Law enforcement officials arrested nearly 10 people involved in the United Auto Workers strike in Spring Hill Wednesday, apparently because they disregard police instructions.
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Maury County officials say their population boom can’t pay for all the new growth, at least not at first, and now they must decide if a sales tax or a property tax is the best way to get more money. As The Tennessee Star reported, County Mayor Andy Ogles said he’d veto any property tax increase to pay for new growth. Ogles says Maury is one of the fastest-growing counties in the state, if not the nation. He instead suggested a sales tax referendum next year. County Commissioner Don Morrow told The Star this week that it’s rare to see people vote themselves a tax increase. “However, I feel that the sales tax is fair because it spreads that tax out over everyone that spends money in the county, and it even helps our county with people who are spending money in our county from other counties,” Morrow said. “Currently we have a lot of people coming in to Columbia to shop and spend money on our square in various places.” But Morrow also said the growth cannot pay for itself. “If I can use the analogy of opening a business then you rent your building. You have to…
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Andy Ogles took office as Maury County’s new mayor Friday. He took the oath in front of a packed courtroom on the second floor of the county courthouse. Ogles takes over as the county grows dramatically. New growth brings new businesses. That brings new jobs. That brings more new residents. As the population surges the county will need new schools. Ogles told The Tennessee Star Friday he plans to attend to those priorities early on. “We’ve got a lot of growth coming our way, no doubt about it. Currently we have $181 million in debt,” Ogles said. “If you look at the schools, we will be required to build. The infrastructure we will have to put in place because of it could very easily hit $400 million over the next eight years. That minimizes the amount of dollars that we borrow. We will have to take a close look at the budget so we don’t have to raise taxes.” All the growth is an extension of what’s happening in Nashville, 46 miles to the north, putting Maury County in a great strategic position. The county also has a lower cost of living than Nashville, and that doesn’t hurt, Ogles said.…
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Former Americans for Prosperity State Director Andy Ogles was seen as a bit of a long shot when he was nominated by State Representative Shelia Butt (R-Columbia) to run as the Republican Party candidate for County Mayor in Maury County.
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Dr. Arthur Laffer, famed economist, has endorsed Andy Ogles for Mayor of Maury County.
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A new poll of voters planning to vote in Maury County in the August 2 election show Republican Andy Ogles leading among all voters in his general election campaign for County Mayor by ten points. The poll also shows conservative Republican businessman Bill Lee leading among Republican voters in the GOP primary race for Governor by twelve points over Congresswoman Diane Black among Republican voters. The poll, conducted by Right Way Marketing on behalf of Power of Liberty, a non-profit educational group, has a margin of error of 5% for both the general election and the Republican primary election and was conducted from June 24 to 26, 2018. Voters were asked: “If the election were held today, who would be your choice for Maury County Mayor, the Republican nominee Andy Ogles, Independent candidate Amanda Kelton, Independent candidate Charlie Norman or Independent candidate Sonny Shackelford?” The poll results were: Andy Ogles 33% Charlie Norman 23% Sonny Shackelford 21% Amanda Kelton 4% Undecided 19% A previous poll conducted by Right Way Marketing from May 14-16 showed Ogles leading with 32.4% over incumbent Independent Charlie Norman – 25.4%. Early voting in the race begins on July 13. With respect to the GOP Primary for…
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Conservative grassroots activist Andy Ogles announced he is “ending his campaign for the U.S. Senate effective immediately,” in a statement released by his campaign Wednesday morning. “I entered this race to insure that Tennessee would have conservative representation that would reflect their values and commitment to ‘draining the swamp’ that Tennesseans expect and deserve. With Senator Corker making the decision to exit the Senate at the conclusion of his term rather than being terminated by the voters, the political landscape changed dramatically,” the former head of the Tennessee chapter of Americans for Prosperity said in the statement, which continued: “With each passing day, Senator Corker has underlined why Tennessee voters were prepared to fire him. As others hesitated, I was willing to accept the challenge and believed that once his vulnerabilities could be exposed voters would give him a pink slip. He clearly believed the same thing,” Ogles added. “Senator Corker has shown more passion attacking our President the past eleven months than he expressed in criticizing President Barack Obama during his entire 8 years in the White House. Thanks to Senators like Bob Corker, we have failed to secure our borders, still haven’t repealed and replaced Obamacare and are…
