If you do not currently receive emails with the Crockett Policy Institutes CPI Buzz news articles, you might consider sending a request to be added to the mailing list by using this link: visitor.r20.constantcontact/manage/optin/ea?v=001v5BRavw6TXYJ7owlgNEE7A%3D%3D The CPI Buzz issues articles of interest to Tennesseans and is a great way to stay informed without the need to access multiple web sites or newspapers every day. Below are the articles sent by email today: CPI Buzz The War On The Poor The way the program to provide the poor with the bare minimum of daily nutrition has been handled is a metaphor for how the far right in the House is systematically trying to take down the federal government. The Tea Party radicals and those who either fear or cultivate them are now subjecting the food-stamp program to the same kind of assault they have unleashed on other settled policies and understandings that have been in place for decades. Breaking all manner of precedents on a series of highly partisan votes, with the Republicans barely prevailing, the House in September slashed the food-stamp program by a whopping $39 billion and imposed harsh new requirements for getting on, or staying on, the program. The point was to deny the benefit to millions. Click Here For More Sen. Lamar Alexander Has A Challenger Terry Adams, a Navy veteran, entrepreneur and attorney, announced today that he has filed to run as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate in 2014. After getting strong encouragement from a wide range of people around Tennessee, I have decided to enter this race, Adams said. We think the time is right for someone with a unique profile to run and win this seat and to serve Tennessee. Adams continued, Washington is broken and we are not going to fix it by sending back the same people responsible for breaking it in the first place. Adams noted that if we had more small business owners and military veterans in Washington that common sense might prevail over out-of-control gridlock and brinksmanship. Click Here For More The governor is making businesslike decisions on selecting judges Gov. Bill Haslam may be fairly faulted on occasion - well, actually on a fairly regular basis - as seemingly prone to prognostication, vacillation and general decision dodging. But he does seem to have an overall agenda, which may be simplistically summarized as promotion of business interests, and sometimes the apparent dearth of boldness may be a display of his knack for methodically dealing with complex policy matters in businesslike fashion. An evolving case in point is the governors handling of what amounts to a crisis in the state system for selecting judges of the state Supreme Court and appeals courts. Its a crisis the general electorate hasnt noticed, but one that has generated obsessive attention from influential minorities - on one hand lawyers and judges who are understandably alarmed at upsetting the status quo that their professional lives depend upon and, on the other, a few legislators and conservative activists who reasonably contend the status quo violates our state constitution and citizen voting rights. Haslam has eased gingerly into this minefield, the major footstep being last weeks establishment, through an executive order, of a panel that will recommend names of qualified lawyers to him for appointment to the states highest judicial offices. That followed another recent step in diplomatically asking for, and receiving, a formal attorney generals opinion saying he has authority to appoint judges with or without a Judicial Nominating Commission. Click Here For More From Tom Humphrey JLL Deal Called Serious Conflict Of Interest Theres new evidence that a big corporation found more ways to make money off of taxpayers than many knew. Jones Lang Lasalle was the big company that the Haslam administration put in charge of the states buildings. JLL, as its known, has insisted that its saving taxpayers a lot of money. But our investigation discovered that every time a state agency makes a big move based on JLLs advice, the company also makes a lot of money. Were moving people around just so JLL can make money, said state Rep. Sherry Jones, D-Nashville. In fact, what our investigation discovered inside invoices submitted by JLL had Jones questioning whos watching out for taxpayers. If I was gonna make a half a million, a million dollars on each one of those recommendations, I could make a lot of money real fast, she added. So its a conflict of interest? we asked. Oh, its a serious conflict of interest -- serious. Take, for example, JLLs recommendation that the state demolish the Cordell Hull state office building and sell off four other state buildings. The company not only got paid for that advice, but the State Building Commission has already approved commissions of $2.7 million for JLL to negotiate just five leases for new space. Click Here For More If you wont do it for the poor, do it for the hospitals Our hospitals - and I know it is harder to identify with the image of a struggling hospital than a struggling Tennessean - but theyve been put in a very difficult position by the Affordable Care Act. They are losing many of the funds which they received to provide healthcare for our states indigent. While many hospitals can survive this, I am convinced that several of our hospitals will be left in an impossible situation and will not survive this transition.Some of our communities - rural and urban - could very well lose their community hospital. So said Governor Bill Haslam on March 27, 2013, when he addressed the General Assembly. During this speech, he proposed a Tennessee Plan, but scant details were mentioned in this speech, which is the only Tennessee Plan reference I could find on the internet. Last month at a meeting of Nashville Organized for Action and Hope, Gordon Bonnyman of the Tennessee Justice Center told the Health Care breakout group that three of the governors provisions can never meet Federal approval. Haslams desire to buy insurance for the poor on the Health Care Exchange is just fine, but he wants to avoid paying for patient transportation or certain screenings. Further, he wants the poor to put out some money up front. Click Here For More From Catherine Hill
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 18:04:57 +0000
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