Image Credit: Sen. Todd Gardenhire / Twitter & Antony-22 / CC
The Tennessee Conservative [By Kelly M. Jackson] –
Senator Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga-District 10), who has been in the office he was elected to since 2013, is once again seeking reelection this year, and asking those in his district to send him back for another 4-year term.
The Tennessee Conservative has decided to scrutinize Gardenhire’s voting record to help readers to determine if this is a distinction that has been earned, or whether perhaps a vote for a primary challenger is rightly in order.
Here are some of the highlights from 2019-2024:
In 2019, in committee, Gardenhire voted against a bill (SB1499) that would protect schools from litigation resulting from adoption of policies that require students to use bathrooms that correspond to their biological sex.
In 2021, Gardenhire voted against legislation (SB9009) to authorize partisan elections for school board members.
In 2022, Gardenhire made it into The Tennessee Conservative’s RINO Report as one of our Top 5 Tennessee Senate RINOs.
Some of his votes in 2022 that earned him this distinction include:
• Voted against allowing local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws in Senate Judiciary resulting in death of the bill (SB2264).
• Voted to send a bill to ‘summer study’ that would reject exemptions for schools that allow obscene materials, thereby killing the legislation. (SB1944)
• Sponsored Corporate Welfare legislation allowing Chattanooga Lookouts to retain sales tax deal to fund their new stadium (SB2890)
• Voted against making Ivermectin over-the-counter in the state (SB2188)
Other Gardenhire hits from 2022 include:
• Voting to give illegal aliens professional licenses on Senate floor (SB2464)
• Voting for the ‘Incumbent Protection Bill’ to silence Tennessee grassroots (SB1005)
• Sponsoring a five-cent tax increase on soft drinks, soda water, carbonated natural and mineral water, and other non-alcoholic carbonated beverages. (SB1659)
In 2023, Gardenhire co-sponsored legislation (SB0417) to limit parent’s ability to withdraw their children from public schools.
He also voted for legislation (SB1319) to criminalize parents based on anonymous allegations of abuse or neglect.
Gardenhire co-sponsored legislation (SB0273) to use of public-private partnerships for the construction of toll roads.
He voted for a bill (SB0475) to allow a subjective standard for physicians to potentially and willfully permit abortion for a patient in bad faith.
He voted for a resolution (SJR0034) to amend the Tennessee Constitution to allow ownership interest in private corporations.
And finally, Gardenhire voted for legislation (SB0268) that paved the way for global currency in Tennessee.
In the 2024 legislative session, Gardenhire’s hits kept on coming.
Gardenhire Voted Against Legislation That Would Allow The Death Penalty In Cases Of Child Rape.
Senate Bill 1834 (SB1834) which was sponsored by Senator Jack Johnson (R-Franklin-District 27) and presented by Senator Ken Yager (R-Kingston-District 12) was passed in the Senate with a vote of 24 to 5. The vote showed that the only Republican Senator who voted against the legislation was Gardenhire.
In the discussion during the vote on the senate floor, Gardenhire seemed not to understand the provision for minors in the bill that would exclude them from being subject to the death penalty if a minor should be tried and found guilty as a juvenile for the crime of rape.
Gardenhire used an example of a hazing incident on a high school trip that occurred while the chaperones were away from the premises.
Ultimately, Gardenhire voted against the legislation, alongside four Democrats who also voted No on the bill.
Gardenhire Voted Against A Bill In The Senate Judiciary That Would Have Increased Fines For The Transportation Of Illegal Aliens Into The State And Remove Exemptions For Common Carriers.
Senate Bill 2802 (SB2082), sponsored by Senator Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald-District 28), would have increased penalties for the transportation of illegal aliens into the state by amending a current statute and raising the fine from $1,000 to $5,000 per individual. It would also have removed current exemptions for common carriers (like Greyhound buses and Delta Airlines).
