Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Aaron Gulbransen, the Tennessee state director for the Faith and Freedom Coalition, in studio to give his position on the expulsion of State Representatives Justin Jones (D-Nashville), Justin Pearson (D-Memphis), and Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville).
Leahy: In studio with us, Aaron Gulbransen, Tennessee state director for the Faith and Freedom Coalition. Let’s be clear, at nine o’clock today, the Tennessee House of Representatives will convene and they will consider expelling the three left-wing lunatics who broke the house rules on Thursday and incited a riot at the Capitol.
Justin Jones from Nashville, Justin Pearson from Memphis, and Gloria Johnson from Knoxville. They all put the safety of their colleagues at risk with their reckless behavior. They violated the numerous rules of the House. They showed disrespect for the Tennessee General Assembly and the people of the state of Tennessee.
They must be expelled! They must be expelled because if not, they will continue this egregious behavior. That is my official position on this. What is the official position of Aaron Gulbransen of the Faith and Freedom Coalition?
Gulbransen: Kick ’em out. Unequivocally, after their actions, they broke so many rules of the House. This is both in order, and also just morally they deserve to be gone. There’s been some who’ve posited in conversations that A, you can exercise more control over them in the House if you keep them in there. That is clearly not the case.
Leahy: That’s utterly ridiculous. They’ll continue in this behavior.
Gulbransen: I’m reminded of a conversation I had in the fall about Justin, where basically they were worried that he would put members of the body and people working in the building in danger. His actions did that. He is what I would refer to as a clear and present danger along with his two other cohorts to the safety of the people who work in the General Assembly and the general public at large as the result of those actions.
He’s not a political leader. He’s a political agitator who works in concert with dark money groups to bus people in. You’re gonna see that today, later today. The other kind of argument I’ve heard that to not to vote them out, would be, well, city council or county commission can reappoint them depending on where we’re talking here.
Davidson County would be Metro City Council, you know, Knox County would be county commission, that sort of thing. On that particular note, the General Assembly does have the right, is my understanding.
I’ve talked to several members yesterday. If Metro Nashville City Council National Council were to thumb its nose at the General Assembly, they don’t have to seat it and wouldn’t seat them this session.
Leahy: The way the law works, as I understand it is that if a vacancy comes up for whatever reason, more than a year before the next election they schedule a special election, which will happen if they’re thrown out. But in the interim, the county commission can appoint somebody.
Gulbransen: I was just going to point out a logistical thing. A Democrat would probably win just given the makeup of these districts. For lack of a better phrase, I was trying to think of something appropriate.
There are so many colloquiums that are not appropriate for the air. Basically a scattershot, a game of dice essentially and you can potentially have a Republican victory and at least one of those three special elections.
Leahy: Gloria Johnson, the Knox County Commission is controlled by Republicans. They would likely appoint a Republican. Then there would be a special election. There’s a primary election and a general election. So it wouldn’t be till November for the general election, I don’t think.
And frankly, Gloria Johnson would be in great jeopardy of losing that special election. Now here, interestingly enough, in Nashville, and of course, the Metro Nashville Council pays great attention to everything we say on The Tennessee Star Report. Not! But I will give them some unsolicited advice here.
Look, you’ve got a polarizing conman in the form of Justin Jones who narrowly won the Democratic primary, in District 52 just back in November. Fifty-three percent to 47 percent over a sitting member of the city council representing District 29, Delicia Porterfield. Justin Jones has zero interest in representing his district or doing anything legislatively to help them.
My advice to the Metro Council in the event, which I believe will happen today that Justin Jones is expelled, which he should be. You’ve got the option, Metro Council, of appointing Deisha Porterfield, for instance, to that seat. That would make a lot of sense.
Gulbransen: It would make a lot of sense. As an aside, people forget this because he couldn’t even get to 25 at this point. A few years ago, Justin tried to run against Mayor Cooper’s brother Jim Cooper in a primary. Justin couldn’t actually attain the 25 valid signatures he needed to get on the ballot, which was his first foray into elected politics.
I could see outgoing Mayor Cooper holding a grudge against Justin and trying to throw, throw his weight behind somebody with counsel. Whether or not that carries weight since they know he is leaving. But it’s certainly not somebody you would want in the Democrat party as an enemy.
Leahy: Think about this. The Metro Nashville government is broke. And they need to have a good relationship with the Tennessee General Assembly. The state of Tennessee has all the money because they’re fiscally responsible because it’s a Republican-controlled entity.
Metro Nashville is broke, and they need help from the state. What’s happened is there has been this polarization between the two bodies. Metro Nashville didn’t vote to bring the Republican National Convention here and, and then some say in retribution, the Tennessee General Assembly cut the size of Metro Council from 40 to 20. That may have been a motivation. It’s a good government thing, anyways.
Gulbranen: It saved the taxpayer’s money or is about to.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Justin Jones” by Justin Jones. Photo “Justin Pearson” by Justin Pearson.
