November 2010 Election, Knoxville TN.
Quick notes on the upcoming election, work in progress.
Governor
Bill Haslam - R
Website focuses on values (guns are a moral issue now, looks like) and economic experience.
Social issues - pro-life, anti same-sex marriage, illegal immigrants deported
Economy - Business experience, no new taxes, balanced budget.
Health care - plans to fight federal health care plans (so that the "US healthcare system remains the best in the world" - Really?), emphasize preventive care (good), and impose limits on malpractice suits.
Crime - Longer sentences for violent offenders, prison cost-efficiency.
Environment - Conservation with regard to tourism and hunting only.
Education - Wants improvement, supports homeschooling (good) and charter schools.
Mike McWherter - D
Has sent out really annoying ads against Haslam.
Social issues - Not mentioned. In other places he's said he'll leave current laws allowing abortion alone, same with current laws banning same-sex marriage.
Economy - Business experience, no new income tax, balanced budget, small business.
Health care - plans to fight federal health care plans, emphasize preventive care
Crime - longer sentences, anti-gang
Environment - clean energy, conserving parks and wetlands, enforce clean air & water regulations, ban mountaintop removal (good)
Education - Fair distribution of funds, more school funding, no publicly elected school superintendents, fiscal accountability, more pre-K and college.
Independents:
Bayron Binkley
Is grouchy about the difficulties independents face in being included in debates.
Social issues - Against all gun fees and licenses.
Economy - no income tax, state sovereignty, fix home value problems.
Health care - Against spending more money, but wants to put intensive effort into finding cures rather than treatments.
Crime - not mentioned
Environment - clean energy
Education - Statewide vouchers, schools compete for students. Take pre-K funds to give high-schoolers who earn it (not sure exactly how) a free 2-year degree. Parents must sign an involvement contract or opt out of public education.
Brandon Dodds
Social issues - no gun/ammunition ban, against illegal immigration, abortion referendum
Economy - Reduce tax burden & regulations for business, eventually lower sales tax, no income tax
Health care - Reduce regulations (HIPPA), lawsuits, malpractice review by jury
Crime - not mentioned
Environment - no cap & trade
Education - not mentioned!
Samuel David Duck - Hm, scary facebook page. But he's dropped out in favor of Dodds anyway.
David Gatchell - Oh, it's good old "None of the Above" from last time!
This guy isn't running for himself, he's just giving the voters a chance to vote against ALL the candidates. If elected, he would hold a new election. I think this is a pretty cool idea.
June Griffin - "Foreigners should learn English or leave." Looks like she was arrested for tearing down a Mexican flag at a store, because it was an "act of war". Wants to ban flying of any flags that aren't American. I think that's all I need to know.
Toni K. Hall
Social issues - leave abortions legal, but tax them highly to make people think twice, someone asked on FB for her opinion on same-sex rights, but she didn't answer
Economy - Support small employers, no income tax, cut taxes on food and medicine, cap future tax increases, allow for recessions in state budgets, cut government salaries from the top first
Health care, Crime, Environment - not mentioned
Education - Look at states that score highest in educational attainment to see what they're doing right.
Mike Knois - We should vote for him because he's not rich.
Social issues, health care, crime, environment - not mentioned
Economy - Attract businesses, lower taxes
Education - Make sure every home in TN has internet capability, fight teen pregnancy
Boyce T. McCall - Wow, he can use big letters. And he's being oppressed.
Social issues - repeal all pro-abortion laws, require law people to know the laws
Economy - Repeal laws that oppress business
Health care, environment - not mentioned
Crime - free legal care for criminals to even courtroom playing field, fight corruption in government
Education - lottery money for pre-K as well as college
Donald Ray McFolin - No website.
Education - Take better care of special needs students, pay more attention to older students
Can't find info on any other issues.
Linda Kay Perry - Can't find any info.
James Reesor - Crazy Man. Overuse of quotation marks irks me.
