Mr. Chairman

Former Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele was elected as the Chairman of the Republican National Committee during the Committee’s meeting. Chairman Steele is committed to winning elections based on the principles of our Party, just not the polling and political expedience that markets empty solutions.

Republican National Committee members John Ryder and Peggy Lambert and I were joined by Dr. Carol Swain, Vanderbilt professor and CNN contributor for Lou Dobbs at the election proceedings. Dr. Swain had a meeting with Chairman Steele in discussing the historic moment of being the first African American Chairman of the Party of Lincoln and the issues confronting our nation.

Other officers elected were Co-Chairman Jan Larimer (WY), Secretary Sharon Day (FL), and Treasurer Randy Pullen (AZ). Fresh and principled leadership will serve our cause and grow our party.

Happy New Year

As a delegate to Taiwan to represent the RNC last year at their Presidential Inaugural, I was honored join Representative J Yuan and the Taipei delegation in celebrating the Chinese Lunar Year while in Washington. Rep. Yuan made remarks of thanks to Republicans for their stance in viewing Taiwan as a democracy and honoring trade relations with the People’s Republican of China. His strong, emotional comments serve to remind us that policy has direct consequences that can be very positive. In the case and cause of the Taiwanese, free trade and open dialogue has provided an otherwise communistically oppressed people to thrive in a democracy and serve as an ally to America.

- Robin Smith, Chairman, Tennessee Republican Party

Budget Time

Governor Phil Bredesen will address a joint session of the Tennessee General Assembly next week to announce his plans for the 2009 year regarding the budget and other initiatives. The State of the State Address will occur at 6 p.m. CT in the House Chamber.

Glimpse of GOP Agenda
Republican House Leader Jason Mumpower spoke about a few issues to be addressed by the Republican Caucus in the upcoming legislative session. Judicial “selection” would become “election” as specified by the state’s constitution, making tough decisions to balance the state budget without raising the taxes of the citizens and addressing education funding were topics addressed.

“Stimulus” = WASTEFUL SPENDING

President Barack Obama, joined by his fellow Democrats in the majority in the U.S. House and Senate, has proposed an obese (and still growing) proposal to “stimulate” the economy. By estimates provided by the Wall Street Journal, no more than 24% of the total $900 billion truly stimulates the economy by the creation of jobs or contributing to long-lasting projects. Instead, “pay-as-you-go” has now become “payback-as-you-go” as the standard operating procedure for D.C. Democrats.

Americans have acknowledged the wasteful spending, rather than stimulus, in recent polling.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 37% favor the legislation, 43% are opposed, and 20% are not sure. A stimulus plan that includes only tax cuts is now more popular than the economic recovery plan being considered in Congress. Forty-five percent (45%) favor a tax-cut only plan while 34% are opposed.

Those figures reflect a modest increase in support over the past week. Candidate Obama campaigned heavily on a promise to cut taxes for 95% of all Americans, and voters strongly believe that tax cuts are good for the economy. Most Americans believe that a dollar of tax cuts is better for the economy than a dollar of government spending.

The Tennessee Republican Party has launched an all-new website at www.tngop.org, where you’ll find the latest news and information, videos and a variety of resources and tools to help you help us grow the Republican Party in Tennessee. You can sign up for instant news alerts, use the site’s new Legislature tab to access your state legislator, track legislation and even watch legislative hearings and floor sessions live online. We also provide easy links to our party’s pages on social networking sites and online communities such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

The site is still under construction, with more features coming…

Check it out at www.tngop.org – and if you have comments or suggestions, please send them to Communications Director Bill Hobbs at billhobbs@tngop.org.