Murfreesboro Post
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Fact-checking the legislative candidates forum




Politicians on the campaign trail are known to be free-wheeling with facts and the same was true Monday night at a legislative candidate forum featuring hopefuls for the 16th District state Senate seat and the 34th District, 48 District and 49th District state House seats.

In general, the challengers challenged the incumbents’ records while in the General Assembly and the incumbents defended their positions or refuted the charges.

The exceptions were the 48th District candidates Democrat Tim Tipps and Republican Joe Carr since both are running for Rep. John Hood’s seat, and Rep. Donna Rowland and Dr. Rishi Saxena.

Saxena stuck to his talking point of affordable health care for all based on his years as a cardiologist in Murfreesboro.

The one fact he threw out that bears closer scrutiny was between 30 cents and 35 cents of every dollar paid to insurance companies goes to administrative costs.

All references found pointed to the actual being closer to 25 cent of every dollar, according to “Health Affairs: The Policy Journal of the Health Sphere” and The Commonwealth Fund.

The Commonwealth Fund said in its 2008 National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance that lowering administrative could save up to $100 billion a year costs and those costs are 30 percent to 70 percent higher in the U.S. than in other countries with similar health care systems.

Jean Ann Rogers, the Democratic candidate for the 16th Senate seat, challenged Republican incumbent Jim Tracy on many points of his record.

Rogers claimed Tracy voted against the Rural Health Act of 2008, which would give scholarships to students who agree to practice medicine after graduation in a geographic area in need of health care.

By emphasizing preventative care, the bill would “take primary care out of the emergency room and reduce cost,” Rogers said.

Her statement on Tracy’s record was only partially true. Tracy didn’t vote for the bill, but he didn’t vote against it either. The bill failed to pass the Senate Education Committee on which Tracy serves. Both Tracy and Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro) were present but didn’t vote on the bill during the committee meeting.

Rogers then challenged Tracy on bill he and Ketron sponsored to ban radioactive from any landfill in the state.

“The quickest thing for me to do is write a bill and then sit on it,” Rogers said, referring to Senate Bill 3156. The bill was filed in January at the beginning of the legislative session, was sent to summer study committee in April and has yet come to a vote.

Tracy explained it never came to a vote because the state Attorney General said it was unconstitutional, which isn’t exactly right.

Attorney General Robert Cooper found bill doesn’t violate the Commerce Clause, which regulates interstate commerce, but the bill banning all radioactive waste from Tennessee landfills is “constitutionally suspect.” Click here for The Post’s coverage.

Cooper reasoned the radioactive ban is suspect because it does not contain any “legitimate public concerns for the prohibitions.”

This means provisions need to be written into the bill defending public concerns or public health before it can be made into law.

Tracy then pointed out that he and the entire Rutherford County delegation worked with Allied Waste to agree on a voluntary ban on accepting low-level radioactive waste from the state’s BSFR program. Click here for The Post’s coverage.

Republican challenger of the 49th District state House seat Rick Womick attacked Democratic incumbent Kent Coleman’s record throughout the forum. So much was said it’s easier to just focus on one point.

Womick said Coleman voted to increase the state gas tax by an additional 20 cents over the current rate of 21 cents gallon.

“In order to get streets repaired we need to stop raiding TDOT,” Womick said.

There was a bill introduced this year that would have increased the state gas tax from 20 cents to 22 cents per gallon, but it died in committee and never came to the full General Assembly for a vote. So Coleman never had a chance to vote for it or against it.

Other allegations from Womick about Coleman voting for tax increases could not be substantiated.

If you have any questions about assertions made at the forum, contact Michelle Willard at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com.

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