Friday, January 28, 2005

 

Oh to be a lobbyist


Check out the next to last paragraph. Priceless.

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Monday, January 24, 2005

 

Hill Admits to Wanting to be a Lobbyist!!!

This is about the most amazing quote I have ever heard from a politician. In the Winter 2005 edition of The Business Journal's generatioNEXT magazine Hilly boy makes an admission that should not surprise anyone.

"Hill admits that if he were not a state representative, he would be a lobbyist."

Politicians that admit they want to be lobbyists are not politicans we can trust.

The article also mentions that Hilly boy's daddy lost in his bid to be a representative a few years ago. If you can't win in your own backyard you might as well send your son into someone else's.

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More Lobbyist Garbage in Tennessee

These stories make me sick. What a mess we have in Nashville now.

In Tennessee lobbyists don’t even have to disclose how much they are paid. In 2000 there were 3 lobbyists for every lawmaker in Tennessee. Special interest groups give $8 million to members of the legislature, groups just like those run by Gregory & friends.

In this article, we are told
there are 500 lobbyists for 132 lawmakers in Nashville. That is insane.

I like how our own Mr. Mumpower admits he likes for the lobbyists to tell him how to think. And I think he is the only one who thinks we have strict ethics laws for lawmakers in Tennessee.

If there are too many bills and not enough lawmakers then we need more lawmakers and less lobbyists. Plain and simple.

As a fairly fundamental Christian I try to like Republican candiates, but their unethical behavior makes me want to throw up.

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Tennessee: A Lobbyist's Paradise

Big surprise here. Tennessee is one of the worst states at regulating lobbyists. Interesting that Gregory & friends got called on the carpet at an event they were trying to use to their own advantage. By the way, it makes me sick that Naifeh’s wife is a top lobbyist in Nashville.

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Politics: The Puppet Show of the Rich

Our government is dictated by the highest bidder. I just don’t think true democracy is currently possible in this country. We need much better spending and fund-raising limits for politicians to have a true democracy.

Here are some nice websites, for those interested: www.opensecrets.org, www.followthemoney.org, & www.fec.gov.


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Gregory, King & Friends

Much has already been said about how the Gregory family bankrolls most of the candidates in Northeast Tennessee. However, here are some nice media reports that chronicle actions of the Gregory family and King Pharmaceuticals.
For 2004 to be such a rough year for King, Gregory & friends still donated at least $436,000 to politicians. Probably a lot more. Doesn't look like 2004 hurt them too badly.

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Hilly boy's Idol

I’ve never had much of a problem with Ramsey, mostly because he was not on my radar screen. Here are some interesting tidbits on him that are less than flattering.
This story shows how the political system in Tennessee is screwed up no matter which party you support. Al Gore & the Gregory family should use their money to help people in need, rather than helping manipulative politicians.

I like how Ramsey flat out lies again. He has no shame. And the more I learn about these Republican politicians, the more I am convinced they only claim to be Christians to get votes. They don’t do a good job of convincing people they really are Christians. As long as Ramsey is around there won’t be any campaign finance changes.

Also, Bredesen was smart to not accept Gregory money. They were just trying to trap Bredesen anyway. By the way, Bredesen is one of my least favorite politicians for those of you who just think I am a Democrat.

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Where Hilly boy Lost

I know he won the election, but there were some precincts that he lost. Here they are:

South Side, North Side, Millenium Park.

He barely won at Keystone and Cherokee.

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Monday, January 17, 2005

 

Martin Luther King

On a lighter note, today is the Martin Luther King holiday. I think we can all agree, no matter what our political differences, that he was a great man who fought for the good of the weak (in number, not courage) and the ignored. We should aim to do an act of service for someone else today as a way to honor him. Thanks.

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Sunday, January 16, 2005

 

Post by Reformer


Mr. Special Ed Goes to Nashville

"Good Morning Tri-Cities". Too dad-gum funny.

