Live from Music Row, Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Tea Party Patriots Action Chairman Jenny Beth Martin to the newsmaker line to talk about the unfair treatment against former President Donald Trump.
Leahy: On the newsmaker line, our very good friend Jenny Beth Martin, honorary chairman of Tea Party Patriots Action. Good morning, Jenny.
Martin: Good morning. It’s so good to be with you, Michael!
Leahy: Jenny Beth, we wake up this morning and there’s a possibility that former President Donald Trump, he said, may be arrested today on literally trumped-up charges by the Soros-funded district attorney in Manhattan. He’s under attack in Fulton County with a kind of similar trumped upset of charges, and there is a special prosecutor going after him. What’s going on here?
Martin: What’s going on in New York has to do with Stormy Daniels. Remember that her own attorney wound up going to jail when the Mueller investigation looked into Stormy Daniels, and the Department of Justice did. They never brought charges against President Trump.
They did not think that there were grounds to bring charges against him. They dropped us back in 2019, and yet a district attorney, a Soros district attorney in New York, continued to press and press and may very well wind up with an indictment from the grand jury in New York against President Trump.
Over the weekend, it seemed likely to happen based on the posts at Truth Social that Trump made. And yesterday, we heard that the grand jury is still hearing from witnesses, and there’s not an indictment coming just yet.
So we’re going to have to wait and see what happens. It seems to me this is just a continuation of the witch hunt from the people who have Trump Derangement Syndrome. They cannot stand him, and they’re doing everything that they can to discredit him and harm his reputation.
Leahy: Yes. That’s pretty much the case. When the former president came out on Saturday and said, I expect to be arrested on these trumped-up charges on Tuesday, that was probably a pretty good PR move on the part of the president. The reaction has been pretty negative towards Alvin Bragg, the DA in Manhattan.
And I saw that the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jim Jordan, has said he wants to have Bragg come in and testify before the Judiciary Committee. Do you think that Alvin Bragg will come and testify before the House Judiciary Committee on the reasons for this potential indictment of former President Trump?
Martin: I just don’t know if he will or not. I do see a situation in which the committee may call him, but whether he responds to that call and actually shows up, I’m not sure if that will happen or not. I’ve heard some people saying things about what Trump said might be more for publicity than not for publicity.
I suspect there’s more to it going on than that. And here’s why. It would be so complicated to arrest a former president who has secret service detail. I would imagine part of what’s going on right now is that his current attorneys are in touch with the DA’s office in New York, trying to figure out and negotiate the terms in which they would arrest President Trump and how that would happen logistically.
I don’t know that he’s really getting over his skis, and I don’t have any proof. I haven’t heard that directly from him or from anyone who worked for him. It’s just what I would imagine might be going on behind the scenes that we’re not seeing.
Leahy: Yes, exactly. Now you mentioned the secret service protection for the president. He has it because people are concerned about his personal safety. Typically, if somebody is arrested and booked, how could you have secret service protection for a former president if the former president is being arrested and booked?
Martin: Yes. I think that is a real concern. I would imagine they’d have to go sweep the police station or the sheriff’s office first and make sure that the entire place is safe and secure for a president to go inside of it. It just shows the whole world that this is a witch hunt, and it’s time for it to stop. It needs to stop.
Hillary Clinton never went to jail even though she had a problem that they deemed illegal. And how the Justice Department was going after President Trump over the documents that he still had in his possession, which were co-classified documents, in which case the president has the authority to unclassify to declassify.
And yet we now learned that the former vice presidents, both Pence and Biden, had documents in their possession for in, in Biden’s case, for years. It’s been double standards. We’re getting very close to a Banana Republic territory when it comes to the treatment of Donald Trump in this country.
And Michael, I would tell you that having been targeted by the IRS, seeing the weaponization of the government, and being a victim of the weaponization of the government firsthand, I said back then, it’s people who work for the government were not held accountable.
