for May 29, 2007

Blackburn Jumps Ship on Romney

Blackburn Jumps Ship on Romney -- Watch out Mitt Romney. Congressman Marsha Blackburn has changed her endorsement from Romney to Fred Thompson. Blackburn previously served as one of the co-chairs for the National Women for Mitt coalition, but now it looks like she will back fellow Tennessean Fred Thompson. Blackburn joins Reps. David Davis, John Duncan, and Zach Wamp - all the Republicans in Congress from TN; along with Reps. Dan Manzullo (IL) and Gresham Barrett (SC) among the members of Congress who have endorsed Thompson. Blackburn spokesman said back in April on a possible endorsement switch to Thompson: "It's premature to talk about ... When he announces, then we'll cross that bridge." That means a Thompson announcement is right around the corner.

CQ Looks at Alexander Race -- Congressional Quarterly looks at Lamar Alexander's reelection bid for the US Senate. Lamar has raised more than $700,000 in the first three months of 2007, ending the year’s first quarter with $816,000 in cash on hand in his campaign account. Alexander CoS Tom Ingram: "We’re certainly confident heading into the election season." Among the candidate list that CQ floats are Congressman Lincoln Davis, former State Rep. Kim McMillan, former TN Dem Chair Bob Tuke - the later being the most likely.

Niceley Adds Amendment to Own Gun Bill -- State Rep. Frank Niceley will add a provision to his own gun bill which would prohibit the mentally ill from owning guns. Niceley: "Right now, you can get out of a mental institution in the morning and buy a gun that afternoon ... I'm a so-called gun nut, and I think that's just wrong." Niceley said he has prepared an amendment to mandate reporting of mental-health records to the FBI.

BEP 2.0 Not Fair? -- The Kingsport Times News has a brief article - pointing out that Pickett County, one of the state’s poorest counties, would get no extra education bucks under the proposed BEP 2.0, while Knox Co. gets more than $26.6 million new dollars. Comptroller John Morgan, who has made presentations about the BEP’s adequacy, suggested lawmakers should move past territorial concerns and start looking at Bredesen’s education funding changes with a statewide perspective. State Sen. Jamie Woodson, one of architects of BEP 2.0 says the changes proposed would have been manadated by the judicial system eventually anyway.

Toll Roads and Propane Taxes? -- Tennessee's term limits seem to allow Gubernatorial office holders to propose more taxes in a state that is generally tax-adverse because they no longer face the political pressure of having to be reelected. The Knoxville News-Sentinel has an AP story pointing out a bigger trend - toll roads in the South. That's an idea that Gov. Bredesen supports - although it is unlikely to go through this year in TN. However, a tax increase that is likely to go through is the Governor's plan to close a current tax exemption for propane. Under an amendment to a larger revenue bill, the sales tax exemption would not apply to propane "sold over the counter at location of the seller." Only gas delivered to the home of the purchaser would be tax-free.

Posted by Adam Groves | Email This |