Ralph Bristol Archives - Tennessee Star

Boss Doss Praises Radio Host Ralph Bristol During House Floor Debate for Calling Gas Tax Increase Bill ‘A Tax Cut’

April 19, 2017 Tennessee Star Staff

State Rep. Barry “Boss” Doss (R-Leoma) praised 99.7 FM WWTN radio host Ralph Bristol on the floor of the House on Wednesday during the debate over The IMPROVE Act “Tax Cut Act of 2017” for calling the gas tax increase bill “a tax cut.” On Wednesday morning, during a live interview with Governor Haslam (who unveiled the bill in January), Bristol called the expected vote in the House on the gas tax increase proposal “a momentous day in Tennessee.” Doss also quoted President John F. Kennedy’s famous 1961 inaugural challenge to the country as a reason to vote for The IMPROVE Act “Tax Cut Act of 2017”: Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. It was not immediately clear to the members of the gallery exactly how voting to increase the gas tax in Tennessee by 6 cents per gallon was the kind of patriotic sacrifice President Kennedy had in mind when he made that statement more than half a century ago. State Rep. Jerry Sexton (R-Bean Station) took exception to the comparison. Sexton questioned the connection between the reduction in Frachise and Excise Taxes for corporations to road construction. Doss…

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On Morning of Gas Tax Increase Vote, Haslam Jokes About Using ‘Standard’ Wattage of Lamps to Hot Box Legislators: ‘It Involves the Chains’

April 19, 2017April 19, 2017 Tennessee Star Staff

Hours before the Tennessee House of Representatives was scheduled to begin floor debate on his controversial bill to increase gas taxes on Wednesday, Governor Haslam joked in an interview with Ralph Bristol, host of Nashville’s Morning News on 99.7 FM WWTN, that he used ‘standard’ wattage lamps in his recent private meetings to pressure or “hot box” 15 targeted on the fence legislators. “I read a report anyway that you recently set aside some time to meet with specific House members to discuss this issue and it was described in that report as ‘hot box, meetings,” Bristol told the governor. “Now what wattage of lamp do you use for these hot box meetings, because I might need to borrow that some day,” Bristol asked. “It’s the standard. It involves the chains,” Haslam responded, attempting to make light of his pressure tactics. “I think anybody who knows me knows I’m not the hard pressure type,” he added. But conservative legislators and activists have a different view of Haslam’s efforts to pass the gas tax increase. “Governor Haslam is holding private meetings with legislators he has barely spoken to over the last several years. So this is a new level of…

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Gas Tax Increase Lobbyists Begin Advertising Campaign on Ralph Bristol’s WWTN Show

April 14, 2017April 13, 2017 Laura Baigert

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…

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WWTN’s Ralph Bristol Blasts Conservative State Representative Who Opposes Haslam’s Gas Tax Increase Bill

April 13, 2017April 17, 2017 Tennessee Star Staff

Tennessee Star

Ralph Bristol, host of Nashville’s Morning News on 99.7 FM WWTN, blasted a leading conservative Republican State Representative who opposes Gov. Haslam’s gas tax increase proposal, the IMPROVE ACT “Tax Cut Act of 2017,” on his program Thursday morning. Earlier this month, State Rep. Jerry Sexton (R-Bean Station) called on Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) “to hit the restart button in regards to the IMPROVE Act and to send the bill back to Transportation Subcommittee to be debated fairly and openly,” as The Tennessee Star reported. Bristol is no fan of Sexton or his opposition to the gas tax increase, and made that point very clear on his program Thursday. Recent developments “will hopefully bury Jerry Sexton in the graveyard of political one-hit blunders,” Bristol said near the end of a lengthy soliloquy in which he praised the current version of Gov. Haslam’s gas tax increase bill. The IMPROVE Act “Tax Cut Act of 2017,” he said, “is still, in my opinion, by far the most conservative plan on the table to increase funding for transportation in Tennessee.” Bristol also seemed eager to participate in the debate on the floor of the Tennessee House or Represenatives next week when the…

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Speaker Harwell Says She Will Have a Road Funding Plan That Does Not Raise The Gas Tax

