Stockard on the Stump: GOP senator scoffs at Tennessee guns group

A day after killing ten bills, including a move that would let people carry guns just about anywhere, Republican Sen. Todd Gardenhire found himself in the crosshairs of the Tennessee Firearms Association. He shot back.

Gardenhire, a veteran Chattanooga lawmaker who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the firearms group hadn’t “darkened” his door for years yet continued to bash him. They also hammered nearly every other Republican in the state for opposing the end of Tennessee’s law against carrying a weapon with “intent to go armed,” a situation in which carrying the gun has no designated purpose such as hunting.

“They’re not reasonable. They’re raising money for their own pocket and paying themselves,” Gardenhire told the Lookout. “I don’t pay any attention to what they say. They have a vested interest in getting their supporters riled up to send them money. Follow the money.”

The gun group sent email letters this week slamming the state’s Republican leaders for failing to use their supermajority to “defend the Constitution” and the rights of Tennesseans to carry weapons, including long guns, along streets, near schools, in parks, pretty much everywhere.

“Instead, despite years of campaign promises and public assurances of unwavering support for the Second Amendment and the federal and state constitutions, these leaders and the Republican supermajority purposefully have left in place statutes that intentionally criminalize the very conduct and activities that the state and federal constitutions not only protect but which they also declare ‘shall not be infringed,’ by the government including its officials,” the letter says.

It points out a three-judge panel in Hughes v. Lee found the state’s “intent to go armed” and gun prohibitions in parks to be unconstitutional, void and unenforceable. Gov. Bill Lee and Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti are appealing the ruling. 

The appeal and the refusal to pass bills this year repealing the law “are the actions of government tyranny choosing to violate your rights and their oaths.”

The letter goes on to blast Gardenhire for pushing off a spate of bills until 2027 without alerting committee members, none of whom objected. One of those would have ended recognition of same-sex marriages.

Tennessee Firearms Association Executive Director John Harris wraps up the letter by asking people to consider joining the organization and making charitable contributions. By the way, he also encourages people to defeat the reelection efforts of lawmakers such as Gardenhire.

If that’s the case, Gardenhire said they better be prepared to “dig a trench and get into their little foxholes.”

“I try to look at these things on a reasonable basis. I don’t like somebody being able to carry a shotgun into a bank or around a schoolhouse or in a hospital or where there’s a divorce going on somewhere and everybody’s mad at each other,” he said. “That’s just common sense, and these people don’t use common sense.”

He predicted he would serve six more years. If that’s the case, someone else will be writing his retirement story.

And the beat goes on …

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and Republican state Sen. Brent Taylor aren’t hanging out together at Grizzlies games these days. (Seriously, who would want to watch anyway?)

Harris sent a letter to Taylor this week questioning his efforts to put the state in charge of Memphis Shelby County Schools and usurp the locally-elected school board, stripping its ability to make decisions.

“We think your approach in creating a new Taylor-influenced board to oversee our school system is potentially devastating and fiscally irresponsible,” Harris’ letter says.

Harris, a former Democratic state senator, makes note of the work between the Shelby County Commission and school board to build a new Frayser High School at a cost of $140 million and questions whether the local government would work that well with a “Taylor-influenced” board. He could not be reached for comment.

Taylor sent back a letter saying, “Just wait until you see the audit.”

He’s referring to a forensic audit costing the state some $7 million to figure out how much money Memphis Shelby County Schools has blown over the past few decades. Incidentally, the legislature spent about a billion bucks on a state-run school district that saw few improvements in Memphis schools.

Just when you thought Taylor could keep things brief, he shot back at Harris on X, formerly Twitter, saying the mayor had finally come out from “under the rock he’s been hiding under, but unfortunately he’s been on the wrong side of every issue since his reemergence.”

Taylor said that includes his opposition to the Memphis Safe Task Force charged with ending crime in the city. President Donald Trump and his minions flew into Memphis this week to celebrate the task force’s efforts in ticketing, arresting and deporting half the county.

It must be noted that a Nashville judge ruled in favor of Harris and other state and local officials who sued the state over the deployment of the National Guard to Memphis, citing a constitutional provision against sending out troops for a police action. The judge, though, allowed the troops to remain there until the case goes through appeals, which usually takes about a year. 

By then, the state will argue that crime no longer exists in Memphis, so deployment must be perfectly fine.

No doubt, folks are staying up at night awaiting the audit. After all, if we’re spending $7 million, somebody better wind up in handcuffs.

But the ultimate question is: Will this help kids learn to read, write and multiply?

Protein only, please

A bill designed to encourage people to consume whole foods fell by the wayside this week when its House sponsor withdrew the measure.

The Tennessee Journal reported that Rep. Sabi Kumar of Springfield acknowledged the measure “needs work” before removing it from consideration.

The bill, which was sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Ferrell Haile of Gallatin, would have put a 7% tax on highly processed foods such chips, sugary cereal and sodas and kept the rate at 4% on fresh or frozen produce, raw meat, poultry and fish, eggs, flour and ground cornmeal, dried legumes, including bean, peas and lentils (yum yum), bread and unsweetened cereal (which nobody wants to eat).

Before dropping the bill, lawmakers received a blast from the past from Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, who told them the measure would raise sales taxes on groceries by a “whopping 75 percent.” We’re not clear on the specs for “whopping.” But if it hits 75%, that could qualify.

