Cigarette tax debate snared

Republicans accuse governor of misleading, trying to intimidate

By TOM HUMPHREY, KnoxNews.Com
May 23, 2007

NASHVILLE - A Republican-controlled committee balked at voting on a cigarette tax increase Tuesday amid complaints that Gov. Phil Bredesen's administration had sent lawmakers a misleading memo and engaged in intimidation tactics.

"It's bush league as far as I'm concerned," said Sen. Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville, describing maneuvers that he said seemed intended to pressure legislators to vote for changes in education laws and the tax to pay for them - without all the needed details.

Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz acknowledged to Senate Finance Committee members that "we may have inadvertently sent out the incorrect document" in explaining revisions in the "accountability" provisions of the state's Basic Education Program.

Senate Republican Leader Mark Norris said the memo in question, e-mailed to legislators Monday night, reminded him of a "bait-and-switch" tactic. The "talking points" in the memo differed from the actual language of an amendment that Bredesen proposed be adopted to implement stronger accountability, Norris said.

For example, Republicans said the language merely declared that local school systems "are encouraged to establish differential pay" for teachers in "hard-to-staff schools and hard-to-staff subject areas" - lacking a stronger mandate they thought had been agreed upon.

Goetz said a corrected version would be provided soon - joking that the new document would be available late Tuesday "unless I have to shoot somebody." At the close of state government business for the day, however, it had not been presented.

Burchett broadened the criticism to include what he called "phone banks" that orchestrated calls to Knoxville-area legislators in the wake of Bredesen's visit to Knoxville last week. During that visit, the governor said Knox County schools stood to receive $10 million to $12 million less state funding if his proposed 40-cents-per-pack increase in cigarette taxes is killed.

"I've bent over backwards to try and help them, work with them (in the Bredesen administration)," Burchett said. "I don't know what's changed in the last couple of days."

Burchett said Bredesen made his visit to Knoxville without letting local legislators know about it in advance. He said more than 80 calls have come to his office from teachers and others urging immediate action on the BEP bill, which was not even presented to the committee in writing until Tuesday.

In a Senate floor speech, Burchett said, "We're getting battered around by the administration wanting to know why we are dragging our feet. They need to stop badgering us."

"This is ridiculous," Burchett said. "This is the state of Tennessee. This isn't some banana republic."

Norris said Bredesen had adopted "an antagonistic approach" to Burchett as well as Sens. Jamie Woodson, R-Knoxville, and Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge.

"It's insulting to them," Norris told reporters.

Bredesen representatives said Burchett's concerns were unwarranted.

"If people are being overly enthusiastic (backing Bredesen proposal) in the senator's view, I apologize for that. But I don't know what to do about it," Goetz said.

Lydia Lenker, Bredesen spokeswoman, said Bredesen's remarks in his Knoxville visit "included high praise for Sens. Burchett, Woodson and McNally."

"The governor says he wouldn't be doing his job if he didn't get out and talk to constituents about his initiatives," Lenker said.

The Tennessee Education Association - not the Bredesen administration - has been urging teachers, their family members and friends to call members of the Senate Finance Committee and Senate Education Committee, said Jerry Winters, a Tennessee Education Association lobbyist.

"Sounds like our Knox County folks are coming through," Winters said. "I'm pleased to see the system is working and they're getting calls."

Burchett said that the calls may have been orchestrated by the Tennessee Education Association but said he suspected a link between the Democratic governor's administration and the TEA, "which everybody knows is predominantly Democratic."

Woodson and McNally were not as critical of Bredesen. Woodson said the incorrect memo was "unfortunate" but that she did not intend to be distracted.

"I'm trying to stay focused on what I think is our business right now, which is doing the best we can to improve education," she said.

The Finance Committee had been scheduled to vote on cigarette tax legislation Tuesday, and the sponsor of Bredesen's bill, Senate Democratic Leader Jim Kyle, said the delay could push the conclusion of the 2007 legislative session into mid-June.

Lawmakers need to know whether the cigarette tax revenue is available before moving on to other decisions on the state budget, he said. The committee wound up not voting on Tuesday, but rescheduled tax legislation for today.