NASHVILLE - The Tennessee Republican Party today thanks Gov. Phil Bredesen for painting a very vivid picture of the distinct difference between the governing philosophy of his Democrat Party and the governing philosophy of the Republican Party.

At a press conference where he delivered a taxpayer-funded $1 million grant to help restore The Hermitage, the historic home of Andrew Jackson, Bredesen said the following. Really:

“One of the great things about being governor is you get to take taxes away from people and then give it back to them and they’re happy to have it back. Is this a great job or what?”

The moment was captured by WKRN Channel 2 in Nashville. If, like us, you can’t quite believe he said that, well, that’s why we put it up on YouTube:

While Gov. Bredesen is gleeful about how fun it is to tax hard-working Tennesseans - many of whom, unlike their multi-millionaire governor, struggle to make ends meet each month - Republicans view the best government as one that governs least and allows hard-working taxpayers to keep more of their paycheck.

Bredesen and his fellow Democrats, on the other hand, view your money as the “common good” and “common wealth” to be used in ways that are beneficial to society as a whole, as determined not by you the taxpayer, but by them.

“Gov. Bredesen’s arrogance in making these revealing remarks in a time that critical services are going to be cut in Tennessee and while more than $8 million in taxpayer money is going to be poured into the ground - literally - to build a lavish underground ballroom and banquet hall at the Governor’s mansion is another breach of trust with the people who elected him,” said Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Robin Smith.

The citizens of Tennessee must stand vigilant while Tennessee Democrats campaign camouflaged as conservatives on the issues, when they, once elected, govern as true liberals who stand for what’s best for the government before they stand with the taxpayers of Tennessee.

Here, again, is what Gov. Bredesen said:

“One of the great things about being governor is you get to take taxes away from people and then give it back to them and they’re happy to have it back. Is this a great job or what?”

“Frankly, Gov. Bredesen, the people of Tennessee would have been very happy to get some of their tax money back last year, when the state had a $1.5 billion revenue surplus,” said Bill Hobbs, communications director for the Tennessee Republican Party. “Instead, governor, you raised taxes by $242 million, and agreed only to a token cut in the sales tax on food. The money you gleefully joke about taking from taxpayers comes from people who pay higher prices for groceries because you won’t agree to more than a token reduction in the state’s sales tax on food.”

Four years ago, long before he and his wife decided to build a multi-million-dollar ballroom at the governor’s mansion, Gov. Bredesen gave a speech to the Tennessee General Assembly on the future of TennCare, which was facing budget cuts.

He said this:

“I want to begin with a story, the story of the biggest house in the neighborhood.

Once upon a time there was a family, with a mother and a father, and a son and a daughter. They were a fine, loving family, and some years before the time of our story, they had stretched to buy a great big, expensive house - the biggest house in the neighborhood. It had everything they dreamed of; a pool, game rooms, enormous yard, bathrooms for everyone with some left over.

Every month, when it came time to pay the bills, mom paid the mortgage, the property taxes, mom paid the heat, and light, and repairs on their huge house. And each month when she got done, there was practically nothing left for anything else.

They talked about family vacations, but they never could actually go, there wasn’t any money left after paying the house bills. The son and the daughter dreamt of someday going to college. But it wasn’t likely, they were saving nothing for college. Just keeping up the biggest house in the neighborhood was taking it all.

I want to break this story here, as I’m sure it is obvious where I am going: TennCare is just like that great big house; it’s got everything, it’s well-intentioned, but we can’t afford it, we’re in over our heads, and scrambling to keep up with the bills means we starve to death other things that in the end are equally important - like education.

…I’m here tonight to ask you to do the same thing that we did together last year: to apply the commonsense principles of a family budget, this time to TennCare."

Really. He said that, back in the day. But not now. Today, Gov. Bredesen is joking about how fun it is to tax people and spend their money on renovating Andy Jackson’s historic mansion, and he’s defending his wife’s plan to spend more than $8 million of taxpayer funds on an underground ballroom at the governor’s mansion.

And so, today, the Tennessee Republican Party thanks Gov. Phil Bredesen for making it crystal clear to the people of Tennessee that it is his Democrat Party which enjoys raising people’s taxes and spending their money on mansion renovations at the same time thousands of Tennesseans face foreclosure on their own homes.

We do have one question, however: With the state now facing a revenue shortfall and coming budget cuts, we want to know which program will get $8 million less so that the governor’s mansion can be the biggest, most expensive home in the neighborhood?

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Source documents:

Video clip of Gov. Bredesen’s remarks are on YouTube.com at http://youtube.com/watch?v=DfplfPTz9Vs

A copy of the first two pages of Bredesen’s Feb. 17, 2004, speech to the legislature, titled Saving TennCare, can be found here.

Bill Hobbs
Communications Director
Tennessee Republican Party
2424 21st Avenue, Suite 200
Nashville, Tennessee 37212 
Phone: (615) 269-4260
Email: billhobbs@tngop.org