The bill failed in Senate judiciary when an amendment added to the bill by Gardenhire, increased the penalty to a level that caused other members of the committee to be unable to support it.
Gardenhire’s comments during that meeting left no equivocality that the move was intentional and was not meant to help improve the bill.
Gardenhire said that he had been contacted by many constituents who desired to see a penalty “so draconian” that no-one would be tempted to assist in the transportation of illegal immigrants into the state.
Gardenhire’s amendment would have made the act a Class A felony. According to Legal, this could mean fifteen to sixteen years in jail and up to $50 thousand in fines.
Gardenhire then addressed the committee saying that the bill would go behind the budget if it received enough votes due to its large fiscal note but that he hoped the bill would be voted down.
After adding an amendment to the bill, Gardenhire voted against it, along with the 2 Democrat members and two other Republican members who were put off the bill by the severity of Gardenhire’s amendment.
In the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which Gardenhire is the Chairman, he also took a similar bill (SB2034) off notice (that would have increased fines for the transportation of illegal aliens into the state) before allowing it to be heard.
Voted In Favor Of Expansion Of Mandatory Reporting By ‘Mental Health Professionals’ Of Anything They View As A Potential Threat.
Senate Bill 1673 (SB1673), sponsored by Sen. Becky Massey (R-Knoxville-District 6), expands mandatory reporting laws for mental health professionals by requiring them to report a patient to local law enforcement, 988 or a local health facility if the individual makes what that mental health professional deems to be a threat against a group of people related to a school or against a family member of the patient.
Critics say that this bill has many of the earmarks of a “Red Flag Bill.”
Prior to the SB1673’s additions, the current law required more specificity with regard to who was a potential target and whether or not the person who had expressed a desire for harm was capable of carrying out such an act.
Additionally, the expansion of the law also allows for any mental health professionals who do report a patient to be indemnified from any professional or litigious repercussions due to their disclosure of information that would otherwise be considered a violation of state and federal privacy laws.
Gardenhire voted in favor of the legislation, that has since been signed by Governor Lee, eroding more of our individual rights away for the sake of “safety”.
While those are some of Gardenhire’s more notable deviations away from what most Republican voters consider to be acceptably conservative policy making, there are few other highlights that are worth mentioning:
• Voted against legislation (SB2576) to require Tennessee Law enforcement to report illegal aliens that have committed yet another crime to federal authorities .
• In committee, voted against a bill to ban pride flags from display in Tennessee classrooms (SB1722) and refused to vote on the bill when it reached the Senate floor, thereby aiding in the legislation’s failure.
• Sponsored a bill in the Senate that would give illegal aliens free college tuition in exchange for teaching in a Tennessee public school for at least five years. (SB0297).
• Voted in favor of bill making it easier to remove foster kids from their homes and funnel them back into the system (SB2660).
Gardenhire also helped in killing a bill that would have helped to protect Tennesseans from what is the inarguably biased and persecutory federal Department of Justice.
SB2804/HB2912 was written and carried with the intent to protect Tennesseans from being surveilled and investigated by the Biden DOJ with the assistance of the state and local law enforcement resources they themselves pay for.
The bill was carried in the State Senate by Senator Joey Hensley (R-D28-Hohenwald).
This law would have ensured that the federal government can only utilize local and state law enforcement resources for criminal cases versus intelligence operations/investigations of those who the federal government may deem as problematic because of their conservative values, their religious beliefs or even their open support of former president and current front runner for the Republican nomination, Donald Trump.
When the bill was presented in the Senate Judiciary Committee, for which Gardenhire is the chair, there was no motion from a single member of the committee to initiate the hearing of the bill, which killed the bill instantly, without the merits being presented by the bill’s senate sponsor.
These decisions made by Senator Gardenhire over the span of the past several years, have earned him a 67 as his vote score on the Tennessee Legislative Report Card and a B- grade for leadership.
Of note, the report card states that he has received 41.18% of his campaign donations from special interests.
