doesn’t do anything to help the citizens of Tennessee who either need insurance or need a break in what they’re paying for health care.”
Berke also questioned the constitutionality of the bill.
“This is telling the federal government that we’re not going to obey the laws that you pass,” Berke said. “My education tells me there is the supremacy clause in the Constitution which says that we can’t do that.”
The full court press against voting and voting rights continues tomorrow as the Tennessee House Elections Subcommittee meets at 10 am to considerHB0639 by Rep. Debra Maggart (R-Hendersonville), the bill that would require “a voter to present qualified photographic identification before voting,” aka a solution in search of a problem.
It’s already been passed in the Senate (thanks for voting “No” Senators Beverly Marrero (D-Memphis, the Fightin’ 30th!), Lowe Finney (D-Jackson, the Fightin’ 27th!), and Andy Berke (D-Chattanooga, the Fightin’ 10th!) with six amendments attached – a poor attempt at leveling inherently unfair legislation. With the six amendments, the law would exempt the indigent, those living in a nursing home or staying in a hospital, the over-65 crowd, and those religiously opposed to having their picture taken.
Good, right? Not really. If you want participatory democracy to be equitable and still require Photo IDs to vote, then you have to make them free and easily accessible for everyone – not just a few exceptions. Perhaps we can put a voter registration and photo booth in every grocery and convenient store in town and staff them 24/7 (for you know, people who work the third shift).
Huh. Voter registration and photo booths in every grocery and convenient store. Now that’s a fiscal note I’d like to see attached to ol’ HB0639.
Ironically, while Tennessee’s elected Republicans continue to work towards making it more difficult for us to vote, they want to make it easier for us buy guns and drink underage.
And for those of you who think showing a photo ID is a reasonable restriction to place on the voting process, I guarantee you that if this passes they’ll be back next year with even further restrictions. Where Florida goes, Tennessee will follow.
So give a call or send an email to the members of the House Elections Subcommittee and urge them to vote “No” on HB0639.
‘Cause nothing says “let’s try and be reasonable about legislating nutrition in public schools” like a Third Reich reference, Senator Dewayne Bunch (R, the Fighting’ 9th!) let his Seinfeld-loving freak flag fly in response to a question from Senator Andy Berke (D, the Fightin’ 10th!) about SB0421, his bill which would allow the sale of 12 ounce beverages in middle schools.
Senator Berke: I know we had some discussion about this in Senate Education Committee. We talked about the fact that the nutrition guidelines for a state and federal purposes were not being supplanted by this, do we know whether those are total by particular product or whether those are by ounce …because that could make a difference in how thi particular bill has effect.
Senator Bunch: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In a currently…if you’re trying to be the nutritional Nazi police on school campuses, then we need to have someone there to keep them from buying more than one product if it’s 8 ounces. If there’s an issue of nutrition with buying two – they can simply buy two and circumvent that. So, it’s my understanding this does nothing to change the nutritional – the guidelines at all – they still must meet state and federal guidelines. So there is nothing changed nutritionally at all, it just permits a larger product and basically that’s the way they come. Most vendors produce those in 12 ounce packages and not 8 ounce so this simply allows a greater selection of vendors to be able to get on campus.
Watching the video, you can see clearly that Senator Bunch is nonplussed by his gaffe. Senator Burchett (R, the Fightin’ 7th!), in the background to the left, reacts immediately with wailing and gnashing of the teeth (or as close to that as a state senator who realizes his colleague just said something really offensive can get).
Later, a clearly verklempt Senator offers his apology:
You know who might, just might, be offended by your “comedy” reference, Senator Bunch?
Senator Berke.
Just sayin’….
In a statement released this afternoon, Bill Frist opened the floodgates for Republican gubernatorial hopefuls and kept the door closed for his own presidential ambitions by confirming that he will not run for governor in Tennessee in 2010.
Who will be the Republican hopefuls?
The real wildcard here will be whether this is a replay of the 2006 U.S. Senate Republican primary, where two conservatives (Bryant, Hilleary) pave the way for a moderate (Corker), or whether two moderates pave the way for a conservative. Will Gibbons enter the fray as a moderate or a conservative (particularly of the social variety)? I’m expecting Haslam to lean moderate, although he could (unpleasantly) surprise me.
Haslam stands to out-Bresdesen Bredesen by campaigning as a pragmatic fiscally responsible executive able to build alliances with rather than alienate core members of his party but able to be a sincere bipartisan operator at the same time.
The other big winner from today’s news is Democratic state senator Andy Berke. Having recently been the best promoter of Democratic ideas in the state, he stands well poised to emerge from what will probably be a small field of legitimate Democratic contenders if the U.S. Senate primary is any gauge of Democratic interest in statewide office.
Honestly, I don’t know if there will be any other serious contenders than former state representative (and first woman Majority Leader) Kim McMillan, and I’ll be interested to see how she makes the case, other than explicitly, that someone who previously supported a state income tax can win statewide office in Tennessee. Is it possible that a pro-income-tax progressive consensus could emerge that could push her past Berke’s redefinition of Democrats? I see that as almost as unlikely as her using her past support as an asset rather than a liability in the first place.
I suppose I should mention Lincoln Davis, as he has done some preliminary positioning. His name being in the hat would certainly increase tensions about the direction of the party. Having treated Obama in the Republican-lite mode, his was not an uncommon approach to Democratic presidential punditry in Tennessee, and that mode hasn’t served the party well at the ballot box since we’re in a state flush with real live Republicans who are certainly not fat-free.
