DFA Tennessee presents policy proposals to Gov. Bredesen.

[madfloridian]

This is true activism, real groundwork. Kudos to this group.

http://www.blogforamerica.com/archives/007554.html#more

Democracy for Tennessee Leaders Meet with Governor Bredesen
Mark Naccarato is the Chairman of Democracy for Tennessee.

Last month, Democracy for Tennessee activists from all across the state came to Nashville to meet with Tennessee's Governor Bredesen to propose a progressive policy agenda that we would like to see be taken up in the next legislative session.



DFT's Steering Committee had compiled what we called a "Five-Point Plan" of policy issues that we believe are supported not only by progressives, but also by independent voters and even a few moderate Republicans. By advocating for these policies using the bully pulpit, we were hoping that Governor Bredesen, not the Republican Party, could help frame the issues in 2006.



Here is a quick summary of the issues presented.
1) Local Taxation Authority

2) Eminent Domain

3) Election Reform
Advocating for the recommendations made by the grassroots group "Gathering to Save Our Democracy" and our own national flagship, Democracy for America, we pushed for verifiable election machines and provided the Governor with extensive documentation on problems with voting machines/vendors. Reminding the Governor that election reform is a non-partisan issue, mandatory recounts in selected precincts and the use of cheaper and more reliable optical scanner voting machines were also proposed. It was also noted that the major voting machine vendors were large Republican donors.

4) "Just Cause" legislation

5) "Pay or Play" healthcare legislation
We proposed consideration of the "pay-or-play" legislation similar to that recently passed by Maryland's legislature over their Republican Governor's veto. "Pay or play" requires companies of a minimum size to spend a stipulated percentage of their income on employee healthcare benefits, or pay an equivalent amount into the state's Medicaid system.

Kudos to this very active group. They belie the assertion that the Democrats are wasting their time in red states.

[madfloridian]

1. Forgot to put the group's website.

http://www.smartcampaigns.com/d4tn/index.php

[CTLawGuy]

2. sweet

nice to see good people out doing good things

[FreedomAngel82]

3. THIS IS GREAT!

I'm a proud Tennesseean and so proud of these Volunteers! What was Bredesen's reaction to each point? Especially the election reform issue I'm wondering about. I hope he's reelected in 2006. Does anybody know any poll numbers for him? If you live in Tennessee be sure to sign his re-election petition! http://bredesen.com/

[FreedomAngel82]

4. This is very hopeful where it concerns the election reform!

Bredesen admitted that he doesn't know much about the issues surrounding electronic voting but said he needed to learn (our presenter, Carol Kemp, was more than happy to give him all the data he needed!). Generally, the Governor expressed a belief that it is important for those elected to office to feel their selection was legitimate. He speculated that someone who felt their legitimacy was questioned could act out in extreme ways as means of "proving themselves". (Sound like anyone we know?)

Of all the proposals we made, this was the one that the Governor seemed most intrigued with. We're hoping he takes a close look at the information we've given him and acts on what we all know is the right thing to do—to make sure that Tennessee has a flawless, verifiable voting system statewide.