April 6, 2017April 6, 2017 Laura Baigert

Tennessee Star

Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) says that she and many other members of the Tennessee House of Representatives will introduce an alternative plan that will not increase gas taxes when the IMPROVE Act “Tax Cut Act of 2017” comes before the House Finance Ways and Means Committee on Monday for consideration. “When you buy a car in the state of Tennessee, whether used or new, you pay a sales tax on that. We want to take that sales tax and put it to our roads program. That brings in a tremendous amount of money and we think that’s an appropriate, new, dedicated source of funding for our roads, which then we would not have to raise the gas tax,” Harwell said in an interview with Ralph Bristol, host of 99.7 FM WWTN’s Nashville’s Morning News on Monday. Full details of the plan are being finalized, with input from other House members, Speaker Harwell said. But the plan will use existing revenues from the sales tax of new and used vehicle sales already collected by the state and dedicate those revenues to funding road projects, she added. Allocating the state portion of the vehicle sales tax revenues toward roads would result in…

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High Noon: Steve Gill and Ralph Bristol Debate the Gas Tax on WWTN Tomorrow

March 14, 2017May 13, 2018 Tennessee Star Staff

Tennessee Star

Steve Gill and Ralph Bristol will debate the merits of Gov. Haslam’s proposed gas tax increase on 99.7 FM WWTN’s Dan Mandis Show tomorrow (Wednesday) at noon. Gill, the former Nashville talk radio host who led the successful opposition to Gov. Sundquist’s proposed state income tax in 2000-2002, is opposed to Haslam’s proposal to increase the gas tax by 7 cents per gallon as well as any other kind of tax increase. Bristol, the host of Nashville’s Morning News on 99.7 FM WWTN, said in testimony before the State Senate Transportation Committee on Februrary 27, “It is my humble, but considered opinion that Governor Haslam has almost presented a thoughtful, responsible plan that preserves the integrity of an admirable and enviable tax system . . . and that his plan adequately addresses a real need that has always been considered so sacred that it deserved special protection, even from economic downturns that affect the rest of the people’s purse.” “I do not support the Governor’s plan, as is, because I don’t believe it is the revenue neutral plan it advertises itself to be,” Bristol stated in his testimony But the bottom line for Bristol, he concluded in his testimony, is that “Governor Haslam’s…

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Gas Tax Apologists Unable to Explain Why the 15 Percent of User Fees Diverted From Highway Fund is Not Spent on Road Construction

March 13, 2017March 19, 2017 Tennessee Star Staff

Tennessee Star

At least 15 percent of the $1.2 billion in highway user fees collected by the state of Tennessee in FY 2015-2016–$189 million– was diverted away from road construction (see page A-65 of The Budget: State of Tennessee, Distribution of Actual Revenue by Fund, FY 2015-2016). Under Gov. Haslam’s proposed FY 2017-2018 budget, virtually the same amount of highway user fees–$187 million–will continue to be diverted away from road construction. (see page A-67 of The Budget: State of Tennessee, Distribution of Estimated Revenue by Fund, FY 2017-2018). FY 2015-2016 is the most recent year for which actual expenditures are available. Throughout the public debate over the past two months about Gov. Haslam’s proposed IMPROVE Act, which includes a gas tax increase of 7 cents per gallon, apologists for a gas tax increase–including House Transportation Committee Chairman Barry Doss (R-Leoma), House Senate Transportation Chairman Paul Bailey (R-Sparta), and 99.7 FM WWTN radio’s Ralph Bristol, host of Nashville’s Morning News–have yet to answer one key question about the state’s budget priorities: With a $1 billion surplus in the state budget, why do you support a gas tax increase when much of the purported road construction shortfall could be addressed by simply re-allocating the $187…

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Nashville Talk Radio Led Opposition to Sundquist Income Tax But Is Split on Haslam Gas Tax

