In a television interview that aired on WKRN’S This Week with Bob Mueller, Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Chris Devaney previewed the TRP’s 34th annual Statesmen’s Dinner set for this coming Friday, June 25th with keynote speaker Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. He also discussed recent controversial comments made by Democrat State Rep. Janis Baird Sontany and points out that this might not be the first time she has used such language. Following are excerpts from Chairman Devaney’s interview:

DEVANEY ON THE TENNESSEE REPUBLICAN PARTY’S ANNUAL STATESMEN’S DINNER FEATURING MN GOV. TIM PAWLENTY:

“We’re excited about that. People are concerned about the direction of the country, they’re concerned about what’s going on in Tennessee – which I think is why we’re going to have a very big crowd at this event – a lot of excitement there. The Republican Party is very strong in Tennessee and we’re very pleased that Governor Pawlenty of Minnesota is coming – he’s on the national stage. He is being talked about as running for President – in fact the other day he set up two [state] PACs… And so he’s going to be talking about what he has done in Minnesota in terms of cutting the budget and lowering taxes and what he can do for the country and where we are going as a country.”

DEVANEY ON PAST PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS WHO HAVE SPOKEN TO THE TENNESSEE REPUBLICAN PARTY:

“Historically the Republican Party has been very blessed to have a number of different presidential hopefuls come in. We’ve had Mitt Romney before, John McCain – we had George W. Bush when he was governor of Texas and so Gov. Pawlenty kind of falls in that long line of people who want to come to Tennessee and want to meet Tennessee Republicans. They know this is an important state. Look, it made the difference in the 2000 election – Al Gore would have been President if it wasn’t for Tennessee.”

DEVANEY ON RECENT CONTROVERSIAL COMMENTS MADE BY DEM STATE REP. JANIS BAIRD SONTANY:

“I just think that kind of language and that kind of rhetoric is just not what we need right now in the state of Tennessee. Not only was it strange, it was totally inappropriate. You know, we can have difference of opinion and difference of views on things, but using that kind of phrase and that kind of language I just thought was just very inappropriate and kind of weird quite frankly… But you know, the interesting thing is that – what I’m told is that this is not the first time she’s said it. I mean, she’s said it a lot behind closed doors or in Democrat meetings and that kind of thing and she’s gotten a few chuckles from it. Hopefully it won’t happen again.”