Social issues - Anti-abortion, be good neighbors, live in log cabins
Economy - Free Barter Market, cut TN budget 30-50%, disengage from federal government
Health care - repeal federal health care plan
Crime - home incarceration for drug offenders
Environment - Take care of the earth, live like Native Americans.
Education - Eliminate pre-K, let kids pay for college by contracting with future employers beforehand. Don't talk about sex in schools.
Thomas Smith II - Can't find any info.
Howard M. Switzer - Green the Governorship. I think I'm in love. But I don't think that's how you spell hippie.
More smaller states, decentralization, instant runoff voting, lower the voting age to 16.
Social issues - open doors to minorities, pro-guns, social justice, nonviolence
Economy - Support small business, buy fresh, buy local. Shorten the work week.
Health care - Prevention, decentralization, get rid of profit motive.
Crime - take responsibility for community crime rate, non-criminal mediation, end war on drugs.
Environment - Disaster looms, work together to save the planet.
Education - Decentralize, integrate education into the community, teach skills - unschooling!
Carl Twofeathers Whitaker Why does it have to be so blue?!!
Social issues - Deport illegal immigrants, prosecute those who employ them. For guns, against same-sex marriage.
Economy - No new taxes, lower taxes on food. Create jobs, keep jobs in TN.
Health care - Strengthen Tenn-Care
Crime - fight corruption in government
Environment - Be good stewards.
Education - Divide school money fairly across state, give lottery money to K-12, not just college.
Amendment Yes or no (skipping the question is the same as voting no):
Article XI, Section 13:
"The citizens of this state shall have the personal right to hunt and fish, subject to reasonable regulations and restrictions prescribed by law. The recognition of this right does not abrogate any private or public property rights, nor does it limit the state's power to regulate commercial activity. Traditional manners and means may be used to take non-threatened species."
Everyone but PETA seems to be for this amendment. It looks like it won't change much right now, it would just make it harder in future to ban certain types of hunting, etc. But it looks like it wouldn't make things any worse for threatened species (assuming they get onto an official list of threatened species, which sometimes gets politicized). I personally dislike hunting quite a bit, but this looks like one of those freedoms that I feel I should support for other people, since I enjoy freedoms they might dislike. I'm not seeing any real reason to vote no.
US House of Representatives
John J. Duncan, Jr. - R - Awww, only one person on FB likes his page.
Incumbent since 1988. This guy makes my head explode. He spends a lot of time talking about how everyone else is doing it wrong and how bad the government is, but very little time on what he would like to accomplish.
Social issues - Crime is caused by absent fathers - tell young women not to have kids out of wedlock and tell young dads to stick around. Anti-abortion.
Foreign policy - Fix illegal immigration by enforcing current laws. Let local law enforcement secure our borders. Quit throwing so much money at the Defense Department, they are wasting it all (Wow, something I agree with!) Quit helping other countries so much. Quit getting involved in foreign conflicts.
Economy - The tax system is bad, but there's nothing we can do about it. The government is dumb and lies to get more money and power. We could have stopped the housing market crisis if it weren't for democrats.
Health care - Costs are the government's fault. Medical savings accounts and vouchers, let people buy interstate insurance, no mandates. Best - free-market medical care.
Environment - We should drill more. Global warming is a scam. Our economy is being destroyed by the environmentalists.
Education - not mentioned anywhere on his website... or even anywhere on the internet that I can find.
Dave Hancock - D His soul is not for sale; his views are not for posting. This guy also hurts my head. The few things I can find about his views are poorly written and hard to understand.
Social issues - Pro-life.
Foreign policy - "Secured Borders for ALL Lands and Sea, Less involvement in Foreign Affairs, Citizenship, NOT Amnesty. Citizenship Path for All Those Interested.
Economy - Bring jobs home. Cancel NAFTA, GATT, free trade. Tax freeze. Buy in America. "Move economy in all directions at the same time."
Health care - "Universal Preventive Health Maintenance, modeled after the Dental Industry, Full Public Health Care for all Vets, Coverage for all Terminal and Catastrophic Illness, Coverage for Prenatal care and Cancer Reconstructive Surgery". Revoke federal health care plan.