I count myself as one among the 2,100 or so actual
listeners
to Rep. Matthew Hill's rather weak-minded
"Good MorningTri-Cites" radio show, listening off and on for
several years now to young Mr. Hill "socially
conservative" rants. Hill (much like his other
factually challenged talk radio show hosts at WPWT
870AM) would like you to actually believe that the
entire Tri-Cites Metropolitian Statisical Area
population of approximately 450,000 people will even
bother listening to this "Tower of Truth" tripe churned
out by the Praise the Hill Club.
I must agree with
other bloggers here that it is very unlikely that the
newly sworn Tennessee State Representative Matthew Hill
(R-H7)
will be bringing any original or novel
legislation benefitting the public good before the
Tennessee General Assembly (TGA).

Much like Hill's favorite popular secular recording
artist "Weird AlYankovic" in a political sense, Rep.Hill
fails to possess any extraordinary talent or
demonstrated skill of his own design and device. Nor is
Hill able to choreograph his own careful steps that
will be needed to sheppard his own pin-headed
legislation through the TGA.
Hill's parotting political "genius" --- and do I use
this term loosely --- is nearly identical to the
sub-marginal and posing tactic utilized by Weird Al
within the context of "his" music videos and
recordings: just forget any pretenses of attempting to
exercise any talent or ability, sell'em the
novelty!

The earliest example of this is the bellowing (and now,
according to Rep. Hill's on-air and younger brother
"trademarked"), on-air "Gooooo-ood Moooooring,
Tri-Citiiies..." sign-on with Rep. Hill formely
launched his morning radio assault on Northeast
Tennessee and surrounding areas. Apparently, young
Matthew didn't catch onto the fact that many members of
his morning radio audience had watched comedian Robin
Williams (playing a trully funny enlisted U.S. Armed
Forces radio broadcaster by the name of A2C Adrian
Cronauer who was using his "Gooooo-ood Moooooring
Viet-Naaaam" tag to kick off his radio program being
broadcasted over the "Republic Of " --- or that we knew
that Matthew's radio daddy, Dr. Kenneth C. Hill,
had also "borrowed" that comedy lick unattributed from
Robin Williams.

Seesh, I was even more impressed when "home-fooled"
Rep.Matthew started questioning and harassing his
"public schooled" talk-show callers at one point during
his "Good Morning Tri-Cites" squat by parotting like a
bloated and pill-popping Rush Limbaugh with his
dull-toned and patronizing taunt: "Let me explain
[this issue] so that even a public school student could
understand it..."


Apparently, Hill couldn't “hack it” as a student within
the public schools, so he championed home schooling on
his former radio show to the extreme extent that he
would insult his callers for being public school
graduates. However, Matthew had to drop this line of
attack on his callers after he let it slip during one
of his "Good Morning Tri-Cities" radio programs that he
was formerly a "...special ed math student" within the
public school system.

I wonder what will happen when Rep. Hill finds out that
he can't hack it as a member of the Tennessee General
Assembly? To borrow another tag line from the motion
picture "Good Morning Viet Nam":

The wrong man. In the wrong place. At the right
time.


Too da** funny...in 2004, a majority of Washington
County voters looking toward sending a 7th District
house member in Nashville in order to both help balance
the Tennessee state budget and to make thoughful
contributions toward addressing the collection of
Tennessee tax revenues have instead elected to send the
posing "Mr. Special Ed" to Nashville.

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Deception is the name of the game.

If you have the time, check out the Leitner (Gregory owned)
Pharmaceutical Building at 340 Edgemont in Bristol,
Tennessee sometime.