About the Author: Kelly Jackson is an escapee from corporate America, and a California refugee to Tennessee. Christ follower, Wife and Mom of three amazing teenagers, she has a BA in Comm from Point Loma Nazarene University, and has a background in law enforcement and human resources. Since the summer of 2020, she has spent any and all free time in the trenches with local grassroots orgs, including Mom’s for Liberty Williamson County and Tennessee Stands as a core member. An outspoken advocate for parents rights, medical freedom, and individual liberty, Kelly also has a YouTube channel @Tennessee_Truth_Teller and is planning on expanding out to other channels soon. Kelly can be reached at kelly@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
11 Responses
Excellent
Kelly
Looks like Ed LeCompte is the one to retire gardenhire.
Let’s help Ed LeCompte, https://www.edfortnsenate.com/, close the inevitable funding gap between him and long-time pinup boy of the Republican tepid conservative establishment Gardenhire by sending Ed our most generous contribution.
How did he get such a high Vote Score and Leadership Grade?
That’s a great question Mike. All too often commentators on this forum like to throw around descriptions of establishment Republicans who I term “tepid conservatives”, because that’s what they really are, using words that make the reader think they are virtual Marxists which is funny in a silly sort of way.
So let me give you some scores to set the playing field. Conservative icons Janice Bowling gets a TLRC score of 90/A and Mark Pody a score of 87/A. On the other hand, arch liberal Democrat Heidi Campbell’s score is 24/C while her rabble rousing leftist Democratic friend Justin Jones over in the House gets a 26/F.
By these scores you can see Todd Gardenhire with his 67/B- is not a modern day Lenin, but rather an uninteresting “tepid conservative”. For conservatives Todd Gardenhire, Bill Lee and the entire Republican leadership in the General Assembly or the party as a whole, while not leftists, are simply not good enough so we now have three months until the Republican primary to impress upon them that they have to do better.
There is no one to vote for. Stay home. Work out. Tend the garden.
Maybe, take up Sanskrit. To Hell with the entire Republican Party.
Maybe Ihlan Omar will recruit enough HAMAS to kidnp them all, or a Kinzehl missile hitting the state house? Or, maybe, they all get COVID 33&1/3 and have to spend the rest of their lives in quarantine?
OF course, you could just ask them their favorite color and induce a mental break down, I suppose.
Which is breathtakingly absurd SAKOVKT! Just when we finally have a group of stalwart conservatives who are generously giving of their time and money to run for office you want to stay home and are evangelizing others to do the same.
Please think again SAKOVKT, or are you a leftist, centrist, or tepid conservative yourself and would like nothing better than conservatives to stay home?
Cowards like you are the reason are country is in the state that it is. Get a backbone and stand up for what is right. No you just continue to drink the Kool aid. Sounds like you want other people to do the work for you. To be honest I just think you are a troll.
2 Chronicles 15:7 KJV
Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.
In God we trust not government or man.
Have a blessed day.
How about Sen. Jack Johnson? I don’t think he’s up for re-election this year but I wish there was a challenger to him. Back during the gas tax debate with Haslam pushing the increase, lo and behold Jack’s wife Deanna received an appointed to district court. While Deanna is a nice person she had zero legal experience except for holding a JD degree. And lo and behold, Jack went all in on the gas tax increase.
Just follow the money.
Retire Gardenhire should inspire all conservatives! Thank You Molly! Glad he has a challenger!
Todd Gardenhire has used his position as Judiciary Chair to browbeat members of his committee into killing many good Bills that would restore the 2nd Amendment rights of Tennesseans, that remain severely impaired by parts of TCA. He’ll let a fairly meaningless 2nd Amendment Bill go though occasionally.
In short, we is a diminutive tyrant who serves the anti-rights Lieutenant Predator and not the people of Tennessee.
We need good Tennessee patriots running against these rhinos who will work for We The People.