TCPR Unearths Damaging Memo On Anna Belle Clement O’Brien
Posted on April 3, 2009 at 1:35 pmFrom a presser:
On Monday, former State Senator Anna Belle Clement O’Brien is scheduled to receive the 2009 Humanitarian Leadership Award in a ceremony to be attended by Tennessee’s political elite. The Tennessee Center of Policy Research (TCPR) is releasing an FBI file today that raises questions about whether O’Brien should receive this distinguished award.
The sister of a Tennessee governor and the aunt of a U.S. Congressman, O’Brien is known to many as the “First Lady of Tennessee Politics.” O’Brien was the first woman to serve in the General Assembly as a committee chairwoman.
But according to FBI files obtained by TCPR through the Freedom of Information Act, O’Brien potentially deserves another title: corrupt.
UPDATE: Tom Humphrey calls out Drew Johnson for this “cheap shot.”
GQ Drew Stands By His Story That Gore’s House Was Lit During Earth Hour
Posted on March 30, 2009 at 10:44 am
From the President of the Tennessee Center of Policy Research in response to Al Gore’s spokeswoman’s assertion that the Gore’s did observe Earth Hour to the letter:
I have time-stamped pictures of the floodlights illuminating Al Gore’s driveway entrance and several trees between 8:40-9:00pm during “Earth Hour,” which is certainly an inconvenient truth for Mr. Gore.
As I said to my friends on my Facebook page (how amusing is it that a Note on my Facebook page is making national news?), the floodlights that usually light up the outside of Mr. Gore’s mansion were dark and most of his inside lights appeared off. But many of his windows were lit with a blue-ish glow that is usually the result of a TV screen or computer monitor.
I understand that when you consume nearly 20 times more electricity than the average American, you can spend all day turning off your lights and still miss a few. I’m sure this was the case for Mr. Gore.
Since this was a Note of my Facebook page and not an official press release, I encourage Mr. Gore to take up any complaints or disputes on the Wall of my Facebook page where it can be appropriately discussed.
Al Gore Responds To Earth Hour Accusations
Posted on at 8:54 amKalee Kreider, a spokeswoman for Al Gore, issued this statement in response to accusations that the Gore’s did not observe Earth Hour:
The Gores honored Earth Hour by shutting off the lights at their residence. The heating and air conditioning were turned off as well. But more importantly, the Gores live in a Gold LEED certified home, powered by geothermal power. They have undergone renovations to put solar panels on the roof and participate in all of the renewable power programs offered by their local utility. They aren’t perfect, no family is, but they do their best, year-round to try to make a difference at home and across the country to make a difference on the climate crisis.
Asked if this meant that the Gore’s were asserting that Drew Johnson was mistaken about seeing lights on at the residence, Kreider responded, “Correct.”
UPDATE: Drew Johnson stands by his story.
Oh, Good Lord
Posted on January 21, 2009 at 3:57 pmDrew Johnson sounds like he’s seriously considering a run for Governor.
The Libertarian Underground
Posted on at 9:01 amA movement begins to get right-wing think tanker Drew Johnson to make a run for Governor.
You’re Nothing But A Lot Of Talk And A Driver
Posted on January 14, 2009 at 12:33 pmLibertarian think tanker Drew Johnson on Speaker Kent Williams:
“They went to Kent Williams and said, ‘Listen, you’ll make three times more money, you’ll have a driver from Carter County…so that’s what it was all about; Kent has no principles, no nothing, now he has $70,000 and has a driver.”
MORE: Jeff Woods
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The Drew Johnson Amendment
Posted on December 17, 2008 at 2:10 pmThe Office of Open Records Counsel met today with its advisory committee to help shape policy to deal with folks who make frequent and multiple requests for public records:
Under the policy, records custodians may assess a fee for any labor reasonably necessary to produce the request after one hour. Requests for items that are routinely released and readily accessible, such as agendas or minutes, are exempt from the policy.
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Those Right Wingers And Their Deficit Spending
Posted on August 7, 2008 at 1:16 pmThe Brainstem doesn’t see how the Tennessee Center For Policy Research can gripe about the financial solvency of First Lady Andrea Conte when they themselves are no stranger to getting behind on their bills:
The venture, to sell leaves from around the Governor’s mansion dipped in gold for $25 bucks a pop, got off to a good start but has since puttered out. But what is interesting, is that while Drew Johnson criticizes Conte for not being financially solvent with her non-profit venture; his own venture is having trouble staying in the black.
According to financial disclosure forms (pdf) obtained from Goldstar.com, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research operated in 2006 with a net loss of over 23K dollars…nearly 13K more than Andrea Conte has come up short on her effort to pay for restorations of the Governor’s mansion. Of course, its gotta be expensive to pay someone to sit in front of Al Gore’s electric meter 24/7, so its understandable why they might be a little light on cash.