And it almost pains me to mention Harold Ford, Jr. because I haven’t seen any indication that he’s serious about governance, although his name has come up in conversations about the race. I’m hopeful that Frist’s bowing out doesn’t increase the prospects that HaFo enters the race.
As much as I’d like to see the Democratic primary campaign generate broader statewide interest, I suspect that, should Haslam demonstrate grade-A gangsterism in the Republican primary, the race will be his to lose. The post-Kurita TNDP is unlikely to find a revolutionary in either Charles Robert Bone or Chip Forrester that truly speaks to Lamar!’s grand divisions broadly, so the rebuilding of the state party is likely to take more than a single election cycle, especially after the presidential, U.S. Senate, and General Assembly races we witnessed in 2008. And with Andy Berke one of few people in Tennessee Democratic politics willing to play the game on someone other than Bill Hobbs’s turf, the number of skilled messengers is likely to remain too few to allow him a realistic shot at the governor’s mansion. Regardless, I’d like to see a spirited contest between him and McMillan, as I think they might be able to point the way for the next iteration of the TNDP, especially since each will be based outside of Nashville.
SEE ALSO: Kleinheider
Summary: Guests include State Senator Andy Berke, Councilman at large Jerry Maynard, Jennifer Buck Wallace, and Elbert Ventura.
Part 1 – We Are Thankful For… – Freddie gets a crazy idea for us to say, out loud and on the radio, what we are thankful for. Bet you can guess one of them.
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Part 2 – Interview with Senator Andy Berke – No! Not the Chattanooga Choo-Choo! Tweetin’ State Senator Berke represents the 10th District of Tennessee (the Fightin’ 10th!), which includes parts of Hamilton and Marion counties. He’s a Democrat and proud of it. We find out why.
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Part 3 – Nothing Says “Thanksgiving” Like The West Wing – The turkeys from Jasper Farms are back, and more relevant than either Phil Valentine or Rush Limbaugh.
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Part 4 – Interview with Councilman at large Jerry Maynard – Councilman at large Jerry Maynard is the former deputy chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party and he gives us his take on why these are the best of times and the worst of times in Tennessee.
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Part 5 – Interview with Jennifer Buck Wallace – Ms. Wallace is a CMT producer turned community organizer who quit her job last year to volunteer as the principle organizer for the Obama campaign in Tennessee. We talk to her about how, as a white female, she was not compelled to do service to her gender and support Hillary Clinton, her experience as an Obama campaign organizer, and her very, very bright future.
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Part 6 – Media Matters for America Smackdown – Media Matters Research Fellow Elbert Ventura talks to us abut the history of how the media treats presidential transitions. Guess who gets the shaft?
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If Governor Bredesen had welcomed Barack Obama to Tennessee during his campaign he might have learned something about fostering party unity with grace and quiet leadership. Hell, he could have learned that from Republican Jason Mumpower much more recently.
Instead, the titular head of the Tennessee Democratic Party decided, with his latest statement funneled through spokesperson Lydia Lenker, to ignore the old axiom “When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging” and make public his “trust issues” with current House Majority Leader Gary Odom.
“Unfortunately, there have been some trust issues with Rep. Odom,” Bredesen spokeswoman Lydia Lenker told The Associated Press in an e-mail exchange late Wednesday. She did not elaborate on what those issues have been.
“We’re actively exploring options other than Rep. Odom to carry the administration’s legislative package,” she wrote.
Has the Governor’s relationship with the Democratic caucus deteriorated so badly that he has to communicate his leadership preference through the press? Or is his intended purpose to embarrass Rep. Odom?
Regardless, during the past year our Governor “suggested” the Democratic nominee for President not visit the state, all but disappeared from the stump when the State party needed his 95-county-winning-ways the most, and made public a long-standing political feud within his own party.
Perhaps now would be a good time for him to take a play from the Obama book and put an end to the petty bickering. Yes, he has a state to run and a budget to balance and he may not always get the cooperation of his fellow Democrats on the hill, but the people (remember them?) who make up the Democratic Party of Tennessee – those who foresee two hellish years of fighting the last gasp of this country’s culture war – are aching for leadership.
Despite what he and many others may want to believe, the United States is not a “center-right” nation. No political candidate needs to wallow at Walmart for votes. Nor are we “center-left.” In the words of WaPo’s E.J. Dionne, we are a “fundamentally non-ideological nation” because “Many who would like the government to act more boldly still need to be persuaded of government’s capacity to succeed.” So use the skills of your able-bodied spokesperson for good and not evil, Governor, and help develop a message that will define Democratic ideas and persuade of the capacity to lead and succeed. Then choose the right language with which to present the message and build an infrastructure to communicate it.
And what is the Democratic/Progressive message? It’s simple, really. Smart and efficient government. Freedom, equality and security for all. Responsibility to ourselves and to others.
UPDATE: Senator Andy Berke is on it: “So I find nothing wrong with our party that can’t be solved by talking to voters about Democratic accomplishments, Democratic commitments and Democratic values.”
Monday, 7:00 to 9:00 am CT, on WRVU 91.1 FM, Nashville, TN & streaming online at WRVU.org
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Call in: 615-322-7625
GUESTS: Monday, March 15, 2010 Chris Ford of TN Conservation Voters, Bob Tuke, and Karl Frisch of of Media Matters for America.
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