Republican candidates for Tennessee governor will speak at this year’s Reagan Day Dinner sponsored by the Rutherford County GOP.
The lineup for the May 25 event will include seven “announced and expected Republican gubernatorial candidates,” according to promotional material.
They include businessmen Randy Boyd and Bill Lee, Congresswoman Diane Black, State Senators Mark Green (R-Clarksville), Mark Norris (R-Collierville) and Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet), and Speaker of the State House of Representatives Beth Harwell (R-Nashville).
Only Boyd and Lee have announced to date.
Part of the mission of local chapters of the Republican Party is to inform voters about candidates running for office, said Donna Barrett, chair of the Rutherford County GOP.
“What better way than to have the candidates present at functions where we can personally hear where they stand on issues?” Barrett told The Tennessee Star.
On the most important state issues in 2017, the gas tax increase included in the IMPROVE Act passed by the Tennessee General Assembly and signed by Gov. Haslam, the seven announced and expected Republican gubernatorial candidates hold positions that range from support to opposition to no comment so far.
State Senator Mark Norris and Speaker of the House Beth Harwell voted yes in favor of the gas tax increase. Randy Boyd publicly stated his support for the gas tax increase.
State Senator Mark Green and State Senator Mae Beavers voted no on the gas tax increase.
Bill Lee made no public statement concerning his position on the gas tax increase prior to its passage. On the day he announced his candidacy in April he “said he might have handled it differently, but noted that the IMPROVE Act also included tax cuts and said the bill is ‘water under the bridge now.’ When pressed, he said that because he wasn’t privy to all the legislative discussions surrounding the bill, he didn’t want to comment further,” as The Star reported at the time.
Congresswoman Black has made no statement concerning the gas tax increase.
Ticket sales for the May 25 Reagan Day Dinner have been good so far, but there are still some available, Barrett said.
The event will be held at 7 p.m. May 25 at the Stones River Country Club. Dinner tickets are $125 with table sponsorships and reception tickets also available.
A very unofficial poll conducted in Rutherford County has different numbers than yours:
Property Assessor Rob Mitchell leads every Republican in this poll.
http://freeonlinesurveys.com/p/qivyEtu0?qid=941092
And yet no one pays attention. Seems to me that is what got us here in the fist place.