Live from Music Row Wednesday 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 Maury County, Tennessee State Representative Scott Cepicky to the newsmaker line to discuss the recent guidelines released by the Tennessee Department of Health’s Commissioner Lisa Piercy and urged Governor Lee to circumvent the federal government so Tennesseans could receive the treatment.
Leahy: We are joined on our newsmaker line by my very good friend, State Representative Scott Cepicky from Maury County. Welcome, Scott. Thanks so much for joining us on such short notice.
Cepicky: My pleasure, Michael. Good morning, everybody.
Leahy: Can you help us unravel this statement yesterday from Lisa Piercy who is the department of health commissioner that was talking about the guidelines for monoclonal antibody treatments?
This is a very effective treatment for those who test positive for COVID-19. She said that for people who test positive, you have to test positive to get the treatment. Then she said the new thing is the National Institute of Health criteria.
Even if you test positive for COVID-19, but you’re vaccinated, you don’t get it. (i.e. the monoclonal antibiotic treatment.) Now, what on earth did she say? Does it make any sense? Can you help unravel that for us, Scott?
Cepicky: I don’t know if I can help unravel something that’s impossible to understand. I think you have to look at the beginnings of all this.
Ever since coronavirus hit the continental United States, most of our leaders, the CDC, have been wrong in their diagnosis, including our own department of health who has been very misguided in their programs to help control the spread of a virus that’s really uncontrollable.
It’s going to go where it’s going to go. But now we get this thing with the Biden administration, and this is where it all started Michael. When the Biden administration came out with an order that we’re going to start the rash in the monoclonal antibodies.
And instead of sending them to the state that we’re using them the most to treat patients to help them get over COVID, they wanted to treat all the states the same, even states that really weren’t using them that much and giving them all the same allotment of the monoclonal antibodies. So we’re now in certain states, these are sitting on the shelves, not helping anybody.
Leahy: That’s crazy.
Cepicky: To where we could be using them here in Tennessee. And like you said, I represent Maury County. Maury Regional Hospital.
Well, on average, was treating about 70 patients a day with the monoclonal antibodies, treating them, and then sending them home and they were fine and getting over COVID. That numbers down to around 19 because they just don’t have the monoclonal antibodies to give out anymore.
And so people are coming in who are sick and right now are being turned away because they don’t have the antibodies to give them.
Leahy: So here’s my question to you. Why can’t Maury County hospital go directly to Regeneron or Eli Lilly to make this stuff and buy it and just circumvent the federal government? Why can’t Governor Lee do that? What are your thoughts on that?
Cepicky: That is 100 percent accurate. That is one of the things that we’ve been talking about in the halls of Cordell Hall up in Nashville, encouraging Governor Lee to talk about that and go ahead and bypass the federal government contract directly and get these monoclonal antibodies from the manufacturer so we can make sure the people of Tennessee have the best medical care available to them.
And that’s one thing we’re going to encourage immensely with our governor and with the Department of Health. They have the money to bypass the federal government and do what’s right for Tennessee.
Leahy: Has the governor responded to that request? What do you think? What has he told you?
Cepicky: From what I understand through the back channels is that that’s being looked at right now, trying to bypass the Biden administration. And let’s make one thing clear here.
This is the Biden administration who’s targeting Tennessee. They are targeting red states right now. He made a statement the other day and a singled Tennessee out for the way our governor is responding to his executive orders.
Tennessee is being targeted by the federal government. They’re trying to make life as difficult as possible for us, and we are not going to stand for that. We are going to defend Tennessee to the best of our ability.
Leahy: Why does it take the governor more than 24 hours to make this decision? If he’s got the money, why doesn’t he place the order with Regeneron or Eli Lilly like today?
Cepicky: Unfortunately, Michael, I don’t hold the title of governor. I’m just a representative up there, but we are encouraging our governor and our leadership to reach out right now.
And, most importantly, this is something that Dr. Piercy should be taking the lead on right now. Her job is to protect Tennessee in health crisises.
One could argue we’re in a health crisis here with these monoclonal antibodies. She should be doing everything she can to secure the necessary medicine for our citizens.
Leahy: But she doesn’t seem to be doing anything except saying, “If you’re vaccinated, you don’t get the monoclonal antibodies now.” That’s what she said. Apparently, according to this Epoch Times article.
Cepicky: We call that medicine rationing, and we don’t do that in Tennessee because we have the means to not do that.