This could happen to other people, and the situation would get worse and worse. And I think that we have seen a worsening of the weaponization of government ever since the IRS targeting.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Jenny Beth Martin” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0. Background Photo “Donald Trump” by Trump White House Archived.
Live from Music Row, Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed the founder of Nashville Publicity Group and the Nashville Elvis Festival to the newsmaker line to describe the world’s best tribute to Elvis.
Leahy: On the newsmaker line right now, Brian Mayes, the founder of the Nashville Publicity Group and the organizer of the Nashville Elvis Festival. Welcome, Brian Mayes.
Mayes: Hey Michael. How are you?
Leahy: The seventh annual Nashville Elvis Festival will be held next Thursday, March 30th to April 2nd at the factory in Franklin. Are you the fellow who came up with this idea of a national Elvis festival?
Mayes: Yes. My business partner and I, Tom Brown who for many years, 20 years was the vice president of Turner Classic Movies has also worked for decades as the face of Graceland. So if you check into the hotel, he is on your screen welcoming you to the hotel. If you’re on the tour, he’ll pop up all over the place.
He hosts a lot of events there. He and I have worked with Graceland in different capacities for years, and we said, why is there not a festival in Nashville? And seven years ago bit the bullet and did it ourselves and it has grown into a little bit of a monster.
Leahy: A little bit of a monster. That’s an interesting way to describe it. Why do you call it a little bit of a monster?
Mayes: I’ll tell you, we thought it would be a fun event for Elvis fans here in Nashville, but what we have learned over several years now is that we’ve got people coming in from all over the world to celebrate the music and the legacy of the king of rock and roll. We’ve got performers that are going to take our stage.
We’ve got 30 of the best tribute artists in the world that are coming to perform. We’ve got guys coming from Brazil, Japan, all over Great Britain, Australia, Canada, and all over the United States. It really is one of the best. And it draws the fans as well.
Carmichael: What venues are included?
Mayes: We are at we were at the Franklin Theater for years. We’re now at the Factory of Franklin, in Liberty Hall. We’ve got 10 shows that all take place inside that venue. 11:00 am 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm each day. And the shows cover just about anything you could want as an Elvis fan.
We’ve got a 55th-anniversary recreation of the iconic ’68 Comeback special from NBC. We’ve got a career retrospective called Elvis through the years, which is a little more of a theatrical presentation. On Sunday morning, we’ve got Elvis Gospel Live which really is a throwback to all of the great gospel hits that Elvis recorded. And it’s the 50th anniversary this year of Aloha from Hawaii. So we’re recreating that on stage as well.
Leahy: Do you have to pay to have a contractual relationship with the Elvis estate or how does that all work?
Mayes: We do. We are a licensed event. Tom and I both work with Graceland in different capacities as well. So we’ve got a great relationship there and they’re really supportive of our festival each year.
Leahy: Has this been impacted at all by the death of Lisa Marie Presley and the conflict, shall we say, between Elvis’s wife Priscilla Presley, and her granddaughter, Riley Keough, the daughter of Lisa Marie?
Mayes: Yes. As you can imagine we’ve had a lot of conversations about that leading up to this year. Losing Lisa was a massive loss. She was an incredible talent and I think underrated. She never really had the opportunity to reach her potential because she was dealing with so many things throughout her life.
There’s a lot going on with the family, a fight over the estate and everything else, and we just came to the conclusion that we’re gonna let the family deal with the family stuff and we’re just gonna celebrate Elvis.
Leahy: Is the entity that licenses you, are they the ones that are involved in this dispute, or is that a separate situation?
Mayes: No. It’s just a family situation. It’s a fight over, as I understand it, the trust and Lisa’s final wishes for the estate. And so the Graceland as an entity, Elvis Presley Enterprises, the future there will end up being determined by the court.
Leahy: Are you licensed by the trust or is there a separate legal entity?
Mayes: No, it’s Elvis Presley Enterprises. We’re licensed through them.
Leahy: And that’s separate from the trust, is that right?