Environment - "Vigorous Construction of Environmentally Sound Viable Energy Sources"
Education - not mentioned. Oh, I found a questionnaire! "Education begins early." We are not other countries. We need freedom to create.
D.H. "Andy" Andrew - Tea Party guy. He's Assistant Organizer of something called "Get Out Of Our House", I think the idea is to fire the legislature. But it looks like he might have withdrawn from the race anyway.
H. James Headings - Constitution Party.
Social issues - Pro-life. Constitution party says: "Life for all human beings, from conception to natural death." Also, the government should stay out of marriage.
Economy - "institute tariffs & duties to bring our industry back to our homeland." Party says no more government debt.
Health care - Revoke federal health care plan. The government has no constitutional power in health care.
Environment - Party says to repeal the Endangered Species Act and wetlands protections, return control of everything to states and people. Global warming is a trick.
Education - "we had the best education system in the world until we turned it over to the federal government."
Joseph R. Leinweber, Jr. - Independent Constitutional Conservative. Cannot use the word "its" properly. Not much info on website, but the blog has some.
Social issues - Pro-life. Close borders, shoot to kill, illegal immigrants have no civil rights. K, done with this guy now.
Economy - No income tax. 20% sales tax on new items, not food. Back money with gold or federal lands.
Health care - Revoke federal health care plan.
Environment
Education
Greg Samples Another "back to the Constitution" guy. Make government the servant of the sovereign people.
Social issues - Don't infringe on the right to bear arms. No prison for victimless crimes and consensual adult behavior. No torture. Member of the National Coalition Against the Death Penalty
Foreign affairs - No meddling. No foreign aid, nothing but defense against invasion. No War on Terror. Repeal Patriot Act, etc.
Economy - Asset-backed currency. No income tax. User fees instead of taxes as much as possible.
Health care - Free market. Lifestyle change, catastrophic coverage insurance, no government regulation. No FDA approval. Alternative treatments.
Environment - Not mentioned. Member of the Center for Global Sustainability.
Education - not mentioned
TN Senate - 7th District
Stacey Campfield- R - Argumentative. Likes using the word "lefty" on his blog.
Social issues - Pro-life, pro-gun, use E-veryify to stop illegal immigrants from getting jobs.
Government - Smaller government, property rights, accountability, fiscal restraint
Economy - Lower taxes, free market. If you tax rich people too much they may take their money and leave.
Health care - Not mentioned. Blog - Countries with socialized medicine stop valuing life.
Environment - Not mentioned. Blog - talks about an economic "green bubble" which will eventually burst.
Education - Not mentioned. Blog - take money from pre-K for older grades.
Randy Walker - D
Social issues - not mentioned. Anti-abortion.
Government - pay-as-you-go, for the people, not special interests
Economy - Bring jobs & maintain low taxes by drawing business with our community. Living wage for campus workers, in the long term, if politically viable.
Health care - believes in free market, but we don't have one in health care. Personal experience with excessive health care costs. Corporate lobbying.
Environment - Sustainable, green economic development for Knoxville, preserve the Smokies, our heritage
Education - Community support, top priority, UT should be the best
Chuck Williams - endorsed by green party
Social issues - stop discrimination, accommodate employed "undocumented" immigrants, don't check immigration status of all people stopped for minor violations, anti-abortion, pro-gun
Government - will continually meet with constituents, be transparent
Economy - no income tax, living wage for campus workers
Health care - protect small business from costly healthcare
Environment - solar energy for environment and jobs
Education - Retain and reward quality teachers, extra lottery money for school boards, make sure universities don't charge too much. Put more lottery money towards schools.
State House District 18
Steve Hall - R - endorsed by Campfield
Government - keep it out of individuals' lives as much as possible
Economy - help businesses start up, lowest taxes possible
Sam Alexander - D - volunteers repairing houses and wheelchair ramps
Government - Time to work together with both parties, openness
Economy - Create long-term jobs, living wage for campus workers
Education - improve
Governor
Bill Haslam - R
Website focuses on values (guns are a moral issue now, looks like) and economic experience.