UPDATE: Drew Johnson points out that while TCPR did run a deficit that year, they also started the year with some $28,000 in the bank. So while they did go 23K in the hole, they had that money in the bank to make it up leaving them some $5,000 in the bank.
SEE ALSO: Drew Johnson on the radio.
GQ Drew Gives Nashville The Shaka
Posted on August 6, 2008 at 12:04 pmDrew Johnson of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, Nashville’s premiere libertarian think tank, most famous for its Al Gore exposes, hot air balloon rides, fine art purchases in addition to their more scholarly endeavors, has hired a brand new Executive Vice President, Mr. Shaka Mitchell:
“Shaka is known in the free market community for his vigorous defense of individual liberty. We are excited that he is bringing that commitment to protecting and expanding freedom to Tennessee,” said Drew Johnson, President of TCPR. “His thoughtful and principled advocacy of individual rights is a welcome addition to TCPR where, on a daily basis, we fight to prevent government abuse of the public trust and citizens’ rights.”
Drew Johnson Is Full Of….
Posted on July 24, 2008 at 12:04 pmFor fans and non-fans of the crew down at the Tennessee Center for Policy Research tonight may yield some interesting television — if you have the full array of channels.
GQ Drew, in a segment taped last October, will appear on a new episode of Penn & Teller: Bull****! tonight at 9pm on Showtime to discuss the threats to his and his staff’s person’s in the wake of their reporting on Al Gore’s energy consumption.
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All In Good Fun
Posted on July 23, 2008 at 7:04 amInvestigative reporter Phil Williams has more shenanigans from a weeklong training session for employees of the state’s Department of Revenue:
Then, there’s video that shows revenue staffers dancing at what appears to be a funeral.
“We apparently have a dead taxpayer and a grieving widow — and these people dancing around to a 50 Cent song,” Johnson observes.
“Go. Go. Go, money.
It’s your tax day.
We’re gonna party.
Like it your tax day.”“Is this what the department of revenue thinks of us, the taxpayers?” Johnson asks. “We die and maybe they should audit our family and see if they can get more money?”
Commissioner Farr says, “I think most of this was done in fairly good fun.”
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Further Refutation Of Al Gore’s Alleged Energy Guzzle
Posted on June 18, 2008 at 7:54 amFurther response from Al Gore spokeswoman Kalee Kreider on the assertions of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research that despite rennovations Al Gore’s Belle Meade home is still guzzling energy at an alarming rate:
I am happy to provide more information about this from the Gores’ perspective. First, this release yesterday are a mere re-release of old bills. If any of you have ever worked with contractors, you know that renovations take years. The Gores renovated a 80 year old house from stem to stern. This took about 3 years to go through all the ducwork, to install a geothermal system, to replace all the windows, to put in solar panels (which used to be illegal in Bellemeade and took 6 months to reverse).
So, to be clear, the Gores’ achieved Gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification in November 2007. The reduction in the electricity and natural gas bills–you need to look at both in order to truly evaluate their carbon footprint, really kicked in in 2008. At that point, evaluating both, there is about a 40 percent reduction.
Their natural gas bill has seen the biggest reduction as a result of the geothermal system. For electricity, they purchase green power through their utility, which is called “Green Power Switch.” It isn’t an offset, any customer can purchase green power (solar, wind, methane gas) and its a wonderful program.
MORE: Kay Brooks
Renovating The Image: Gore’s House Steady Guzzlin’
Posted on June 17, 2008 at 3:26 pmThe boys over at the Tennessee Center For Policy Research celebrates a over a year of dining out over exposing Al Gore’s electric bills by exposing that, after extensive renovations, the house still consumes an inordinate amount of electricity:
After the Tennessee Center for Policy Research exposed Gore’s massive home energy use, the former Vice President scurried to make his home more energy-efficient. Despite adding solar panels, installing a geothermal system, replacing existing light bulbs with more efficient models, and overhauling the home’s windows and ductwork, Gore now consumes more electricity than before the “green” overhaul.
Since taking steps to make his home more environmentally-friendly last June, Gore devours an average of 17,768 kWh per month –1,638 kWh more energy per month than before the renovations – at a cost of $16,533. By comparison, the average American household consumes 11,040 kWh in an entire year, according to the Energy Information Administration.
UPDATE 6:15: Gore spokeswoman Kalee Kreider takes issue with the TCPR release:
Kreider pointed out that the renovations weren’t complete until November, so it’s a bit early to be attempting before-and-after comparisons. In addition, the Gores participate in the Nashville Electric Service’s Green Power Switch Program, which allows them to buy their electricity from renewable sources like wind power, solar power or methane gas from landfills (the house’s 33 solar panels only supply 4 percent of its power needs, per Kreider.) So any energy they burn won’t be burning them a bigger carbon footprint.
