2009 Tennessee Pork Report Tour

 

 

Fox 17 News ….2009 Pork Report-Scott Couch

2009 Tennessee Pork Tour
Solving the problems too important for government

Nashville – May 28th – 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m., Legislative Plaza, 300 6th Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37243

Chattanooga – June 3rd – 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m., Location TBA

Knoxville – June 4th – 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m., Krutch Park, 504 Market Street, Knoxville, TN 37902

Johnson City – June 5th – 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m., Location TBA

Jackson – June 8th – 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m., Madison County Courthouse, 100 East Main Street, Jackson, TN 38301

Memphis – June 9th – 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m., Location TBA

Join us for barbeque, and the release of our Pork Report
Tennessee’s only comprehensive, detailed examination of government waste and pork barrel spending.

The Tennessee Center for Policy Research is an independent, nonprofit, and nonpartisan research and educational institute.

For more information on the events in your area, contact Carter Meadors at carter@tennesseepolicy.org or (615) 383-6431

*Free Admission*

 

Today, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research released our fourth annual edition of the Tennessee Pork Report. The Pork Report exposes $500 million in waste, fraud and abuse of tax dollars in Tennessee.

In total, the Pork Report uncovers nearly 100 examples of outrageous spending by state and local government, including $7.4 million to finance government-approved art, including a grant to an author of sex novels, and $482,572 to fund the “Barge to Nowhere,” a ferry that carries fewer than 17 passengers per day.

Other examples of questionable expenditures include:
• $9 million for the “Party Bunker,” an underground entertainment facility buried in the front yard of the Governor’s Mansion;
• $6.5 million to “eradicate” boll weevils, even though Tennessee’s cotton fields are already more than 99 percent free of the pest;
• $2.3 million to bailout 11 insolvent state-owned golf courses;
• $1 million to study mice genes; and
• $39,816 to pay for phone lines in state offices that went unused.

Please blog, Tweet, Facebook and get the word out about the Pork Report and help the Tennessee Center for Policy Research expose and put an end to wasteful government spending in Tennessee. To view the entire report, please visit:

http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/files/pdf/2009_Pork_Report.pdf

Also, if you’re near Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Johnson City, Jackson or Memphis, join us on our Pork Tour. You can pick up a copy of the Pork Report, enjoy a free BBQ lunch and meet our pig mascot. The tour starts tomorrow in Nashville from noon – 2pm at Legislative Plaza. For other cities, dates and locations, visit:

http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/main/article.php?article_id=1092

Thanks!

In Liberty-
Drew

Drew Johnson
President
Tennessee Center for Policy Research
PO Box 121331
Nashville, TN 37212
615.383.6431 (p)
615.383.6432 (f)
http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/

Al Gore caught being more teal than green

From the continuing voluminous material of Al Gore’s “do as I say but not as I do” file, Drew, once again, catches Al being not so green.

Al Gore Leaves The Light On For Ya
By Kleinheider Posted on March 29, 2009 at 12:00 pm

Even during Earth Hour. President of the Tennessee Center For Policy Research Drew Johnson takes a Saturday drive by Al Gore’s during the time most environmentalists went dark:

I pulled up to Al’s house, located in the posh Belle Meade section of Nashville, at 8:48pm – right in the middle of Earth Hour. I found that the main spotlights that usually illuminate his 9,000 square foot mansion were dark, but several of the lights inside the house were on.
In fact, most of the windows were lit by the familiar blue-ish hue indicating that floor lamps and ceiling fixtures were off, but TV screens and computer monitors were hard at work. (In other words, his house looked the way most houses look about 1:45am when their inhabitants are distractedly watching “Cheaters” or “Chelsea Lately” reruns.)
The kicker, though, were the dozen or so floodlights grandly highlighting several trees and illuminating the driveway entrance of Gore’s mansion.
I [kid] you not, my friends, the savior of the environment couldn’t be bothered to turn off the gaudy lights that show off his goofy trees.

This, of course, would be the same Drew Johnson who exposed Gore’s excessive energy use at his home back in 2007.
(Fist Tap: Matthew Hurtt)

Tennessee Votes is a great example of Transparency in action

For those of you who may not be aware, The Tennessee Center for Policy Research is sponsoring a fantastic tool for Tennesseans. It’s called Tennessee Votes and is a great way for everyday, non-lawyer types to get notification of, keep track of changes to and engage in dialogue about the bills being introduced in the Tennessee Legislature.

You will need to register but the process is both fast and free. Once registered and signed in you can browse legislation by general type (education, taxes, firearms, etc…) and see the bill number, its sponsor, House or Senate designation and read a short understandable description of what the bill is intended to do. You can follow a specific bill, comment on it, watch the amendments to it and more. In short, Tennessee Votes is one of the finest tools ever for making the legislative process more open and accessible to citizens, taxpayers and voters.

This is the project’s first year in Tennessee although it has been going successfully in Michigan, from which all 50 states will eventually import the concept, for several years. The program was recently upgraded, as well. Nonetheless, I’m sure enterprising Tennesseans will think up an improvement or two for the process. If you have a moment, drop Drew Johnson at TCPR a quick thank you for providing this invaluable service to Tennessee.

Now go be informed!