Gubernatorial Candidate Bill Lee Introduces Legislative ‘Contract with Tennesseans’ He Calls ‘Ten for Tenn’

Bill Lee

Drawing on his experience in business, Republican candidate for governor Bill Lee announced his “contract with Tennesseeans” called Ten for Tenn that highlights the key items Lee plans to focus on and enact as the Volunteer State’s 50th governor. “As a CEO, it is important to set the vision for my company, and I believe it is just as important to set the vision for the state as governor,” Lee in a statement. “‘Ten for Tenn’ is my contract with Tennesseans, and I look forward to working to enact my conservative vision for Tennessee.” The plan lists ten general agenda items that range from rethinking public education and ‘getting tough’ on the state budget, to pursuing term limits and creating a new Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. The Lee campaign posted the details online, and are listed here: Foster an Environment Where Jobs Continue to Grow Rethink Public Education with Major Vocational Reforms, Real School Choice, and Civics Education Stand up for Rural Tennessee by Expanding Economic Opportunity and Winning the War On Opioids Get Tough on the State Budget by Making Government Smaller and More Efficient Ensure New Voices in Nashville by Passing Term Limits and the Challenging the…

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‘La Raza’ Randy Boyd’s Beneficiary, Conexion Americas, Supports ‘NoMuslimBanEver’ and ‘NoBanNoWall’

Randy Boyd

The same day the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed President Trump’s executive authority to restrict entry into the U.S. from designated countries, “La Raza Randy” Boyd’s collaborator Renata Soto, founder and director of Conexion Americas spoke to a group organized by Tennessee’s American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC), rallying against the court’s decision and in support of the “NoMuslimBanEver”-“NoBanNoWall” campaign: …while we are at a really low point and a sad, sad day for this country’s history I know that we are more powerful than one directive from the courts. And if each of us help one person register to vote for all of us who have migrated from other countries and took the step to become a U.S. citizen, if we find one or two people who are already registered  or are actually eligible to become U.S. citizens and we encourage them to take that step and we encourage them to make sure that they claim their place in this country not only because it feels good, but also because we need to expand and amplify our voice and we do that through political power and through votes… I know with the young and beautiful people and diverse voices gathered here…

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Black Campaign Hits Lee in a Pair of New Attack Ads

Diane Black political ad feat Bill Lee

In yet another indication that the Republican Primary for Governor has tightened, with a surge by Bill Lee in Middle Tennessee threatening Diane Black in her own 6th Congressional District, the Black campaign has begun airing two new attack ads targeting Lee in the last 24 hours. Black aired an ad targeting both Lee and Randy Boyd as “Two Moderates” just last week. She added a second ad that focused solely on Boyd as being “anti-hunter” while touting Black’s endorsement by the NRA. In fact, the ad is titled “Anti-hunter” to make the point clear. Now Black has launched two new ads that hit Lee hard. The first is similar to the “Two Moderates” ad but focuses more on Lee than Boyd. The second “Two Moderates” Black ad transcript reads as follows: Steve Schmidt, former Republican campaign manager: [Trump is] An imbecilic former reality tv show host and con man. George Will, columnist: “He [Trump] would flunk a sixth grade civics exam. Announcer: Don’t you hate it when Republicans undermine President Trump? Randy Boyd disavowed Trump, and Bill Lee’s the kind of Republican who helps Democrats get elected. Bill Lee pushed for liberal Mayor Megan Barry. Bill Lee’s candidate pushed…