February 28, 2017July 17, 2018 Christina Botteri

Tennessee Star - Steve Gill v Ralph Bristol

When former Gov. Don Sundquist proposed imposing a state income tax on residents of Tennessee in 1999, Nashville talk radio hosts Steve Gill and Phil Valentine led the horn-honking opposition that ultimately killed the unpopular proposal three years later in 2002. It is a different media landscape in 2017, as political controversy surrounds Gov. Haslam’s proposal to increase the gas tax to fund road construction. Like Sundquist, Haslam is a Republican. WLAC, 1510 am, is no longer in the local political talk business. 99.7 FM WWTN owns the local conservative talk market, with all local hosts, beginning at 5 a.m. with Ralph Bristol, 9 a.m. with Michael Del Giorno, noon with Dan Mandis, and 3 to 7 p.m. with Phil Valentine. The day’s talk agenda is set by Nashville’s Morning News host Ralph Bristol, and he testified before the State Senate Transportation Committee in favor of Gov. Haslam’s plan, provided it is truly revenue neutral, which he says it currently is not. Former Nashville talk radio host Steve Gill, in contrast, came out guns a-blazing in opposition to the gas tax increase in a commentary posted today at The Tennessee Star. “17 years ago, talk radio lead the fight to stop…

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Ralph Bristol Testifies Before State Senate Transportation Committee on Gas Tax Increase Proposal

February 27, 2017 Tennessee Star Staff

At the invitation of Chairman State Sen. Paul Bailey, 99.7 FM WWTN’s Ralph Bristol, host of Nashville’s Morning News, testified before the State Senate Transportation Committee on Monday afternoon about Gov. Haslam’s proposal to pay for additional road construction funding by increasing the state’s gas and diesel tax. Bristol provided The Tennessee Star with this summary of his prepared statement, which he authorized us to release after 1:30 p.m. today, when he was scheduled to deliver his testimony. Here is the complete final draft of his prepared statement, as provided to The Star late Monday morning: Testimony to Senate Transportation Committee (final draft) By Ralph Bristol, host, Nashville’s Morning News, 99.7 WTN (approx. 7:00) I’ll try to honor Chairman Bailey’s request to share a summation of my radio audience’s response, over the past few months, to the proposals before them, including, but not limited to the governor’s, to increase transportation funding, and to offer my own insight, however limited value that might have. First, understand that I understand my audience is not representative of all of Tennessee. Nor, might I add, are the fans of of the Tennessean or the Memphis Commercial Appeal, but I digress. People who listen to…

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Ralph Bristol on March 4 Pro-Trump Rally: ‘There is No Hate in Our Position. The Media Have Manufactured the Charge of Hate Without Evidence’

February 21, 2017July 17, 2018 Tennessee Star Staff

Nashville’s Morning News host Ralph Bristol told his listening audience on 99.7 FM WWTN Monday that his speech to the March 4 Spirit of America rally at Nashville’s Legislative Plaza will focus on an honest portrayal of American citizens who support President Donald Trump. “I’m going to use this occasion to speak to Trump’s detractors, in the media, and on the opposite side of the issues that have people so upset, about the people who are attending the rally,” Bristol said. “I’m not going to speak to the people at the rally, I’m going to speak about them,” Bristol said. “I’m going to correct the fabricated record about their hearts,” he added. Rally organizer Mark Skoda of America First Tennessee praised Bristol and his speech topic. “Ralph understands the heart of America, the people of Tennessee and the reason for our frustration with the media. He’s been the top Nashville radio talk show host for ten years, and he knows about the people of Tennessee. We are honored to have his perspective shared at our rally,” Skoda told The Tennessee Star. In his Monday morning on air monologue, Bristol pulled no punches. “Maybe to some on the Left, respect for…

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EXCLUSIVE: Spirit of America Rally in Nashville on March 4 to Show Support for Trump and Call for Impeachment of ‘Out-of-Control’ Judges

