Republican Town Hall at MTSU on Tax Reform, Healthcare Draws Protestors

At a town hall meeting put on by Middle Tennessee State University College Republicans Thursday night, there were more protestors chanting outside the small auditorium as the event started than the slightly more than 80 people allowed in to view the panel discussion with U.S. Rep. Diane Black, Sen. Jim Tracy, State Rep. Mike Sparks and Rep. Bryan Terry. The four legislators took questions and traded barbs with audience members in a heated hourlong meeting.

Answering (or not answering, depending on who you ask) questions about healthcare and tax reform in the Parliamentary Room in MTSU's Student Union Building, Black told the audience that they'll see a tax reform plan "sometime later this year" and that while repealing the Affordable Care Act is a priority, legislators are "taking their time" and have not created a plan to replace it.

"We don't want to move so quickly that we have a problem down the road," Black told the audience, also commenting at one point that young people don't particularly need "major medical insurance."

The president of the MTSU College Democrats Dalton Slatton asked the panel why, if they're against big government, they supported legislation that takes away women's right to make personal choices about their bodies, like abortion — causing a tense series of interactions between audience members, the legislators and the host. 

Black responded: "Let me say, first of all, that I am pro-life, all life is important," and went on to say that she didn't want government money going to abortions (which is quite OK, because it doesn't). Sparks got into an exchange with crowd members after saying he believed in "life at conception." After crowd members yelled at him to answer the question, Sparks said that while several people advocate and lobby for things at the legislature, nobody was lobbying and advocating for "that child" — to which an audience member yelled: "It's my body. You don't get to tell me what to do with my body!"

After Terry, a physician, met disruptions and exasperation from women in the crowd while saying that he believes a pregnant mother and a fetus are "two patients," the host, Murfreesboro attorney Scott Kimberly, appeared to finally get rattled.

"I understand that some folks in attendance believe that their opinions or snarky comments [are] probably entertaining to the masses — and I appreciate the opportunity that you've taken to demonstrate your humor — but out of respect for the panelists here, I would simply ask that you maintain those comments to yourself while we conclude the panel peacefully. And any conversations with your friends next to you — I'm sure you can share those brilliant thoughts after this," Kimberly said, telling a woman who screamed that she just wanted her voice to be heard that he "wasn't going to say it again."

Tracy touted Tennessee's lack of a state income tax, telling the audience that a couple in the crowd had moved to the state because of its low taxes and that retirees were also flocking to the state for the same reason. Black said she wanted to simplify the tax code so that taxes were simple enough to "fit on a 5 by 7 index card."

Protestors who were unable to get into the room for the meeting waited outside the room to boo the legislators as they left the meeting. Last year's town hall put on by the GOP college group only drew around 30 people, they said — likely why the group booked such a small auditorium on campus.