Phil Williams’ Use of Phone Call Recorded by ‘Someone in the Room’ Not a Party to the Call in NewsChannel 5 Report Raises Questions About His Journalistic Credibility

Phil Williams, Todd Warner, Tori Venable

Matthew Giffin, a reporter for The Tennessee Star, and Michael Patrick Leahy, editor-in-chief and CEO of The Star, questioned the legality of News Channel 5’s airing of a so-called secret recording of a call between Tennessee State Representative Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill) and Americans for Prosperity – Tennessee (AFP-TN) State Director Tori Venable.

On Monday, the news outlet ran investigative reporter Phil Williams’ 8-minute anti-school choice hit piece focused on AFP-TN’s push for state lawmakers to advance the governor’s bill.

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WTN’s Matt Murphy Calls Out State Rep. Todd Warner for Claim He Did Not Record or Know Who Recorded Phone Conversation with AFP’s Tori Venable Broadcast in NewsChannel5 Report by Phil Williams

Mark Warner and Tori Venable

Tuesday afternoon on the Matt Murphy Show, broadcast weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on SuperTalk 99.7 WTN, host Murphy interviewed Tori Venable, executive director of Americans for Prosperity-Tennessee, about AFP’s support for Governor Bill Lee’s universal school choice bill currently under consideration in The Tennessee General Assembly. During the interview, Venable criticized the reporting of Phil Williams in Monday evening’s broadcast on NewsChannel 5, which featured an interview with State Representative Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill), as well as a recording of a phone call between Williams and Venable that was obtained without Venable’s consent.

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AFP-TN State Director Scorches Opponents of Gov. Lee’s School Choice Proposal: Keeping Kids in Failing Schools is ‘Morally Reprehensible’

Michael Patrick Leahy and AFP-TN Tori Venable

Americans for Prosperity – Tennessee (AFP-TN) State Director Tori Venable sat down with the Editor-in-chief and CEO of The Tennessee Star Michael Patrick Leahy in the latest episode of the Tennessee Star Extra to discuss Governor Bill Lee’s legislative push for universal school choice.

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Conservative Group Pushes for More Transparency in Tennessee’s Upcoming Legislative Session

Americans For Prosperity is pushing for more transparency as Tennessee’s legislative session is set to begin.

That transparency request applies to everything from House committee votes on bills to posting bill amendments to government contracts to the process of school of choice statewide.

Tennessee State Director Tori Venable said Monday improvements in transparency can start with the rules for the session.

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Americans for Prosperity Calls Out Oracle for Reported Layoffs While Receiving Taxpayer Money

Following a report that tech company Oracle has begun laying off workers from its Nashville location, the libertarian conservative political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity is calling on state and local leaders to scrutinize the company especially after it received “nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in taxpayer money.”

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Tennessee Approves $884M in Funding, Creates Board for $6B Ford Project

The Tennessee Legislature finished its special session on Ford’s $5.6 billion electric truck project Wednesday by approving $884 million in spending and creating a Megasite Authority of West Tennessee board to oversee operations.

“This is the largest single economic investment in rural Tennessee’s history,” Gov. Bill Lee said. “… It is, most importantly, a win for western Tennessee’s workforce.”

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Americans for Prosperity – Tennessee Reacts to Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act Ruling

Reacting to the cancellation of the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act referendum, Americans for Prosperity – Tennessee (AFP-TN) State Director Tori Venable suggested one way members of the Tennessee General Assembly could react. “This ruling once again silences Nashville voters and taxpayers who continue to be saddled with harmful tax increases. Nashvillians are tired of Mayor Cooper and Metro’s spending addiction that put the city in jeopardy of a state takeover,” Venable said in an emailed press release.

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U.S. Rep. Mark Green on ‘End Washington Waste’ of Joe Biden’s $4 Trillion Infrastructure Plan at Americans For Prosperity Event in Nashville

Congressman Mark Green (R-TN-07) was the featured speaker along with Americans For Prosperity (AFP) President Tim Phillips at an “End Washington Waste” event hosted by AFP-Tennessee Monday evening.

The discussion focused on President Joe Biden’s $4 trillion infrastructure proposal, which was called out several times throughout the evening for being a “tax and spend” bill.

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Campaign to Pressure Davidson County Election Commission Is off, For Now

Some of the same people who collected the signatures for the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act are holding off on pressuring members of the Davidson County Election Commission.

As reported, The Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act referendum, if approved, would roll back Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s 34 to 37 percent tax increase. As reported last month, the Nashville Election Commission voted three to two to neither approve nor reject the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act. They instead passed the matter on to a chancery court to guide them on how to proceed, and also moved the “conditional” date of the election from December 5 to December 15.

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Mayor John Cooper Warns the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act Will Doom the City, but Taxpayer Advocates Fight Back

Nashville Mayor John Cooper warned this week that the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act, if enacted, will disable the city, but the group that fought for it said Cooper’s time and energies are best spent helping taxpayers.

As The Tennessee Star reported last month, the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act would roll back Cooper’s 34-37 percent tax increase and limit property tax rate increases to 2 percent every year without voters approving it.

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Initiative to Roll Back Nashville’s 34 Percent Property Tax Hike Receives Election Commission Verification, Heads Back to Clerk’s Office

Nashvillians now likely will have input on the city’s 34 to 37 percent property tax hike, a conservative activist said in reaction to the verification of a ballot initiative.

The Davidson County Election Commission on Monday verified the referendum effort for the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act, WSMV said. That could limit the property tax increase to 2 percent. The effort now goes to the Metro Clerk’s Office and potentially to the Dec. 5 ballot.

Tori Venable, state director of Americans for Prosperity-Tennessee (AFP-TN), lauded the initiative’s progress in a statement. 

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More Than 500 Exemptions Protect Companies Getting Secret Taxpayer-Funded Deals, AFP-Tennessee Says

FRANKLIN — There are companies in Tennessee have accepted government incentives. The taxpayers who had to pay for it aren’t allowed to know about most, if not all the details because of a series of exemptions, at least 538 at the state level. This, according to members of Americans For Prosperity – Tennessee, who hosted their 2019 Legislative Preview Thursday at their Franklin headquarters. AFP members showcased their priorities for the coming legislative session in Nashville. Transparency, according to literature AFP organizers released Thursday, “is for the government and privacy is for the people.” That’s why AFP members said they will support what is known as the Fairness Accountability and Clarity in Tax Subsidies Act. AFP members said this bill “will lift the veil on tax incentives” and provide much needed accountability and transparency. “We believe that if government passes out your tax dollars then you should be aware of it. They should be held accountable so that if a business says they’ll bring 5,000 jobs and they only bring 500 jobs then they will not actually get that full payout,” said AFP-Tennessee State Director Tori Venable. “We are an income tax-free state. We would like to see the tax…

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