Hilly Boy's Deception (as in the Lovely Tennessee Rep. Matthew Hill)

Well, I knew it wouldn't take him very long to give us more fuel for Todd Smith's campaign. Matty has made headlines for his deception and disrespect to his fellow lawmakers by trying to add his useless English only law to a bill about septic tanks, of all things. Here are some gems:

“I fail to see how English as a second language has anything to do with septic tanks,” said Rep. Brenda Gilmore (D-Nashville), who sponsored the septic tank legislation.

...House Majority Leader Gary Odom (D-Nashville) said the GOP amendment, which Odom says Hill added Thursday morning and never told Gilmore about, showed a lack of respect to Gilmore.

“To me, that has a lot to say about the seriousness of the amendment’s sponsor,” Odom said. “Now we can do this, we can play these games for the next few weeks that we’re going to be in session, and that’s going to make the days a lot longer and a lot harder.”

While that story came from Nashville, The Bristol Herald Courier , Hill's hometown paper, had this to say:

THUMBS DOWN TO: Legislative bait-and-switch - State Rep. Matthew Hill’s sneaky maneuver to tack an English-in-the-workplace measure on to an unrelated bill dealing with sewage systems is disappointing, but not surprising. Hill, R-Jonesborough, has a history of placing a higher priority on partisan politics than on actually governing. His effort was thwarted on a 51-46 vote.

...No doubt, this disappointed Hill. But the manner in which he attempted to revive the English-only measure runs counter to the premise of open, transparent government. The sponsor of the sewage system bill didn’t learn about Hill’s amendment until her bill reached the floor, nor was the amendment offered as the bill made its long and winding journey through the state’s Byzantine system of committees and subcommittees.

Rep. Jason Mumpower, R-Bristol and part of the House Republican leadership, gave his approval to Hill’s end-run around the normal legislative process. Mumpower noted that lawmakers sometimes must "make decisions on the fly" in order to handle matters important to their constituents. In other words, the ends justify the means.

We disagree. In this instance, Hill and Mumpower, by his assent, made a mockery of the legislative process – attempting to exploit it for political ends. Given that this is an election year, we expect more of the same.

Once again, Hill's actions make the Tri-Cities look like a joke. I don't know why Hill hasn't been very good at directing more roads money our way. It certainly couldn't have anything to do with the way he needlessly ticks people off while trying to pass bills that help no one at all.

Labels: brenda gilmore, bristol herald courier, johnson city, matthew hill, mumpower, septic tanks, Todd Smith, washington county

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Well, luckily Bob Patton has withdrawn in a move to bolster Todd Smith's chances of sending Matthew Hill packing. All I can say is Thank You. With the support of Bob's friends, Smith should have more of the votes now, but he definitely can't take it for granted. He'll have to work extra hard since Hill doesn't have a real job.

In other news, according to Tennessee.gov's online campaign finance info, Matthew Hill has received $24,500 in donations for the current campaign, and $18,050 (more than 2/3) came from outside the 7th District. More than $10,000 of that came from the Gregorys alone. In addition, Hill spent $4,100 of his campaign money with groups outside of the 7th district, quite a bit more than he spent in the district. Not surprising, really.

Here are the links to this info.

Labels: 7th District, bob pattton, johnson city, matthew hill, Todd Smith, washington county

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Well, Todd Smith is already giving Matty Hill a run for his money by knocking on doors in early April. He happened to knock on the door of Matt's official blogger and her only complaint is that Smith has support from a wide range of people in the 7th District. I guess she is disappointed that Smith is not like Hill, a Sullivan Countian being funded by Sullivan Countians. I'll take a native over a carpet bagger, so my vote is still for Smith.

Labels: johnson city, matthew hill, Todd Smith, washington county

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Well, after this recent Johnson City Press article, it's pretty clear that Bob Patton needs to step aside and let Todd Smith clean Matthew Hill's clock. Otherwise, Bob will be helping the Sullivan County kid who beat him by spreading lies about Patton. I would think the last thing septuagenarian Patton would want to do is help kid clueless.

I also thought this quote by Smith was pretty funny:

“Bob Patton was a good representative, but in today’s environment when you have a lot of people unsatisfied with the incumbent, it clogs things up,”

There are definitely a lot of people fed up with Hill.

Labels: bob patton, johnson city, matthew hill, Todd Smith, washington county

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