Day: June 7, 2017

Poll: Senator Bob Corker May Be In Trouble With Tennessee Republican Primary Voters

Tennessee Star Staff
Tenessee Star

  A new poll released by The Tennessee Star conducted of 1,007 likely Republican primary voters in Tennessee by Triton Polling and Research shows that Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) may have trouble winning the nomination of his own party in its August 2018 U.S. Senate primary. First elected to the United States Senate in 2006, the former mayor of Chattanooga is up for re-election to a third term in 2018. He has not yet said that he will seek re-election, but many political observers would be surprised if he opted not to run again. When asked “As of now, do you think Bob Corker deserves re-election or is it time to give someone else a chance? ” only 41.1 percent of likely Republican primary voters in Tennessee said he “deserves re-election.” An equal number, 41.6 percent, said “give someone else a chance.” There were not a great number who were undecided on this question–only 17.3 percent said “don’t know/not sure.” “An incumbent who falls below a 50 percent re-elect number should be wary, particularly when they have seen so much anti-incumbent turmoil in the electorate in recent years,” media consultant and political strategist Steve Gill tells The Tennessee Star. “But…

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Bill Lee Raises $1.3 Million At First Major Fundraiser For Campaign For Governor

Wendy Wilson

  Republican businessman Bill Lee raised $1.3 million at his first major fundraising event Tuesday for his campaign for governor. The event was held at singer Michael W. Smith’s barn in Franklin, according to a campaign press release. “We are extremely grateful to the voters in Tennessee who are inspired by Bill’s leadership and vision and are feeling compelled to invest in him,” said Stuart McWhorter, Lee’s campaign finance chairman.“We know that Bill’s message is resonating with people across Tennessee, and this is just the beginning of our efforts. I am excited to see what lies ahead for this campaign.” The Lee campaign also announced that Anna McDonald has joined the campaign as finance director. McDonald is a former finance director for the Tennessee Republican Party. With no prior experience in elected office, Lee has been dogged about getting his name out, meeting people and speaking on the issues. After officially declaring his candidacy April 24, he immediately began touring the state in his campaign RV. He was one of four announced and likely candidates who appeared at a Rutherford County GOP event May 25. A devout Christian who admires former president Ronald Reagan, Lee is casting himself as a conservative…

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New Poll Shows Bob Corker and Marsha Blackburn Statistically Tied in Potential Tennessee U.S. Senate GOP Primary Matchup

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star

  A poll released by The Tennessee Star of 1,007 likely Tennessee Republican primary voters shows that Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) is in a statistical tie with Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN 7) in a potential 2018 Republican primary matchup for the Tennessee U.S. Senate seat. When asked “If the election was held today, and the candidates were Bob Corker and Marsha Blackburn, who would you vote for U.S. Senator from Tennessee,” 41.4 percent of likely Tennessee Republican primary voters selected Corker while 38.6 percent selected Blackburn. The 2.8 percent differential between the two is within the poll’s 3.1 percent margin of error, thus making the race a statistical dead heat. The bad news for Corker is that Blackburn beats him in two of the Volunteer State’s three geographic regions. Among West Tennessee voters, Blackburn beats Corker soundly, 39 percent to 26 percent. Among Middle Tennessee voters, Blackburn beats Corker 43 percent to 38 percent. Only in his home region of East Tennessee does Corker beat Blackburn. There, he wins by a margin of 49 percent to 26 percent. Blackburn’s current district covers much of Middle Tennessee. Prior to redistricting after the 2010 election, however, the district stretched from Middle Tennessee…

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Christian Leaders Oppose New Policy In Illinois Mandating Foster Care Workers and Families Comply With LGBT Agenda

Wendy Wilson

Southern Baptist leader Al Mohler and other Christians are speaking out against a new government policy in Illinois that requires foster care workers and families to endorse LGBT ideology. Workers with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services could be fired if they don’t comply, according to the policy approved last month and found in Appendix K of the department’s procedures manual. The policy states that anyone involved with children served by the department “will complete mandatory training in LGBTQ competency.” Staff and foster parents should “understand that when children and youth (including DCFS children and youth) explore/express a sexual orientation other than heterosexual and/or a gender identity that is different from the child/youth’s sex assigned at birth, those children and youth are to be supported and respected without any effort to direct or guide them to any specific outcome for their exploration,” the policy says. Mohler, the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, said the policy excludes participation of orthodox Christians in Illinois’ foster care system, reports Baptist Press. Mohler made his comments on The Briefing, his daily podcast offering opinions on current events. “This development in Illinois also serves as a very brutal reminder…

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Trump’s Health Secretary Tom Price Promotes Plan for Reform In Nashville

Wendy Wilson

  Politicians in Washington, D.C., didn’t learn from the mistakes of TennCare when they approved Obamacare, but Congress today has an opportunity to create a “a patient-centered, community-driven health care system,” U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said in Nashville on Tuesday. Price, who was in town for the first-ever Health Summit organized by Healthy Tennessee, said President Trump backs reform. “The president cares deeply about this,” Price said. “He’s talked often with me about the conversations that he had on the campaign trail.” Price recounted how TennCare spiraled out of control in the 1990s with skyrocketing costs and reduced access to care and quality of care. But lessons were learned and Tennessee succeeded in restructuring the program to target those most in need, transforming it into one of the strongest state Medicaid programs in the country, Price said. But politicians considering former President Obama’s Affordable Care Act in 2009 didn’t analyze what initially went wrong with TennCare. “It turned those mistakes into a national program,” Price said. The House last month approved a measure to repeal and replace Obamacare and a bill is now before the Senate. Price is an orthopaedic surgeon who served as a state…

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Memphis Principal Resigns, Citing Grades Scandal and Chaos at Trezevant High School

Wendy Wilson
Tennessee Star

  The principal of a Memphis high school has resigned, saying he faced retaliation for drawing attention to a pattern of grades being changed, which has led to an investigation by an independent auditor of all high school records in the district. In a lengthy and revealing resignation letter dated June 1 and published by WREG News Channel 3, Ronnie Mackin said parents demanded that he be fired and that a district official told him he didn’t understand the students at Trezevant High School or the community because he is white. Trezevant is part of the Innovation Zone (iZone) program in Shelby County Schools designed to turn around troubled schools. Trezevant is one of the lowest-performing high schools in Tennessee. Mackin was brought on board at the start of the 2016-2017 school year to help get the school in shape. Mackin said in his resignation letter that he and others “discovered inaccuracies and inconsistencies in historical transcripts and report cards,” especially for football players, when he and his staff early in the school year were making sure seniors were on track to graduate. In September, the district announced that the football season was on hold because of an internal investigation into the…

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Hillary Clinton Defends Sadiq Khan After Trump Tweets: Not a Time to Use Terror ‘For Political Gain’

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star

Hillary Clinton on Monday praised London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s leadership following Saturday’s terrorist attack, telling a crowd in Baltimore that now is not the time to use terror “for political gain.” The failed Democratic presidential nominee issued the thinly veiled attack against President Trump, without naming him or his policies directly, while speaking in Fells Point…

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