Mayes: It’s all in the trust, at the moment. But the work continues.
Leahy: This is an aside. I’ve been watching the series Daisy Jones and The Six which features Riley Keough the granddaughter of Elvis. She’s very good. Have you ever reached out to her about participating in some way in the now in the Elvis Festival?
Mayes: We have not. Riley has been acting and directing now for years. She’s been a little under the radar. I think she’s really coming into public awareness now with this series because of the series, the hit. It is a big show and it’s a great show.
It’ll be interesting as she becomes more involved with the Elvis world in the years to come as she now is, next in line how her relationship with Elvis starts to maybe grow a little bit. She hasn’t been part of the Elvis world up until now, but things are changing, I believe.
Leahy: Yes, exactly. It’s a little bit expensive to go to this event. Tell us why it’s worth the money.
Mayes: We’ve got a lot of options. We’ve got festival passes so that you can come to every show. We’ve got VIP festival passes, which give you a front row and a lot of extra perks. But we’ve got individual show tickets as well.
And tickets start at $49. So if you’re only in town for a day or you just want to and you really like the ’68 comeback special, and that’s what you want to see there’s something there for everybody.
You can come in and pick a show on its own, but you will not see a better collection of Elvis tribute artists on a single stage anywhere in the world. It is not the guy who shows up at the office party, he’s not the caricature of Elvis. These are guys who literally dedicated their lives and study every move, every ring is in place, every jump stick suit is coordinated, and every movement is right.
We’ve got guys on that stage that even the biggest Elvis fans will do a double-take without question. (Leahy chuckles) It’s the best of the best. We’ve got a lot of special guests too. Last year, Winona Judge showed up and surprised the audience on stage performed.
We’ve had a ton of people, John Schneider, Brenda Lee, Collin Ray, T.G. Sheppard, and our mutual friend Gary Chapman, who is a regular at the festival. And we’ve got a lot of people that have worked with Elvis and that have lived with Elvis’s best friend. This year we’ve got Sam Thompson, his bodyguarded and friend, and we’ve got Terry Blackwood, who toured with him for years and sang background vocals for him.
Legendary Blackwood Quartet. We’ve got Sloane Avery, who’s starring on Amazon in The Consultants right now. She’s coming in as a special guest, so we’ve got a lot of things. We’ve got stuff for everybody.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Elvis Festival” by The Nashville Elvis Festival
Live from Music Row, Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio for another edition of Crom’s Crommentary.
CROM CARMICHAEL:
Michael, we are living in almost a giant Saturday Night Live skit. You have crime across the country going through the roof. You have over a hundred thousand people, mostly young people under age 40 who are dying from fentanyl poisoning and you have homelessness that is going crazy.
You have just a degradation of social and societal values and you have a financial mess at the federal level in that the deficits are ridiculously high, and the regulations are forcing businesses and institutions to waste money complying with regulations.
And then you have the banks, which now we see a report over the weekend that up to 200 banks have similar problems to SVB and are at risk of a similar fate. You have JP Morgan and 10 other banks essentially extending a low-interest line of credit to First Republican.
You have Janet Yellen ridiculously saying, this is, I’m quoting here. “Administration officials maintained that the move to say First Republic was done at the initiative of the private sector.” But multiple outlets reported that Janet Yellen leaned on Jamie Diamond to get the deal done. I believe the second comment is more accurate than the first.
I don’t think a bunch of CEOs from 11 of the biggest banks all called each other and got on a conference call and said, hey, let’s all pony up a total of $30 billion. I think they were strong-armed to do it. And that in itself is telling. But you have all of that and you have many problems.
You have the tremendous stories out there now about the level of corruption between all these entities in China giving money to various Biden family interests, and then you have an indictment from New York over an issue that is seven years old. And it has to do with some hush money that Donald Trump paid to Stormy Daniels, as if that’s news.
It’s not news.