Leahy: Apparently, Lisa Piercy, the commissioner of health thinks we do.
Cepicky: Sometimes we have to disagree with the commissioner, and, you know, I’ve done that on a couple of occasions where we’ve called them out on their policies and procedures.
Maybe they need to take another look at this and before the General Assembly has to chime in and just make this right and fix it as quickly as possible.
Leahy: What are the odds of that happening?
Cepicky: (Chuckles) I wish we were in session right now because we have a little bit more authority to wield. But I know that government operations will probably be addressing this next month.
I know Chairman Reagan on Gov. Ops and Chairman Roberts are very concerned about this. And I would not be surprised if this is not rectified very quickly, that by the time we get to the government Operations Committee next month I’m sure this will be front and center.
Leahy: Crom Carmichael has a question for you, Scott.
Carmichael: A quick question on special sessions. Do special sessions have to be called for a particular reason? Or if you call a special session and then something like this comes up, can it be addressed in that special session?
Cepicky: So it depends on who calls it. If the governor calls the special session, he has the ability and the authority to limit the call to precisely what the governor wants to address.
If the General Assembly calls the special session, it is open to any bill that we want to consider. It’s basically like we’re coming back into a normal session and we’re going back to work.
Leahy: So have you asked Governor Lee to call for a special session? And what did he say to you?
Cepicky: Well, I haven’t talked to him directly on that. Speaker Sexton sent that letter with the 72 Republican representatives from the House calling for a special session by the governor.
I would much prefer to have the latitude to address the COVID issues and the liability issues with our businesses and the mask mandates.
School issues and this monoclonal antibody issue. I would much prefer that the General Assembly calls itself back into session so that we can take up a multitude of issues and address them all at one time.
Leahy: According to the Tennessee Constitution there are two ways for a special session, the governor can call it. Or if two thirds of the members of the House and two-thirds of the members of the state Senate say we want a special session, then they can call such a special session.
The lieutenant governor, the speaker, the Senate, and the speaker of the house send a letter to the governor saying, two-thirds on both houses. We’re calling a special session.
I know Speaker Cameron Sexton wants to do it, and every member of the Republican talks wants to do it. But in the Senate, it’s a different story.
Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally, who’s also the Speaker of the Senate, doesn’t want one. Any luck with the state senators calling special session now?
Cepicky: I think every day when you add this monoclonal antibody issue on top of it, of all the other issues that we’re facing in Tennessee right now, I think the pressure continues to mount on our Senate colleagues to get us back into session.
And, Michael, the thing that’s really perplexing is you saw that letter from Speaker Sexton, who represents the entire House of Representatives.
He’s the Speaker of the House. It’s very perplexing to me that not one Democrat signed on to at least coming into session and having these discussions on our schools and on mask mandates, etcetera, etcetera.
That’s the most perplexing thing is we can’t even get the other side of the aisle to step up to the plate and say, hey, let’s at least come in and have these discussions.
They don’t have to vote for the legislation I if they don’t want to, but at least come in and have the discussion that the people of Tennessee want.
And in the Senate, I hope we can continue to apply as polite of pressure as we can to begin with. But there comes a point in time when you got to do what’s right.
And I think it’s time for us to get back into session through the General Assembly so that we can talk about the issues that we need to talk about and then get legislation going to continue to move Tennessee forward.
Listen to the third hour here:
– – –
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.
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 Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs to the newsmaker line to discuss his recent letter to President Joe Biden in response to the vaccine mandates that infringe on American’s freedom and liberty.
Leahy: We are joined now by the Mayor of Knox County, our very good friend, Glenn Jacobs, who broke some news on Thursday with us at The Tennessee Star. Headline. Knox County will not Comply with Joe Biden’s COVID-19 Mandate. Welcome to The Tennessee Star Report Mayor Jacobs.
Jacobs: Morning, Michael. Thanks for having me on.
Leahy: We always are glad to have you on here. You are always interesting, entertaining, and a supporter of liberty, which we love here on The Tennessee Star Report. So tell us what you told President Biden and what’s happened since you put that out.
Jacobs: Sure. Well, first of all, it’s ironic because this morning I’m actually on my way to read to an elementary school about the United States Constitution. I’m wondering if President Biden is going to be there because he can certainly use a primer himself. (Leahy laughs)
I understand he’s vacationing at the beach in Delaware, so probably not. But last week I read a letter to President Biden about his vaccine mandate that he was implementing through an emergency rule with OSHA and the Department of Labor.