340 Edgemont is the political epicenter of Washington
County political activity, as the Leitner Building is
not only the home to SJ Strategic Investments, Inc. and
SJ Travel --- 340 Edgemont Avenue is also the physical
adress of the following persons and groups:

Tenn. Conservative PAC;
State of Franklin PAC;
501 (c)(3) non-profit Appalachian Education
Communications Corporation;
for profin Information Communications Corporation;
Rep. Matthew Hill;
State of Franklin PAC President Kenneth C. Hill;
State of Franklin PAC Treasurer "Bud" Branscomb;
Tenn. Conservative PAC Treasurer Jim Holcomb, and;
many campaign contributors tied to the Gregory name.

Obviously, the 7th District doesn't know what is best for itself.

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Rusty, David & Hop-along-Cassidy

Where they are, he is sure to follow.

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That's what we get

What do you know, old Hilly boy is on a total of zero committees (unless I am mistaken). This is what happens when you elect a freshman representative who can't even grow facial hair.

Amendment- According to Hilly boy, he is on two committees (far fewer than Patton was on). One of those is the Committee on Transportation. This is hardly surprising since a 7th District Republican told me that Summers-Taylor people also contributed to Hill's campaign. If you haven't noticed Summers-Taylor seems to get every highway paving job in the Tri-Cities area, as though they had connections or something.

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Gomer Pyle Speaks

Maybe it is just me, but Hilly boy's quote here sure doesn't make him sound intelligent.

“I think tourism is one of the many bright spots that we have in Washington County. We’ve got Tennessee’s oldest town, the Centre at Millennium Park, ETSU … Goodness gracious, we’ve got a lot going for us in Washington County.”


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A lot of good that did.

We were told that if we elected Hill, then Naifeh would not be elected House Speaker again. Well, that wasn't true.

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What they think is what I think.

Every time I hear him speak I just have a hard time believing he is his own person. I have a feeling we are in for a whole lot of "I promise to do what Rusty & David tell me to do."

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Saturday, January 08, 2005

 

Outsider

Let's start from the beginning. First, Hilly boy moves to Washington County about 6-8 months before the election. He came here from Sullivan County. While continuing to work for his father, whom he has worked for his entire professional life he opened a coffee shop in Jonesborough. Having been by numerous times and noticing that there are hardly any customers this has to be a front for gaining credibility. Most would not be surprised if the business is losing money and being covered by Hilly boy's dad or special friends.

Those special friends include the Gregory family of King pharmaceutical fame. Over 90% of Hilly boy's contributions came from them, and over 95% of his contributions came from the Kingsport/Sullivan County area. It is interesting that in the election Hilly boy was late filing his contribution info, perhaps because he knew how bad it looked. And though the Gregory family has cashed out of King, it is not like that company was a shining light of integrity in 2004. I also have to wonder just how hard Hilly boy will fight for lower drug costs for the lower income citizens of Washington County. My bet is he won't fight one iota for us. He can't bite the hand that feeds him can he?

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Mum's the word

Well, Hilly boy had his town hall meeting for Jonesborough. And in typical fashion most of us found out about after it occurred. Maybe it was a mistake, but if there is any group Hilly boy does not want to hear from it is the voters nearest to Johnson City. What a great start to 2005 Willie Stark!
It has actually been fun watching Hilly boy be such a professional all of this time.

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Willie Stark or Hilly boy? What's the difference?

Once the local paper quoted Hilly boy as saying that he had aligned himself with President Bush.

There are many people in the 7th Distric who have chosen to align with President Bush, but do not align with Hill.

Hill lived in Sullivan County for 24&1/2 of his 25 years and has run two mud-slinging campaigns in a row. What is most troubling to voters is his lack of qualifications. His website (as of the election in November, 2004) mentions that he has been endorsed by four organizations and even given an award by one. However, none of these organizations endorsed him for anything he did; they adopted Hill because he promised to toe their party lines.

It is amazing that in a democracy someone can be elected for saying what political action committees want to hear and not for actually accomplishing a thing. Hill has about as many orignal ideas in his head as he has whiskers on his face.

The fact that the 7th District elected Hilly boy makes me wonder if there can really be any faith in the voting process of the 7th District.
If you have not read Robert Penn Warren's book "All The King's Men" you need to. It looks like all we have in Matthew Hill is another Willie Stark.