And then you have from The Epoch Times they’re now investigating gifts that were given by foreign dignitaries to Trump claiming that he didn’t properly register the foreign gifts when they came in. As I say, it’s like a Saturday Night Live skit.
You have Jonathan Turley who has said that the biggest initial hurdle that Alvin Bragg is gonna have to overcome is the statute of limitations on the use of a particular section of the code that that they’re trying to leverage to indict Trump. But the code says that there’s a statute of limitations of two years, but then if you can tie that particular offense to some federal offense, then it extends to five years.
The problem is that the document in question is more than six years old. And that doesn’t even matter when you think of what it really means is there’s zero question in my mind, zero question in my mind that the people in Washington signed off on Alvin Braggs, if he indicts Trump that this is a political prosecution that was approved by the powers in Washington.
And you have this expression, what goes around comes around. I’ve had discussions with people about what if Republicans get power. What if they treat Democrats the same way? And most of my response was, oh, that would not be good. That would not be good.
And then I asked him, I said how do you stop a bully from being a bully? Well, you punch ’em in the face.
And if they recognize it, that every time they’re a bully, they’re gonna get punched in the face. They’ll quit being a bully. I said, okay. I agree with that. And so now the question is if Republicans do regain power, and that’s an open question, and Republicans believe that the way the Democrats, the two-tiered system of justice that we have is akin to a bully on the playground. The question is how should Republicans respond. Historically, how Republicans have responded has not yielded a change in the direction of the country.
And that’s the great question here. No matter who is president, if Republicans are president we don’t go in the wrong direction at as a rapid speed as when Democrats are in power, but we still go in the wrong direction. We have an opportunity here to see what bullies do and we’ll see how we react.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this Crommentary:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Janet Yellen” by Janet Yellen. Photo “Donald Trump” by Trump White House Archived. Photo “Alvin Bragg” by Alvin Bragg. Photo “Jonathan Turley” by MSNBC. CC BY 3.0. Background Photo “Silicon Valley Ban” by Coolcaesar. CC BY-SA 4.0.
Live from Music Row, Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton to the newsmaker line to discuss federal education funding, charter schools, choice lanes, the top priority before the session ends, and more.
Leahy: On the newsmaker line now, a very good friend, Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives Speaker Cam Sexton.
Good morning, Speaker Sexton.
Sexton: Good morning. How are you?
Leahy: Doing well and we’re delighted to have you on here this morning. And it has been an eventful session so far of the Tennessee General Assembly. You got a lot done. You got the bill that stopped gender mutilation for kids under the age of 18. So congratulations on that. That went through pretty quickly.
Sexton: It did. It did. We were able to do a couple of things early that moved us through the committee. Usually, we take a little bit of time to get committees up and going, but this year we got off with a sprint and we’re still moving along.
Leahy: I’m a big fan of the idea that you suggested that we look at telling the federal government, we don’t want their Department of Education money. There’s a bill that’s gonna set up a task force to look at that.
Commissioner of Education, Penny Schwinn’s set to head that up. Six legislators, two superintendents, and two teachers, but no conservative talk show hosts on that task force. (Laughter) Are you gonna fix that problem?
Sexton: We can. We can always have testimony. I think it’s something important for us to do. My thought is, we talked about state’s rights and the 10th Amendment, but we continue to take federal money that takes away the state, our state’s rights places burdens and restrictions on us to use that money, and when those areas are federal education dollars because they also use Title IX to come through on the backside because we take the money and try to put things in our classroom or requires to do different tests in the classroom.
And I think that those burdens are more than they should be. And so I think fund that money ourselves instead of allowing the Department of Education to fund it for us.
Leahy: So this interesting development last week, of course, the Speaker of the State Senate Randy McNally involved in these embarrassing social media posts. We’ve called for his resignation because he’s passed his prime. I think that’s an example of it.
But interestingly, there’s this weird situation where there’s a state representative in the House, not in the state Senate, but in the House. Representative Todd Warner, he’s been in the doghouse, I think, for any number of reasons. So he puts out a letter and says it’s time for the state Senate leader to resign. Any thoughts on where that’s going to go?
