My Meet & Greet in Hixson

About 35 people came by for my campaign Meet & Greet at the North River Civic Center in Hixson.  Thanks to all who came out.  Special thanks to those who helped me with the event:  Gary Fisher, Henry Spratt, Laura Howard, Janis Hashe, and (of course) my wife Mary and son Michael.

Personally, I think the bar was raised in terms of the food we had at this Meet & Greet!  All the food was freshly prepared by the candidate (with some much appreciated assistance from the family).  The menu included:  pork tamales, veggie tamales, cheese enchiladas, puerco pabil enchiladas, frijoles refritos, black bean and corn salsa and tomato/cilantro salsa.  

The Mexican food represented a connection to my Hispanic heritage.  Yes, I am Hispanic - my grandfather was born and raised in Chihuahua, Mexico. During my remarks, I reference the story of my grandfather, Anton Baca Subia.  He and his cousin made their way to Detroit, Michigan, where Tony worked for years in the automobile industry.  His story is the great story of so many immigrants who came to America to better themselves and to provide for their families.

I also took the opportunity to talk about some of the specific ideas that I want to bring to Nashville as the District 26 Representative.  Economic development in the 21st century must be addressed differently.  We are living in a highly competitive world economy.  Our education systems need to be revised to emphasize innovation and critical thinking.  We should seriously consider restructuring the Tennessee HOPE (lottery) scholarship program to include adults who need further education and training.  I suggest that we direct the resources of this huge amount of money specifically to Tennessee community colleges and Technology Centers.  That is how we would get the most bang for the buck.

I also addressed three elements of economic development that need the attention of the legislature. 

• We should do much more to encourage entrepreneurship and grow small businesses
• Public transportation should be expanded - too many people cannot get to where the jobs are
• We have totally underestimated the economic impact of the arts and cultural activities.

More about these issues in future Blog posts.  Again, thanks to all who came!

Voter ID Laws Diminish Ability to Participate in Democracy

Corporations, 1 per-centers and Republicans are working to ensure you don’t vote because they honestly believe you don’t count . . . Country club conservatives are converting voting from a universal right of citizenship to a privilege exclusive to select society members. - Leo Gerard, AlterNet

Since 2010, there has been a spate of new laws and changes to existing laws perpetrated in the guise of eliminating “voter fraud.”  The fraud, however, is that these laws are actually another element of a concerted plan to disenfranchise and discourage voters.  

New voter ID laws were passed in Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.  Oklahoma voters approved a voter ID proposal placed on the ballot by the Legislature.  Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas tightened existing voter ID laws to require photo IDs.  In addition, new laws in Texas and South Carolina are on hold pending Department of Justice preclearance.

A survey by the Brennan Center at New York University showed that many Americans, primarily women, do not have proof of citizenship under their current name and certain groups, primarily the poor, elderly and minorities are less likely to possess the documents the new voter ID laws require.  “We found the ability to get documents isn’t that simple. The documents are costly for many, many voters and there are serious transportation barriers for many voters. We just found really significant problems,” stated Keesha Gaskins, co-author of the report.

Recently, Rep. Steve Cohen (Tenn.) introduced the Voter ID Accessibility Act, which would require any state with a photo ID mandate to notify voters and offer them a free ID. “We haven’t seen much indication of voting fraud, but we have seen a lot of fraud in the mortgage business and the financial business,” Cohen said. “You wonder why they’re doing this.”

If elected to represent the 26^th House District, I would make every effort to introduce legislation similar to Congressman Cohen’s as a stop-gap measure to lessen the terrible impact of Tennessee’s Voter ID Law.  Ultimately, we should be expanding the number of people who participate in democracy through voting, not cutting people out from this process.

The National Conference of State legislatures has an excellent resource on Voter Identification Requirements

Miller Now Listed on Ballotpedia

Ballotpedia is a great concept.  Similar is style and operation to Wikipedia, Ballotpedia is a collaborative project that concentrates on elections and candidates.  I consider it to be a very reliable source of information and use it often when looking at issues and key players in the political world.  There are well over 200,000 articles available on Ballotpedia.


Further details on Ballotpedia are available HERE

You can see my article on Ballotpedia HERE

Early Voting Begins in Hamilton County

Every one should consider Early Voting.  There are four locations in Hamilton County and anyone can vote in any of these locations.  

With all of the changes that have been made to the election process, Early Voting will give you a chance to make sure that all of your registration information is accurate.  If you have a problem while Early Voting  you should immediately contact the Hamilton County Election Commission to get any issue resolved.  

Hamilton County Election Commission
700 River Terminal Road
Chattanooga, TN 37406
(423) 493-5100

Email: Vote@HamiltonTN.gov

The Commission regular hours are Monday through Friday 8:00 AM. to 4:00 PM


If you need any further assistance with a concern about your voter registration, contact the Hamilton County Democratic Party at (423) 266-4125.



To view the Democratic Party Sample Ballot, CLICK HERE

Ross's Landing Lauded by City Parks Alliance

Ross's Landing is part of the newly configured TN House District 26.  Although there are some issue that need to be fixed, the development of the waterfront in the downtown Chattanooga is truly something that we can all be proud of.  


 
Like so many great things in 21st Century Chattanooga, the projects that changed downtown, starting with the Tennessee Aquarium, were accomplished by multiple segments of the community who came together to get things done.

This Nooga.com story highlights the selection of Ross's Landing as a “Frontline Park,” a designation from the national urban park advocacy group City Parks Alliance.  According to Catherine Nagel, executive director of City Parks Alliance, Ross's Landing was selected for recognition because it exemplifies "the power of partnership to create and maintain urban parks that build community and make our cities sustainable and vibrant.” 


 
Larry Zehnder, administrator for Chattanooga Parks and Recreation Department, said Chattanooga's investments in parks and other public spaces are a large part of the reason it has been named a “most livable city” multiple times in the past decade."

I strongly support such investment in our community. and the continuation of the power of partnership to get important things accomplished.