Posts

Casada Talks To Phil Valentine, Defends Racist Staffer, Calls Out Phil Williams

/in , , , , /by

Speaker Glen Casada recently went on Phil Valentine’s radio show on 99.7 to address the recent situation(s) with his racist chief of staff. It was the longest Casada has spoken about the issues, so we figured we’d break down what he said here…

They started by talking about the dust-up at the legislature on the final day, where Democrats were kept off of key committees then locked inside the house by Casada when they attempted to leave in protest during a recess.

Valentine asks:

“Let’s start with this whole notion Democrats were locked inside the house floor, is there any truth to that?”

He seems to expect Casada to say “nope, no truth at all”. Casada does not:

“They were elected to serve the people, and to vote. State law is very clear that if you’re not there in the chamber the speaker has the authority to come get you by state trooper… if they had left the building I was going to have state troopers come get ’em.”

In other words, yes, he did that.

Valentine then recalibrates, calling it “routine”. Casada agrees, saying the law is if you’re going to be a state legislator “you cannot leave with no cause” and “We’re not going to forcefully hold someone in a room. But we were reminding them of their duties.”

Welcome to Glen Casada’s Tennessee.

Anyway, moving on… next Valentine brings up Speaker Casada’s $200,000 chief of staff Cade Cothren’s text messages, which call Tampa Bay QB Jameis Winson a “thug nig*er” and says “black people are idiots”, among other things.

Here are some screen shots from Channel 5’s Phil Williams, who broke the story:

Valentine:

“The text messages – You’ve seen those. Are they real?”

Casada:

“You know, I asked my chief of staff point blank: ‘Did you do this?’ He said, ‘Glen, you know me. You know my character… Phil, I’ve worked with him for 10 years. I have never heard him make a derogatory, racist, or bigoted statement.”

Well, if you asked him and he said “no” Glen, that should be good enough for anyone!

This seems like a good time to point out that we uncovered Cade’s Venmo account which also has racist *digital blackface* emojis, as well as some blatant homophobia:

Also, Cade Cothren has now deleted all of his social media accounts. Not quite the actions of an innocent man.

Casada then turns to the issue of whether or not his office falsified evidence by changing the date on an email to frame civil rights activist Justin Jones and get him thrown in jail for violating a no-contact order, as Channel 5 reported.

To Recap: Jones sent an email to Casada’s office on February 25th. Casada’s office says they received it March 1st, which would violate a no-contact order put on Jones by the D.A.’s office in the wake of an assault charge for throwing iced tea at the speaker, who was avoiding meeting with Jones about removing the bust of the first KKK Grand Wizard sitting in the capitol.

Casada’s Chief of Staff had previously lied to Jones, telling him he was misspelling the word “capitol” in his emails, when he wasn’t.

Upon receipt of the email with the March 1st date from Casada’s office, D.A. Glenn Funk’s office filed a motion to have Jones thrown in jail, before eventually circling back to Casada’s office about the date discrepancy and dropping the motion.

Here’s the latest explanation for what happened, from I.T. at the legislature – which says the email was held by them before releasing it days later.

But forgive us for remaining skeptical, since we’ve heard from state reps who say they’ve received pornography from outside the legislature without it being caught up in the system.

Questions remain:

Why would a REPLY from someone Cothren was already emailing with get caught up in the system?

And would the date on a “quarantined” email say when it hit the Speaker’s office, or when it initially hit the system? (We’ve heard from many IT people who say the latter)

And why would these messages from Phil Williams, which contain no inflammatory content, not have made it through to Casada’s office?

All due respect to the I.T. department at the legislature, we’re going to need to hear from someone who doesn’t work for Speaker Casada about all of this.

D.A. Glenn Funk’s office needs to investigate.

We’ve asked Funk’s office what the scope of the special prosecutor’s investigation is – are they looking into all of this? Or are they just looking into the actions of Justin Jones?

So far we haven’t heard back.

The racists texts from Casada’s Chief of Staff are one thing, but if his office was intentionally falsifying evidence to get a man thrown in jail, that’s something that must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Back to the interview, Casada then tried to use the technical defense of the date discrepancy to turn the tables on Channel 5’s Phil Williams, essentially saying that if the falsification of evidence story was explainable, that then calls the racist text messages part of the story into question:

“Here’s what we know about this Phil Williams story – the emails he alleged that we doctored is false, and our I.T. department has contacted Channel 5 and said here’s the timeline, here’s the evidence that it went into Casada’s office on March 1st… they still allege we tampered with it. The evidence shows we didn’t. If Channel 5 is willing to run a story they know isn’t true – or at a minimum, misleading – could the rest of the story be false? Did someone feed Phil Williams false text messages that were not real?”