February 20, 2017July 17, 2018 Tennessee Star Staff

The Spirit of America Rally will be held at the Legislative Plaza in Nashville on Saturday March 4, beginning at 11 a.m. and continuing to 1 p.m., America First Tennessee, in partnership with liberty-minded grassroots groups across Tennessee, announced on Monday in a statement first released exclusively to The Tennessee Star. In addition to Mark Skoda, speakers at the event will include Tennessee radio heavyweight Ralph Bristol, host of Nashville’s Morning News on 99.7 FM WWTN, Ohio Tea Party leader Tom Zawistowski, Tennessee gubernatorial candidate State Senator Mark Green (R-Clarksville), State Senator Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet), and co-sponsor of the event, Tennessee House Majority Leader State Rep. Glen Casada (R-Franklin). “People I talk with want President Trump to know that we stand with him; and that we, too, see that the Judiciary is coming off the rails. Furthermore, we are ready to do something about it,” rally organizer and Memphis Tea Party founder Mark Skoda said. “We will urge our Representatives [in the United States House of Representatives] to impeach, and for the Senate to try, convict, and remove [Federal District] Judge James Robart in Washington and [Federal District] Judge Leonie Brinkema in Virginia,” Skoda said. “They expose an allegiance not…

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WWTN Callers Blast State Senate Majority Leader Norris for Weak Response to Protesters

February 18, 2017February 17, 2017 Tennessee Star Staff

State Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris (R-Collierville) was interviewed by Ralph Bristol on 99.7 FM WWTN’s Nashville’s Morning News on Friday about the shouting down of State Sen. Mae Beavers and State Rep. Mark Pody by protesters at the Capitol earlier this week. Norris’s response to those protesters was panned by irate listeners who called in to Bristol’s program in the ensuing two hour on-air town hall that broke out over the airwaves. Appearing on Bristol’s program a day earlier, Beavers said she wanted to see action taken against the protesters. “What if anything needs to be done about it?” Bristol asked of the aggressiveness of the protesters towards Beavers and Pody. “I think we need to be sensitive to… whether its her concerns or a constituents concerns . . .we need to be sensitive to her concerns and whether when having a press conference of that nature folks should follow people into their office,” Norris responded. “But we all, including Sen. Beavers are, for the right to assemblage and open government, and a lot of the best stuff that gets done happens when we have that kind of open consideration,” he continued. “There’s sometimes a fine line between free…

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State Rep. Mark Pody: ‘I Don’t Believe the 7 Cents Gas Tax is Going to Go Anywhere’

February 14, 2017February 14, 2017 Tennessee Star Staff

State Rep. Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) told Ralph Bristol on 99.7 FM WWTN’s Nashville Morning News on Tuesday that Gov. Haslam’s proposal to increase the gas tax by 7 cents per gallon to fund road construction is dead-on-arrival in the State House of Representatives. “I don’t believe the 7 cents gas tax is going to go anywhere,” Pody told Bristol. “To be clear, you don’t think the governor’s full proposal, as is, will make it out of the House?” Bristol asked. “If it’s going to say gas tax on cars, I don’t think it’s going to go anywhere,” Pody responded. “Is that a survey or a hunch?” Bristol pressed the question further with Pody, who has his own alternative to the governor’s proposal. “If I have to run my proposal [through the Transportation Subcommittee], I have to know where the votes are,” Pody told Bristol. “I don’t think the votes are there for the governor’s proposal,” Pody said. “Right now I don’t think the governor’s plan would have the votes to get out of the House,” Pody said. Pody praised Gov. Haslam for bringing the issue of road tax funding up for consideration by the General Assembly. “I’m glad that the…

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Gov. Haslam Defends His Gas Tax Proposal on Nashville’s Morning News With Ralph Bristol

February 10, 2017February 10, 2017 Tennessee Star Staff

Gov. Haslam appeared on 99.7 FM WWTN’s Nashville Morning News with Ralph Bristol on Thursday to defend his controversial proposal to increase the gas tax by 7 cents per gallon (from 21 cents to 28 cents) to fund more road construction. His proposal also increases the diesel tax by 12 cents per gallon (from 18 cents to 30 cents). Haslam specifically took aim at the increasingly popular alternative to his proposal, the Hawk Plan, which would fund road construction by reallocating 0.25 percent of the 7 percent state sales tax from the general fund to road construction. “Your main opposition to the alternative to your plan, the Hawk Plan . . . is that that would shift the burden for paying for our roads and bridges from out-of-state users of the roads to Tennesseans unrelated to their road usage. Do you have any way to quantify that balance now and how much shift this would produce?” Bristol asked. “We’re in the process of doing that. I think it’s safe to say that the increase I’m proposing for fuel that half of that would come from either out of state automobile drivers or trucking companies,” Haslam told Bristol. “That’s actually not…

