Brian Kelsey is sponsoring 3 Joint Resolutions that are Constitutional Amendments, just like the one we talked about yesterday.

One thing we left out, is the $20,000 fiscal note that will be put on all of them if they get past committee.

As the article states, this basically kills the measure. There’s no way the legislature is going to allow $60,000 of our tax money to be held up for something that will NEVER GET PASSED.

Brian Kelsey, stop gumming up the works of our government for your personal gain.  If you don’t want to legislate in good faith, go back to your day job!

h/t PITW

Sir, you are mistaken

Looks like someone doesn’t take criticism very well.

If you’re too lazy to click the link, it seems that Representatives Kelsey and Fincher had a bit of a verbal exchange earlier today.  Nothing to get too excited about, really, until Kelsey, who had dished it out, whined when it was dished back.

The kerfuffle surrounded a bill brought Representative Fincher, which Kelsey called a “ruse”.  Fincher, taking offense replied that Kelsey was, “mistaken on this, as he is on many other issues.”

Apparently Representative Kelsey just couldn’t take such truth from another human being and whined to House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada.  Fincher refused, calling his statement a “fact”.

While decorum may be important in the business of the House, it doesn’t seem to us that Representative Fincher said anything out of bounds.  Shoot him an email and thank him for sticking to his guns.

If you’re going to dish it out, Brian, you better be willing to take it.

h/t Post Politics & WSMV.com

Abortion has been a hot button issue for as long as I can remember.

It’s one of those things that, if you want to keep it legal, you’re not changing your mind, and if you want to abolish it, you’re not changing your mind.

Over the past 15 years, states all over this nation have passed amendments that seek to restrict abortion. Seems like almost every session, someone up in Nashville takes up the issue. This session is no exception.

HJR 0127 introduced by Representative Brian Kelsey:

Adds new provision to Article I to provide that nothing in Constitution of Tennessee secures or protects right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion; states that the people retain the right through their elected state representatives and state senators to enact, amend, or repeal statutes regarding abortion, including, but not limited to, circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest or when necessary to save the life of the mother. 

This legislation is a proposed Constitutional Amendment. That means that it will take a majority this year, a super majority (2/3 vote) of the General Assembly in 2011, and to pass a referendum in 2014. That’s a long way to go for something that only gives the state the authority to legislate abortion.

Truth is, this legislation is a Trojan Horse. It doesn’t specifically do anything but give the right to legislate later, but everyone knows that this “later legislation” will be something to restrict access to abortion. This, in a time when even conservative Tennessee is seeing changes in attitudes about abortion.

A MTSU poll conducted March 4th of this year found that 71% of Tennesseans believe that abortion should either be legal in all cases (19%) or that there should be exceptions to any prohibition on abortion (52%). Only 25% of all Tennesseans believe that abortion should be illegal without exception.

So, if only 25% of ALL THE PEOPLE IN TENNESSEE believe that abortion should be illegal in all cases, why go to all the trouble to go against the other 71%?

Some 20 states have brought up similar legislation over the past several years, and the measure has either been rejected, or struck down by the Supreme Court. Why would Representative Kelsey think we would be any different?

Even if the constitutional amendment is upheld by the Supreme Court, most, if not all, of the legislation that Representative Kelsey has in mind would most certainly be struck down in federal court. Why the hell even bother?

The reason he bothers is hat he’s thinking about HIS values, not yours. He’s not in Nashville to represent you, he’s in Nashville to further his agenda. He wants to be a rising star in the Republican Party, to be somebody, and the fastest way to do that is to appeal to the most fervent believers and hope that they bring with them the multitudes. He does this, despite evidence to the contrary.

So while Representative Kelsey is dreaming up his next great legislative maneuver, we’ll be here paying our taxes for this fantastical journey, through 6 years of voting and God knows how many years of legal challenges that lead straight into Supreme Court litigation.

That’s responsible leadership? I don’t think so.

You can believe what you want to believe about abortion, and nothing anyone says will likely change your mind, but the EVIDENCE shows that until something changes on the FEDERAL LEVEL, people like Brian Kelsey can try to make their political maneuvers, but ultimately they get struck down, costing the state money they could be spending keeping people from getting pregnant.

This is Representative Brian Kelsey. He “represents” House District 83, serving Germantown and parts of Memphis. Since 2005, with only token opposition, if any, Young Mr. Kelsey has distinguished himself by working to become the Stacey Campfield of west Tennessee, filing stunt bills and feigning mock outrage for his own benefit.

It started out so differently. The candidate that Germantown residents thought was a fresh young and intelligent face. Who had distinguished himself throughout his education and is a member of a long time Shelby County family. Who talked about fiscal responsibility and has even turned down state money for his district based on that principle. A person we all though had so much promise. How does this person make a conscious decision to be a statewide joke?

Between the stunts, the ethical lapses, and the “there’s no crying in baseball” sissy boy whining after the election of a Republican House Speaker, just not HIS Republican House Speaker, this January, Kelsey has chosen to be a circus act rather than a legislator.

This is not the kind of representation that HD-83 needs.

Between now and the election day 2010, the writers and supporters of this site dedicate themselves to ensuring that Representative Kelsey is exposed for the fraud he is, and eventually, replaced.

This is NOT an April Fool’s joke. The only fool is Brian Kelsey.