Tennessee is one of the reddest states, and most people would probably be surprised that conservatives need help fighting Republican politicians.
Joe Carr is the House member from House District 48, which is about an hour outside of Nashville. Joe is a sales engineer and entrepreneur who ran for office in 2008 and is now in his second term.
Last year, he heard about Arizona's SB 1070, so he passed a resolution, HJR 1253, recognizing Arizona's right to defend its citizens against the unlawful entry of illegal aliens. In addition he and some other legislators from Tennessee made a trip to Arizona to find out about it personally and see what they could do to combat the horrendous illegal-immigration problem in Tennessee.
As a result of that trip, Joe introduced three bills:
HB 1378 is the E-Verify bill that requires all Tennessee employers to verify any new employee to insure he is in the country legally and has the right to work as either as a citizen or a lawful alien.
HB1379 requires Tennessee departments that dispense public benefits to verify lawful status of the individual receiving the benefit.
HB 1380 requires police to check the status of someone after they have made lawful contact and have a reasonable suspicion that the person is in the country illegally.
When Joe Carr decided to introduce these bills, he decided he was going to do it right. He consulted with attorneys to make certain the bills would pass constitutional muster. He spoke with the governor's office to get him involved in the process. He called various interest groups, including the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Businesses, to get them involved. The only thing he said he would not change would be mandatory verification and penalties for those businesses that knowingly violate the law.
While all of the usual leftist suspects came out against the bills, the Chamber of Commerce and the NFIB also went into overdrive to try and kill these bills.
Last year was one of seismic electoral change in Tennessee. The State Senate, which had been controlled by Republicans since 2008 for the first time since reconstruction, expanded its Republican majority. For the first time since Reconstruction, the Republicans were able to elect a Republican speaker of the House. In 2010, a new Republican governor was elected, so for the first time since Reconstruction, the governor's mansion and both chambers of the legislature were in Republican hands.
Unfortunately for conservatives, the new governor is a very worthless RINO.
Tennessee is a remarkable state for a number of reasons, not the least of which i, some of the Democrats in the state legislature are pretty good people. One of the most powerful members of the legislature, who is a Democrat, came to Joe Carr and offered to support his bills. He had conditions. Joe had to let them publicly sign onto the bill and he had to refuse to compromise on E-Verify and on the punishment provisions. Needless to say, Joe quickly agreed to those conditions.
When the Chamber of Commerce got word the bills were likely to pass, they went to the governor, who immediately began to pressure Joe and the rest of the Tennessee General Assembly to weaken his bills. Specifically they wanted the mandatory E-Verify enrollment and enforcement provisions taken out. Joe refused.
Now the governor, at the bidding of the NFIB and the Chamber of Commerce, is doing his best to kill these bills. He is pressuring the speaker of the House, Beth Harwell, either to water down the bills or not allow votes on the bills. He also may use a very dirty trick to try to kill them. In Tennessee, every bill is assigned a fiscal note. That is an estimate by the state as to how much the bill will cost. The original fiscal note for Joe's bills was $91,100. A note that low did not require the bill to go through the House Budget Subcommittee. The governor is now telling his finance and administrative department to recalculate the fiscal note and blow it up so that the bill will have a more difficult time for passage by going through the Budget Subcommittee. On Capitol Hill, the House Budget Subcommittee is also known as the black hole committee. Bills are sent there to die.
In a recent poll conducted by Middle Tennessee State University, Tennesseans by a 78 percent margin, want their lawmakers to pass legislation that is "as strong or stronger" than Arizona's SB 1070. Tennessee has an unemployment rate of 9.4 percent (officially), and instead of doing something that might help Tennesseans get jobs and take them away from people who are in this country illegally, Bill Haslam, Tennessee's worthless RINO governor, is doing his best to kill these bills.
We need your help to stop this RINO.
Call or email Gov. Haslam and tell him to support Americans, not illegals. If you are in Tennessee, tell him so. If you are not in Tennessee, tell him you will not do business with Tennessee, including vacationing here or spending money in Tennessee if he is going to put the welfare of illegal aliens above the welfare of Americans. Please pass this information along to your friends, your tea-party group, 9/12 or conservative group. Ask them to share it with their members and friends and ask them to call.
The battle we fight here in Tennessee is a battle we are going to have to fight in many states. A victory here makes victories in other states that much easier. Take a moment to call and email him today.
The governor's office number is (615) 741-2001.
Gov. Haslam's email is [email protected].
Also take a moment to contact Speaker of the House Beth Harwell and give her the same message. You want to support Tennesseans, not illegal aliens.
Her number is (615) 741-0709.
Her email is [email protected]
Judson Phillips is founder and CEO of Tea Party Nation.