Stockard on the Stump: Jumping to political conclusions fits the national scene

2nd District U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, a Knoxville Republican, made national news when he called Vice President Kamala Harris a "DEI hire."

Tennessee’s GOP political leaders are bouncing off the walls amid recent upheaval in the nation’s presidential race.

From a post by House Majority Leader William Lamberth that liberals were to blame for the shots fired at former President Donald Trump to House Speaker Cameron Sexton’s proclamation that President Joe Biden’s decision to drop his re-election race is a “historical disenfranchisement of tens of millions of Americans,” it’s enough to make people ask: Are these guys serious?

Lamberth’s initial foray into finding the motive for the shooter can be dismissed as hysteria. He was probably a little shocked? Then again, it is comforting to know he can see into the hearts and minds of men near and far.

The FBI, of course, said it can’t find a motive.

Sexton, meanwhile, questioned whether Democrats are eliminating half the country’s primary votes with Biden’s decision to step out of the race.

“This uprooting of the election process is anti-democratic and should worry us all,” he said on social media. “This action by the Democrat Party, joining the progressives, truly shows they are politics above all else, and not people before politics.”

Wait a second, haven’t key people from both parties been saying Biden should leave the race after his dismal showing in the first debate? The president didn’t look good, and neither did the aging Trump, who spent most of the evening repeating a litany of lies.

Truth be told, both are too old to be president. Take this from someone who spent the last decade taking care of 80-plus-year-old people. 

Can’t we find someone who’s young and sharp, instead of these doddering old men who don’t know when to go to the house? 

Aside from that, Sexton’s “disenfranchisement” statement is disingenuous at best.

Republican Secretary of State Tre Hargett isn’t even getting on board with it, the Tennessee Journal reported earlier this week.

Hargett’s office is following a state law that says “the chair of the nominating body of a statewide political party or recognized minor party shall certify the party’s nominees for president and vice president for the November general election to the coordinator of elections by the first business day in September (Tuesday, Sept. 3).”

Lest we forget, state law says people have to pledge allegiance to a party to vote in its primary, even though technically they remain open.

MTSU political science professor Kent Syler dismisses the rhetoric as “a pretty big exaggeration” but notes it is part of Sexton’s job to put a “good spin” on the situation.

Whether either party held a real primary is questionable.

Syler points out Biden was the “de facto nominee” as the sitting president and everyone else stayed out of the race. The party’s top dogs, though, and people who voted for him wound up pushing him out.

“You could probably as easily argue that it was an enfranchisement,” says Syler, former chief of staff for Democratic U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon. 

Syler adds that the choice is ultimately up to the party, thus the state law saying the party “shall certify” the nominee.

If something disabling were to happen to Biden or Trump, somebody else would have to step into the fold, as Vice President Kamala Harris did, which is what Veeps do. 

This social media bump sounds more like an argument to hand Trump the election instead of making him earn it.

Just days after the shooting incident, Trump gave Biden kind parting words, saying he’s not fit to remain in office for seven more months.

But Republicans know if Biden were to resign immediately, that would leave Harris as president, which would break all sorts of barriers for Black and Asian women and make her position even stronger. 

Do they really want that or do they just spout whatever comes to mind? Likely the latter.

The old dog whistle

U.S. Rep. Tim “Roadkill” Burchett referred to Vice President Harris this week as a “DEI hire,” meaning the only reason Biden asked her to be his VP four years ago was that she is a woman of color. Her father is Black, and her mother is from India.

DEI stands for diversity, equity and inclusion, the target for many Republican lawmakers who oppose efforts to bring more minorities into important positions. Nevermind the fact she served as California’s attorney general and then as a U.S. senator.

Democratic state Rep. Sam McKenzie, chairman of Tennessee’s Black Caucus, criticized Burchett’s comments as “beyond disrespectful” and “delusional,” saying he “has gone off the rails with his latest asinine statements” about Harris and now-former Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle, who resigned after being blamed for the Trump assassination attempt.

Burchett, whose greatest contribution to society is passage of a “roadkill” bill in 1999 that allowed people to take home deer carcasses without a TWRA tag, went on to call her record “abysmal.” At least she hasn’t made a government living being a smart-aleck. 

The former state rep and senator, Knox County mayor and now congressman has been on the government teat longer than most people who collect welfare and food stamps.