I feel many other folks do as well that something of this magnitude impacts so many people, this is not just like saying, hey, your toilet can only use so much water or some of the other kind of ludicrous things that the federal government does.
This is a big deal. And it’s going to impact tens of millions of people. And I believe that it requires literally an act of Congress. It should have been a legislative action instead of the President just signing a decree and making it the law of land. And like many other folks, I have a lot of issues with that.
I also have issues with the President saying this is not about freedom. It’s always about freedom in the United States. He took an oath to uphold the Constitution just like I did that is what the Constitution is therefore really. To protect the Liberty of the American people. And it just really bothers me when politicians forget about that.
Leahy: Yes. And in your letter, you were direct and you said this. You said finally, as an American, I’m appalled President Biden by your statement, ‘this is not about freedom or personal choice.’ On the contrary, you Glenn Jacobs, Mayor of Knox County write, in America, it is always about freedom. I like that line.
Jacobs: Thank you. But, I mean, it is and that’s what separates us from the rest of the world. We’re a nation founded on the idea that individuals have God-given rights. The government’s job is first and foremost to protect those God-given rights, not to trample all over them.
And we have processes in place that are designed to make that happen. The whole idea is that we give up a little bit of our freedom and our liberty in order for the government to have laws that can make society work in civilization work. That’s government’s primary job.
And that’s certainly the federal government’s primary job. It’s not to micromanage our lives. And President Biden might think it’s a good idea and thinks that everybody should get vaccinated.
And this is not about the vaccine either. I think the vaccine, there’s a lot of benefits to it. I really do. This is about the process. This is about the President of the United States usurping congressional power.
Usurping legislative power. If the President does that, if the executive takes on legislative power, he’s no longer President. He’s a King. And we’re not living in a Republic, we’re living in a Kingdom.
Leahy: Yes. And not a good King. A bad King. You close your letter, Glenn Jacobs, to President Biden. You say the following, ‘In Knox County, we know what we stand for. We stand for freedom.
We stand for the rule of law, we stand for the Constitution. And you, Mr. President, can rest assured that we will stand against your blatant and egregious executive overreach.’ What has the President said in response to that letter?
Jacobs: (Laughs) The President hasn’t said anything. I don’t know if he’ll actually read it. We did send him a hard copy. We also sent it to the Department of Intergovernmental Affairs. I’ll share something else with you, Michael.
When President Trump was President, even though the President didn’t speak directly to the counties, there was a lot of communication with the counties. We actually went up to Washington, D.C., and met the folks at the Department of Intergovernmental Affairs.
The day that we were there, the Secretary of Agriculture spoke. This was county executives, staff, and commissioners from three states in the Southeast. And we were all invited to Washington and see kind of how things work up there.
And there were constant updates from the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs specifically to my office. I’ve heard nothing from the Biden administration. I don’t know what other county mayors and county executives are seeing, but President Trump, for all the criticism that he got from a lot of people one of his initiatives was to have communications with the counties, because in the end, the counties and the cities, you know we are the ones on the front lines in many cases.
And President Trump was very good about that. President Biden has done nothing in his administration that I know of up to this point. But he hasn’t said anything. Of course, there’s been a lot of reactions, both positive and negative from other people.
Leahy: Tell me about some of the negative reactions to this letter from other people.
Jacobs: Of course it’s simple partisanship at this point, and that’s the problem overall now, with where this country is going. COVID-19 is a public health crisis, but it’s morphed into a political issue as well. It’s been completely politicized.
And I can literally tell you, based on a comment that someone leaves on social media, I can tell you what their profile is going to look like. I can tell you if they’re Democrats or Republicans. I can tell you if they’re liberal or conservative, and it’s no longer about thinking about ideas.
What’s really scary is no matter where you are in the political spectrum, the idea that the President is just making laws on his own should really bother everyone. I don’t care if you are liberal or conservative.
It doesn’t matter that that’s not how this country works. But it’s all based on partisanship. Joe Biden did this, that’s good. Donald Trump did this, that’s bad. And that’s how people think. And that’s a horrible place for this country to be. But unfortunately, that’s where we’re at.
Leahy: You said something very interesting that the Biden administration is not communicating with your county at all and that the Trump administration was communicating with you frequently.
This is a theme that we’re seeing about the Biden administration. I call it the ‘Biden Bigfooting’ problem. They basically are bigfooting everybody’s counties and state governments that don’t agree with them. Foreign countries like France.