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The Tennessee Right to Life and Hilly boy

Again, I am against abortion. Read the first right to life post. However, I do not support unethical behavior by anti-abortionists.

Though Brian Harris might have good intentions, I beleive he is gearing up to run for the Tennessee Senate soon. His main reason for endorsing Hilly boy was not that Patton supported abortion, but that Patton was not militantly enough against abortion. And Hilly boy just said whatever Harris wanted to hear.

Again, it is fine with me that Patton got defeated. But it is not fine that Harris will not tell the truth. He and his lobbyist pushed the Right to Life license plate bill to the Tennessee House. The proceeds from the sale of these plates were going to support an organization that helps pregnant women seek adoption. All of this is great and good. However, the mailing address for the organization was exactly the same as the Tennessee Right to Life's address. To abortion supporters this looked like nothing more than a front and a trick for the TRTL to get taxpayer money. Patton saw this and knew that abortion supporters would just get their own plate and/or sue the state of Tennessee with the ACLU to stop the plate.

Harris could not stand that Patton would not fly full steam ahead into guaranteed failure. And what is going on now? The state of Tennessee is tied up in a lawsuit with the ACLU over the plate. And guess who is paying for this lawsuit? You and I. You would think all the rabid anti-tax groups, of which supposedly Hilly boy is a part of, would put their foot down. But nope, that's not what Harris commanded.

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Northeast Tennessee Right to Life and Hilly boy

Before you go nuts first let me say that I am against abortion. I cannot stand Roe v. Wade and I don't understand why a "Bible belt" state is so supportive of abortion. However, that does not mean that I find every action of anti-abortionists ethical.

The Northeast Tennessee Right to Life, led by Michelle Gantz, decided to endorse Hilly boy instead of Patton in the 7th District primary. That is certainly her right, but it is interesting that they both are from Sullivan County, which is not the 7th District.

When Michelle was called and asked why she had dropped Patton her reply was that I needed to call the lobbyist for the Tennessee Right to Life in Nashville. She (the lobbyist) worked with Patton and could tell me what I needed to know. Again, I don't have a problem with someone dropping Patton. But I do have a problem when someone does not know why they do things. Nashville said to endorse Hilly boy so that is what they did. This was an example of the tail wagging the dog and Hilly boy was sitting in the background benefitting from it all.

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Outsider part II

When the primary elections came along for the 7th District Hilly boy aligned himself with outsiders, which of course is what he is.

First let me say one thing. I don't have a problem with Bob Patton getting defeated. He committed political suicide in Tennessee by voting for consideration of an income tax. And I also think he probably got complacent after serving for 10 years and being on lots of committees. And I would not have a problem with Hilly boy defeating him if Hilly boy had stood as his own man.

However, Hilly boy teamed up with the Tennessee Forum, which ran ads pointing out Patton's tax vote. This group was comprised of wealthy Nashville residents and even one Alabaman. These are the same type of people who committed terrorist acts by throwing rocks at the state capitol when the income tax debate was the hottest. And Hilly boy made it clear before the primaries were even held that he was going to represent the interests of those outside of Washington County.

And during that campaign Hilly boy quoted Patton as saying he did not return emails. What Hilly boy did not say is that the context of the quote was Patton talking about the way PACs and special interest groups harrassed him. He did not return their emails because they were not citizens of the 7th District. The reason Hilly boy was practicing deception is because the groups are the very people he aims to serve. I am sure that Patton probably could have communicated better with citizens, but the quote that Hilly boy used was taken out of context. I thought they taught that lying was a sin in Sunday school.

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Thursday, January 06, 2005

 

The lovely Matthew Hill

This blog serves to uncover the truth about Matthew Hill. This deceptor of the 7th District of Tennessee is pulling the wool over the eyes of the very few people who did vote in Washington County. I intend to make the truth known.

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