TennWatch/Volitics

Naifeh Hypocrisy Exposed

As Speaker of the House, Jimmy Nero Naifeh has long wielded power with an arrogance seldom seen outside of a tyrant's palace. Bill after bill passes the Senate, but Naifeh uses his dark and absolute powers to ensure that the House companion bill never makes it out of committee.

The one time that a pro-gun bill actually made it to the House floor, Naifeh broke House rules in order to kill it. If you doubt it just do a little digging and you will find the video of the House proceedings.

Lawyer, activist and TeamGOP principal Jeff Ward reports that just one day after Naifeh's hometown paper ran an op-ed penned by Ward in which he addresses Naifeh's hoplophobic record, Naifeh goes to the gun range. And why?

Strangely enough, Naifeh and eight or nine comrades attended a private class for their concealed carry permit on Saturday March 29, 2008.  I guess Naifeh wants to get his permit to combat the negative press this fall in his re-election campaign.

Naifeh has fought arming the populace tooth and nail for years, yet he takes advantage of laws passed in spite of him in order to arm himself. Why the hypocrisy?

Could it be that Naifeh is about to loose state protection because he is going to retire?

One can only hope and pray.

"English Only" Bill Passes TN Senate

The Tennessee Senate unanimously passed a bill allowing employers to mandate that only English can be spoken by workers while on the clock.

Meanwhile, the companion bill languishes in a House subcommittee. Anyone want to bet that Naifeh never lets this one see the light of day?

Speaking of old Jimmy Naifeh, I heard a rumor that Rory Bricco was considering a run against the House Speaker, but his site hasn't been updated to reflect that. In fact, his blog is little more than a convenient target for comment spam (only two blog posts and nearly 25,000 comments -- I won't provide the link so as to bump it up in Google ratings).

Tyrant Naifeh Throws Tantrum

The headline reads, Irked Naifeh cancels news conference:

Democratic House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh angrily canceled his weekly news conference Thursday because reporters chose to attend an earlier news conference by Republican Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey.

Naifeh has wielded unquestioned power in Nashville for so long that he just can't stand it when the press doesn't fawn over him like liberal toadies are supposed to.

It's time for this man to go. Maybe Jeff Ward will be the man to replace him.

Tyrant Naifeh's Behavior

TN House Speaker Jimmie Naifeh continues to ignore the rules in order to obstruct legislation that he doesn't want to see the light of day and ram through bills that are his pets. But his latest actions goes beyond the pale.

In a Chattanoogan article, Rep. Chris Clem explains what our elected officials did on their final day in session. First, they passed a bill that "dramatically increased the retirement benefits of legislators".

As the day wore on it became clear that the Democrats would not adjourn until this bill passed. Sen. David Fowler tried several times to adjourn without passing the bill. He came close. But, in the end, the Democrat leadership of both chambers were able to pass this dramatic increase in legislative pensions.

It must be noted that Republicans now control the Senate. Don't you wish that the results of all votes were published on the web?

Chris calls the second piece of legislation the "Incumbent Protection Bill" — it dramatically increases the number of votes required for a write-in candidate in a primary to get put on the ballot in the general election. But Naifeh wanted it:

I attempted to call for "the Rule." "The Rule" simply requires all members to sit in their chair and not push the vote botton for anyone else. In other words, only members sitting in their chair should vote while under "the Rule."

I realized that 10 members were not in the chamber. Six of them had gone home and were no longer in Nashville. Democrat Speaker Jimmy Naifeh refused to recognize me and allow me to call for "the Rule." Republicans then objected to calling for a vote. We raised the required five hands. Naifeh claimed he saw no hands. He then allowed the vote.

In order to pass there must be 50 votes. The bill received 58 votes. Ten of the members who voted for the Incumbent Protection Bill were not even in the chamber when someone voted for them. Six of the 10 were not even in Nashville. Ironically, if I had been allowed to call for "the Rule" then the Incumbent Protection Bill would have fallen two votes short of passage.