Social issues - pro-life, anti same-sex marriage, illegal immigrants deported
Economy - Business experience, no new taxes, balanced budget.
Health care - plans to fight federal health care plans (so that the "US healthcare system remains the best in the world" - Really?), emphasize preventive care (good), and impose limits on malpractice suits.
Crime - Longer sentences for violent offenders, prison cost-efficiency.
Environment - Conservation with regard to tourism and hunting only.
Education - Wants improvement, supports homeschooling (good) and charter schools.
Mike McWherter - D
Has sent out really annoying ads against Haslam.
Social issues - Not mentioned. In other places he's said he'll leave current laws allowing abortion alone, same with current laws banning same-sex marriage.
Economy - Business experience, no new income tax, balanced budget, small business.
Health care - plans to fight federal health care plans, emphasize preventive care
Crime - longer sentences, anti-gang
Environment - clean energy, conserving parks and wetlands, enforce clean air & water regulations, ban mountaintop removal (good)
Education - Fair distribution of funds, more school funding, no publicly elected school superintendents, fiscal accountability, more pre-K and college.
Independents:
Bayron Binkley
Is grouchy about the difficulties independents face in being included in debates.
Social issues - Against all gun fees and licenses.
Economy - no income tax, state sovereignty, fix home value problems.
Health care - Against spending more money, but wants to put intensive effort into finding cures rather than treatments.
Crime - not mentioned
Environment - clean energy
Education - Statewide vouchers, schools compete for students. Take pre-K funds to give high-schoolers who earn it (not sure exactly how) a free 2-year degree. Parents must sign an involvement contract or opt out of public education.
Brandon Dodds
Social issues - no gun/ammunition ban, against illegal immigration, abortion referendum
Economy - Reduce tax burden & regulations for business, eventually lower sales tax, no income tax
Health care - Reduce regulations (HIPPA), lawsuits, malpractice review by jury
Crime - not mentioned
Environment - no cap & trade
Education - not mentioned!
Samuel David Duck - Hm, scary facebook page. But he's dropped out in favor of Dodds anyway.
David Gatchell - Oh, it's good old "None of the Above" from last time!
This guy isn't running for himself, he's just giving the voters a chance to vote against ALL the candidates. If elected, he would hold a new election. I think this is a pretty cool idea.
June Griffin - "Foreigners should learn English or leave." Looks like she was arrested for tearing down a Mexican flag at a store, because it was an "act of war". Wants to ban flying of any flags that aren't American. I think that's all I need to know.
Toni K. Hall
Social issues - leave abortions legal, but tax them highly to make people think twice, someone asked on FB for her opinion on same-sex rights, but she didn't answer
Economy - Support small employers, no income tax, cut taxes on food and medicine, cap future tax increases, allow for recessions in state budgets, cut government salaries from the top first
Health care, Crime, Environment - not mentioned
Education - Look at states that score highest in educational attainment to see what they're doing right.
Mike Knois - We should vote for him because he's not rich.
Social issues, health care, crime, environment - not mentioned
Economy - Attract businesses, lower taxes
Education - Make sure every home in TN has internet capability, fight teen pregnancy
Boyce T. McCall - Wow, he can use big letters. And he's being oppressed.
Social issues - repeal all pro-abortion laws, require law people to know the laws
Economy - Repeal laws that oppress business
Health care, environment - not mentioned
Crime - free legal care for criminals to even courtroom playing field, fight corruption in government
Education - lottery money for pre-K as well as college
Donald Ray McFolin - No website.
Education - Take better care of special needs students, pay more attention to older students
Can't find info on any other issues.
Linda Kay Perry - Can't find any info.
James Reesor - Crazy Man. Overuse of quotation marks irks me.
