The Legislature is Broken..Crockett Buzz 5-18-15

 Quote of the day:

"There is across-the-board support for Insure Tennessee," he said, "and even more support for letting the full legislature vote on the bill. Yet there does not seem to be much interest among our legislators to discuss and vote on this bill supported by Gov. Bill Haslam — who himself remains wildly popular."

In other words, Tennesseans are knocking on the door — wanting fairness and reason and good health care to come out — but our elected reps won't let us in.

The legislature is broken. Its leaders aren't leading, and too many of its members are paralyzed by an unreasoning fear of their next elections. Never mind that such elections are more than a year away.

The rest of the Buzz is here:

Lifetime lawmaker health insurance to end — in future

Any lawmaker who serves one term in the Tennessee General Assembly — two years in the House or four years in the Senate — is eligible to remain on the state's health insurance plan for the rest of his or her life.
The plan lets them cover themselves, their spouses and eligible children. Eligible family members can stay on after the lawmaker dies.
Many current lawmakers are enrolled now — 116 out of 132 — and 148 former lawmakers remain on the state plan, according to records obtained by The Tennessean.
Many of those health insurance options are not available for the majority of state employees.
State workers must work 10 years to be eligible to keep their state insurance when they retire. Unless they continue to work past age 65, retirees must switch at 65 to a different, inferior coverage plan.
A new bill approved at the end of April will end the lifetime benefits for future lawmakers. The legislation also makes future state employees who leave their jobs ineligible for state-sponsored insurance until they are 65. Gov. Bill Haslam is expected to sign the legislation soon. LINK

The broken legislature and Insure Tennessee

"There is a major disconnect between the thinking of Tennesseans and the action of our state legislature," said Professor John Geer, the political scientist who is co-director of the Vanderbilt Poll.
"There is across-the-board support for Insure Tennessee," he said, "and even more support for letting the full legislature vote on the bill. Yet there does not seem to be much interest among our legislators to discuss and vote on this bill supported by Gov. Bill Haslam — who himself remains wildly popular."
In other words, Tennesseans are knocking on the door — wanting fairness and reason and good health care to come out — but our elected reps won't let us in.
The legislature is broken. Its leaders aren't leading, and too many of its members are paralyzed by an unreasoning fear of their next elections. Never mind that such elections are more than a year away.
Tennessee's political tradition has been one of moderation, not extremism. We are a solid Republican state now, but Tennessee is not an ultra-right-wing state. And the new polling suggests that voters in the legislative districts are not as far to the right as how the representatives behave in Nashville.
The only sensible explanation is that many of these representatives and senators simply dread the power of money and of out-of-state influence on Tennessee's Republican primaries. The incumbents want to be inoculated somehow from any threat of an even more conservative primary opponent and the danger that out-of-state interests would pour money into that challenger's campaign fund. This is where the fear is based, not from inside their own districts.
This is a scandal. And all but the handful of heroes, those who want to resurrect Insure Tennessee, will pay a price when that next election time comes. Tennessee voters, in the main, are sensible and practical-minded. We don't appreciate either inside dealing or outside meddling. LINK

Lawsuit Asks Tennessee To Stop Standing In The Way Of Ex-Felons' Voting Rights

A lawsuit filed earlier this year in Tennessee alleges that the state’s election officials are ignoring court orders to restore voting rights for former felons.
The state, which has one of the most restrictive felon disenfranchisement laws in the country, allows circuit courts to restore the full rights of citizenship, including voting rights, to people who have served their time and who petition for a restoration. But the suit claims that those court orders aren’t resulting in former felons having their names added back to the voter rolls.
Nashville-area attorney Elizabeth R. McClellan filed the suit in March against the State Election Commission and its elections coordinator, Mark Goins, on behalf of one former felon, Robert O’Neal, and others who may have been affected by the discord between the courts and the commission. McClellan filed the suit as class-action litigation, although a judge has not yet certified it as such.
The case comes as restoring voting rights for former felons is increasingly being seen as an area with the potential for bipartisan progress in Congress.
Tennessee is one of just 11 states that permanently disenfranchise citizens from voting. People in the state convicted of murder, treason, rape, voter fraud or sexual offenses can’t petition to have their voting rights restored once they finish their sentence and parole. Any other convicted felons who have paid restitution and outstanding child support may apply to the state Election Commission to have their voting rights restored. Alternatively, they may ask a circuit court judge to hear their case to have their full citizenship rights restored, including voting rights. The state may object on any grounds relevant to character during the court proceedings. LINK