See what Casada’s doing there? He’s using a maybe plausible explanation for the email date discrepancy to then cast aspersions on the veracity of the racists texts from his Chief of Staff Cade Cothren – and, in turn, Phil Williams of Channel 5.

Here’s the problem though: As you can see above, Cothren wasn’t responding to Phil Williams when he was asking for an explanation. He also didn’t respond when Williams showed up with a camera, and neither did Casada, whose only answer was “I know nothing, about that.”

Then, hours later, they had their story straight.

So to act like Williams didn’t give them every opportunity to explain themselves is simply disingenuous.

As for the veracity of the texts – again, this is something that is easily proven or disproven by whoever has the texts. But knowing what we know about Cothren’s Venmo account (see above), it’s hard to believe they aren’t real.

And in the background of all of this is the fact that this started because the speaker refuses to move the bust of the KKK’s first Grand Wizard, and that the speaker supported and promoted admitted child sex abuser Rep. David Byrd – while lying about the easily disprovable fact that he had met with Byrd’s victims, when he had not.

You can see why anyone who’s paying attention would have trouble taking Casada’s word for anything these days.

Casada then goes on to tell Phil Valentine he has “full faith and confidence” that his chief of staff is not a racist:

“I am convinced in this environment that we live in, because we as conservatives are winning the intellectual battle, I’m convinced some liberal guy living with his mom and dad in their basement created this to frame my chief of staff… I can’t prove it, but it’s the only thing that makes sense.”

No, Glen – your chief of staff being a racist also makes a lot of sense.

Also, racism and forgery are not partisan issues. Casada would like to politicize this, but Every Tennessean who isn’t a racist should be deeply concerned if Casada’s #1 guy is using the N word and calling black people “idiots”, and his office framing people.

The callback to President Trump’s “guy living in a basement” excuse is cute, but let’s not forget Trump used that to say Russia was NOT hacking and tampering with our election, which we now know from Mueller they WERE.

May want to choose a better example next time, Glen.

Valentine then asks Casada what he’ll do if he *finds out* the text messages are real (reminder: he knows they are, so take this with a grain of salt).

Casada:

“There is no room for anybody at the state capitol to be bigoted or a racist or a hatemongerer. So no matter who it is they would be either resigned or let go. But that’s how much confidence I have in my chief of staff that he did not do this.”

He’s on record: If they’re real, Cade’s gone.

Valentine asks Casada if he’ll require Cothren to turn over his phone. Casada says it’s his personal phone so he can’t compel him to turn it over:

“That would be a bar we ask no one else to comply with… he in front of me typed in key words to see if it would pop up on his phone, and it did not.”

As we all know, all you need to do is delete the text conversation for the words to disappear, so this is a really bad excuse. Hiring Mobile Phone Forensic Experts to properly analyze the phone and recover any deleted texts would be the best way of investigating these rumors.

Casada then goes on to poke the hornets nest that is Phil Williams:

“Phil Williams gets sued for slander about every other day. So this is not the first time he’s run that kind of story… he knew it wasn’t true, and they still ran the story.”

It is true that Phil Williams has had a run-in with a defamation lawyer more than once, but in a truth-off between Glen Casada and Williams, we’ll ride with Williams 10 times out of 10.

We’re not sure going at Williams like this is in the Speaker’s best interest, but time will tell. In the meantime we’ll have our DVR set for Channel 5 at 6pm for the foreseeable future.

Casada also added:

“When we found out the next day, we opened it up and read it, and in the body of the email from Justin Jones it did say February 25, we contacted the D.A.’s office and we said look we said this but we don’t know why it says February 25th… our I.T. Department can 100% say it didn’t go into my inbox until March 1st.”

It’s unclear who initiated the dialogue about the date discrepancy. Some emails seem to show it was actually the D.A.’s office who caught it, not Casada’s office. Also, “the next day” is an interesting phrase to use, since the motion to revoke Jones’ bond was filed on March 4th.

Casada then closes by saying:

“I’ve done a little research. These messages can be created and made to look authentic. That’s why I’m convinced this is a hatchet job by liberal activists.”

