TN SUMNER COUNTY COMMISSIONER CALLS LOCAL TEA PARTY A HATE GROUP Anonymous (2014) During an interview on live radio last week, Sumner County Commissioner and Hendersonville Alderman Paul Goode twice referred to our local tea party group, Sumner United for Responsible Government, as a hate group, a derogatory term generally reserved for violent organizations that target people based on race, religion or other personal characteristics. Goode made the statements during a July 24th political discussion with hosts Jim Butler and Bonnie Fussell on WQKR’s “Good Morning, Portland”. Listen to the MP3 audio here [1:07] We have called on Goode to make a public apology. We understand that emotions get heated during elections, but accusing us of being a hate group can never be acceptable, especially coming from an elected official. With that statement he has wrongly maligned hundreds of our members and thousands of other Sumner County citizens who identify with the Tea Party and our principles of constitutionally-limited government and fiscal responsibility. The statements can be heard at WQKR Online (WQKR) On-Demand during the 8AM hour of the July 24 “Good Morning, Portland”. At about 23 minutes in, Paul Goode says, “You know Courtney [Rogers] is that SURG Tea Party, that, you know, super hate group, that stands, we don’t know anything they’re for, we know everything they’re against, and that’s their candidate.” A minute later, referring to the choice to vote in the Democrat or Republican primary, Goode says, “If your interest is in that [Democrat] executive committee race and you vote in the Democrat primary, you can’t vote against that SURG hate group Courtney Rogers. THE GOP ESTABLISHMENTS NEW PLAN: JOIN WITH DEMOCRATS TO GET RID OF THE TEA PARTY During the same radio interview where County Commissioner/Hendersonville Alderman Paul Goode called Sumner United a hate group, he and the two hosts do their best to let all the Democrats know to vote in the Republican Primary. Listen to this 7-minute clip where Paul Goode (R) repeatedly attacks State Representative Courtney Rogers and then, with the help of the two hosts who appear to be Democrats, not-so-subtly encourages all the Democrat listeners to vote in the Republican Primary so they can vote against that SURG hate group Courtney Rogers. More of the interview can be heard here. We have seen these types of tactics over and over again. In previous years it was just a single disgruntled Establican who lost their power in a primary and so endorsed the Democrat against the conservative Republican nominee that defeated them, or they switched parties altogether in their pursuit to keep power (Arlen Specter, Charlie Crist). Now we are seeing more and more that the Republican establishment from the local to the federal level are actively joining with Democrats to defeat the conservative grassroots candidates in a dangerous and dead-end path to maintain their own power and political connections. It happened in Mississippi last month, and now it is happening in Sumner County, Williamson County, and all over Tennessee. Maybe this is why Bill Haslam, Lamar Alexander, and the Tennessee Republican Party are quietly opposed to closing the primaries. Fortunately for the moment the Sumner County GOP is lead by several people who are conservative and want the Republican Party to grow and welcome everyone who shares Republican principles, including Tea Partiers. But clearly the displaced establishment types are still working to purge the Tea Party and anybody who refuses to condemn the Tea Party. ANONYMOUS MAILERS TARGET CONSERVATIVES IN GOP STATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE RACES During the last couple weeks Republicans living in our area and in other districts where conservatives and grassroots activists are running for seats on the Tennessee State Republican Party Executive Committee have received mailers supporting establishment candidates and accusing the conservative challengers of wanting to take away the ability for people to vote in primaries. The conservatives running for the Tennessee GOP Executive Committee that are being targeted are largely members of Tea Party, 9.12, and other conservative and activist groups. One such mailer went out opposing our current Sumner United President Ruth Fennell and conservative Chris Hughes, who is not a member of the Tea Party but whose wife has been a correspondent for the Tea Party News Network and has appeared on many national news programs. Both are running for their respective State Executive Committee seats. The mailers are supporting their opponents - Melissa Gay, who makes it well known how much she despises the Tea Party, and Baker Ring. The mailers have come from the Strong and Free PAC, registered to a PO Box, and have been completely anonymous until paperwork was finally sent to the state recently, but still without the filing fee being paid and still no such paperwork has been filed with the county election commission as required by law.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 04:19:34 +0000
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