Farragut Republican Club™

The OFFICIAL website of the Farragut (and Concord) Republican Club. The Farragut Republican Club meets the FIRST THURSDAY of each month: Dinner at 6:30 and Meeting at 7:30 in FARRAGUT at Frullati Cafe‎ (behind Farragut's McDonald's) 129 West End Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37934, (865) 288-7499 For information about membership, please e-mail membership@farragutrepublicans.com. To contact the Club's President, please e-mail president@farragutrepublicans.com

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

August 9, 2007 Meeting: State Senator Tim Burchett

The August 9, 2007 meeting will have State Senator Tim Burchett as its speaker. Please join us.



Biographical Information
  • Born August 25, 1964, Knoxville, Tennessee
  • Single
  • Presbyterian (P.C.A.)
  • Small businessman
  • B.S. in Education from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Public Office
  • Senate member of the 101st through 105th General Assemblies
  • House member of the 99th and 100th General Assemblies
  • Secretary, Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee
  • Member, Senate Commerce, Labor and Agriculture Committee
  • Member, Senate State & Local Committee
  • Member, Joint Lottery Oversight Committee
  • Member, Joint Workers Compensation Committee
  • Member, Joint Charitable Gaming Committee
Member of Commission on Holocaust Education, Mental Health & Developmental Disaiblities Statewide Planning & Policy Council, and Tennessee Black Health Care Commission
Deputy Speaker of the Senate
Community Involvement
  • Greater Knoxville Beautification Board
  • Greater Knoxville Chamber of Commerce
  • Knox County Young Republicans
  • West Knox County Republican Club
  • West Hills Homeowners Association
UPDATE:

Burchett speaks to Farragut Republicans


Though arriving a few minutes late for his address to Farragut Republican Club Thursday, Aug. 9, at Gondolier Restaurant, State Sen. Tim Burchett (R-7th District) packed a variety of issues and opinions into his 15-minute address.

Concerning TennCare, “We’ve bragged how this administration’s fixed TennCare. The reality is all we did is kick the sickest people off,” Burchett said. “We didn’t fix TennCare. And that year that we claimed we fixed TennCare, we added $200 million additional dollars to it. But you’re not hearing that in the press.

“But, you gotta remember too, we passed a one-cent sales tax increase right before [Gov. Phil Bredesen] took office,” Burchett added. “When [Don] Sundquist took office from [Ned Ray] McWhorter, he inherited a $500 million debt basically due to TennCare. Then the last days of Sundquist’s administration, we passed a one-cent sales tax increase.

“And now this governor has inherited the exact opposite: he has inherited a half-a-billion [dollar] surplus. He’s spent it very well, it’s spent, [or] it will be spent.”

As one of only two Senators voting against a “Pre-K” preschool public teaching initiative, “I said, ‘is this going to be a statewide initiative?’” Burchett recalled. “And they said, ‘absolutely not, we’re just doing it in these trial areas.’ Of course, what did we do this year? It’s a statewide initiative.”

Referring to his constituents, “Those people can raise their own dad-gum kids, government doesn’t need to be in the business of raising kids,” Burchett said. ”One of my Senators from Blount County is always fond of saying, ‘Pre-K programs, outside of teaching them advanced potty training and crayon coloration, with Pre-K that’s pretty much what it is, just a babysitting service.’”

On the other hand, Burchett said concerning church-based care, “We’ve demonized them and drove them out of business. And now who’s in the business of raising our kids? The government is, and that’s a scary thought.”

About “getting tougher on child molesters,” Burchett added he was “sponsor to several pieces of that legislation.

“I actually attached an amendment on a bill, which hasn’t gotten to the press yet, and the A-C-L-U will reign down on me as they always do, which I enjoy,” Burchett said of his initiative where child molesters would face the death penalty “in some circumstances.”

Saying “sex offenders and drug addicts” make up a high percentage of the state prison population, “We’re going to have to rethink this whole drug thing,” Burchett said. “I don’t want to get soft on drug use, but we’ve got to treat drug abusers, we don’t need to put them in prison with a bunch of sex offenders.

“An 18-year-old kid gets busted with a couple of grams of cocaine and he goes to prison and gets sexually abused. He needs to get treatment. Now if he commits a crime to pay for that, that’s a different thing.”

Burchett discussed government preservation of “several thousand acres up on the Cumberland Plateau, which, on the surface sounds like a great idea … everybody says we need to preserve that for our grandkids and all this. I made a statement, I said, ‘What’s wrong with people coming in and buying this property … five acres and putting a nice house on it and paying taxes?’

“I got the ugliest e-mails … saying, ‘what are you talking about?” Burchett added. “’This is American, we need to preserve this.’ Congressman Duncan is always good to point out that over half of our property is now owned by the city, county or state

government.

“We don’t end up paying taxes on it. … I think it’s a very slippery slope. It doesn’t work in Cuba, it doesn’t work in China, and it sure as heck doesn’t work in Tennessee.”