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Ralph Bristol Commentary: Nashville Sheriff Fumbles Unique White House Opportunity

February 9, 2017February 9, 2017 Tennessee Star Staff

This is the transcript of the premeditated Ralph Rant delivered by Ralph Bristol, Host of Nashville’s Morning News, 99.7 WTN, at 6:35 am on Thursday, February 9, 2017. Davidson County, Tennessee Sheriff Daron Hall has skillfully, productively and reasonably navigated some pretty challenging immigration waters in the last 10 years, from the time he first enthusiastically embraced, and then dropped, the federal government’s 287(g) program to help local law enforcement aggressively pursue illegal immigrants for deportation. When Hall launched the 287(g) program in 2007, on the exact same day I started broadcasting on 99.7 WTN, George W. Bush was President and the political climate was decidedly against illegal immigrants, perhaps especially in middle Tennessee. Since then, Sheriff Hall has adjusted his department policies and maintained good ties with, first the (then) new Obama administration in 2009, and after that, an increasingly liberal Democrat city government that became more protective of illegal immigrants. He didn’t quit cooperating with the Feds, like sanctuary sheriffs in other liberal cities have done, but he backed off of the more aggressive posture of a decade ago. Fast forward to 2017 and the new Trump administration, whose policies renew some of the previous federal aggression against…

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WWTN Town Hall Audience Virtually Unanimous in Opposition to Gas Tax Increase

February 6, 2017February 5, 2017 Tennessee Star Staff

The studio audience at WWTN’s Gas Tax Town Hall on Thursday was virtually unanimous in its opposition to Gov. Haslam’s proposed increase in the state tax on gasoline from the current level of 21 cents per gallon to the proposed level of 28 cents per gallon. About twenty people filled the seats in the small WWTN performance room to listen to moderator Ralph Bristol, show host Dan Mandis, and eight panelists from the General Assembly, Gov. Haslam’s office, and two public interest groups discuss the merits of the proposed gas tax increase. In the first hour of the program, several audience members opposed to the proposed gas tax increase asked questions of the panel. During a break, moderator Ralph Bristol asked if anyone in the audience favored the proposed gas tax increase and wanted to ask a question. No one raised their hand. Bristol then asked if anyone in the audience was undecided. Jessica Colon, recently retired from the Army, now working as a nurse in Middle Tennessee and living in Robertson County, raised her hand. In the second hour, Bristol called on Colon, who asked a question of the panel. After the program ended, The Tennessee Star asked Colon…

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Former Lt. Gov. Ramsey A Paid Consultant to Pro-Gas Tax Coalition

February 6, 2017February 14, 2017 Tennessee Star Staff

Ramsey at Townhall

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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Ralph Bristol’s Exclusive Interview With Gov. Haslam About His Gas Tax Proposal

February 6, 2017February 5, 2017 Tennessee Star Staff

One day after he announced his proposal to increase the tax on gas by 7 cents, from 21 cents per gallon to 28 cents per gallon, Gov. Bill Haslam gave an exclusive in-studio interview to Ralph Bristol, host of Nashville’s Morning News on 99.7 FM, WWTN, on January 18. Haslam made the case for his gas tax proposal, which he elaborated on in his “State of the State address” at the Capitol on January 30, which the General Assembly is now considering. “Can you legitimately bring that [Hall Income Tax cut] forward to balance now against the gas and other tax increases to make it an even balance?” Bristol asked to begin the interview. “Sure. Let’s start here,” Haslam answered. “Our administration and the legislature has already cut $270 million in taxes. The most any administration or legislature had ever done before was $60 million. We’re proposing another $270 million cut in this budget,” the governor continued, adding: Your point is we already cut the Hall Tax last year. But we didn’t. We passed a bill to do that. It still has to come out of the budget. It’s like you and your spouse saying were going to make a…

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