Hatch Act Violations? Backroom Dealings On Defend The Guard HB0129

Defend The Guard For Immediate Release, Samantha Baker – Concerned Citizen, Gave Testimony At HB0129 Hearing

Image Credit: TN National Guard / Facebook

Submitted by Samantha Baker [TN citizen advocate for government transparency and supporter of Defend the Guard] –

When our elected officials make decisions about sending Tennessee’s National Guard into combat, it should not happen in secret. Transparency is not optional. It is essential. 

When a co-sponsor ends up being the one trying to kill the bill and ignores requests for Summer Study, then has private meetings with compromised Generals to be coached on weak, constitution-trampling talking points on how to stomp out this conservative, TN-first legislation: you have Rick Eldridge. 

That is why I am deeply troubled by the news of a private meeting scheduled for August 28th between Rep. Rick Eldridge, the Tennessee Adjutant General Ross, and possibly Cameron Sexton’s office. The subject of this meeting? The Defend the Guard Act — a bill that would require Congress to declare war before Tennessee’s Guard can be sent into combat overseas. This isn’t complicated and it’s embarrassing that Rick refuses to acknowledge its simplicity or read the reasons why the federal funding excuses are mythical.

This is a serious issue. It deserves public debate, not backroom deals. Did Rick even see if the Sponsor could attend first? In his replies to Nate Dressel an active duty, former Green Beret, he says summer study hasn’t been scheduled yet as if we can’t look into WHY it hasn’t been scheduled. Yet Guard leadership has already been caught distributing misleading talking points about “losing federal funding” if Defend the Guard passes. Those claims have no basis in law. They are designed to scare, not to inform. I’ll happily provide facts for every nonsensical in the leaked meeting notes that have been popping up from various conservative media outlets. 

The people of Tennessee have a right to hear both sides. We have a right to weigh in. We have a right to see our legislators discuss this in the open, not behind closed doors with military brass pressuring them and from what has come to light recently: giving canned, trigger-word answers because clearly they don’t think very highly of some reps’ knowledge of the constitution. Eldridge won’t schedule a summer study, but he’ll get a script from his helicopter ride buddies. Let’s spell this out: Eldridge is meeting in private to discuss a bill he publicly sent to summer study, with or without the Sponsor, and the nature of the meeting makes him look awfully shady. He still has time to do the right thing- no private meeting, public meeting or summer study. 

Whatever your position on Defend the Guard, this much should be clear: democracy cannot function in secrecy. If the legislature promised a “summer study session” on this bill, then that study must be public. Otherwise, it is nothing but a sham.

As a citizen, as a parent, and as someone who cares about the integrity of our state, I call on Tennessee leadership to open the doors. 

Tennesseans deserve transparency. 

Tennesseans deserve honesty. 

And Tennesseans deserve a voice.