Sexton: No, not yet. We’re, I think from what I hear based on the senators, none of them have come out and expressed that. My understanding is the Lieutenant Governor has called all of them personally and had conversations.
There are a lot of people who have opinions on it and it’s really a decision of the State Senate, whether or not they want to do anything. It doesn’t seem like at this point that they want to, so we’ll just have to wait and see what they decide or if they decide to do anything at all.
Leahy: Did you have any conversations with State Representative Todd Warner before or after he put that letter out? It’s not really a state House representative issue, it’s a state Senate issue.
Sexton: It’s a Senate issue. There were things used in there that you would have to know the person. I don’t think he’s ever sat down and had any conversations with him. That’s his opinion. He can say what he wants to, we live in a free country, and so he’s entitled to that. I don’t know if people agree with how he worded it or what he said.
Some may agree with the conclusion as you do on what needs to happen. But I will say, he’s never been in the doghouse. I think he likes to say he’s been in the doghouse. Leadership didn’t try to stop him or stop any of his bills or anything. I think that’s the way he wants to word it. Sometimes that’s just simply not the case.
Leahy: Tell me what’s on the agenda for the remaining couple weeks of the Tennessee General Assembly session.
Sexton: The biggest thing is the budget. We’re waiting for the governor’s appropriation amendment, which will be probably about two or three weeks. And then that will give us our timeline on when we’ll be able to be out of there. I think if you’re looking at different things that are still in play, I think choice lanes are up this week.
Saving the lives of mothers is up tonight on the House floor. We have some legislation dealing with charter schools. So there’s still a full plate to come. Constitutional carry on the House. True constitutional carry is being passed through the House.
So we’re hopeful that we will get that to the floor. We’re waiting to see what direction the Senate Judicial Committee wants to go. But there are still some big items coming through, at least on the House side.
Leahy: With the charter school legislation, would that expand charter schools? What are the details of the charter school legislation?
Sexton: Yes, the charter school legislation, there are a couple of different pieces. One is looking at residential boarding schools for at-risk kids. You have kids in some parts of our state that are homeless and living out of cars with their families and that’s not the best environment. You also have children whose parents are incarcerated, and one-parent families in high-crime areas.
Then numerous different types of things for at-risk kids. And trying to give them an opportunity their parents an opportunity to allow them to go to a boarding school like a public charter school that would give them a fresh opportunity to be successful and get out of a bad situation that they’re in to allow the family maybe to get back up on their feet as well.
That’s one idea coming. The other is offering a hybrid charter school program for people to go to a charter school for three or four days a week and then do remote learning from home one or two days a week to give parents also a little different alternative to what they’re being offered in their normal K 12.
Leahy: What’s the prospect for the choice lane legislation? We had Butch Eley here in the studio to talk about it. I think there are a lot of people who like it and a lot of people who don’t like these ideas. Where do you think that’s going to go?
Sexton: Right now, I would say it has the votes to pass on the House floor. I don’t know the exact vote count, but based on how it came through different committees it seems like the votes are there to pass it. It’s one alternative to improving our roads. It doesn’t change any road currently that’s being driven on, it’s only for new types of roads that are being built in highly congested areas.
And there are all four big cities in our state that have that issue. But it would also allow us to continue to build out, enroll communities in suburban areas, improve the roads, and build new roads.
And the main reason is that the congestion is gonna cost us about $26 to $29 billion. And so we’re trying to develop new ways to help fund those areas. But at the same time, do not lose focus on the rural areas and suburban areas that need roads as well.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Cameron Sexton” by Speaker Cameron Sexton. Background Photo “Tennessee State Capitol” by Thomas R Machnitzki. CC BY 3.0.
Live from Music Row Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed California refugee and an accomplished attorney, Mark Pulliam to the newsmaker line to announce his candidacy for Blount County Republican chair and why he’s qualified to do it.
