Tennessee Firearms Assoc. Inc.

In the thread about the parking lot bill, one post indicates that Beth Harwell could be mounting a run for the position of Speaker of The House. I am not real familiar with Beth Harwell and she has a "B" rating from the NRA. I know that in itself doesn't really say much. Also I understand we only have untill the first part of December to have any impact on that decision.

I have heard that Ms. Harwell is a more liberal Republican and could be one of Naifeh's Trojan Horses. I do not know that for fact.

We all remember the back-room deal that resulted in Kent Williams being elected speaker to the dismay of the Republican majority. We definately do not want a repeat of this.

So with all that said, I would like to hear who would be a viable candidate that the TFA could support? When this is determined, and I hope we can do this soon as we don't have a lot of time, we need to mount a strong campaign of letter and e-mail writing and phone calls to the Republican members.

Good idea Sam. We need to jump on this right away if we want any chance of making a difference.

http://lastcar.blogspot.com/

Senator elect Campfield opines:

"In the house all the talk is Casada and Harwell. Beth looked like a possible front runner when Repubs were only supposed to get 53 or 54 seats. 64 is an entirely different ball game. Casada is clearly the front runner now. Some people think Beth is just trying to position for number 2 as pro tem but others are positioning for that spot now.

"Kent Williams coming out for her probably didn't help her much. Kent is expected to get the smallest, darkest, dampest closet, in the basement of the parking garage in the Rachel Jackson building for an office. He might get a desk, but it is still in question.

"A split ticket run for Harwell is not likely. Harwell can do the math and the votes are not there. Plus, if she wants to run for congress after redistricting she will need to have party support. She could kiss it goodbye with a Williams type move.

"I suspect the top spot will all be sorted out by the middle of next week after noses are counted over the weekend."

I just looked at Glen Casada's web page and read his position on different issues. I also looked at the NRA page and see that he has an "A+" score from them.

Is he the one we need?

As I recall, Harwell was the lone Republican to vote against overriding Bredesons veto.

IIRC, Casada has voted in our favor. Having spoken to my state Rep. Casada is who I am backing, and encouraging others to back. He will likely be very good to us.

Here is what I wrote on this to the Shelby list:

As of now, it appears that the front runners for Tennessee House Speaker are Republicans Glen Casada (R-Franklin) and Beth Harwell (R-Nashville). The Speaker is selected by a vote of members of the House and is a very important position. As you may remember, The Grim Reaper of Gun Rights in Tennessee, Jimmy Naifeh (D-Covington), who barely held on to his seat in last week’s election, waged a jihad against pro-gun bills by killing them in committee when he was Speaker.

It is expected that the Republican caucus will select Representative Casada as their choice. What gun owners need to prevent is another incestuous, back door deal, like the one made by the outgoing Speaker, Kent Williams (R-Elizabethton), in which he voted for himself, along with all the Democrats. The result; basically Williams became the puppet of Naifeh and paid off his Democrat supporters with committee memberships and other favors. While it is a different landscape in Tennessee now, with the GOP holding a 64 to 35 seat majority, we still don’t want to risk having a Speaker that is weak on gun rights.

It is crucial that your Representatives hear from you on this.


http://www.capitol.tn.gov/house/members/


Rep. Harwell, who is supported by outgoing Speaker Williams, was the lone Republican to vote against overriding Bredesen’s veto of our restaurant bill, twice. She also voted against our restaurant bill itself and the parks bill.

When Rep. Casada spoke with the Nashville/Davidson County TFA, he expressed a willingness to work with us on legislation we support. While I’m told he’s not a Carry Permit Holder, or a big gun owner, he is a strong Tenth Amendment supporter. Here’s what TFA Executive Director, John Harris, has stated so far about this:

“Harwell has a long history of being "lukewarm" at best on 2nd Amendment issues. She tends to represent a portion of Nashville that is socially liberal republican concerned predominately about things like their personal tax burden. I do not see her as a 10th Amendment, 9th Amendment, 2nd Amendment republican but more like a Lamar Alexander republican.”

If our two choices are Casada and Harwell, a Speaker Casada will be much more gun rights oriented. We do know that Rep. Casada has worked with Lt. Governor Ramsey, who is a gun rights role model, on gun bills together.

Oh, and what of the outgoing Naifeh puppet, Speaker Williams? Here is what Senator elect Campfield opines:

"Kent Williams coming out for her (Harwell) probably didn't help her much. Kent is expected to get the smallest, darkest, dampest closet, in the basement of the parking garage in the Rachel Jackson building for an office. He might get a desk, but it is still in question.”


In Liberty,

Pat McGarrity
Director – Shelby County TFA


"Abuse of power isn't limited to bad guys in other nations. It happens in our own country if we're not vigilant."

-- Clint Eastwood in an essay he wrote for the January 12, 1997 issue of Parade Magazine

I have been contacted in the last couple of days by several individuals who could be considered highly placed Tennessee "Blue Blood" Republicans that were absolutely furious that I have had the audacity to attempt to interfere with the selection of the TN House Speaker's position. One such party apparatchik asked "Who the h*** do you think you are, Paul Revere?"

From an e-mail received yesterday morning from one of them:

"Honestly, our elected representatives do not need your help in making important decisions about leadership. I urge you to pull back and wait for the appropriate time and place to promote your issues. "

In my communications with the several "Party" officials this has been an overriding theme. Not just them either, I have spoken directly with five TN Representatives, and three of them gave me the same line, that the general population, or as I see that "citizens, tax payers, voters" do not need to be concerned, it is a purvey of the elected, privileged class to make these decisions, and we should stand like the servants they consider us to be and wait on our rulers, who are better suited to decide on matters of import that will affect our lives, and those of our children and grand children.

I for one, take this move to quash asserting my concerns about the quality of leadership of the House as a token that in some way the efforts to raise awareness and to advocate for participation by the great unwashed is having some measure of success.

Ditto! Well said Richard!

This is evidence that we should work harder in the area of GOP Steering Committee races. I'm guilty of ignorance about this until recently. Obviously, the GOP "leadership" is in need of a spine implant and hearing aids.

In Liberty,

Pat McGarrity

The caucus vote for Speaker is to take place today. We will know by end of business who the new Speaker is to be.

It is all moot now, Rep. Beth Harwell is your new Speaker of the House for the coming term.

The real tell of the tape will be the result of redistricting. We will know whether we have any real Concervatives in the House at the end of that.

It appears now that we do not.

I give up. Even when we win we still lose. How could that bunch of gutless republicans elect someone like her to be the speaker. Will we never be rid of Naifeh's ghost? These people still don't get it. I would like to see the list of those who voted for this democrat in republican clothing. They have to go.

If true, this is unbelievable! Surely the newly elected Republican majority is mostly conservative. Why would they elect a anti-gun rights moderarte or liberal. I would mcuh rather have Kent Williams back. At least he was pro-gun rights.

So we did not get the candidate that we wanted.

I think at this point, we need to see what the committee appointments turn out to be prior to jumping in the hot tub and slitting our wrist.

I am however still not happy with the attitude that the peons have no business interfering with the selection process. Last time I checked, the House belonged to the People. This "Leave it to the Legislators" mantra espoused by those who consider themselves the "Ruling Ellette" is troubling.

I suspect that the next time I get a call from the Party apparatchiks seeking funds, I am going to allow as to how the "Professionals" can get along without my interference just fine.