Image Credit: Sen. Todd Gardenhire / Facebook
The Tennessee Conservative Staff –
Recently, Senator Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga-District 10), who won his reelection bid in the GOP Primary, was questioned by a local group of disgruntled Republicans who took issue with his voting record on illegal immigration issues.
Gardenhire stated that, “if you call yourself a ‘constitutional conservative’ then you don’t get to choose what you believe or don’t believe”.
Gardenhire’s said “believe it or not, I don’t care, I believe in the Constitution”.
Specifically mentioned were the taxpayer funded benefits Gardenhire voted for last session.
Gardenhire sponsored a bill that would give illegal aliens free college tuition in exchange for teaching in a Tennessee public school for at least five years.
Senate Bill 0297 stated that anyone not eligible for in-state tuition – which would include out-of-state residents and students noted in the bill “without lawful immigration status” – could get the in-state tuition rate if they enroll in a teacher prep program.
The difference between the in-state tuition rate and the out-of-state tuition rate would be covered by money from the Tennessee assistance corporation in the form of a loan. Then, if the student signs the loan agreement to teach in a Tennessee public school for at least 5 years, their student loan will be forgiven.
Gardenhire justified the logic for the bill by stating that there just aren’t enough teachers in the Tennessee school system who looked like and spoke the same language as the children who were appearing in Tennessee schools in large enough numbers that it is taxing the school system.
To alleviate this problem, Gardenhire stated that, based on a philosophy he shared with former Governor Haslam, he decided that it was a better idea to just allow for Spanish speaking “undocumented” students to be trained as teachers, “because those children learn best from people who look like them and speak their language”.
Gardenhire explained that the colleges and universities were big supporters of his plans because they were a “moneymaker” for the state.
Gardenhire argued that colleges were suffering a lag in attendance numbers and allowing for illegals to take advantage of the programs for in-state tuition would improve the enrollment numbers for the colleges and universities.
Gardenhire teamed up with Democrat Rep. Yusuf Hakeem (D-Chattanooga-District 28) to be his co-sponsor in the House with HB1294.
Gardenhire also had a back-up caption bill with Rep. Mark White that could be utilized in the event the original bill didn’t pass.
When confronted about the migrant child issue, Gardenhire resurrected his story about his mission trip to Mexico and that experience.
Gardenhire published an essay that related the story, and compared the illegals that drop their children off at the Mexico/US border as similar to Biblical accounts of people who might have made a similar decision. He implied that Christians have a duty to take in and keep migrant children despite their illegal status, in spite of the fact that this draws and emboldens other illegals to do the same.
Gardenhire then described anyone who felt that illegal alien children should not be receiving the benefits at the taxpayer’s expense as someone who “has hate in their heart”.
He went on to state that despite people’s opinions, “we needed to solve a problem”. The trouble with this statement is that many with opinions contrary to Gardenhire’s are the same people who pay for all of those “solutions”.
Despite the consistent pro-illegal immigration policy position Senator Gardenhire has admittedly taken over the past several years, he still has managed to get re-elected and sent back to Nashville to represent his district.
This month’s primary saw Gardenhire take 80.86% of the vote.
Yet another reason why Tennesseans who harbor concerns about policy positions like Gardenhire’s need to become more engaged during the primary voting season.
One Response
Gardenhire, living advertisement for closed primaries plus stupid “Republicans”.