Columnist: Vandy poll shows legislators out of touch with typical Tennessee voter

Excerpt from Commercial Appeal columnist Otis Sanford’s latest:
Just as I suspected, Tennesseans are not nearly as dogmatic, self-centered, hypocritical and closed-minded as most of the people we send to the state legislature.
For example, ordinary Tennesseans understand the value of deliberative compromise. Our lawmakers respond to a request for compromise with, “What part of hell no don’t you understand, the hell or the no?”
Ordinary Tennesseans, for the most part, have compassion for the underprivileged members of our society. Our lawmakers seem to treat those folks as freeloading pariahs.
And ordinary Tennesseans believe local governments should control the parks and playgrounds located within their borders. Our lawmakers check first with their out-of-state contributors, then pass laws stripping control from local leaders. LINK

Gun accidents set Tennessee apart from other states

The most distinctive cause of death in Tennessee is the accidental discharge of firearms, according to new mapping data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There were 336 accidental gun deaths in Tennessee between 2001 and 2010.
Accidental gun deaths aren't the main cause of death in Tennessee. Heart disease typically ranks as the leading cause of death in the state each year. The CDC data instead focused on causes of death in each state that veer most widely from the national average. LINK

 Washington Update: Billy Moore

The incentives for bipartisanship are more significant in the Senate than in the House. House norms and procedure allow the majority party to steamroll the minority.  Senate traditions empower the minority, requiring leaders who seek accomplishments to accommodate and compromise.
Last week, Democrats filibustered trade promotion authority and trade adjustment assistance legislation.  Then, Republicans and Democrats compromised on votes to curb currency manipulation and to increase African imports, and the Senate took up the larger trade bill.  The measure will be the Senate's focus this week, after which Congress will adjourn for the Memorial Day recess.
In the House, Republicans gave no quarter to Democrats' objections to the budget gimmicks built into the Defense authorization bill and passed it with the votes of 41 Democrats, far fewer than in prior years.  Earlier, the House voted 400-25 to clear bipartisan Senate legislation giving Congress oversight over a potential Iran nuclear deal. Representatives will vote this week to send bipartisan Senate anti-human-trafficking legislation to the President's desk.
Bipartisan success has Senators joining up to advance initiatives on highways, tax, energy, banking, education, patents and more.  The calendar could be a big problem as sponsors seek traction for their measures before the presidential campaign closes the window of opportunity.
The window on a highway-tax reform may be narrowing.  Congress appears to have reached consensus to extend highway and mass transit programs set to expire May 31through the end of July – placing a two-month deadline on reaching agreement on a five-year reauthorization bill that would require $85 billion in new revenue, perhaps from corporate tax reform, to maintain current construction and maintenance.
Even in a bipartisan climate, disagreement can still derail legislation.  House and Senate differences – and a filibuster by Republican Senators – over Patriot Act data gathering could result in the program's expiration June 1.

Nike To Tennessee: Don't Talk About What We're Doing

Several months after Tennessee suddenly announced it was almost completely doing away with the Lady Vols nickname, an email released by the university gives some insight into why many alumni had no idea it was even being considered. It’s because Nike’s advice to Tennessee was to shut up.

Or, more specifically: “Because your brand has an emotional connection with your students, staff and alumni, it is critical to keep the development of the work confidential and on a need-to-know basis.” And it’s worth noting they said this to a public university, which is expected to conduct certain business in the open.
This all began when Tennessee stirred up anger among its students and supporters by announcing it was ditching the Lady Vols name for all its women’s sports teams, save basketball. The announcement came around the same time the university announced its move switch from Adidas to Nike for athletic apparel, and it didn’t take much logic to figure the two were connected.
My public records request for copies of communication with Nike was denied because I’m not a Tennessee resident, but a bunch of readers in Tennessee stepped up and resubmitted the request for us. The university’s first response was bullshit, a meaningless audit of mostly brand jargon. Four days after our post saying as much, Tennessee responded to everyone who had submitted a FOIA saying they were working on another response. Two months later, this new batch of records give some context to how a Nike redesign works. LINK




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