Leahy: We are delighted to welcome to our newsmaker line, our very good friend Mark Pullium from Blount County, Tennessee. Good morning, Mark.
Pulliam: Good morning, Michael. I’m always pleased to be on the voice of reason in Nashville. (Leahy laughs)
Leahy: Mark, you’re mixing it up again! You won’t quit. And just for our listeners, Mark is a very accomplished attorney writer and a refugee from California and then Texas who moved to Tennessee in hopes of finding freedom and liberty. Found something a little different, didn’t you, Mark?
Pulliam: Yes. I’m either very persistent or a sucker for punishment, (Leahy laughs) but I moved here hoping to find a vibrant Republican Party that was as conservative as I am. And we moved here to find out that the Republican Party was in the witness protection program, and I’ve tried different things.
I got elected to the state executive committee as a write-in, but then my election was nullified. So now I’m coming at it differently. And one of the people that voted to nullify my election and to discard the ballots of 300 Blount County Republicans who voted for me is SEC member Cindy Gaba-Hatcher.
She’s running to be chair of the Blount County Republican Party at the upcoming reorganization meeting, and I decided that Blount County needs to have a real Republican Party with a real Republican sharing it. So I’ve thrown my hat in the ring and I’m running to be chair at this reorganization meeting coming up on April 4th.
Leahy: This looks to be a lot of fun to me. I know there are some bad feelings and bitterness back and forth, but heck, this is politics, right? (Chuckles) I just admire you so much, Mark, for jumping into all this stuff. Now you have a little bit of an edge that our friend Scott Golden, he’s our friend. I don’t think he’s your friend, right? (Pulliam chuckles) The chairman of the Republican Party. He seems to have set the rules up to make everything as hard as possible for you. Do I have that right?
Pulliam: Because we’re an open primary state, it’s hard to tell who’s a Republican and who’s not a Republican because nobody registers by political party. And there were two bills that were introduced this session to fix that. They were both killed under very questionable circumstances in committee.
But as long as we’re an open primary state, there has to be some basis to determine who’s Republican and who’s entitled to participate in Republican politics. So they come up with this bonafide Republican test, which is very amorphous.
It’s poorly drafted and it’s susceptible to multiple interpretations, and it’s ridiculous. You have to have voted in three out of the last four statewide Republican primaries. So for a Tennessee resident…
Leahy: That could cover a lot. Let me get to this, Mark. Every two years, there are elections for the county chairman. And I know in Williamson County here, there will be, I think, March 30th or 31st there’s a general meeting of all Republicans in the county. They’ve got to get verified and go through that vetting process you talk about, and there is going to be a race between, I think it’s Cheryl Brown and Tracy Miller are the candidates here in Williamson County. But there will be one big meeting. But in Blount County, they’re breaking it down into six separate precinct conventions that are precursors of the April 4th overall meeting. Do you have to get elected in the precinct conventions? How does that work?
Pulliam: What you’re describing from Williamson County, and that’s the way most of the counties in Tennessee do it, it’s called a mass convention. And so everybody that’s eligible shows up on a day and votes on a new slate of officers.
Back in the old days, when Tennessee was a backward rural state, they came up with something called these precinct conventions if you had a lightly populated state spread out or a county spread out. But what’s happening, and under the bylaws of the Tennessee Republican Party, all counties are required to use mass convention unless Scott Golden gives you permission to do it otherwise.
And so Blount County has gotten permission to do this precinct convention, so the actual people that will be allowed to attend the reorganization meeting are selected in advance at this precinct convention.
Leahy: Mark, is this all designed to keep you from winning the election? I’m just wondering.
Pulliam: This is the way they’ve always done it. And it’s certainly easier for the insiders to control the outcome because you have to register in advance. And so they know how many people intend to show up and they can pack each precinct convention, but we, the grassroots, are beginning to wake up.