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Commentary: The Perfidious Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney & Orrin Hatch

by George Rasley   That didn’t take long. As soon as President Trump endorsed Mitt Romney’s candidacy to succeed Utah’s retiring Senator Orin Hatch and voters in the Beehive State handed the nomination to Romney (even though he actually lost the GOP State Convention vote) Mitt showed his true colors by back-stabbing Trump. Romney told MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt, in an interview that aired Sunday evening, that it is “too early” to say he will support President Trump in 2020, and just to make things perfectly clear, he said his prior prediction that Trump will get re-elected was not an endorsement. “I also think Gavin Newsom will get elected [as governor] in California. That’s not something I want to see, it’s just something that’s probably going to happen,” Romney added. Romney was also prompted to speak about whether he wants a Republican to challenge Trump in a 2020 primary. “There will be people who decide, I presume, to get in a Republican primary,” he said in reply to a question from Ms. Hunt reported by our friend Daniel Chaitin of the Washington Examiner. But Romney’s perfidy was well-telegraphed before he appeared on Far Left network MSNBC. In a Salt Lake Tribune op-ed headlined, “Where I stand…

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DENIED: Judge In The Bundy Trial Spikes Prosecutors’ Plea For One Last Shot At A Conviction

Cliven Bundy

by Tim Pierce   A federal judge rejected prosecutors’ request Tuesday to reconsider her dismissal of the case against Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, his two sons and friend Ryan Payne. U.S. District Judge Gloria M. Navarro dismissed conspiracy charges against the four men on Jan. 8 after finding that prosecutors had acted “with prejudice” throughout the trial, The Oregonian reported. Federal prosecutors violated federal law and failed to share evidence favorable to the defendants case with the court. “The Court’s finding of outrageous government conduct was not in error,” Navarro wrote in her 11-page ruling (see below), obtained by The Oregonian. “On the contrary, a universal sense of justice was violated by the Government’s failure to provide evidence that is potentially exculpatory.” The prosecutors’ request did not make any new arguments or bring forth any evidence that Navarro had not already considered in her decision to dismiss the case. “The Court gave somber consideration to the ramifications of its Order and found that it was in the interest of justice to dismiss the case with prejudice,” Navarro wrote. “A motion for reconsideration should not be ‘used to ask the Court to rethink what it has already thought.’” Prosecutors requested the court grant another trial…

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Instances of Voter Fraud Continue to Mount, Further Compromising Our Elections

by Jason Snead and Taylor Chaffetz   Recent voter fraud cases show the growing importance of upholding election integrity. Last year, Cassandra Amber Marie Ritter was convicted of heroin distribution in Winchester, Virginia. Two weeks later, Ritter voted at a local fire department even though she knew she had lost her right to vote as a consequence of her conviction. She received a two-year suspended sentence. In Texas, Crystal Mason recently received a five-year sentence for illegally voting in the 2016 presidential election. Mason showed up at the polls to vote, only to discover her name had been removed from the rolls. This was no accident; Mason was on probation following a 60-month sentence for felony tax fraud and lost her right to vote as a result. [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] Texas law requires felons to serve their entire sentence—including probation—before their voting rights are restored. Though Mason claimed she was unaware of this, she did sign an affidavit at the polls that affirmed her eligibility, including a statement that she was not a felon who had yet to serve both her…

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Far Left Democrats Launch Bigoted Religious Attacks on SCOTUS Candidate Amy Coney Barrett for Her Catholic Faith

Amy Coney Barrett

Our fellow Tennessean, David French, points out at National Review that progressives and far left Democrats are deploying “Religious Ignorance and Bigotry” to attack potential Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, a graduate of Tennessee’s Rhodes College, for her Catholic faith. “If you ever need much evidence that the growing “God gap” in American politics fosters an immense amount of ignorance and occasionally outright bigotry, look no farther than the concern — the alarm, even — that Amy Coney Barrett is on President Trump’s short list to replace Anthony Kennedy on the United States Supreme Court,” French wrote on Monday: The alarm isn’t about her credentials. She’s checked every box of excellence — law review, appellate-court clerkship, Supreme Court clerkship (with Justice Scalia), elite law-firm experience, law professor at an elite law school, and now experience as a federal judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. She’s a young, brilliant woman at the apex of her profession. So, beyond her obvious originalist judicial philosophy (shared to varying degrees by every person on Trump’s list of potential nominees), what’s the problem with Judge Barrett. Why do some progressives single her out for particular scorn? It turns out that she’s a faithful Christian…

