Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor of The Star News Network, covered the “Meet and Greet” held July 12, 2022, for former Tennessee House Speaker and GOP House hopeful Beth Harwell. Harwell is running in the Aug. 4, 2022, primary for the nomination to run for the TN-05 House seat.
Speaking after the event, Harwell said she was not aware of the contributors to the VIEW PAC, such as abortion philanthropist Melinda Gates and Tim Ranney, who gave the fund $200,000, and was fined by the U.S. government $8 million for illegal credit report practices.
The former schoolteacher said the fund, which endorsed Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz. Cheney, also endorsed Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn.
TRANSCRIPT:
McCabe: The race for the Republican nomination in Tennessee’s Fifth Congressional District is one of the most contested in the country. After her Capitol Hill meet and greet, former Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell told The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network why she thinks her chances of winning are good.
Harwell: I love Middle Tennessee. I’ve lived here for 38 years. It’s a beautiful area. I know this district very well. I think I have a record of service to the families and the citizens of this great area. I would continue that level of service.
McCabe: The House hopeful’s Capitol Hill event was sponsored by VIEW PAC, a political action committee run by republican feminist Julie Conway.
The Star asked Harwell which he knew about the fund that endorsed Congresswoman Liz Cheney and received contributions from abortion philanthropist Melinda Gates and some $200,000 from Tim Ranney, a man who in 2015 was fined by the U.S. Government $8 million for illegal credit report practices.
Harwell: I don’t know who the contributors are. This I can firmly say, this VIEW PAC also endorsed Marshall Blackburn and Marsha received money from them and support. So I think they’re in good standing with a lot of people.
McCabe: Harwell said one of the lessons learned she will bring to the House of Representatives from Tennessee is her experience trying to deal with illegal alien drivers.
Harwell: And it was not a license, it was a certificate. Part of the problem was that these people were driving without insurance. Most of them were in the lawn care business. We tried it. It failed.
And what I love about Tennessee and the Tennessee legislature is we quickly came back and corrected our situation, and I sponsored the bill to do away with driver’s certification for illegal aliens.
McCabe: Critics have said that the former Speaker is beholden to teachers’ unions, a charge the former school teacher said she was happy to respond to.
Harwell: Look at my record. We ended Common Core when I was state Speaker. We ended collective bargaining when I was a state speaker.
We have now eliminated, and I was not a part of this, but critical race theory has now been eliminated from Tennessee. I was the prime sponsor of public charter schools, a choice for Tennesseans.
McCabe: Reporting for The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network, Neil W. McCabe, Washington.
She thinks CRT has ended in our schools because they passed a law? Bless her heart.
Trying to make Beth Harwell (ACU-86%) out to be some liberal is absurd but there we are. Instead of running a reasonable normal campaign for the past three months Andy Ogles has been invisible. Now we have conservative PACs running a frenzy of ads throwing around silly charges regarding Beth (but thankfully highlighting the General’s Democratic past) along with pro Ogles ads all wedged in a series of four or five political ads. Is all this enough to pull Andy first over the finish line? I doubt it.