Tag: transparency

Commentary: Trump Picks the Right Fight With Pelosi and Schumer

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by George Rasley   Yesterday, President Trump surprised White House reporters by calling them into the Oval Office conversation with Democrats that was originally designated as closed to the press. During the debate, both House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer protested that it was taking place on camera. “Let’s debate in private,” said the Senate’s Democratic Minority Leader Senator Charles Schumer of New York after President Trump opened his meeting on border security to the media. “We came in here in good faith and we’re entering into this kind of a discussion in the public view,” said a very unhappy soon-to-be Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of California. “I don’t think you should have a debate in front of the press,” she said. “But it’s not bad, Nancy. It’s called transparency,” said a very happy President Donald J. Trump. Yesterday’s meeting between President Trump, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was an awesome display of how Trump can win the battle for the Wall, simply by sticking to his guns. Naturally, the establishment media would like to convince you and the rest of America that Trump is being unreasonable, but…

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No Transparency in ECD Deal to Give Tyson Foods $18 Million FastTrack Grant

Chris Alto

Noted in the Governor’s 2018-2019 Budget is an $18 million dollar FastTrack grant for Tyson Foods that may be part of a deal to bring a chicken processing plant to Humboldt, Tennessee after plans for a similarly described project in Kansas met with “staggering” opposition from citizen activists. This year’s money for Tyson Foods is not currently listed in the FastTrack project database maintained on the Department of Economic & Community Development (ECD) website. As part of Governor Haslam’s “Transparent Tennessee” initiative, ECD launched an interactive online platform called “Open ECD,” intended to provide a “comprehensive look at TNECD’s initiatives,” including, FastTrack, community and rural development grants. Haslam’s “Transparent Tennessee” was intended to help create a “customer-focused, efficient and effective state government.” This initiative was supposed to provide greater transparency and accountability in how the state government operates by enabling taxpayers to see how different departments are performing as well as how taxpayer funds are spent. The only reference to date for the $18 million dollar FastTrack grant for Tyson Foods is on page xix of the Governor’s 2018-2019 Budget released with a cover letter dated January 29, 2018: General fund supplemental appropriations in the current 2017-2018 fiscal year total $46 million, $38 million of…

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