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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The Tennessee Pork Report: The Soft Launch
Posted on April 22, 2008 at 6:47 amSome forty hours before its official release during an 11am press conference this Wednesday, “GQ” Drew Johnson and Trent Seibert of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research have released their discoveries on waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer funds in their 2008 Pork Report to their friends on Facebook.
See the report in all its PDF glory here.
Personal Health Accounts
Posted on April 21, 2008 at 2:24 pmRep. Brian Kelsey and Drew Johnson of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research will be speaking before the Health and Human Services committee regarding HB1231, which requires the Commissioner of Finance and Administration to seek a new federal waiver or an amendment to the TennCare waiver in order to implement a personal health accounts program according to the House Republican Caucus.
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