Again, Cothren has deleted all social media. He was racist and homophobic on Venmo. He lied to Justin Jones about misspelling “capitol” in emails, and Casada himself lied about meeting with Rep. Byrd’s victims.

Casada has repeatedly shown us his relationship with the truth is distant. Regardless of party, everyone should be concerned about what it says about Tennessee’s speaker of the house that he’s so willing to support admitted child sex offenders and blatant racists.

Valentine then asks about Cothren’s $200,000 a year salary, and asks Casada to commit to lowering it to something more reasonable, but Casada refuses:

“What he does is invaluable.. it’s a very high stress job. The better people are paid well. When you do that you don’t get someone who’s top-notch.”

Let’s remember that Cothren was working for Casada for $60,000 just last year. And “Better People” don’t use the N Word and say “black people are idiots”.

District Attorney Funk, if you’re listening, please investigate the actions of the Speaker’s office. Tennessee deserves to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he isn’t harboring racists who are willing to falsify evidence to have a man thrown in jail. And they need to hear it from someone other than his own I.T. department.

If you think Cade Cothren needs to be fired, holler at Speaker Casada here: [email protected]

If you think District Attorney Funk needs to investigate all of the above, holler at him here: [email protected]

CASADA’S OFFICE FORGES EVIDENCE, USES “N” WORD, SAYS “BLACK PEOPLE ARE IDIOTS”

/in , , , /by

News Channel 5’s Phil Williams has a BOMBSHELL report airing TONIGHT AT 6PM that shows Speaker Casada’s office forged evidence to get civil rights activist Justin Jones thrown in jail.

Channel 5 also has text messages from Casada’s $200,000 chief of staff using the word “n**ger” and saying “black people are idiots”.

Jones has been a regular protestor at the capitol, where he and others have been mobilizing to try to get the bust of the KKK’s first Grand Wizard removed from the capitol, where it’s still featured prominently to this day.

Jones and others protested peacefully, but things reached a boiling point after Casada’s office lied about not getting emails from Jones asking for a meeting – saying he had been misspelling their email addresses (we have them, they were correctly spelled).

Jones eventually threw iced tea at Casada in frustration, and was charged with assault.

He was released on bond on the condition he have no contact with Casada, and followed the no-contact order, so he was surprised when D.A. Funk’s office filed a motion to revoke Jones’ bail.

From Channel 5:

Funk cited an email Jones had allegedly sent to Casada’s chief of staff that was copied to the House Speaker, thus violating his bond conditions.

Jones knew it wasn’t true.

“It was a shock because it was my freedom,” he said. “If this would have went through to revoke my bond, I would be in jail right now until my court date. So this is not something I take lightly.”

Turns out the motion was based on a photo of an email with the date of March 1st — just one day after the no-contact order. But Jones had the original email. The real date was February 25th, which was before his arrest.

Cothren had originally sent Funk an email with a different date, then blamed that on an IT problem and sent the forged date.

And he says black people are stupid? Yeesh.

It’s not just stupid, it’s criminal. Forging evidence is a crime, and doing it to get someone thrown in jail is itself a felony.

More from Channel 5:

The DA’s office now admits their evidence came from the Speaker’s chief of staff.

“You have some of the most powerful people in this state who are willing to file a false report and to file a false paperwork and to manipulate paperwork to take your freedom away,” Jones said.

The Speaker’s reaction?

“I know nothing of that — nothing,” Casada told NewsChannel 5 Investigates.

But anyone who knows Casada knows you don’t do anything without his permission if you work for him.

Not only did they try to Frame Jones, Casada’s office has also been found to be using horribly racist language concerning black people.

Text messages provided by a former acquaintance show an exchange with Casada in which Cothren appears to refer to a West Tennessee district with a “black people” meme.

In a text with other friends, Cothren said “black people are idiots.”

He also insisted that Tampa Bay quarterback Jameis Winston be called a “thug n***er.”

Horrific.

It goes without saying that Cothren should be fired immediately, but more importantly D.A. Glenn Funk MUST get to the bottom of Casada’s involvement in framing Jones, which is a crime.

Nobody is above the law. If Casada knew which we’d bet the house he did, time for the Speaker to Go.

Funk recently apologized for this yearbook photo where he’s posing with a confederate flag (Governor Lee apologized for a confederate yearbook photo of his own also). Hopefully he understands what the right thing is to do here.

He has brought in a special prosecutor to handle the investigation. Probably a good idea.

Holler at Speaker Casada HERE.