And so my group, the Blount County Conservative Coalition, is on this. There’s a group called East Tennessee Conservatives that’s on this. And what we hope is that the grassroots will show up at these precinct conventions and outvote these insiders that have been treating this party as a private club for so long and we can finally breathe some life into a more abundant county party.
Leahy: You mean it’s not a private club? I’m just kidding. By the way, let’s talk about this Cindy Gaba-Hatcher. I’ve never met Cindy, but she’s currently on the state executive committee. She’s running for the Blount County Republican Party chair against you. Where do the two of you differ in terms of how you would do the job?
Pulliam: I’ve published my platform. I tried to become a precinct delegate two years ago, but my wife and I were both blackballed at our precinct convention. Essentially, I am not sure that on the issues there would be a difference in that she’s a moderate and I’m conservative.
Fundamentally, I want the Republican Party to act like a Republican Party, to empower the grassroots, have monthly public meetings, bring in elected officials and talk to the voters and answer questions, and have a precinct program, register voters to get out the vote to do the things that Republican parties are supposed to do!
Leahy: Register voters and get out the vote. That’s the standard job of a county chairman. Do you think you’d do a better job of that than Cindy Gaba Hatcher your opponent?
Pulliam: I think I would do the job, and in Blount County, according to the standard playbook, it’s not being done. The role of the county party in Blount County is to be invisible and ineffective so that the Chamber of Commerce can really run things.
Leahy: Of course, East Tennessee and Middle Tennessee are different really, you got a lot more engagement of conservative grassroots activists in the party. In Middle Tennessee, East Tennessee traditionally has been run more by the Chamber of Commerce types, I think, right?
Pulliam: I think that’s what I’m learning in the three years that I’ve been here. (Laughter)
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
– – –
Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Mark Pulliam” by American Institute for Economic Research. Photo “Paul Moreno” by Hillsdale College. Background Photo “Blount County Courthouse” by Brian Stansberry. CC BY 3.0.
Live from Music Row Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael in studio to discuss false statements made by News Channel 5’s Phil Williams that were left hanging on the internet for seven hours before correction.
Leahy: In studio, the original all-star panelist, Crom Carmichael. Crom, lead story at The Tennessee Star, which I wrote. Headline: News Channel Five Quietly Removes Unsubstantiated Claim by Phil Williams that Andy Ogles ‘Kept the Money.’ That was the original headline. Subtitle of the headline: that Andy kept the money from this GoFundMe account established in 2014.
Carmichael: And did the story go on to essentially say that?
Leahy: It had a statement to that effect that has disappeared. The headline and the statement that Andy kept the money which, by the way, Phil Williams could not substantiate that Andy kept this $23,000 GoFundMe account set up to honor Andy’s dead child in 2014 and used for Andy’s said purpose of helping other families that had children who passed away. It was up on the internet for seven hours, that Andy kept the money. He couldn’t prove it and couldn’t substantiate it.
Carmichael: Or he didn’t.
Leahy: He didn’t prove it.
Carmichael: He didn’t prove it. He didn’t substantiate it and offered no evidence.
Leahy: Offered no evidence that, that he kept the money. And then, mysteriously, seven hours later they changed the headline to say that Andy, kept the money and he won’t say where the money went.
Carmichael: He has said where the money went.
Leahy: At the time he published it because Phil went up to him and said, okay, I wanna know immediately how that money was spent eight years ago. And Andy didn’t answer the question. He came and gave us an exclusive statement and he explained how the money was spent. He didn’t show the accounting records.
Carmichael: Now, wait. So he did say.
Leahy: Subsequent to that headline.
Carmichael: Now, wait a second. Phil Williams says I’m lost on what the second headline says.
Leahy: The second headline said, “He won’t say where the money went.”
Carmichael: That’s not true either. That’s not true either. If you give somebody 30 seconds to respond to something and then they later respond, to not give anybody time. Let me just say this.
Leahy: He did say where the money went. He hasn’t provided any accounting records to that effect.