“SB 2337 is heavy-handed legislation that would make the General Assembly the arbiter of good nutrition, empowering state government to set preferential or punitive tax rates based on their determinations,” Norquist’s letter says. He further refers to the bill as a “nanny state approach” that doesn’t match the state’s typical low-tax approach, though the sales tax is considered good for the rich and bad for the folks on the lower end of the totem pole.

It’s good to know Norquist is looking out for the poor.

Pody prisons bill

Republican Sen. Mark Pody of Lebanon balked at an effort to move a prison-related bill to the Senate’s corrections oversight subcommittee. 

SB261 would put the Department of Correction’s 50 investigators under the auspices of the legislature, according to Pody, who said he’s “had enough” of the state’s prisons. He argued that the state’s 24,000 prisoners deserve to be “treated humanely” while serving their time. 

Yet they’re threatened, beaten, killed and controlled by gangs while their families are often extorted, he said.

“The department hires their own investigators to report on themselves, investigate themselves and report back to themselves,” he said. In contrast, other law enforcement agencies hire outside investigators to check into alleged wrongdoing, Pody added.

Republican Sen. Tom Hatcher, who chairs the corrections oversight panel, encouraged Pody to send his bill through the subcommittee, which is looking into an assortment of ideas, including body cameras on prison guards, cell-phone jamming and use of drones.

Similarly, Sen. Richard Briggs, chair of the State and Local Government Committee, pointed out that the U.S. Department of Justice is conducting a civil rights probe of Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, which is run by the state’s private contractor, CoreCivic. 

Briggs asked to hold up on the bills, saying it could cost $4.5 million, then the feds might say shifting those investigators isn’t the best move. It’s unclear how they came up with that cost, because it’s not explained in the bill’s fiscal analysis.

But Pody would have no delay, saying he would take his chances with a vote that would send the bill to Senate finance. 

Acknowledging it’s been a year and a half since the federal probe started, Pody said, “But I’m still getting calls from prisoners being beaten. I’m still getting calls from families being blackmailed. We just had a correction officer killed. It is still happening, and we can do something right now.”

Pody said he has no confidence in the Department of Correction, a statement echoed by Republican Sen. Ed Jackson of Jackson, who said the prison situation is as bad as he’s seen it in more than a decade.

Other senators said they don’t think the federal investigation will lead to major changes but added they believe the state’s oversight will improve. 

“If we don’t have the money for it, that’s one thing. But I think we want to let everybody know we’ve got the will to do something,” Pody said, asking for a vote.

After the grinding and gnashing of teeth, the State and Local Government Committee threw Pody a bone and advanced the measure to Senate finance (where it faces a higher hurdle) with a 9-0 vote, lending credence to the idea: If there’s a will, there’s a way – sometimes, maybe.

Plowing ahead

Tennessee Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds received an honorary degree from the Future Farmers of America this week for her support of agricultural education.

“Agriculture plays a foundational role in the state of Tennessee and remains a critical industry for our economy,” Reynolds said in response. 

Is this the reason “agriculture” is prominently displayed on the “Great seal of the state of Tennessee”? Incidentally, why is the seal deemed “great” instead of the state? That’s a question for another day.

Onlookers were excited to see Reynolds receive the degree, especially since she took the job in 2023 without meeting state requirements, which required her to be qualified to teach at the higher level of K-12 schools. 

She entered a teacher program at UT-Martin, but even that was hampered by a sworn affidavit she and another education official signed saying she paid for the course when it had been discounted by the state.

Gov. Lee has backed her to the hilt, as he does with most things related to private-school vouchers. She was hired from a voucher advocacy group.

We’ve received no word on whether Reynolds has completed her teaching courses in Martin. Oh well, if she doesn’t earn the qualifications by the end of Lee’s tenure in January, she can always enter the transfer portal.

“Flying high again”

The Senate Transportation Committee approved one of the state’s latest attempts to assert control over Metro Nashville. 

Despite complaints from Democratic Sen. Heidi Campbell about the potential loss of local control, the committee approved Sen. Paul Bailey’s legislation to vacate the authorities for four airports across the state, including Memphis and Nashville, and giving the House and Senate speakers and governor appointments over a majority of board members.

Bailey, a Cookeville Republican carrying the bill for the Senate speaker, acknowledged the Metro airport is growing rapidly but contended that the state invested in surrounding infrastructure and provides about $50 million annually toward operations. Because of that, the state should have a “seat at the table,” he said.

As someone who spends a lot of time picking up and dropping off people at the airport, it has come to my attention that the more changes they make, the worse things get. 

One of the arguments that senators made for the state takeover is that the airport serves flyers from across the region. Thank you, Sherlock Holmes. They don’t have large, commercial airports in Sumner, Wilson, Williamson and Montgomery counties. Are people there expected to sprout wings?

Anyway, as soon as the state acquires power over every board in Tennessee, all of our problems will vanish. Just look at the legislature for proof.

“Danger on the edge of town”

Republican Sen. Bo Watson of Hixson notified the State and Local Government Committee Wednesday that he was removing his state property tax cap from “life support,” ending hopes of passage this year.

The response you didn’t hear in the hallway was the silent celebration of city and county lobbyists who have been fighting the measure all year. It would have required a referendum on any property tax increase above 2%, causing a clunky and expensive mechanism for local governments to overcome every time they have to raise taxes for items such as schools and roads.

The clear target is Metro Nashville, which has definitely bumped property taxes quite a bit in the last few years. Oddly enough, people don’t stop moving in, based on the number of high-rise apartments going up daily. 

Never fear, good readers, it won’t be long before the legislature finds a solution. 

“This is the end / My only friend, the end / Of our elaborate plans, the end” The Doors – “The End”