Reps Hawk & Ramsey Say Casada Tried to Buy Voucher Votes, Casada Denies It – But Zachary Is Living Proof

/in , , /by

As you’ve probably heard by now, Governor Lee’s school vouchers plan barely passed the house this week after some last-minute shenanigans by Speaker Casada, who held the vote open for 40 minutes so he could twist the arm of Rep. Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville).

Zachary eventually flipped from a “No” to a “Yes”, giving Casada and Governor Lee the 50-48 win they needed.

After the vote, Zachary took to the floor with Casada in tow to explain to the press that his reasons for flipping were that Knox County wouldn’t be affected and would be held “fiscally harmless” – meaning this plan that will supposedly be so great for Nashville & Memphis is something he and many others want nowhere near their own counties.

When asked if Casada had promised him anything else in return for his vote, Zachary first indicated that he did, saying something about teacher raises – which some teachers have taken great exception to –   before then reversing that and saying he didn’t have anything he needed money for.

Hard to keep up with all these reversals.

That Zachary got nothing in return was hard to believe considering the reports of various rural legislators being promised grants and appropriations by Governor Lee in exchange for their support.

Now the Tennessean has just posted an article listing those giveaways – and wouldn’t you know it? Rep. Zachary has the highest number on the list next to his name. His $1 million is peanuts compared to the harm it will do to public schools in the areas where vouchers are affected, but it’s hard to believe his topping the list is a coincidence.

It’s also hard to believe Zachary considering the other quotes in the article from Republican Representatives David Hawk (Greenville) and Bob Ramsey (Maryville), who say Casada was sending his $200,000 chief of staff Cade Cothren to ask them what they wanted in exchange for their votes during the vouchers debate.

From the Tennessean:

“Two Republican lawmakers who voted against Gov. Bill Lee’s controversial school voucher bill said they were offered incentives to change their minds and vote in favor of the legislation… Several House lawmakers have told the USA TODAY Network – Tennessee in recent weeks there were efforts by those in the speaker’s and governor’s office to sway them to vote yes on the bill by offering to fund projects in their districts.

Such lobbying continued Tuesday.

Rep. David Hawk, R-Greeneville, who unsuccessfully challenged Glen Casada in the race for speaker, said Wednesday he was approached by Cade Cothren, Casada’s chief of staff on the House floor.

“He came to me and said that he and the speaker needed my vote on vouchers and asked me what I wanted in return,” said Hawk, who characterized the conversation as very heated. “I told him that he and the speaker had nothing that I wanted.”

And then on Ramsey:

Rep. Bob Ramsey, R-Maryville, said he had been approached and offered incentives before and during the voucher vote in an attempt to persuade him to flip.

“There was efforts that had repeated visits from advocates hired apparently by the administration, and lobbyists, over the last few weeks,” Ramsey said Wednesday. “I let the administration know early on that I couldn’t support the vouchers.”

Ramsey said he received no threats of funding being cut in his district in Blount County, but that he was offered unspecified incentives.

“The only insinuation was that there would be the possibility of revenue expenditures for projects in my district at some point that would be facilitated by my support of vouchers,” Ramsey said.

Again at that time, Ramsey said, members of the Republican leadership hinted that additional funding would be made available to him for district projects if he switched his vote. Ramsey said no specific dollar amount was mentioned. He still declined to change his vote.

Hawk and Ramsey voted against the bill.

Good for them for sticking to their guns.

It’s one thing to be a vouchers truther, as Rep. Dunn, who is carrying the bill, appears to be. But If you believe steering public funds to private schools will hurt public schools, yet you’re willing to sell out our kids for your own political interests, something is very wrong there.

Casada went on to deny the efforts to bribe representatives for their votes, likely because he knows how it looks:

Casada, R-Franklin, said he met with several members and “asked them to do the right thing” on the education bill. But the speaker denied offering anything to the members.

“If one or two (members) misunderstood what I was saying — that happens too — I was asking them to step up and be leaders and do what’s good for the children of Tennessee,” he said.

“Misunderstood”. Riiight.

Unfortunately for Casada, he’s already on record as having lied about multiple important issues, including something as easily disprovable as meeting with the victims of Rep. David Byrd, who Casada promoted to chair of an education subcommittee even after he apologized on tape to 1 of 3 women who accuse him of molesting them as teenagers.

Casada had not met with them, and still hasn’t. We’re going to go ahead and believe Ramsey and Hawk on this one.