Carmichael: But then he has said where the money went.
Leahy: That’s a very good point. So the statement itself is wrong. Phil Williams’s statement should have been he will not provide me any accounting records. That would be an accurate statement.
Carmichael: Let me just say this. Phil Williams has been around for a really long time.
Leahy: He’s old.
Carmichael: He’s old; he’s got white hair. It reminds me of Randy McNally. They have something in common.
Leahy: They do. They’re past their prime.
Carmichael: Past their prime. They say things and do things that they shouldn’t do. And I think there is a Republican lawmaker who has…
Leahy: Todd Warner.
Carmichael: Who publicly said that Randy McNally needs to step down. And you have editorialized…
Leahy: On Sunday.
Carmichael: That Randy McNally, after having served for 45 years should step down. Phil Williams should step down. He’s lost his step.
Leahy: Lost his fastball.
Carmichael: He’s lost his fastball. That’s a better metaphor. And uh, put me in coach a baseball. So here we’re talking baseball metaphors. (Leahy laughs) But Phil Williams is past his prime and like Randy McNally, he has the hair to show for it.
And there’s no doubt when you look at Phil Williams, you look at a man who might very well be past his prime just by looking at him. But then when you see the story that he put up where he made an accusation that he could not support, by journalistic standards, that is a terrible thing to do.
Leahy: He can’t substantiate his claim that Andy kept the money.
Carmichael: That’s the first claim and the most important claim because to claim, I’m changing the headline to, he won’t provide an accounting of something that was eight or nine years ago, I would ask anybody to keep an accounting of something that that’s eight or nine years ago.
Leahy: That’s a very good point. It would take a while to put that together. If you can.
Carmichael: If the accounting still even existed. I go through my files at the office and stuff that’s old and no longer relevant, I clean those files out because I’ve closed the books on them. I’ve paid my taxes on them and I’ve done everything. And I’ve held him for the appropriate amount of time for my tax purposes, and I eliminate that stuff.
Leahy: Phil Williams is trying to create the impression that he actually never said Andy kept the money.
Carmichael: Right. And that’s what I’m saying. That’s why he’s like Randy McNally and News Channel 5 needs to recognize that they have a reporter who will say and do anything perhaps for a personal vendetta.
We don’t know. We don’t know what his motivation was. It could be that his mind just isn’t as sharp as it ought to be, and Phil should be put out to pasture. (Makes horse sound)
Leahy: I love the sound effect. Phil, you’re going out to pasture.
Carmichael: You’re going out to pasture and we will hold the gate open.
Leahy: And Phil Williams. Phil, your own actions and statements are leading you to be put out to pasture because you, he tweeted Wednesday evening at 9:27 pm, about an hour after News Channel 5 secretly changed that headline from, Andy Ogles ‘Kept the Money’ to ‘Andy Ogles Won’t Say Where the Money was Spent.’
He retweeted this tweet from Dr. Joy Heningsen News Channel 5 never said he kept the money, which right is falsely blasting Williams for. Actually no, he did say that and he said it for seven hours, Crom.
Carmichael: Who is claiming that Channel five never said what Channel five said?
Leahy: His retweet was claimed by some blue check.
Carmichael: That’s more evidence that he needs to be put out to pasture. Listen, I think Phil Williams believes everything that he is saying. I think he believes everything he’s saying and therein lies the problem.
Leahy: News Channel 5, by the way, has a policy Crom that they correct errors promptly, prominently, and transparently. They need to be prominent, so there’s no confusion about what changes were made to the story. They did not follow their own corrections policy. They made this major change.
Carmichael: Maybe there are some other people there who need to be put out to pasture. The pasture’s getting bigger.
Leahy: Bigger, bigger, and bigger.
Carmichael: And the gate is getting larger. It’s so tough to backtrack on something that you did that was wrong.
Leahy: Phil Williams is finding that out.
Carmichael: Yes. (Makes horse sound)
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Phil Williams” by Phil Williams NC5.
