Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs: ‘The Family Is the Building Block to Our Society’

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. – guest host Gulbransen welcomed Tennessee’s favorite mayor, Glenn Jacobs of Knox County to the newsmaker line to discuss his governing style.

Gulbransen: On our newsmaker line, Tennessee’s favorite mayor, my friend, Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs. How are you this morning?

Jacobs: Good morning, Aaron. How are you?

Gulbransen: I’m doing well. So I think this is probably a little insight that people don’t get to get to have often. As the audience knows, I get to work at the General Assembly and I’m there every day. You were just there this week doing the business of Knox County. Touch on that and what that kind of looks like.

Jacobs: Yes sir. It was county down the hill where the Tennessee County Services Association which represents the interest of counties across the state. We all gather and have a meeting and talk about issues facing our counties and then go over and in many cases talk with the General Assembly.

A couple of things that we’re working on that are really internal to the workings of the government, of how sales tax administration is done and that fee, as well as a single item of sales tax and the splits.

There’s a cap on that as far as the local amount which is a little different than how sales tax is run and everything else. But those are more internal to the workings of local and state governments.

Gulbransen: As everyone probably realizes at some point in their lives without thinking about it a lot of what you see often in your daily life is what happens in local government.

So it’s important to have a good working relationship as a county mayor with the General Assembly. I know you have a very good one. You’ve been mayor for several years now. What was it like the first time you went to the General Assembly?

Jacobs: (Chuckles) The, the first time, of course, it’s really cool and you get struck a little bit because there are just so many things happening and you’re getting used to it. It’s a little different now cause I’m used to going over and talking with people and all that sort of thing. For a wrestler now it’s a little different.

I remember the first time that I wrestled here in Knoxville, the Civic Coliseum, and you know, I was like, golly, this is like the biggest place I’ve ever been in. And of course, it sees about 7,000 people and we’ve been to much bigger places now. But I always remember that as the biggest. It’s probably the same there. The first time you go it’s like, oh, that’s so cool. And nothing compares to it after that.

Gulbransen: No, this is very true. Although I will give the audience a little tidbit. I’ve worked in several different state Houses and when you get to the office building they all start looking the same after a while. The turns in the elevators and that sort of thing.

Of course, the governor did sign two bits of legislation and of course, made a lot of national news. Leader Johnson was the sponsor of SB 1 and SB 3. He was the common denominator. Leader Lamberth and Representative Todd were sponsors in the House respectively on the two bills. Can you talk about the importance of SB 1 and SB 3?

Jacobs: Sure. One bill prohibits genital mutilation of minors in the state of Tennessee. Sex change operations are what we’re talking about here. The other outlaws all-age drag shows in public and defines what a burlesque show is and includes some of the things that we’ve seen around the country.

You know, we’re in the middle of a really, of a counter-revolution to the American Revolution. We are in the middle of a cultural Marxist revolution with the people on the far left, not everybody. Cause I don’t think everybody realizes what’s really going on. They want to destroy the country and destroy its institutions.

I think that the family is very important. It’s the building block of our entire society and also ensuring that kids can grow up and not have their lives run by things that are going on now as far as, oh, it’s in vogue to say I’m not sure if I’m a boy or a girl.

And then in almost all cases, that gets worked out even for youngsters that might suffer from gender dysphoria. I’m really happy that the state did that. And of course, I believe we’re the first state in the Union to take those steps.

Gulbransen: I think personally and in my capacity as executive director of Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition, I think those are model bits of legislation that the rest of the country should follow. Of course, I agree with you entirely on it.

It’s somewhat become fashionable to question yourself as a teenager and there are a lot of social media issues with how people get pressured into it. Of course, when I was young, I seem to remember the fads of the day being baseball cards and did you know what Michael Jordan did on the basketball court that day? There were odd jeans that people wore and that sort of thing.

Jacobs: Life was a little simpler back then. (Chuckles) It’s like we are old fogies now. (Chuckles)

Gulbransen: Yes. I remember walking to school in the snow at five in the morning. I know I’ve had you on so much. I forget if I’ve asked you or not, but I think it’s a good time. Can you give us your generic governing philosophy? It’s a fun question. I’d like our audience to hear that from you.

Jacobs: Sure. I’m a small government conservative which means I would keep the government out of my life and out of everybody’s lives as much as possible. There’s a certain role the government is going to play, and I think that needs to be confined and constricted to a case of the federal government within the confines of the United States Constitution and state constitutions as well as local governing documents. So, uh, for me it’s pretty much live and let live as long as you’re not hurting other people.

Gulbransen: That’s a very important distinction to make. Those on the left, say they wanna live and let live, but they really really mean they wanna live and then force their worldview on everybody else.

Jacobs: That’s very well, very well said.

Gulbransen: Did, did you see the bill that passed the Senate that’s banning TikTok and WeChat on Tennessee Public College networks?

Jacobs: I did not. No, I did not see that. It’s very interesting to see where we are as a country in a world and what people sometimes believe is, you know, innocent, no big deal is really more than that. I didn’t see that, but you know, South Carolina of course has prohibited TikTok use on state-owned telecommunication devices.

There is a security risk there when you’re using a government device, you are making your network vulnerable to folks like the Chinese government and those sorts of things. There really are major concerns with platforms like that.

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 “Glenn Jacobs” by Glenn Jacobs. Background Photo “Family” by Luemen Rutkowski.