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Steve Gill: Indiana Church Misguided for ‘Detainment’ of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in Protest of Trump Border Policy

Steve Gill

Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill, on Wednesday’s Gill Report broadcast live on WETR 92.3 FM in Knoxville, discussed the Biblical protest by an Indianapolis church and its misguided interpretation of the holy family as immigrants. “An Indianapolis church is putting Jesus, Mary and Joseph in a cage, to protest president Trump’s zero tolerance policy cracking down on illegal immigration,” stated Steve Gill; adding, “Apparently the church is incapable of understanding the term ‘illegal,’ you know, ‘criminal behavior.’ Apparently, we shouldn’t put people in prisons if they break the law.” He continued: I wonder if somebody broke into the church and stole all the church items and stole the money in the church whether they would prosecute or just turn the other cheek and say we shouldn’t jail anybody because it might separate them from their families. Anyway, Christ Church Cathedral constructed a cage made of chain link fence on its lawn overnight and placed statues of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph inside to represent Christ and the holy family being detained by immigration authorities. The church tweeted out yesterday morning, ‘On our lawn tonight, we place the holy family in an ICE detention.’ Steve Carlson, the church’s rector and dean,…

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Kethledge Rising, As SCOTUS Infighting Reaches Fever Pitch

Kethledge

by Kevin Daley and Saagar Enjeti   Judge Raymond Kethledge’s interview with President Donald Trump has placed him in serious contention to succeed Justice Anthony Kennedy on the U.S. Supreme Court, multiple sources tell The Daily Caller News Foundation. Sources with knowledge of the process told TheDCNF that Kethledge had a strong interview with the president, and remains under very serious consideration. Other knowledgeable sources say Judge Amy Barrett’s interview with Trump was satisfactory and that she remains viable for a Supreme Court appointment, either now or in the future. The strength of Kethledge’s meeting, however, seems to have scrambled the field. Bloomberg also reported that Trump was impressed with Kethledge. The fluidity of the process has prompted an intense shadow campaign, as surrogates lobby and spin aggressively for their preferred candidate. Conservative legal Washington has splintered into competing camps, all of whom are racing to gain Trump’s ear. The situation resembles Chief Justice John Roberts’ appointment to the Supreme Court, in which professional conservatives splintered between frontrunners J. Harvie Wilkinson and Michael Luttig, as Jan Crawford’s 2007 account of Bush-era confirmations reported. Sources familiar with the president’s thinking say he has seen a deluge of pressure from all camps but maintains an…

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New GOP Primary Poll Shows Tight Governor’s Race As Early Voting Begins Next Week

Randy Boyd, Diane Black, Bill Lee

An Arizona-based polling company, Data Orbital, has released poll results in the Tennessee Governor’s race that show a deadlocked race between Diane Black and Randy Boyd, with Bill Lee lurking not far behind. The Data Orbital Poll was conducted from June 27 to 30 and polled 700 likely GOP voters. According to the Data Orbital survey Black currently has 24.3 percent, Boyd 23.1 percent, Lee 18.8 percent, Harwell 10 percent, and 23 percent undecided. The Tennessee Star Poll, released last week, had slightly different results, with Boyd in the lead with 32.6 percent, followed by Black with 26.9 percent, Lee with 20.3 percent and Harwell was at 6.9 percent. The Tennessee Star Poll was conducted by Triton Research and Polling, which polled 1040 likely GOP Primary voters between June 26 and June 29, approximately 50% more than polled by Data Orbital. It also appears that the Data Orbital poll may have over-surveyed Middle Tennessee while under surveying voters in East and West Tennessee, where Boyd enjoys greater support. Data Orbital did not make the geographic cross-tabs of its poll available. Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill notes that the Tennessee Star Poll is consistent with numbers produced by at last two…

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