Social issues - Anti-abortion, be good neighbors, live in log cabins
Economy - Free Barter Market, cut TN budget 30-50%, disengage from federal government
Health care - repeal federal health care plan
Crime - home incarceration for drug offenders
Environment - Take care of the earth, live like Native Americans.
Education - Eliminate pre-K, let kids pay for college by contracting with future employers beforehand. Don't talk about sex in schools.
Thomas Smith II - Can't find any info.
Howard M. Switzer - Green the Governorship. I think I'm in love. But I don't think that's how you spell hippie.
More smaller states, decentralization, instant runoff voting, lower the voting age to 16.
Social issues - open doors to minorities, pro-guns, social justice, nonviolence
Economy - Support small business, buy fresh, buy local. Shorten the work week.
Health care - Prevention, decentralization, get rid of profit motive.
Crime - take responsibility for community crime rate, non-criminal mediation, end war on drugs.
Environment - Disaster looms, work together to save the planet.
Education - Decentralize, integrate education into the community, teach skills - unschooling!
Carl Twofeathers Whitaker Why does it have to be so blue?!!
Social issues - Deport illegal immigrants, prosecute those who employ them. For guns, against same-sex marriage.
Economy - No new taxes, lower taxes on food. Create jobs, keep jobs in TN.
Health care - Strengthen Tenn-Care
Crime - fight corruption in government
Environment - Be good stewards.
Education - Divide school money fairly across state, give lottery money to K-12, not just college.
Amendment Yes or no (skipping the question is the same as voting no):
Article XI, Section 13:
"The citizens of this state shall have the personal right to hunt and fish, subject to reasonable regulations and restrictions prescribed by law. The recognition of this right does not abrogate any private or public property rights, nor does it limit the state's power to regulate commercial activity. Traditional manners and means may be used to take non-threatened species."
Everyone but PETA seems to be for this amendment. It looks like it won't change much right now, it would just make it harder in future to ban certain types of hunting, etc. But it looks like it wouldn't make things any worse for threatened species (assuming they get onto an official list of threatened species, which sometimes gets politicized). I personally dislike hunting quite a bit, but this looks like one of those freedoms that I feel I should support for other people, since I enjoy freedoms they might dislike. I'm not seeing any real reason to vote no.
US House of Representatives
John J. Duncan, Jr. - R - Awww, only one person on FB likes his page.
Incumbent since 1988. This guy makes my head explode. He spends a lot of time talking about how everyone else is doing it wrong and how bad the government is, but very little time on what he would like to accomplish.
Social issues - Crime is caused by absent fathers - tell young women not to have kids out of wedlock and tell young dads to stick around. Anti-abortion.
Foreign policy - Fix illegal immigration by enforcing current laws. Let local law enforcement secure our borders. Quit throwing so much money at the Defense Department, they are wasting it all (Wow, something I agree with!) Quit helping other countries so much. Quit getting involved in foreign conflicts.
Economy - The tax system is bad, but there's nothing we can do about it. The government is dumb and lies to get more money and power. We could have stopped the housing market crisis if it weren't for democrats.
Health care - Costs are the government's fault. Medical savings accounts and vouchers, let people buy interstate insurance, no mandates. Best - free-market medical care.
Environment - We should drill more. Global warming is a scam. Our economy is being destroyed by the environmentalists.
Education - not mentioned anywhere on his website... or even anywhere on the internet that I can find.
Dave Hancock - D His soul is not for sale; his views are not for posting. This guy also hurts my head. The few things I can find about his views are poorly written and hard to understand.
Social issues - Pro-life.
Foreign policy - "Secured Borders for ALL Lands and Sea, Less involvement in Foreign Affairs, Citizenship, NOT Amnesty. Citizenship Path for All Those Interested.
Economy - Bring jobs home. Cancel NAFTA, GATT, free trade. Tax freeze. Buy in America. "Move economy in all directions at the same time."
Health care - "Universal Preventive Health Maintenance, modeled after the Dental Industry, Full Public Health Care for all Vets, Coverage for all Terminal and Catastrophic Illness, Coverage for Prenatal care and Cancer Reconstructive Surgery". Revoke federal health care plan.
