Protesters at the state Capitol earlier this year
Though the Tennessee General Assembly won’t return to session until January, Nashville Democrat Bo Mitchell is wasting no time trying to undo one of Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s signature accomplishments from his first year in office.
Mitchell earlier this month filed a bill calling for the repeal of the governor’s education savings account pilot program. He says Memphis Democrat Sara Kyle will sign on as the Senate sponsor.
Most Democrats — and a sizable chunk of Republicans — opposed the measure, which will give qualifying families in Memphis and Nashville public funds for use at private schools. When the bill passed on the House floor, then-Speaker Glen Casada was forced to leave the vote open for nearly an hour in order to wrangle one more aye.
That unusual process has attracted the attention of federal and state law enforcement, according to multiple reports. Conservative Democrat John Mark Windle, a colonel in the Tennessee National Guard, told NewsChannel5 that he was offered an implied promotion to general in exchange for switching his vote, which he did not do.
“It’s a simple bill,” Mitchell says. “With all the improprieties, bribery and other things around it, I think it’s the prudent thing to do.”
Needless to say, Mitchell would support repealing the bill regardless of how it was passed.
“We don’t need to take any more money from public education for schemes that have proved unsuccessful everywhere else they’ve been tried,” he says.
Observers might normally scoff at a backbencher’s attempt at repealing a brand-new law championed by a popular first-term governor (not to mention Donald Trump), but Mitchell has the opportunity to rustle up some bipartisan support. In addition to the Republicans who actively opposed the bill, more still chafed at the strongarm tactics Casada and his allies used to get them to support it.
In leadership elections following Casada’s ouster, many candidates alluded to his methods, promising to allow members to vote their districts and their consciences.
One of the Republicans who bucked Lee and Casada by voting against the bill: Cameron Sexton, newly elected as Casada’s successor.
Lee has said he would like to start the pilot program sooner, though Sexton pushed back.
“The ESA legislation has passed, the governor has signed it, and he has the right to implement the program under the parameters defined within the bill,” House Republican spokesman Doug Kufner said. “Members also have the ability to file legislation related to this issue. It is up to the body and the committee process to determine whether any additional ESA legislation advances.”
