Nashville-based National Council of La Raza affiliate partner, Conexion Americas, the beneficiary of a $250,000 donation from Randy Boyd and his wife Jenny, wants Governor Haslam to veto the anti-sanctuary city bill so that criminal illegal aliens can return to Tennessee communities instead of being handed off to federal immigration authorities.
The founder and director of Boyd’s quarter-million dollar beneficiary, has put out a call to ask the Governor to veto the legislation.
In 2015, the year before Boyd made his $250,000 donation, Renata Soto, co- founder and executive director of Conexion Americas, who had served for three years as vice-president of the National Council of La Raza Board, was elected to president of La Raza’s board, a position she still occupies.
In July 2017, the George Soros-funded National Council of LaRaza changed its name to UnidosUS.
Boyd’s support for Soto’s organization which serves legal immigrants and illegal aliens and Soto’s leadership with La Raza, has earned Boyd the nickname “La Raza Randy.”
During an early radio interview, Boyd inferred that he is okay with illegal aliens using the Conexion Americas culinary incubator renamed “Conexion Americas Mesa Komal Kitchen & The Randy and Jenny Boyd Culinary Incubator” after his donation, to start businesses when he compared it to policing dog parks:
We in Knox County can’t be policing our dog parks and make sure that only the people we think should use them use them.
Several months before Boyd’s “historic investment” the largest donation in Conexion since its founding, Boyd launched his education non-profit Complete Tennessee with Soto as a Board member.
Among the GOP gubernatorial candidates Boyd has consistently been the last one to denounce sanctuary city policies.
Last year, almost immediately after the Metro Nashville Council voted on second reading to pass a sanctuary city ordinance,  Diane Black, and Bill Lee, issued strong rebukes to the city’s move to violate federal and state law. Beth Harwell sought help from the Attorney General.
The Randy Boyd campaign, despite being asked directly by The Tennessee Star for a comment regarding the proposed Nashville ordinance, did not respond. Days later, Boyd’s campaign issued a statement opposing illegal immigration and sanctuary cities. Boyd also urged residents of Davidson County to tell their Metro Council members to oppose the proposed sanctuary city ordinace.
The same pattern among the GOP gubernatorial candidates responding to HB2315, the anti-sanctuary city legislation waiting for Governor Haslam’s signature has been repeated.
Both Diane Black and Bill Lee issued statements just days after the bill was passed. Black called on the Governor to sign the bill and Lee said if he were governor he would sign it. Beth Harwell had voted to pass the bill and signed it for transmission to Haslam.
Again, Boyd was behind the pack. His campaign failed to issue a statement until a week after the other candidates. And when a statement was issued, it quoted Boyd campaign spokesman Chip Saltsman, not Boyd himself.
The Boyd campaign’s carefully worded statement avoids any opinion or preference as to whether he would like to see the bill signed by Haslam. The timing of Boyd’s statement and its wording suggests either that Boyd waited to comment until after consultation with the Governor’s office or will be a way to avoid conflict with assisting organizations that support illegal aliens in Tennessee.
According to his web site, this is not true:
https://randyboyd.com/sanctuary-cities/
Randy Boyd is an open borders fanatic and amnesty shill. His campaign is not unlike the Nashville Transit Referendum–an Establishment fraud with an assist from Soros. As the public learns he supports sanctuary cities and his massive advertising campaign is based on abject lies, he will be crushed like the Transit referendum.
[…] Unlike the other GOP gubernatorial candidates, the Boyd campaign has avoided stating any opinion or preference as to whether Haslam should sign the bill. A carefully worded statement from Boyd’s spokesman issued a week after the other candidates, sounds more like a way to avoid conflict with his $250,000 beneficiary Conexion Americas and his Complete Tennessee board member. […]
I heard from an influential business leader in the state last week who was all onboard the Boyd train for work he did regarding coal.
Having said that, however efficient Boyd was in his prior capacity, his early, often and expensive advertising campaign seems like a Chamber of Commerce stalking horse to jump out ahead of all the issues that would come.
No grassroots but business people trying to define their guy first. Zero grassroots support for an insider. Not many people have a quarter milly in their other pants to encourage more illegals to come here.
BTW, I am still watching dozens of illegals walking to the Vanderbilt construction project this morning. On such a hot day, some ICE could cool things down in our Totally Not A Sanctuary City.
Whoa not so fast. Such short memories. Beth Harwell appointed Renata Soto to the TN Judicial Evaluation Commission. And in 2013 when the make up of that Commission’s legitimacy was challenged for violating a statutory demographic mandate, in the effort to expose the unconstitutionality of TN’s retention election statute, it resulted in the Davidson County Grand Jury recommendation for a civil violation against Harwell be brought; despite a clear reason to support that challenge, Soto quietly sold women out claiming it was just a political ploy to get rid of her liberal Judge friends. We still have her liberal friends on the Court and they appointed the (insert your assessment here) Attorney General Herbert Slatery the AG who effectively decides political policy for our State.
Tennessee has enough criminals – We don not need any more! Keep the illegals out.
Life is complicated enough – for conservatives the gubernatorial race is simple. Randy! Boyd, who’s WRONG vs. the Trifecta of Mediocrity. Mediocrity is better than “WRONG” so it’s ANYBODY BUT BOYD!
Again, the choice comes down to the lesser of two evils. Either way you vote you’re still voting for evil.