It is expected that Naifeh refuses to recognize hands raised by legislators of the opposite party — he has done it too many times before to expect any different. Even Rep. Stacey Campfield commented on this:

Chris Clem tried to get the speaker to recognize him and put us under the rule. Several hands were in the air, but similar to the conceal carry bill last year the speaker said "I only see three hands" (5 are needed but we probably had 15 or more) and pushed the vote on the bill.

But it is absolutely astounding that legislators can vote for others not in the room.

No wonders TN Dems blocked meaningful ethics reform this year.

Bill Hobbs observes:

Naifeh is a blight on the people of Tennessee.

Hat tip to David Waldrip, who emails:

This is embarrassing to anyone with a sense of truth, justice, and fair play. Believe me, I am embarrassed tonight for our state, as will be many of you. With this kind of behaviour going on in the open, I have to think that the end of the reign of the abusive Democrats is somewhere on the horizon.

We have an opportunity to change this with primary elections on Aug. 3 and general elections on Nov. 7th, and it is going to take effort by each one of us. Effort to spread the word to our friends and educate enough voters in key districts to make a difference.

Of course, since more people voted in the last American Idol contest than voted in the Presidential election of 2004, we may just continue to get what we deserve. I thought we deserved better. The foks lying in the National cemeteries sure thought so.

I couldn't have put it better.

Technorati Tags: Jimmie Naifeh, Tennessee Politics, Democrat Culture of Corruption.

Who Are the "Naifeh Nine"?

In January of 2005, nine Republicans abandoned their party and voted for Democrat tyrant Jimmie Naifeh for House Speaker. These have since come to be known as the infamous "Naifeh Nine". For the record they are:

• Michael Harrison of Treadway
• Russell Johnson, Loudon
• Joe McCord, Maryville
• Steve McDaniel, Parkers Crossroads
• Bob McKee, Athens
• Richard Montgomery, Seymour
• Chris Newton, Benton
• Doug Overbey, Maryville
• Dennis Roach, Rutledge

Technorati Tags: Naifeh Nine, Michael Harrison, Russell Johnson, Joe McCord, Steve McDaniel, Bob McKee, Richard Montgomery, Chris Newton, Doug Overbey, Dennis Roach.

Rep. Brian Kelsey

Tennessee State Representative Brian Kelsey (R-Dist.83, Germantown/Memphis) spoke to the Shelby County chapter of the Tennessee Firearms Association tonight.

The most interesting thing about talking to Republican state reps is reading between the lines of what they say about their experiences. If you pay attention you soon get a picture of how things work: if you don't make Speaker Naifeh mad then you may get your legislation passed, but if you cross him he will make certain that your legislation never sees the light of day on the House floor.

Naifeh is a petty tyrant with no regard for rules or procedures and he seems to abuse his position whenever the whim strikes him. For example, read this post by South End Grounds. Or this post by Rep. Campfield or this post by Bill Hobbs.

Now back to Rep. Kelsey, who (among other things) was trying to fix an antiquated law. According to Kelsey, anyone who goes to Starbucks and connects to the supplied wireless network is breaking the law in Tennessee — a law passed well before the explosive growth of wireless networks.

Kelsey introduced a bill that basically says that any network that has been left open for anonymous use is fair game. The bill was passed out of the subcommittee, and then out of the full Judiciary committee. The next stop for every bill is the Calendar and Rules Committee where they are usually rubber stamped to scheduled for the House floor.

Let me mention here that Rep. Kelsey is not one of those "whatever you wish, Master Naifeh" type of RINOs like the Naifeh Nine that voted for Naifeh for Speaker. So it is should come as no surprise that Kelsey has crossed Naifeh from time to time.

Back to the Calendar and Rules Committee, a committee of 21 Democrats and 4 Republicans — two of whom are members of the Naifeh Nine. [Does that seem fair for a House with 53 Democrats and 46 Republicans?]

Rep. Kelsey begins explaining his bill and Speaker Naifeh rudely interrupted (ignoring parlimentary procedure) and mandated that it be sent back to committee. [Note: travesties like this can be seen on the live internet feed.]

Yet another example of Naifeh's tyranny.

Technorati Tags: Naifeh, Jimmie Naifeh, Brian Kelsey, Representative Kelsey, Tennessee, Tennessee Politics.