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Republican conservative U.S. Senate candidate Andy Ogles is calling on Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) to immediately step down from his Chairmanship of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “Senator Corker’s reckless war of words with President Donald Trump has moved into increasingly dangerous territory as his latest outrageous attacks on the president undermine our national security and foreign policy,” Ogles said. “Corker’s statement that the president is setting the United States ‘on a path to World War III’ was completely irresponsible. His new claim that the president is ‘castrating’ Secretary of State Rex Tillerson not only damages the ability of the president and his foreign policy team to defend American interests but also undermines his authority as Commander.” Ogles noted that it “is clear that Corker has lost the capacity to put America’s interests ahead of his petulant tantrums. If he wants to continue to attack the president he can do so, but he shouldn’t do it with the authority of and from the ‘bully pulpit’ provided to him as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.” Corker has previously dismissed calls for him to resign from the U.S. Senate in the wake of his disparaging comments about President Trump.…
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U.S. Senate candidate Andy Ogles blasted the “deep state” health care bureaucracy for revoking the Medicare privileges of Dr. Bryan Merrick, a family doctor with a practice that serves rural McKenzie, Tennessee and the surrounding communities, over a $670 billing error on Friday. “Establishment Republicans have failed to repeal and replace Obamacare, despite a constant stream of promises to do so. But while they lack the will to fix our healthcare system they are willing to unleash the full force of the U.S. government to shut down the medical practice of a country doctor who is actually delivering lifesaving care to the elderly in his community,” the conservative Republican U.S. Senate candidate said. “If they can shut down Dr. Merrick over $670 in clerical billing errors over nearly two years, then every bureaucrat at Health and Human Services and the Veterans Administration should be in jail for the epidemic of waste, fraud and abuse they have overseen and enabled for the last few decades.” Ogles, the former head of the Tennessee chapter of Americans for Prosperity, was the first candidate to announce for the Republican nomination for the U. S. Senate seat currently held by Senator Bob Corker (R-TN). Ogles…
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Middle Tennessee’s most recognized auto dealer has launched a Super PAC that intends to raise $4 million in a Super PAC for independent expenditures to support Andy Ogles and oppose Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) in the 2018 Republican U.S. Senate primary in Tennessee. “Ogles is the former state director of Americans for Prosperity, the political arm of conservative billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch’s network. He declared his candidacy last week, and his campaign on Tuesday announced the formation of the super PAC run by Lee Beaman, a Nashville Toyota dealer,” the Associated Press reported. Super PACs can take unlimited contributions from wealthy donors, but they may not coordinate with the campaigns. Corker has not yet announced whether he will seek a third term. Two people familiar with a White House discussion between the senator and president last week told The Associated Press that Trump urged Corker to run during the meeting. Beaman said he plans to raise $4 million to support Ogles, citing his support for tighter border security, repealing former President Barack Obama’s health care law and cutting taxes and regulation. News of the hefty financial resources about to be trained on Corker spread quickly throughout the Volunteer…
