Day: February 24, 2018

Metro Councilman Steve Glover to Introduce Legislation to Plug Hole on Ethics Accountability

Chris Alto
Steve Glover

District 12 Metro Councilman Steve Glover plans to introduce legislation next week so that ethics guidelines like those written in Mayor Barry’s Executive Order 005, apply to elected officials: Given this new revelation, I will be introducing legislation next week to make sure that the rules and ethics will apply to elected officials and that we do not get a separate set of standards. Glover’s proposed legislation is in response to the review by former Metro lawyers Saul Solomon, Kevin C. Klein and Allison Bussell whose firm Klein Bussell was retained by the Metro Legal Department to evaluate an ethics complaint filed against the Mayor one week after she admitted to her extramarital affair. Klein Bussell’s review of the ethics complaint concluded in part, that the Metro Board of Ethical Conduct, “lacks jurisdiction to examine alleged violations of Metropolitan Government executive orders.” The Star asked Councilman Glover what purpose is served by Executive Order 005 if no one can be held accountable to its contents; his response was prompt and candid: In light of what has been revealed by this independent legal finding, it saddens me even greater than in days past. If Mayor Barry’s Executive Order has no reach, then it’s…

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Big Crowd at Williamson County GOP Gubernatorial Forum

Tennessee Star Staff

FRANKLIN, Tennessee–An overflow crowd of more than three hundred Republicans attended the annual Williamson County Reagan Day Dinner at the Marriott in Cool Springs on Friday night. The evening featured a gubernatorial forum in which the four leading Republican candidates for governor–Knoxville businessman Randy Boyd, Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-06), Williamson County businessman Bill Lee, and Tennessee Speaker of the House Beth Harwell (R-Nashville)–all participated. In addition, U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) and 7th Congressional District candidate State Senator Mark Green (R-Clarksville) both spoke, and two Williamson County Republicans, retiring State Rep. Charles Sargent (R-Franklin), and Williamson County Republican Committee Vice Chairman Stephen Siao, were honored. Sargent was presented a lifetime achievement award for his tenure in the State House, marked by his leadership role in maintaining and improving the state’s sound credit rating, by three members of the Tennessee General Assembly delegation who represent Williamson County, State Senator Jack Johnson (R-Franklin), State Rep. Glen Casada (R-Franklin), and State Rep. Sam Whitson (R-Franklin). Siao received the Republican of the Year award for his tireless work behind the scenes to assist first time political candidates and help in party activities. Nationally syndicated talk radio host and Williamson County resident Phil…

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Newspaper: Tennessee Comptroller Joins Mayor Megan Barry Investigation

Jason M. Reynolds

State auditors are investigating Nashville Mayor Megan Barry’s affair with her chief bodyguard, a media outlet reports. The Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury is working with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation on looking into Barry’s and Sgt. Rob Forrest’s affair, according to a story published by The Tennessean. The newspaper did not disclose its sources. The office investigates potential instances of misconduct by public officials and government bodies. If true, the comptroller’s involvement would make it at least the fourth government agency to investigate the years-long affair, the newspaper reports. One other investigating agency includes a special Metro Council committee, the likes of which has not been seen since 1974 during a land rezoning bribery scandal involving former council members. Comptroller’s office spokesman John Dunn told The Tennessean “alleged or suspected misuse of public dollars is something that the Comptroller’s office has the authority to investigate” but did not give additional comment. Barry’s lawyer, Jerry Martin, has asked that District Attorney Glenn Funk recuse himself from the investigation, citing an alleged conflict of interest. In other news, NewsChannel 5 reported that a white SUV Forrest used to drive Barry around made numerous early morning visits to Nashville City Cemetery. The…

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Donald Trump Pushes for Arming School Employees in Speech at CPAC

Tennessee Star Staff

President Trump said Friday that gun-free school zones don’t protect students, as he renewed his call to arm more qualified teachers and other school employees. “When we declare our schools to be gun-free zones, it just puts our students in far more danger,” Mr. Trump said at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. “Well-trained gun-adept teachers and coaches and people that work in those buildings who were in the Marines for 20 years … should be able to carry concealed firearms. It’s time to make our schools a much harder target for attackers.”