This is very troubling to me and I think this is an indication that the Biden administration doesn’t care and is attempting to exercise absolute power over everyone else. What are your thoughts?
Jacobs: I do not disagree with you. I think for the Biden administration, everything’s political. I think this vaccine mandate was actually designed to get other things off the front page. Look at the debacle in Afghanistan.
We look at the crisis on the border. The FAA just ordered no drone flights over the Southern border in places so that the news can’t get up there and see what’s going on. I absolutely don’t disagree with you at all.
I think that there’s a lot of politics at work, and I think it’s very strong arm, too. I think that it is. And then, of course, we’ve also heard now that it’s becoming harder to get the monoclonal antibody therapy, which I’m not a doctor, but I think that’s a great treatment for COVID-19. And I think that’s something that should be readily available and that’s becoming harder to get.
Leahy: Particularly in red states.
Jacobs: Exactly. It seems to me that there’s a lot of strong-arm politicking going on. If you don’t like what the administration is doing, they shut you down. Of course, we see this on social media as well, not from them, but from the kind of gatekeepers of social media. There’s no free discourse anymore. If they don’t like what you’re saying, they shut you down. But I agree with you on that.
Leahy: You told us you were literally in the car on the way to meet with some elementary school kids to talk about the Constitution?
Jacobs: Yes, sir. Of course last Friday, September 17 is Constitution Day. The constitution and was signed on September 17, 1787. I’m on my way over to talk to some young people about the Constitution.
And I believe that that’s what makes America an exceptional country is the idea that we have a government that’s there to protect our rights as opposed to one that uses us as a resource.
Leahy: Always entertaining, always enlightening. Thanks so much for joining us today. Come back again soon, if you would, please.
Jacobs: Yes, I sure will. Thank you so much.
Listen to the third hour here:
– – –
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.
Live from Music Row Thursday 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 creator of the Huey Report and direct mail expert, Craig Huey, in-studio to outline the specific techniques used by the Democrats that will aid in their quest to turn red states blue.
Leahy: In studio is our good friend California refugee Craig Huey. He’s the founder and CEO of Creative Direct Marketing Group. He saw the light moved them from Southern California here to Nashville. Lives in Williamson County. Welcome, Craig.
Huey: Hey, Michael. It’s great to be here with you. And it’s great to be in Tennessee.
Leahy: Isn’t it great to be in Tennessee?
Huey: Awesome. (Chuckles)
Leahy: Now you are an expert on California and California politics. You lived there your whole life.
Huey: That’s right.
Leahy: You were a surfer kid. You ran for Congress here in 2011, and you saw something about how the Democrats were organizing. Now, I always want you to come in here because one of the main themes of this program is we want to prevent the Californication of Tennessee because a lot of Californians are fleeing that blue state.
That high tax heavy regulation blue state and moving to Tennessee because we have no state income tax. It’s a good environment. And we were talking about this off-air. What is it that we can do to prevent the Californication of Tennessee?
Huey: Well, you know what? There is no stopping Californians from fleeing. But the good news is, like in our neighborhood, the majority of the people moving in, and what I’m talking about not just a dozen, I’m talking about close to 40 to 50 people already and more coming all the time.
They are California refugees like me. They can’t stand the politics that has taken place and they’re fleeing. They’ve given up hope on being able to change anything. And so they have left. They have businesses like mine. I was forced to leave California just for one thing, that I couldn’t do business by hiring independent contractors.
Leahy: We were talking about that.
Huey: Regulations.
Leahy: But they won’t let you have independent contractors, which is stupid.
Huey: Absolutely. It hurts the workers. It hurts the businesses. It hurts the economy. They have an eight-point-five percent unemployment rate. Plus, you add in those others who are on welfare forever. You talk about the tax is 16.5 percent is what they’re going up to.
Right now it’s a 13.5 percent income tax. And when they hear Tennessee has no income tax, it’s so attractive. The Tax Foundation just came out with a report. Tennessee is the lowest taxed state in the nation for your lifetime of paying tax.
Leahy: I love it! That’s why you are living in Tennessee. I’m living in Tennessee.
Huey: But there is a problem other than California.
Leahy: I asked you to talk about how we prevent the Californication of Tennessee. But there’s another state, and that represents a bit of an issue in Tennessee.
Huey: The Georgia-fication of Tennessee.
Leahy: Elaborate on that if you would.