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Long time conservative activist Andy Ogles announced Thursday he is launching a campaign for the U.S. Senate, challenging incumbent Senator Bob Corker (R-TN). “In less than a year the Republican primary will give us an opportunity to make choices that will impact future generations of Tennesseans,” Ogles said in a statement. “Conservative leadership means more than making promises, it means keeping them.” Andy Ogles is perhaps best known at the leader of the Tennessee chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a position he’s held since 2013. During his tenure as the state director, the grassroots army defeated Obamacare expansion twice, led the fight against Common Core and prevented multiple attempts to inflict so-called “Washington DC values” on Tennesseans. The volunteer organization worked to hold politicians accountable for bad votes, regardless of party affiliation. Unlike Senator Corker, who has repeatedly put himself at odds against President Trump and his policy goals, Ogles is aligning himself closely to the president’s ‘Drain the Swap’ message. “Over the past several months it has become increasingly clear that too many of our elected officials in Washington are failing our country, failing to fulfill their promises, and failing our future,” Ogles said. “Sadly, Republicans who promised to…
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A poll released by The Tennessee Star of 1,007 likely Tennessee Republican primary voters shows that Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) is in a statistical tie with Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN 7) in a potential 2018 Republican primary matchup for the Tennessee U.S. Senate seat. When asked “If the election was held today, and the candidates were Bob Corker and Marsha Blackburn, who would you vote for U.S. Senator from Tennessee,” 41.4 percent of likely Tennessee Republican primary voters selected Corker while 38.6 percent selected Blackburn. The 2.8 percent differential between the two is within the poll’s 3.1 percent margin of error, thus making the race a statistical dead heat. The bad news for Corker is that Blackburn beats him in two of the Volunteer State’s three geographic regions. Among West Tennessee voters, Blackburn beats Corker soundly, 39 percent to 26 percent. Among Middle Tennessee voters, Blackburn beats Corker 43 percent to 38 percent. Only in his home region of East Tennessee does Corker beat Blackburn. There, he wins by a margin of 49 percent to 26 percent. Blackburn’s current district covers much of Middle Tennessee. Prior to redistricting after the 2010 election, however, the district stretched from Middle Tennessee…
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Former Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey told The Tennessee Star on Thursday he is a paid consultant to the Tennessee Coalition on Transportation, an advocacy group that supports Gov. Haslam’s 7 cents per gallon gas tax increase and a 12 cents per gallon diesel tax increase. Ramsey’s revelation came during a break in the two hour broadcast of the WWTN Gas Tax Town Hall, moderated by Nashville Morning News host Ralph Bristol on the Dan Mandis Show. The event featured a studio audience, which was virtually unanimous in its opposition to the gas tax. Ramsey advocated strenuously on behalf of the gas tax increase. He was one of eight panelists at the event. Other members of the panel included Andy Ogles, executive director of the Tennessee chapter of Americans for Prosperity, which opposes the gas tax, David Smith appearing on behalf of Gov. Bill Haslam, State Sen. Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville), State Sen. Paul Bailey (R-Sparta), State Rep. Barry Doss (R-Lawrence County), Rep. Brian Terry (R-Murfreesboro), and Rep. David Alexander (R-Winchester). “I did leave the legislature back, I made my announcement in March, and left in November, of course, at the election,” Ramsey said in his opening remarks as a member of the…
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Andy Ogles, executive director of Americans for Prosperity-Tennessee (AFP), unveiled the group’s alternative plan to finance Tennessee’s highway infrastructure improvements on Thursday, vigorously rejecting Gov. Haslam’s proposed 7 cents per gallon gas tax increase. Speaking at the WWTN Gas Tax Town Hall, Ogles accepted the premise that Tennessee’s budget over the coming years should allocate $2 billion for highway improvement and new construction. But Ogles said relying upon the increase in the gas and diesel tax as the only “user fee” mechanism to fund those improvements was not a stable long-term solution, since improvements in gas mileage and the possible rise of alternative means of powering vehicles would likely continue to limit the revenues from those sources to the state. Ogles said that if you except the idea of user fees then one such user fee could be vehicle fees at the time of a vehicle purchase or registration. “I think there’s some math that is important to remember,” Ogles told the panel and studio audience. “And the biggest number or numbers that you should remember is that currently, Tennessee has $1.8 billion in surplus. Now, there’s a lot of moving parts to this and talking about math on the…
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