The Tennessean goes on to point to the appropriations that were given to legislators who voted for the vouchers:

24 of the 32 House lawmakers to have their appropriation requests fulfilled voted for the voucher bill. Those who voted for the ESA bill had $7.3 million in appropriations included in the House budget.

Casada denied any correlation between House members who voted for the ESA bill and having their budget requests funded.

The funded appropriation requests come after the governor released a recently amended state budget that provided 16 community grants totaling $2.1 million to many lawmakers who ended up voting for the ESA bill.

“Casada denied any correlation”. Okay.

And here’s Zachary, ever the good soldier, denying it too, while the Tennessean reminds us his district receives the highest number on the list:

Among the funded appropriation requests in the House budget was one from Zachary for $1 million to provide grants to four accredited zoos in the state and the Tennessee Aquarium. On Tuesday, Zachary cast the deciding vote to ensure the passage of the governor’s education savings account bill.

Zachary denied receiving anything in return for changing his vote — which initially was a no — and said he received adequate assurances that Knox County would be removed from the legislation in the coming days.

It appears Casada’s habit of playing fast and loose with the truth is contagious.

The Tennessean goes on to point out that there are some who voted against the bill who also got money, but the numbers on the other side speak for themselves (see below).

The vouchers fight is far from over, which is probably why Lee & Casada called upon President Trump for a congratulatory tweet yesterday.

The senate still needs to vote on their version (TODAY), and then there will be another vote in the house to reconcile the two bills. Holler at your reps to let them know you’re watching, especially Zachary, Hawk, Ramsey, & Casada.

The following list includes House members who voted for the ESA bill and had their appropriation amendments funded (includes funding totals):

  • House Speaker Glen Casada, R-Franklin: $40,000
  • House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, $3.5 million 
  • House finance committee chair Susan Lynn, R-Mt. Juliet: $619,000 
  • Rep. Clark Boyd, R-Lebanon: $200,000
  • Rep. John DeBerry, D-Memphis: $10,000
  • Rep. Andrew Farmer, R-Sevierville: $2,000
  • Rep. Timothy Hill, R-Blountville: $50,000
  • Rep. Andy Holt, R-Dredsen: $100,000
  • Rep. Bud Hulsey, R-Kingsport: $467,000
  • Rep. Sabi Kumar, R-Springfield: $25,000
  • Rep. Tom Leatherwood, R-Arlington: $30,000
  • Rep. Mary Littleton, R-Dickson: $10,000
  • Rep. Pat Marsh, R-Shelbyville – $10,500
  • Rep. Jerome Moon, R-Maryville: $37,000
  • Rep. John Ragan, R-Oak Ridge: $100,000
  • Rep. Jay Reedy, R-Erin: $15,000
  • Rep. Tim Rudd, R-Murfreesboro: $50,000
  • Rep. Bill Sanderson, R-Kenton: $215,000
  • Rep. Paul Sherrell, R-Sparta: $30,000
  • Rep. Mike Sparks, R-Smyrna: $10,000
  • Rep. Rick Tillis, R-Lewisburg: $28,000
  • Rep. Chris Todd, R-Jackson: $20,000
  • Rep. Mark White, R-Memphis: $675,000
  • Rep. Jason Zachary, R-Knoxville: $1 million
  • we’re also told Rep. Clay Doggett, R-Lawrenceburg got Half a million for theater renovations)

Stop Byrd Protestors Stage 24-hour Sit-In At Governor Lee’s Office | TN Holler

/in , , , , /by

Rep. David Byrd has apologized on tape to 1 of 3 women who say he molested them as children.

Even after meeting with one of Byrd’s victims, Governor Lee has been silent about Byrd’s presence in the legislature- so Enough Is Enough-TN staged a sit-in at Lee’s office, and ended up spending the night, as state trooper’s threatened the press with arrests.

Watch the VIDEO:

And holler at Governor Lee HERE if you think #ByrdMustGo.

TN GOP Nixes Voting by Mail for Newly Registered Disabled, Elderly, Military

/in , , /by

Conservatives on the House Local Committee killed a measure that would allow Tennesseans who qualify to vote by mail to do so immediately after receiving a voter registration card.

There are 14 qualifications in Tennessee for a voter to be eligible for absentee voting by mail, such as: voter is over 60 years old; voter is physically disabled or ill; or voter is a member of the military.

Under current law, those who qualify to vote absentee by mail must first vote in person. That rule could create issues for many new Tennesseans or newly eligible voters.