Huey: That is what the Democrats are talking about. That’s what the National Democrats are putting in nationwide $35 million. to transform, not their blue states but to go after a state like Tennessee. And Tennessee is one of the targets because they believe they can bring a mobilization of voters in Tennessee like they did in Georgia.
Leahy: The mobilization in Georgia and I don’t want to get off point of this. A lot of it was helped by, in essence, cheating and changing election rules unlawfully.
Huey: Yes.
Leahy: That is going to have less success in Tennessee. But the digital marketing efforts, the organizational efforts that they’ve used to basically turn Georgia purplish. Right. Tell us about that. And there’s actually a specific instance right now going on. And you told me about it. And I said, oh yeah that makes sense.
Huey: (Chuckles) So listen, here’s the thing. They have determined how to win an election even in a red state. They have determined how to be able to transform politics. They can take five to 10 percent higher voter turnout, which could flip a Republican seat nonetheless, protect the Democrats.
Leahy: If it’s like, typically 53 to 47 D, they can change.
Huey: They can change that.
Leahy: How do they do that?
Huey: So here’s how they do it. I got a letter from the head of the Democrats National Committee. He explained, exactly what he was going to do.
Leahy: I’m guessing you do what I do.
Huey: Yes.
Leahy: I get on their email list.
Huey: Absolutely.
Leahy: And they think I’m one of them. And they send me all their emails. So you’ve got that.
Huey: I got that. Let me just read the real quick part. This is from them to their Democrats, the top Democrat donors. This agreement we reached as a game-changer. And it’s the easiest commitment we’ve made to state parties and grassroots ever to fight the Republicans.
Leahy: What agreement?
Huey: The agreement is that they would spend $32 million to hire high school and college organizers here in Tennessee and other states.
Leahy: In Tennessee.
Huey: Just in the Republican states like Tennessee. They feel they can switch. So there are about 10 Republican states they’re dividing this money up with.
Leahy: And so they’re hiring high school and College organizers.
Huey: And they’re targeting churches and the black community.
Leahy: Churches, churches, churches.
Huey: They have organizers. Paid staff organizers. Here’s what they’re going to do. Number one, register to vote. Number two, do a digital campaign of petitions and polls to identify what issues. If issues of education, then somebody concerned about retirement and inflation.
What is it? And they do a profile of these people. And then from that, they go to that door and find out how to develop a relationship with them. It’s supported by a digital campaign. So if somebody’s really concerned about education, they’re going to get digital ads on Facebook and Google that are all about how bad the Republicans are about education and how good the Democrats are.
Then they’re going to take that data and have people knocking on the door. And they’re going to be saying, you’re for good education. So is our candidate. We got to stop this abuse of the kids. Can I count on you for support? And they say either they’re persuadable or in agreement.
And if they’re not, they won’t get any more contact. And if they are, can I give you a babysitter to get you to the poll? Can I give you a voter guide? They’re putting money into a voter guide that tells them how to vote from the school board all the way up to the top of the ticket.
And so it’s a complete mobilization and organization, of paid staff. The Republicans act like it was 30 years ago. They don’t understand these techniques. The Democrats think they can wipe out marginal districts in red states.
And that’s what they plan to do. If you remember Michael in California in 2018 and then this last election, there was all this, wait a minute. I won on election day.
Leahy: But what happened!
Huey: And a week later…
Leahy: I lost!
Huey: But that’s not just voter fraud. And some of the areas where that change took place. It’s because they got in the vote by mail ballots. And they did an amazing job.
Leahy: The vote by mail is the key. The Zuckerberg money went there. And, of course, it is a lot easier to commit fraud with vote by mail.
Huey: Totally.
Leahy: And we’ve documented it. In Georgia, they did that. The fraud took place because we’ve done stories at The Georgia Star News. 600,000 of the vote by mail ballots were deposited in drop boxes. 700,000 went by regular mail.
The ones in dropboxes six months later still, the Secretary of State down there has not yet produced a chain of custody documents for 333,000 of them.
Huey: It’s corrupt. It’s wrong. And it happens. And that’s why voter integrity is so important. And part of this money is going to lawsuits in Tennessee. You are going to see lawsuits to weaken the voter laws.
Leahy: That’s what they did in Georgia. That’s exactly the plan. The Secretary of State caved there. The Republican Raffensberger caved and basically, they let the Democrats set the rules illegally. But with the approval of the Secretary of State under rulemaking authority that they usurped the legislative authority down there.
