PURPOSE PLUS UNITY = HISTORIC CHANGE
Tennessee voters voted for change in a historic way this year, giving Republicans a majority in both chambers of the state legislature for the first time since 1869. Thanks to your support and help, the Tennessee Republican Party stands poised to make history again in early January with the election of a Republican as Speaker of the House of Representatives for the 106th General Assembly. As evidence of their commitment to lead, all 50 Republican House members and members-elect have signed this letter committing to vote for a Republican Speaker.
The hard work of Republican legislators present and past over the years, and the hard work of countless Republican volunteers across the state across the years laid the foundation for today’s tremendous achievements by Republicans on behalf of the people of Tennessee.
Winning a Republican majority in the legislature has given Tennessee Republicans the opportunity to lead our great state in the right direction and prove that, indeed, it does matter who governs.
My sincerest regards,
Robin Smith, TRP Chairman
NEWS FROM NASHVILLE
The state of Tennessee’s revenue shortfall for the current fiscal year is now projected to hit a whopping $800 million, as the true scope of Phil Bredesen’s fiscal folly continues to become clear to the taxpayers of Tennessee.
Bredesen’s refusal to keep a lid on spending growth in recent years has set the stage for this year’s fiscal crisis. The Tennessee constitution allows for a reasonable rate of growth for the state budget based on the rate of growth of the state’s economy, tying spending growth to growth of the ability of taxpayers to fund it without tax increases. But Gov. Bredesen has repeatedly proposed budgets that spend in excess of the constitutional limit.
This year’s budget is $723 million over the limit. Had the governor instead kept his spending within the limit, state government’s projected revenue shortfall for the current fiscal year would be much smaller – around $77 million.
The good news for taxpayers: Republican lawmakers committed to fiscal discipline and keeping taxes low have won a majority in the legislature.
CAMPAIGN WRAP-UP
The Tennessee Republican Party issued a statement this week rejecting efforts by some Tennessee Democrats to paint thousands of Tennessee voters like you as racists simply because you chose to vote for a true Republican conservative rather than for a Democrat who talked like a conservative in his district but voted for liberal Democrat leadership in Nashville.
Tennessee Republicans won the legislative majority through a diligent effort to offer great candidates, raise funds, organize volunteers and communicate a clear and consistent conservative message. At no time did the Tennessee Republican Party resort to racial tactics.
Tennessee faces difficult times and tough choices in the upcoming legislative session. Republicans are ready and willing to tackle the tough issues and find solutions. It appears that the Democrats, having lost their majority because they are out of step with most Tennesseans on issues ranging from taxes and spending to Second Amendment rights and the protection of innocent life, have nothing to offer other than baseless charges of racism. But placing false blame doesn’t solve Tennessee’s problems, create jobs, improve our schools or fix our roads.
The Tennessee Republican Party remains committed to offering solutions and focusing on Tennessee’s future.
DEFENDING YOUR MAJORITY
State legislatures across America will be redrawing congressional district lines in 2011, after the 2010 Census, and liberals are already aiming to use the redistricting process to reduce the number of Republicans in Congress.
The influential left-wing blog MyDD.com has identified Tennessee as one state where liberal Democrats across the nation should focus effort and resources on electing a Democrat-majority legislature in 2010 in order to gerrymander congressional districts in order to increase the number of Democrats and reduce the number of Republicans in Congress.
Says MyDD.com: “What do we need to do in those 36 states? In short, everything we can in 2009 and 2010 to make sure redistricting is controlled by Democrats, then in 2011 pressure governors, state legislators, and whoever else makes redistricting decisions to draw maps with the highest possible number of Democratic districts. … If we pay attention to and get involved in the right state-level elections, we can put control of the next round of redistricting in more Democratic hands.”
The Tennessee Republican Party, having succeeded in its campaign to “Take the Hill” and elect a Republican majority in the state legislature this year, is committed to defend your majority in 2010 so the lines for Tennessee’s nine congressional districts as well as all 33 state Senate districts and 99 state House districts can be redrawn fairly in order to ensure Republican voters are not disenfranchised and their views and voices marginalized and silenced.
AMERICAN PEOPLE SAY “DRILL NOW!” BUT PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA MAY HAVE OTHER PLANS
While the campaign is over, the battle over ideas, policies and the future of our great country goes on. During the campaign, candidate Barack Obama said he could support increased domestic oil drilling but now that he’s President-elect Obama, it appears the anti-drilling special interest groups may get their way. As various news media are reporting, Obama is poised to reverse Bush administration policies designed to increase domestic production of oil and reduce our dependency on oil imported from foreign, often hostile, regimes. (Obama Moving to Halt Oil Drilling, Nov. 10, 2008)
Over the last several months, the Tennessee Republican Party sold thousands of bumper stickers warning that Democrats are opposed to increased domestic oil production. The message of the stickers – YOUR WALLET: The only place Democrats want to drill – highlights how liberal Democrats are more interested in drilling deeper into your paycheck than they are in finding more domestic energy resources to help ease prices at the gasoline pump and spur the economy through lower energy costs.
The American economy requires a steady supply of energy at reasonable prices. Increased domestic oil production would be positive for consumers’ pocketbooks and also create tens of thousands of new jobs in an economy that desperately needs them. That’s why last July President Bush lifted the executive order banning drilling off U.S. coasts. Congress – under pressure from Republican lawmakers and the American people – also allowed its own ban to expire in October, and the House of Representatives even passed a comprehensive energy bill that would allow offshore drilling 50 miles from the east and west coasts if states permitted it and completely open areas more than 100 miles from the coast to oil exploration.
Oil and gasoline prices have fallen sharply in part because those decisions showed America was committed to doing whatever it took to increase the supply of oil and reduce our dependence on foreign suppliers. That’s the good news. However, Obama’s allies on the environmental fringe are pushing to reverse those decisions.
Here in Tennessee and across America, Republicans and Democrats who agree with us on the need for increased domestic energy supplies will be watching energy policy developments under the new Obama administration and urging President Obama to refrain from putting more American energy resources off-limits.