Hypothetically, if an 19-year-old Tennessean, who registered to vote, joined the military and was placed out of state before participating in an election, the 19-year-old would not be allowed to vote by mail. Or if a home-ridden person moved to Tennessee, the same result would apply.

Backstory

Interestingly, this bill passed the very same committee in March and was moved to the House Calendar and Rules Committee, which schedules the floor votes for the House of Representatives.

When Rep. Love presented the legislation to the Calendar and Rules Committee, the committee chairman Rep. Jason Zachary, R-Knoxville, District 14, opened the discussion by addressing House Speaker Glen Casada, R-Franklin. Casada quickly re-directed to Rep. Love and inferred that they had spoken about an amendment.

Watch the video

So rather than getting scheduled for a floor vote, Rep. Love offered, seemingly at the behest of Speaker Casada, to move the bill back to House Local Committee to attach an amendment prohibiting college IDs as a valid voter ID — which is already state law.

On April 10 in the Local Committee, Rep. Love thanked committee members and Speaker Casada for allowing him to get the legislation in “proper form.”

While there is no smoking gun where Speaker Casada says he opposed the bill, the parliamentary procedure he appears to have orchestrated killed the bill.

How they voted: House Local Committee, April 10
Representatives voting against the bill (voice vote):
Rep. Dave Wright, R-Corryton, District 19
Rep. Dale Carr, R-Sevierville, District 12
Rep. Mike Carter, R-Ooltewah, District 29
Rep. Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, District 11
Rep. Esther Helton, R-East Ridge, District 30
Rep. Jerome Moon, R-Maryville, District 8
Rep. Bob Ramsey, R-Maryville, District 20
Rep. Rick Tillis, R-Lewisberg, District 92
Rep. Ron Travis, R-Dayton, District 31
Rep. Kent Calfee, R-Kingston, District 32
Rep. John Crawford, R-Kingsport, District 1
Rep. Tim Rudd, R-Murfreesboro, District 34

Democratic members of the committee signaled support for the bill.

Any member may ask the clerk to record their opposition vote when voice votes prevail.

TN Teachers Against Vouchers Calling In Sick To Flood The Capitol Tuesday 4/9

/in , , , /by

(FIRST SEEN ON THE TN ED REPORT… Follow @TNEdReport for more updates)

A Tennessee teacher writes about the education policies that make her sick.

I’m sick.

Sick of my students being over-tested and our schools being underfunded.

Sick of teachers leaving the profession because they are underpaid and undervalued.

Sick of Tennessee being 45th in the nation in per pupil funding.

Sick of being disrespected by a Governor who has proposed increasing state funding for unaccountable charter schools by 100% while only increasing funding for teachers by 2%.

And how I feel is only going to get worse if the state government passes voucher legislation, which will further drain the resources our students need from public schools and hand them over to unaccountable private companies.

That’s why there’s a movement of teachers planning on calling in sick on Tuesday, April 9th to travel to Nashville and flood the capitol.

We plan on letting our state’s politicians know just how sick we are. And we plan on making it clear to them: the war on public education in Tennessee ends now.

I’m a member of the Tennessee Education Association, but I know that there are many in the state leadership who think that collective action is too aggressive and premature. They still believe that we can work amicably with state politicians. I disagree.

Anyone still entertaining that idea should have had a rude awakening last week when Betsy DeVos visited our state and held closed door meetings with privatizers and politicians.

Several months back, when Governor Lee announced his unfortunate choice for the TN Commissioner of Education, I publicly stated that he had declared war on public education. Some may have thought that was a bit dramatic. However, the Governor wouldn’t have invited the most vilified Secretary of Education in history to the state if he didn’t plan on dropping an atomic bomb on public education. His voucher and charter bills are just that.

With the backing of ALEC and Betsy DeVos those devastating bills will pass unless teachers wake up and do something drastic. Millions upon millions of dollars will be drained from public education and siphoned away from our students.

How do I know this? Because it was perfectly ok to have an admitted child predator be the chair of the House Education Committee until he voted against the voucher bill. Only then was he no longer fit to be the chair.

Strong arm tactics are running rampant and the writing is on the wall.

The go-along to get-along approach of the state teachers association, which means working with the enemies of public education, has been a pipe dream for almost a decade, and it’s time for teachers to wake up. All the emailing and phone calls in the world won’t stop politicians bankrolled by billionaires like the Koch brothers and DeVos family from pursuing devastating legislation that hurts our schools, students, and communities.

