Regular listeners to Nashville’s Morning News With Ralph Bristol on 99.7 FM WWTN may have noticed a new advertiser on Thursday–the Transportation Coalition of Tennessee.
The Coalition is a group of 39 lobbying groups that support Governor Haslam’s IMPROVE Act “Tax Cut Act of 2017,” the majority of which will directly benefit from the additional $10 billion in taxpayer-funded road projects.
Several of the lobbying groups, such as the Tennessee County Highway Officials Association, Association of County Mayors and Tennessee County Commissioners Association, are funded by membership dues paid for by taxpayers through county budgets.
Reports indicate that the ads are only being played on WWTN during Nashville’s Morning News with Ralph Bristol.
Bristol has been a proponent of the IMPROVE Act “Tax Cut Act of 2017” since its introduction and continued his support in the second hour of Thursday’s show with an 8-minute “rant,” as Ralph often refers to them. The full transcript can be found here.
In the third hour of the program, the one-minute advertising “spot” by the Coalition went like this:
“Governor Bill Haslam’s IMPROVE Act responsibly funds important road and bridge work in all of Tennessee’s 95 counties. The IMPROVE Act funds transportation infrastructure and at the same time gives a tax cut to all Tennesseans through a 20 percent tax cut on food. In fact, the IMPROVE Act contains the largest tax cut in the history of the state. The IMPROVE Act continues Tennessee’s long-held principle that maintaining our roads and bridges should be the responsibility of the people who use them. There are 962 critical road and bridge projects across Tennessee right now. It’s smart to support better roads, safe bridges and tax cuts. To find out more, visit the Transportation Coalition of Tennessee on-line at transportationcoalitiontn.org. That’s transportationcoalitiontn.org. Paid for by the Transportation Infrastructure Alliance. More information at transportationcoalitiontn.org.”
The “About Us” section of the Coalition’s website lists its founding organizations and initial members as:
Founding Organizations
Transportation Coalition of Tennessee
TN Infrastructure Alliance
AAA
Tennessee Public Transportation Association
Tennessee Trucking Association
Tennessee County Highway Officials Association
Tennessee Municipal League
American Council of Engineering Companies of Tennessee
Tennessee Road Builders Association
Initial Members
AARP
American Heart Association
APAA Tennessee Chapter
American Society of Civil Engineers
Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc.
The Associated General Contractors of East Tennessee
Association of County Mayors
Tennessee Association of Human Resource Agencies
Bike Walk Tennessee
Concrete Paving Association of Tennessee
The Corradino Group
Greater Nashville Regional Council
Home Builders Association of Tennessee
Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce
Middle Tennessee ASHE
Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry
Tennessee Concrete Association
Tennessee County Commissioners Association
Tennessee County Services Association
TN Disability Coalition
Tennessee Highway Users Conference
Tennessee Paper Council
Tennessee Public Health Association
Tennessee Society of Professional Engineers
Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee
Tennessee Development District Association
Southeast Tennessee Development District
The Associated General Contractors of America
Tennessee City Management Association
Walk Bike Nashville
It is clear that Mr. Bristol has thought about and determined he supports this increase in gas and diesel taxes in TN. I respect his decision to support the increase in taxes although it is also clear he is not convinced about the tax decrease side of this bill, or he ran out of paper or air time and could not address the fact that this bill is NOT a tax cut for citizens in TN. However, he is still free to be a proponent of the bill, just as I am free to consider other radio listening opportunities on my way to work in the AM.
Looks like Ralph wants it to cost everybody more while they listen to his show on their way to work…..so they can pay more taxes so Haslam can waste more money!
Having the Islamist and LBGT’s opposing you is a ringing endorsement for normal real Americans!