Michael, a week or so ago, the Supreme Court handed down a ruling called West Virginia v. EPA. And at the time, you and I discussed that ruling and I said that that would have a more profound effect on our country in a positive way by reining in the bureaucracy of the federal government, which abuses the power that is given to it in the Constitution.
Well, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who’s now Secretary of Transportation, is ignoring that ruling, and he’s trying to implement a program – and I’m going to just quote here from The Wall Street Journal just very quickly now, the Federal Highway Administration wants to make this abuse authority on the road.
It cites an obscure provision in a federal law that authorizes it to set national performance goals for the national highway system. It’s taking this to an extreme level, which is exactly what the EPA had done.
So this will probably be struck down by the first court that it goes to, which is a good thing, because I believe that ruling, West Virginia v. EPA was written in a very clear fashion so that the judges must adhere to the constitution.
But this raises the question that I’ve been bringing up for over a year, and that is that when public officials abuse their power, and I mean abuse it, should there be accountability for them individually?
And I still raise that question because the police officer who put his knee on the neck of George Floyd, resulting in George Floyd’s death, is in prison because he abused the authority of a police officer.
My question is, can a government bureaucrat who is creating tens of millions of dollars, maybe hundreds of millions, perhaps even billions of dollars of cost to average people, is there any accountability when they break the law?
We have the Supreme court ruling, and we now see this kind of throughout the Biden administration that when the courts rule in a way that is contrary to the goals of the Biden administration, they just simply ignore the court ruling and proceed as if it didn’t happen.
We will have to come up with a way of holding officials accountable who ignore the law and then try to impose their will on the people, which costs millions or billions of dollars. So we’re going to have to do something, and we’ll see what that is.
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 Nashville attorney Jim Roberts to the newsmakers line to give updates to how many petitions he has received for the Nashville Tax Payer Protection Act and asked folks to please get theirs in as the deadline looms March 26.
Leahy: Now Jim Roberts with 4goodgovernment.com with an update on the Nashville taxpayer protection act petition. Good morning, Jim.
Roberts: Good morning, sir. How are you doing on this beautiful day?
Leahy: It’s a great day. How are we doing with signature collection on the petition to get this Nashville taxpayer protection act that will roll back the 34 percent property tax increase? How are we doing on that petition?
Roberts: Petitions are coming in 1,500 to 2,000 a day. we still have a way to go. I would encourage your listeners to please download that petition, get their friends and neighbors to sign it, and get it back to us because we want to have a comfortable margin when we turn them in.
Leahy: So go to the number 4goodgovernment.com. That’s for good government.com. You got to get to 32,000 signatures by what March 26? Is at it that’s three weeks from today. Is that right?
Roberts: Basically, yeah, we want to try to turn them in that Wednesday, I believe. And we need 33,000 valid signatures, which means you want to collect more than that because some of them might not be good. But we’re getting closer to the wire.
Leahy: So here’s the big question for you Jim. Here’s the big question. How many signatures do you have as of Friday, March 5? How close are you to 33,000?
Roberts: Well, we’re halfway there and they are and they’re coming in stronger. I mean they’ve been out for a while in the mail but was slowed by the snow but they’re coming in about 2000 a day. And my worries were a little closer than I’d like to be. So, please everyone gets get those petitions to get them back to us.
Carmichael: Can you send out another mailing Jim?
Roberts: We’re thinking about that. We’re thinking about that very strongly and maybe sending out another mailer on Monday just in case people didn’t realize what they were getting when they got it. You know, we know that Sabathia we’re getting notes on about every fifth edition seems like have a nice note on it too. It’s almost thank you for doing this. We just got to get this on the ballot or taxes are going to go up again this year.
Leahy: So you say you’re a little over halfway if you need to be 33,000. I’m going to say that you’re at least 17,000. Would that be right now? That’s probably a little under. We only count them about every two or three days. I’ll be honest.
Leahy: Because it’s a big process to count them.
Roberts: It is because you have to cut them open just people tape on clothes and cut them open. So they’re coming in droves. It very warms my heart how many people are turning these in but time’s running out. A sense of urgency needs to be on everybody’s minds.
Leahy: So am I right that March 26, three weeks from today is the deadline?
Roberts: It’s Thursday that we want to turn them in. I guess that’s the 25th.
Leahy: The 25th. So we’ve got two weeks and six days and to get them in. If you’ve got 1,500 a day, you’ve got, you know, probably about ten days 15,000 you’re going to be pushing it. You’re going to be pushing it to get to that 33,000. You got to accelerate it.
Roberts: That’s right. And that’s why we’re pushing harder and harder with more media and social media. And I think people are just sort of asleep at the wheel a little bit not realizing this is out there and we want to get it in. We want this on the ballot. We want people to have a chance to vote on not just the roll back of the property tax, but the other five things on the list that ending lifetime benefits for elected officials and protecting our parks, greenways and public lands. I mean this thing does a lot more than just roll back the tax. I know that’s the most important to a lot of people. But these really are good government elements.
Leahy: On the web at 4goodgovernment.com. You can download the petition you can get not only your own signature but up to ten total people on it.Crom wants to weigh in on it.
Carmichael: If you do another mailing, I’d try to get get the word urgent on the on the on the on the front.
Leahy: Urgent! Urgent!
Carmichael: Words like that matter. They get people’s attention.
Roberts: Our response was so overwhelming the first time that I think some people just sort of sitting back thinking, well other people will do it. It’s time for people to get real serious.
Leahy: Jim Roberts with the Nashville taxpayer protection act doing you’re doing great work out there where you appreciate it go to 4GoodGovernment.com. Download the petition sign it and mail it into Jim. Thanks so much for joining us today.
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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.