Concerning illegal immigration, Burchett said fellow Hispanics are “selling their own countrymen basically into slavery. … Being sold into prostitution … one of ’em has [tuberculosis] and they all have T-B. It’s a huge

problem.

“I passed a law that said if you bring ’em into state, you can pay a $1,000 per person fine,” Burchett added. “My liberal friends got after me and said, ‘You’re creating a hunting license for these people.’ And I said, ‘You’re absolutely right.’ If the Knox County Sheriff’s Office catches a busload of 60 people, guess what? That’s $60,000, they’ll lose that bus right there. You catch one or two of those and they get the message. … We’ve got to de-magnetize the state.”

Countering the argument that illegal aliens “only do the jobs Americans don’t want to do,” Burchett countered: “I’ll tell you what, they’re just doing jobs Americans won’t do for $2 an hour. That’s the bottom line. We’ve got to get control of this thing.”

However, he noted, “I’m not against Hispanics, my sister-in-law is Hispanic. She’s a first-generation American.

She’s a very prominent doctor here in town.”

Town of Farragut July 4th Parade...A Farragut GOP Tradition!


Wayne Sellars, Farragut GOP Driver and Parade Coordinator


Thank You Dean Stallings Ford!!!
Dean Stallings Ford
480 S Illinois Avenue
Oak Ridge, TN 37830
(865) 483-4352




Monday, July 09, 2007

July 12, 2007 Meeting: Susan Dakak

The July 12th Meeting's speaker will be Susan Dakak and she will update us on her perspectives of Iraq and the progress that is being made.

Susan Dakak


Susan Dakak has more than 23 years of experience in civil engineering. She has served as a technical advisor for sewer rehabilitation projects for municipalities throughout the southeastern United States. By utilizing unique technologies to solve wastewater overflow and stormwater flooding problems, the experience and knowledge earned qualified Mrs. Dakak to participate and present papers in national and regional professional conferences. She has given numerous talks about new methodologies, such as pipe bursting and cured-in-place lining.

Published many articles in local and national technical publications geared specifically toward collection systems improvement trenchlessly. A recipient of many local and national awards such as the 5 S’s award, the Golden Manhole Award, and the Beddel Award.

In January 2004, Mrs. Dakak volunteered to assist her native country, Iraq, with its reconstruction efforts. She spent six months in Iraq investigating the country’s wastewater collection system and helping standardize rehabilitation methods.

Worked hard on implementing the democracy and the role of women in Iraq. Was a vital player in getting resolution 137 revoked and women to hold minimum 25% positions of the new governments of Iraq.

Mrs. Dakak obtains a unique expertise and knowledge in the fields of relationships building and bi-cultural bridging effectively. With strong relations with most Arab Media outlets in the US and abroad helped improve US-Arab relations and understandings of both cultures.

A native of Iraq, an American Citizen, and hold a US secret security clearance enabled Mrs. Dakak to take part in a complex operation geared to help democratize her native country. Mrs. Dakak’s experience expands from small projects such as Cultural Arts Bulletin Boards in Iraq to the Pan Arab Media Engagement Officer for Public Affairs office of the US Central Command headquarters in Tampa, FL. She spent 6 months in Iraq in 2004 and worked with grass roots organizations to help improve and empower Iraq’s civil society. Her work with CPA helped strengthen her position with the Iraqi Governing Council to advocate for women’s rights and form alliances with over 150 Non-Government-Agencies to build a strong advocacy groups for women’s rights. This big, strong, and diversified group was able, because of its alliances, to claim two very major victories for the rights of women, the deletion of resolution 137, and established minimum 25% representations of women throughout the Iraqi government.

Since 2004, she has been interviewed by over 100 media outlets including the Roger Hitchcock show, Rush Limbaugh, and Janet Parshall America. She has given over 200 speeches throughout the country at grass roots organizations discussing her experiences in Iraq and telling the truth about the progress in Iraq. She has also been on Arabic Media several times talking about the successes of Iraq and encourage Iraqi people to prove themselves and talk about their successes.

For more than a year, she facilitated interviews with the Pan Arab media of American soldiers, American officials on the State and defense departments both. Mrs. Dakak has also been working with the Iraqi Assistance Center where ill Iraqi children are being assisted by being sent abroad for medical care. Most of these children need very complicated medical procedures and they are being helped by private American families who are hosting them, American Doctors and Hospitals who are donating their services to these Iraqi children and their families. All of these children and their care givers have been on both the Arabic and English media. The truth about the generosities and good hearted citizens of the US is being told in a very positive and strong voice by all the Iraqis who are in the States. Most recently, she facilitated a press conference for the Co-Chairperson of the Iraqi women Caucus, Congresswoman Kay Granger on Arabic TV’s AlHurra and AlArabya. Ms. Granger came into Iraqi people’s homes through their TV’s to tell the women that she believed in them and she supported them.