Over the last year, I have watched educators in one state after another rise up, take their power back, and force legislators to actually represent THEM and not privatizers. It didn’t matter that the strikes were illegal or sick-outs were risky. When educators stick together and have the backing of the community, they can make real change possible. Teachers can take on billionaires and win. They already have in other states.

In my opinion, the only thing that will stop this insanity is for teachers to walk out. Shut it down. Take back our schools. Take back our profession. Do our job……. and fight for our kids.

I hope to see you in the capitol on Tuesday, April 9.

Lauren Sorensen is a second grade teacher at Halls Elementary School in Knox County and a former president of the Knox County Education Association.

CASADA’S NEXT POWER GRAB

/in , /by

Speaker Glen Casada wants control of the staff responsible for providing an “independent” fiscal analysis of legislation and state finances.

The Fiscal Review Committee, created in 1967 to oversee the fiscal operations of the state, was established to provide “independent information concerning the fiscal affairs of the State.”

Under House Bill 1233, the Speakers of the House and Senate take responsibility for hiring the fiscal review executive director and any other position the speakers deem as “necessary” and determining their salaries.

Additionally, the director “serves at the pleasure of the speakers” — meaning the chief can be fired at any time.

The bill would give the speakers unprecedented authority over the agency responsible for determining the price tag for proposed legislation—a factor that can quickly sway the opinions of lawmakers. 

With motivation to keep the boss happy, the director and staff might assign larger price tags to legislation carried by the speakers’ political opponents.

Rep. Rick Tillis (R-Lewisberg) made this point during discussion, clearly pointing out that “control” was the key word in the explanation of the bill.

Control of fiscal notes is power. Power is what Casada seeks.  The last thing we need is to politicize another independent process.

House Bill 1233 is scheduled for a vote in the full House of Representatives on April 10. The senate version of the bill is scheduled to be heard by the Senate State and Local Government Committee on April 9.

Side note: In 2015, Casada sponsored legislation that would allow members to review the documentation that showed the fiscal analysts arrived at their conclusions. It was never voted on. 

How they voted: House Bill 1233, House State Committee on April 2:
Representatives voting for the speakers’ power grab:
Rep. Rush Bricken, R-Tullahoma, District 47
Rep. Rick Eldridge, R-Morristown, District 10
Rep. Andrew Farmer, R-Sevierville, District 17
Rep. Curtis Halford, R-Dyer, District 79
Rep. Bud Hulsey, R-Kingsport, District 2
Rep. Kelly Keisling, R-Byrdstown, District 38
Rep. Justin Lafferty, R-Knoxville, District 89
Rep. Mary Littleton, R-Dickson, District 78
Rep. Bob Ramsey, R-Maryville, District 20
Rep. Bill Sanderson, R-Kenton, District 77 (bill co-sponsor)
Rep. Chris Todd, R-Jackson, District 73

Rep. Bill Beck, D-Nashville, District 51
Rep. Harold Love, Jr., D-Nashville, District 58
Rep. Rick Staples, D-Knoxville, District 15

Representatives voting no were:
Rep. David Hawk, R-Greeneville, District 5
Rep. Jason Powell, D-Nashville, District 53
Rep. Johnny Shaw, D-Bolivar, District 80
Rep. Rick Tillis, R-Lewisberg, District 92

BREAKING: Casada Removes Byrd as Education Sub-Committee Chair

/in , , , , /by

Sometimes, people do the right things for the wrong reasons.

At 10:30 a.m., the Tennessean broke the news Tennessee Speaker of the House Glen Casada had removed Rep. David Byrd as chair of the House Education Subcommittee.

Byrd, of course, is the former girls basketball coach accused by several of his former high school players of sexually assaulting them – some in exchange for court time – in the 1980s. In a taped conversation with Christi Rice, one of the victims, Byrd apologized to her saying he “prays every week” about what he did to her, although he doesn’t give specifics on what he asks forgiveness for.

For months, supporters of Rice and other women involved have been asking Casada to remove Byrd as chair of the committee: It’s a clear slap in the face of education supporters to appoint an accused sexual predator to chair an education committee, but Casada maintained in a taped face-to-face interview with former congressional candidate and Holler editor Justin Kanew: “(Byrd) will do a good job.”


However, today’s removal of Byrd comes one day after the former educator voted against one of Casada and right-wing Governor Bill Lee’s pet projects: Education vouchers.