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Fielding Rolston Commentary: Legislators: Protecting Our Students and Teachers

Admin

By Fielding Rolston   When students step into their classrooms, they are there to learn and prepare for their future. Our teachers serve to advance each student’s education and guide them towards success. Educators have an additional responsibility: maintaining the trust and respect of their students and their communities by conducting themselves professionally and responsibly. The vast majority of our teachers are upstanding professionals, but when a teacher violates this trust, their professional license in Tennessee may be suspended or revoked. Though a small agency in the state government, the State Board of Education develops the rules and policies for K-12 education in Tennessee, and serves a crucial role through the thorough examination of licensure discipline cases. By holding our state’s educators to the highest standards, we can ensure the safety of our children and preserve the professional integrity of the teaching profession. For the last twenty-two years, I have served on Tennessee’s State Board of Education and for twelve of those years, I was the Board’s chairman. During this time, I have seen hundreds of educator licensure discipline cases, and most were not severe. However, we have seen teachers abuse their roles, exhibiting inappropriate and sometimes criminal behavior towards…

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Multiple Governments Are Targeting Clintons’ Biggest Charitable Frauds

Tennessee Star Staff

Those who believe a certain Arkansas-based political family “always gets away with it” should know that the race to indict, prosecute, and convict multiple actors leading the sprawling, international Clinton Foundation fraud conspiracy is on. Though long overdue, this seems eminently fair since prominent persons who operated porous and loosely controlled false-front philanthropies a tiny fraction the size of the known Clinton “charities,” including former Rep. (D-Fla.), were sentenced to federal prison for lengthy terms.

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Ingraham Tells CPAC Crowd to Fight for the Trump Agenda

Tennessee Star Staff

Laura Ingraham said Friday morning the fight for the Trump agenda and against the bureaucracy is not over — and conservatives have to “agitate, agitate, agitate.” Ingraham, the Fox News host of “The Ingraham Angle” and co-founder of LifeZette, delighted a crowd of thousands with her rallying speech, given at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, held this year at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C.

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Off the Record: Unscrupulous Mayor Says She’s the Real Victim in the Adultery Scandal

Chris Alto

Holy hold the presses Batman – we’ve got it all wrong!!! It’s not the citizens of Nashville whose money was used so the Mayor could have sex with her bodyguard who are victimized by the Mayor’s adultery. It’s not Sgt. Forrest’s wife and kids who’ve been humiliated by the Mayor who was huggin’ on Sgt. Forrest at the same time she was hugging his wife and his father-in-law while visiting the family’s patriarch in the hospital. It’s not even her husband Bruce who the Mayor lied to for two years while she was doin’ the dirty with Sgt. Forrest who she publicly made a cuckold. Now that we know about the nude photos, the Mayor says she’s the victim! And about those “nudies” – that is, if they are of her, she’s “furious” about the invasion of her privacy!!! It is, however, kind of confusing how the relationship she described as – consensual between two middle-aged adults who had feelings for each other- and what they do during their “personal time” can ever be an invasion of her privacy. With all the convoluted and not believable statements coming out of the Mayor’s office – like the one about her early…

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State Sen. Bill Ketron Questions Why No Cases of Female Genital Mutilation Have Been Reported in Tennessee Since 2012

Chris Alto

State Senator Bill Ketron is questioning why no cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) have been reported since 2012, after his bill requiring healthcare providers to report suspected incidents of FGM to law enforcement officials, including the district attorney general’s office, became state law. Ketron sponsored the 2012 bill after the Hospital Association “slipped us the information” that at least twenty-one cases of FGM in Tennessee had been reported at that time. Tennessee criminalized FGM as a Class D felony in 1996, but as Ketron told The Star, “we had no mechanism for reporting under previous law which was a barrier to prosecution. So, that is what [his 2012] bill was about – to stop this act from occurring in our state.” Ketron’s response to the absence of reporting is a bill passed 9-0 by the Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Wednesday. This bill requires the District Attorney Generals to annually report the number of FGM cases reported to their offices to the Senate Judiciary and House Criminal Justice Committees. While presenting the bill to the Committee, Ketron questioned the absence of any reporting since 2012, given the fact that twenty-one cases of FGM had already been reported. He told the committee that his…

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