SEE ALSO:
Mens News Daily
The Nashville City Paper
Grantham Is Talking
Stop the ACLU
Jennifer Peebles
Terry Frank
Bill Hobbs
Mike Slater
Webutante
Kay Brooks
Stacey Campfield
The Guerilla Women
Tennessean
Some Expensive Emails
Posted on May 27, 2008 at 7:35 amDrew Johnson of the Tennessee Center For Policy Research is once again knee deep in a controversy over open records requests:
Revenue officials gave Mr. Johnson a choice. Department employees could go through the e-mails themselves for free, or the state’s Office for Information Resources could do it at a cost of $3,201 for each day of correspondence, they said.
“The issue here, of course is that if someone has an embarrassing term … on their computer, they’re not going to just turn it over. They would delete the e-mail,” said Mr. Johnson, who heads up the Nashville-based anti-tax group. “The only way to have an external person check e-mails to ensure that every e-mail is actually turned over is through an electronic master tape.”
Sophie Moery, a spokeswoman for the Revenue Department, said the Office for Information Resources sets the price. She said officials made sure to offer Mr. Johnson the option of getting information for free.
“We certainly would not want to leave him with the only option of an expensive search,” she said.
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Always Be Closing
Posted on May 18, 2008 at 1:35 pmDrew Johnson of the Tennessee Center For Policy Research bolsters his non-partisan credentials by coming out strongly against the House Republican Caucus closed meeting last week:
“Tennessee really has a history of a sort of smoke-filled back room mentality. That’s where deals are done and this really reeks of that,” said Drew Johnson, president of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, a government watchdog group.
He said House Republicans pulled the same thing last year.
“These people, after all, are public servants,” Johnson said. “They are here to serve you and me. There’s nothing that they should be discussing that they can discuss to us as voters, as taxpayers.”
House Republicans have little to say about what happened last night.
State law said that legislative bodies can close meetings, but only to discuss matters of national or state security or to consider an impeachment investigation. The law is unclear regarding caucus meetings.
House Republicans did not break any laws by closing off the caucus meeting to media.
Knock Me Over With A Feather
Posted on May 13, 2008 at 11:15 amThe Tennessee Center For Policy Research comes out in opposition to the Bredesen administration’s “technical corrections” bill:
The Tennessee Center for Policy Research condemns an intrusive $30.3 million tax increase proposed Monday by the Tennessee Department of Revenue. The proposal, known as the “technical corrections bill,” taxes gym memberships and complimentary hotel breakfasts, as well as iTunes and other media downloads. Further, the bill recommends a $15 million tax on commercial rents collected by family-owned, non-corporate entities, which were previously untaxed in Tennessee.
“The Department of Revenue claims the technical corrections bill isn’t a tax increase, but that’s ridiculous,” said Tennessee Center for Policy Research President Drew Johnson. “Thirty million dollars won’t fall from the sky, it’ll come out of the pockets of hard working Tennesseans.”
Live By The Code
Posted on May 8, 2008 at 10:24 amMatt Pulle does a bit of court and code sleuthing after the Bredesen administration seemed to balk a bit at handing over correspondence over the Bredesen Bunker issue to the Tennessee Center For Policy Research:
Interestingly, the governor’s stance on emails ignored the one-time counsel of the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office. Frank Gibson, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government and a former editor at The Tennessean, says that an attorney at the AG’s office once warned state lawmakers not to put anything in an email they wouldn’t want to run on a billboard on West End Avenue. But now the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office is arguing for secrecy, citing an obscure 2005 case involving the—you guessed it—Giles Board of Education.
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Tennessee First Lady Andre Conte Slams “Partisan Hacks” In Uncovered Bunker Era Memorandum
Posted on May 7, 2008 at 3:48 pmMatt Pulle, with an assist from GQ Drew and Big T, uncovers some interesting correspondence from our First Lady during the height of the Bredesen Bunker era:
“I know Mr. Johnson has some interesting conspiracy theories, but I think this time he’s really grasping at straws,” says Bredesen spokeswoman Dana Coleman. “The reality is that his request was a fairly sweeping one that involved searching for files held in three different places.”
That may be true—the center is known for its rather cumbersome requests—but surely the administration wanted to keep at least one email under wraps for as long as possible. In December, Conte, who has been the public face of the project, sent a note to state architect Mike Fitts. Here Conte—who is referred to as “FL,” for first lady, in many administration emails—comes off as part Cruella de Vil, part Christian motivational speaker as she encourages Fitts to continue touting the project in the face of bitter criticism.
“You are doing a magnificent job of deflecting hits and correcting erroneous information regarding Conservation Hall,” the FL writes. “This is an innovative design and a long time coming—what a shame partisan political hacks have targeted the project out of meanness of spirit and selfishness.”
Conte concludes her note with a hearty dose of good cheer.
“Keep a song in your heart and a smile on your face” the FL assures Fitts. “We will prevail.”
SEE ALSO: Bill Hobbs
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