As a federal official, he also should be aware that this type of statement would violate U.S. laws dealing with hiring and housing. The nation spent decades outlawing redlining and employment barriers for minorities, only for Burchett to return us to 1950 in a matter of days.

The uproar led national Republican leaders to warn their minions against making such sexist and racist remarks. In 2024, this type of admonition shouldn’t be necessary?

We need a pick me up

Gov. Bill Lee endorsed state Rep. Scott Cepicky this summer as he tries to build support for his private-school voucher plan.

The Tennessee Federation for Children PAC (pro-voucher group) followed that up with spots boasting about the support, which Cepicky promptly posted on social media.

If the ads didn’t contain the wording saying they weren’t authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee, we might be so crazy as to think they were coordinating illegally. Heaven forbid.

In spite of the governor’s pat on the back, Cepicky didn’t mind going on stage at a Maury County election forum and calling Lee’s bill “terrible.”

“It was wide open. It probably would have added a billion dollars to the budget. It would have put us in the same pitfalls as Arizona would have been, or is,” Cepicky said.

How bad was Lee’s private-school voucher bill? So bad that the House had to add several golden nuggets to bring teachers and school administrators into the fold with $400 million for insurance and school maintenance.

Cepicky claims the version he wrote would have exempted homeschoolers out to keep the government from “sticking its nose in their business.” 

His measure also protected the “autonomy” of private schools by removing the same sort of accountability public schools face, Cepicky told the audience. Incidentally, he claimed students who shift to private schools would show gains in four years. 

Challenger Ray Jeter told the audience he supports “school choice” but doesn’t want to see public schools “defunded,” claiming Cepicky’s bill would have shifted money. 

Cepicky balked at that, arguing the bill he wrote would do no such thing.

Yet the financial impact analysis for Cepicky’s deal shows the legislation didn’t have a “hold-harmless provision” for school systems that suffer a decrease in local revenue when students leave for private schools. Districts, in fact, would lose direct state funding of $58.9 million in fiscal 2025-26 and $64.7 million in fiscal 2026-27, according to the analysis.

Either way, trying to split these educational costs is similar to saying: I hit .300 in the big leagues this season, but later adding, only in batting practice

Whose resume?

During the forum, Cepicky also claimed to be chairman of the education committee, which is skirting the truth at best. He is chairman of the House Education Instruction Subcommittee, which does make him a player in this mess, but not a chairman of a full committee. 

(We’re getting accustomed to this resume massaging from some of our favorite elected officials.) 

Then again, nearly everyone in the House is a chairman of something, a move former House Speaker Glen Casada made in 2019 to shore up his own support and garner backing for the governor’s voucher plan for Metro Nashville and Memphis schools. 

It took arm-twisting to break a tie vote that led to an FBI investigation and, finally, a questionable decision by the Tennessee Supreme Court to put it into effect, only for student test results to be deemed “nothing to write home about” by the state education commissioner.

Nothing wrong here

The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance dismissed a complaint this week by a supporter of Bobby Harshbarger’s Senate campaign in upper East Tennessee claiming illegal coordination by Sen. Jon Lundberg and his backers in District 4. Lt. Gov. Randy McNally’s political action committee is spending heavily to bolster Lundberg.

The Registry board found the complaint against Lundberg was legally and factually incomplete and could be refiled. But by that time, the primary election, set for Aug. 1, will be a wrap.

Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Ken Yager initiated the conflict with a complaint against the Harshbarger campaign, saying it was coordinating illegally with a political action committee and the candidate’s mother, Republican U.S. Rep. Diana Harshbarger.

The state Attorney General’s Office is purportedly investigating.

The AG’s Office recently notified the Registry board in connection with a separate matter that it is not an “investigative” body. Responding to a Registry member’s complaints, their letter added that if the Registry doesn’t like how long it takes to complete an investigation, they can look somewhere else for help. (The Registry now plans to seek more money for an auditor.) That word came down from on high even though the Legislature approved 10 more positions for AG Jonathan Skrmetti to start a federal task force at a cost of $2.25 million last year, bringing the total budget to $53 million for 363 positions.

That begs the question: How many AG’s Office attorneys does it take to screw in a lightbulb? It depends on whether the bulb turns right or left.

“So you’ve had a little trouble in town / Now you’re keeping some demons down.” Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around, Stevie Nicks (Tom Petty)