Now, what’s interesting about this and I’m going to tell you, the plan is diabolically evil and effective. And the reason I know that is because it’s like they’re working hand in hand with the teachers’ unions and with the left-wing administrators of school districts. Because, as you know, they’re all pushing critical race theory.
Huey: That’s right.
Leahy: And so the kids are going to be overwhelmed with this I hate America idea. And then the Democrats come in and they go and they hire some of these kids who are being taught I hate America. And so they’re going out and they’re promoting well, we have to fix that.
And so we’re going to go with a Fix America because I hate the America program. And it’s easy for them to recruit people and talk to them. But they’re paying high school kids to do this.
Huey: They are paying high school kids and college kids and College kids that’s exactly what they did in California. It was the training ground. And so much of what goes on in California spread nationwide and they’re just exporting that.
Leahy: And it’s in the churches here too. One of the difficulties that you have is if you’re a Christian who believes in Orthodox Christianity, it is increasingly difficult to find a church in Tennessee that is not imbued with left-wing social justice warriors at the minister level. And it’s a consequence, I think, of decades of this kind of activism among Democrats recruiting church leaders.
Huey: It’s a great divide in the church community. It’s a great divide in America. And people have to stand up. They can’t go to a church that is teaching racism and bigotry.
Leahy: And the problem is finding a church right now like that. And there are some.
Huey: There are some.
Leahy: But it’s a diminishing number because the Democrats are very aggressively promoting social justice and equity and all those critical race theory-type things at schools and in churches.
Listen to the second hour here:
– – –
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.
Live from Music Row Thursday 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 all-star panelist Clint Brewer in studio to weigh in on the growth spurt that continues in Tennessee due to a re-locating caravan of blue state refugees.
Leahy: We are joined in studio by our very good friend all-star panelist, Clint Brewer, recovering journalist, who gives me advice on pitfalls to avoid. And I follow that advice very very often. Thank you for that. But I wanted to talk about for a minute, Clint, what’s happening here in Nashville, despite all of the bad policies of Mayor John Cooper Nashville, for a number of reasons outside of Nashville and some inside of Nashville, it’s growing like crazy. California is going nuts. Illinois is going nuts. New York’s gone nuts. These bad blue states are basically creating refugees who want to run a business where they’re not going to be interfered with.
Brewer: And it’s been that way for a while. I spent five years in Governor Haslam’s administration doing economics.
Leahy: That’s right. You did. You’ve seen this.
Brewer: I’ve witnessed this up close and personal. I mean, New York, Illinois, California have fed more businesses to the state of Tennessee in last 10 years, probably than any other state ever has.
Leahy: We should send a thank you note to Governor Newsom in California.
Brewer: It’s the low tax rate. It’s the low corporate tax rates, the general affordability of land. It’s a willingness of governments to be partners with businesses rather than be in opposition to them. And it’s a lifestyle choice for a lot of people’s families and a lot of employers’ families. You can find really great schools here. And it’s just a more laid-back way to live.
Leahy: You can find houses here in Middle Tennessee that are less expensive than the houses being sold in California. But what a hot market this is?
Brewer: Yeah, it is a hot market. All the people moving here have certainly heated up the real estate market. I mean, it’s hot for this area. The appreciation rate is high, but it’s still cheaper to live in than the vast majority of other places in the country.
Leahy: And by the way, that no state income tax, you can’t beat it.
Brewer: I mean, it’s the best recruiting tool we’ve got.
Leahy: It absolutely is a great recruiting tool. Apparently, Oracle likes it. Now they have a few hurdles to overcome. But I guess on Tuesday night, the Metro Nashville Council unanimously approved the things they had to do to get Oracle in here for the first step.
Brewer: Oracle has been in the economic development pipeline for a while, and it’s a big win for the state. Kudos to Nashville for showing so well and winning the deal. It’s good to see the Cooper administration sort of getting back into the ring on economic development. That’s encouraging. And when a company can do business anywhere and they decide to do business in Tennessee, it says a lot about our business environment.
It says a lot about our workforce, and it says a lot about the potential for the state. We’re becoming a hub for tech, which are high-paying jobs, which is what you need now. There are some challenges policy-wise with it. And I think some of the residents of the East Bank are right to be worried that they’re going to be crowded out.
Leahy: I think it’s inevitable.
Brewer: Well, it may be, but, I mean, we can’t just drive people willy nilly out of the county. We’ve got to figure out a way to do both. To allow people to stay in the county and to recruit economically.
– – –
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.