Dr. Cannon Challenges Jimmy "Taxman" Naifeh

One of the most powerful men in Tennessee is Jimmy Naifeh, Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives.

He is also one of the most hated and his star is dimming. Fast.

Last election cycle Naifeh tried to institute an income tax in Tennessee. He pulled out every stop, applied incredible pressure to everyone who opposed him, and used every item in his political bag of tricks. It was politics at its dirtiest and Jimmy came within an hair's breadth of winning.

But Naifeh didn't win and he used a lot of political capital trying. He also alienated a lot of voters.

Naifeh rules over district 81 -- a distorted district that twists across two counties as a result of Naifeh's gerrymandering. But even this cannot save him. Naifeh very nearly lost his seat during the last election cycle to Col. Tony Lopez. Who was a late starter. Who was a write-in candidate; a virtual unknown with very little funding.

Naifeh got scared.

Dr. Jesse Cannon (pictured at right) is a political unknown, but he has practiced medicine in district 81 for over two decades. A lot of people know him, and those that do also respect him. And he has been campaigning for over a year the old fashioned way -- meeting people, shaking hands, looking people in the eye and talking to them. His base is growing.

I had the privilege of hearing Dr. Cannon speak last week at the Shelby County Tennessee Firearms Association meeting. He never dodged a hard question and answered every question fully. He has an impressive resume. He is passionate and a true conservative. And he is challenging Jimmy the Taxman for his seat.

Jimmy Naifeh is rumored to have close to $800,000 in his campaign war chest and is going to spend every penny to keep his seat. Dr. Cannon doesn't have a tenth of that in his campaign budget but that doesn't really bother him. He doesn't think throwing large wads of cash around just because you have it is a good idea. He says that "you can only spend so much money wisely."

Now that's a man I can trust with my tax dollars.

In spite of all the protestations of our politicians, the income tax issue is not dead. A defeat for Jimmy Naifeh will send a clear signal to every tax and spend politician not only across this state, but across the entire nation -- the taxpayers are mad as hell and aren't going to take it any more!

Dr. Cannon needs more funds to win this fight (he hasn't hit that "waste" threshold yet). If you hate the idea of an income tax in Tennessee, send Dr. Cannon a contribution.

I spoke with Dr. Cannon after the meeting (as did many of the members of the audience -- he didn't rush out after giving his speech). Dr. Cannon was genuinely friendly, sincere, and personable. I enjoyed talking to him. If he treats his patients the way he treated us, then I'd really like to have him as my family physician. I am certain he will make a good representative in Nashville.

Really. Get your checkbook, make out a check to The Dr. Jesse Cannon Campaign and send it to:
     Dr. Jesse Cannon Campaign
     P.O. Box 1049
     Munford, TN 38058
along with this form.

Naifeh Has Prostate Cancer

Naifeh announced he will run for re-election next year and undergo surgery for prostate cancer next week. The cancer was discovered early and the prognosis is good.

As House speaker, Naifeh is among the top three or four officials in state government. He has served in the legislature since 1974, rose through the ranks and has been speaker since 1991, tying former governor Ned McWherter as the longest-serving House speaker in Tennessee history.

Naifeh is not expected to have a major opponent in next August's Democratic primary, but already has a Republican challenger in the general election just over a year away: Dr. Jesse Cannon, a Covington physician and businessman.

Naifeh's House District 81 includes most of Tipton County and all of Haywood County. Although he is usually a GOP electoral target, efforts to unseat him heightened after he emerged two years ago as a leading advocate of tax reform centered around a state income. But he defeated Republican challenger Antonio Lopez, a retired Air Force officer, last November with 52.8 percent of the vote.

As Mike of Half-Bakered notes:

No mention of the gerry-mandering Naifeh engineered to make sure his increasingly Republican Tipton County was supplemented by the still Democratic Haywood County so that he could keep his seat. Without Haywood, Naifeh would have lost; election results proved it. Nor is credit given to Lopez, who entered the race at literally the last minute and ran a write in campaign against the State's most powerful and feared legislator. Cannon emerged later as a "standard" candidate and has been constantly and carefully building a network for his run. It should prove interesting and you can bet I'll be covering it.