So, did Casada strip Byrd of his duties because a) the pressure from victim advocates got to him, b) the father of daughters and grandfather of girls finally saw the problem with having a molester as chair of a committee, or c) he wanted retribution for Byrd’s vote?

Casada hasn’t said, but sometimes people do the right thing for the wrong reasons.

Emily Tseffos, leader of Enough is Enough -Tennessee, had this to say:

“This is a good first step but it’s not enough. This campaign will continue until David Byrd is no longer in public office.”

Casada strips Byrd of chairmanship

This is a developing story.

Lee’s Vouchers Pass Committee, DEBERRY The Lone Dem Vote In Favor (again)

/in , , /by

After a lengthy debate, Governor Bill Lee’s pet school vouchers initiative passed the education committee today with 14 votes in favor, 9 against, and 1 – Kirk Haston, a teacher from Lobelville – being recorded as “present not voting”.

Read more

OPINION: “HEADS UP! THIS IS IT.” #Vouchers #Wednesday

/in , , /by

Nashville school board member Amy Frogge talks about a key vote on Governor Bill Lee’s voucher plan — a vote scheduled for Wednesday, March 27th.

First seen on the TN Ed Report. Follow @TNEdReport for more.

HEADS UP, everyone! THIS IS IT. Vouchers will be up for a key vote this coming Wednesday, March 27th, at 8 am in the full House Education Committee, and this is our best chance to stop them in Tennessee. IT IS SUPER IMPORTANT THAT WE ACT NOW.

Here’s information on the bill: HB 939/SB 795 would create a new form of vouchers in Tennessee called Education Savings Accounts (ESAs). ESAs have been described as “vouchers on steroids.”

This proposed legislation is targeted not toward “children trapped in failing schools,” but toward wealthier families, with virtually no regulation or public accountability. Vouchers would be available in any district containing at least three schools in the bottom 10% of schools in the state, but vouchers would be made available to ALL students in that district, including those enrolled in high-performing schools and private schools.

Families making up to around $100,000 per year would be eligible for the voucher, and private schools would not be required to accept the voucher as payment in full. This means that more affluent families with children already enrolled in private schools could use the voucher to help offset their current payments for private school.


It will also allow students to cross county lines with their vouchers, which could wreak havoc on many rural school districts.

Local school districts will have to pay for the bulk of these vouchers. (For example, in Davidson County, the state would pay only about $3,600 toward the cost of the voucher, while Davidson County would be required to pay about $8,100 per voucher.)

On top of this, the state would withhold a 6% management fee for the voucher program. The governor has claimed that a limited amount of funding will be available to school districts to help offset the cost of the vouchers for three years, but this money could be revoked at any time- and worse, vouchers will create ongoing recurring costs that school districts will be unable to cover for an indefinite period of time.

Once the door to vouchers has been opened, it cannot be shut. Under this legislation, vouchers would become an entitlement for upper middle class private school parents and homeschool parents.

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP:

1. We need as many people as possible to attend the hearing. It will be in House Hearing Room 1 of the Cordell Hull Building.

2. Contact members of the committee NOW, and encourage your friends to do so. (Obviously, constituents of these members will make the greatest impact.)

Mark White, Chair 615-741-4415
[email protected]

Kirk Haston, Vice Chair 615-741-0750
[email protected]

Debra Moody 615-741-3774 [email protected]

Charlie Baum 615-741-6849 [email protected]

David Byrd 615-741-2190
[email protected]

Scott Cepicky 615-741-3005
[email protected]

Mark Cochran 615-741-1725
[email protected]

Jim Coley 615-741-8201
[email protected]

John DeBerry, Jr. 615-741-2239 [email protected]

Vincent Dixie 615-741-1997 [email protected]

Jason Hodges 615-741-2043
[email protected]

Chris Hurt 615-741-2134
[email protected]

Tom Leatherwood 615-741-7084 [email protected]

Bill Dunn 615-741-1721 [email protected]

Harold Love, Jr. 615-741-3831
[email protected]

Antonio Parkinson 615-741-4575
[email protected]

John Ragan 615-741-4400
[email protected]

Iris Rudder 615-741-8695
[email protected]

Jerry Sexton 615-741-2534
[email protected]

Kevin Vaughn 615-741-1866
[email protected]

Terri Lynn Weaver 615-741-2192
[email protected]

Ryan Williams 615-741-1875
[email protected]

John Mark Windle 716-741-1260
[email protected]