Environment - "Vigorous Construction of Environmentally Sound Viable Energy Sources"
Education - not mentioned. Oh, I found a questionnaire! "Education begins early." We are not other countries. We need freedom to create.
D.H. "Andy" Andrew - Tea Party guy. He's Assistant Organizer of something called "Get Out Of Our House", I think the idea is to fire the legislature. But it looks like he might have withdrawn from the race anyway.
H. James Headings - Constitution Party.
Social issues - Pro-life. Constitution party says: "Life for all human beings, from conception to natural death." Also, the government should stay out of marriage.
Economy - "institute tariffs & duties to bring our industry back to our homeland." Party says no more government debt.
Health care - Revoke federal health care plan. The government has no constitutional power in health care.
Environment - Party says to repeal the Endangered Species Act and wetlands protections, return control of everything to states and people. Global warming is a trick.
Education - "we had the best education system in the world until we turned it over to the federal government."
Joseph R. Leinweber, Jr. - Independent Constitutional Conservative. Cannot use the word "its" properly. Not much info on website, but the blog has some.
Social issues - Pro-life. Close borders, shoot to kill, illegal immigrants have no civil rights. K, done with this guy now.
Economy - No income tax. 20% sales tax on new items, not food. Back money with gold or federal lands.
Health care - Revoke federal health care plan.
Environment
Education
Greg Samples Another "back to the Constitution" guy. Make government the servant of the sovereign people.
Social issues - Don't infringe on the right to bear arms. No prison for victimless crimes and consensual adult behavior. No torture. Member of the National Coalition Against the Death Penalty
Foreign affairs - No meddling. No foreign aid, nothing but defense against invasion. No War on Terror. Repeal Patriot Act, etc.
Economy - Asset-backed currency. No income tax. User fees instead of taxes as much as possible.
Health care - Free market. Lifestyle change, catastrophic coverage insurance, no government regulation. No FDA approval. Alternative treatments.
Environment - Not mentioned. Member of the Center for Global Sustainability.
Education - not mentioned
TN Senate - 7th District
Stacey Campfield- R - Argumentative. Likes using the word "lefty" on his blog.
Social issues - Pro-life, pro-gun, use E-veryify to stop illegal immigrants from getting jobs.
Government - Smaller government, property rights, accountability, fiscal restraint
Economy - Lower taxes, free market. If you tax rich people too much they may take their money and leave.
Health care - Not mentioned. Blog - Countries with socialized medicine stop valuing life.
Environment - Not mentioned. Blog - talks about an economic "green bubble" which will eventually burst.
Education - Not mentioned. Blog - take money from pre-K for older grades.
Randy Walker - D
Social issues - not mentioned. Anti-abortion.
Government - pay-as-you-go, for the people, not special interests
Economy - Bring jobs & maintain low taxes by drawing business with our community. Living wage for campus workers, in the long term, if politically viable.
Health care - believes in free market, but we don't have one in health care. Personal experience with excessive health care costs. Corporate lobbying.
Environment - Sustainable, green economic development for Knoxville, preserve the Smokies, our heritage
Education - Community support, top priority, UT should be the best
Chuck Williams - endorsed by green party
Social issues - stop discrimination, accommodate employed "undocumented" immigrants, don't check immigration status of all people stopped for minor violations, anti-abortion, pro-gun
Government - will continually meet with constituents, be transparent
Economy - no income tax, living wage for campus workers
Health care - protect small business from costly healthcare
Environment - solar energy for environment and jobs
Education - Retain and reward quality teachers, extra lottery money for school boards, make sure universities don't charge too much. Put more lottery money towards schools.
State House District 18
Steve Hall - R - endorsed by Campfield
Government - keep it out of individuals' lives as much as possible
Economy - help businesses start up, lowest taxes possible
Sam Alexander - D - volunteers repairing houses and wheelchair ramps
Government - Time to work together with both parties, openness
Economy - Create long-term jobs, living wage for campus workers
Education - improve