Senator Barnes and Representative Pitts have been working diligently with members of the State Building Commission to gain approval for the project.

“This project is a very good thing for Austin Peay and Montgomery County,” stated Sen. Barnes.  “I appreciate the excellent work of the members of the State Building Commission and I look forward to working with them on other projects.”
The estimated project cost is $6,400,000.  The source of funding will come from the State Building Commission Pre-Planning Division.  This facility will accommodate training needs for the Hemlock Semiconductor Company.

“I believe that this project will facilitate the Hemlock Semiconductor Project which will be extremely beneficial to Clarksville as well as the surrounding areas,” offered Representative Pitts.

The schedule of completion is estimated to start August 2009 and end in August 2010.

Senator Barnes represents the Senate District 22 which consists of Montgomery, Cheatham, and Houston counties. Representative Pitts represents House District 67 which consists of Montgomery County.

With wins by State Rep. Joe Pitts and State Senate-elect Tim Barnes also in hand, it was a night of cheering and celebration for Clarksville’s Democrats.

At 10 p.m., the key races were over.

Details to follow.

In Houston County Barnes garnered 1907 to Kurita’s 1079.

"Write-In Kurita" stickers beside a John McCain figure at Montgomery County Republican Party headquarters

** National Rifle Association, a Key 2nd Amendment group, endorses Kurita in Write-In campaign

**Gray Sasser says the Dems “decided they were not going to let Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and his partisan allies hijack the Democratic Party’s primary process.”

Senator Rosalind Kurita recently annouced she would run a write-in campaign for the state Senate District 22 seat, launching a campaign from new headquarters at 1817 Madison Street.

Kurita won the primary race with a 19-vote edge over challenger Tim Barnes, who successfully challenged that election result and had the victory overturned by the state Democratic Executive Committee. The state body then ruled that the executive committees of the three counties (Montgomery, Stewart and Houston) that comprised Senate District 22 meet and vote on the two candidates. That vote, 61-4, gave Barnes a Democratic slot on the November ballot.

Gray Sasser, chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party, in a statement released today, said:

After all the talk of mythical smoke-filled rooms, the time has come to clear the air. As readers of (this newspaper) already know, the Democratic State Executive Committee, after almost eight hours of testimony at an open meeting attended by the public and press, decided that the District 22 state Senate primary election between Sen. Rosalind Kurita and Tim Barnes was “incurably uncertain.

In citing the factors rendering Sen. Kurita’s razor-thin margin uncertain, Sasser cited:

• Sen. Kurita committed a Class C misdemeanor on primary-election day when she entered a polling place.
• Voters received erroneous or possibly misleading information from poll workers.
• More than 700 Republican voters flooded the Aug. 7 Democratic primary.
• At the behest of Republican leaders, no GOP candidate even bothered to run in a legislative district that any political pundit would consider competitive.

“In fact, the only backroom deal in this long, sordid saga was cut long before the Aug. 7 primary, when Sen. Kurita went back on her word to her Democratic colleagues and supported Republican Ron Ramsey for Senate speaker and lieutenant governor,” Sasser said. “Unfortunately, this process has become marked by accusations and, frankly, falsehoods. Sen. Kurita had the opportunity to present her case at an open meeting of the state executive committee, and according to rules that both sides agreed to before the proceedings.” Kurita was not present when the Montgomery, Houston and Stewart Councty execs met to vote on a candidate for the November ballot. The deliberations of the executive committee were held in the open, and several executive committee members disagreed with the eventual decision.

Sasser continued, “While I appreciate and acknowledge Sen. Kurita’s previous contributions to the Tennessee Democratic Party and our state, we were confronted with an extraordinary nominating situation that warranted a closer look and, ultimately, unprecedented action. In the end, Democrats took a stand. They decided they were not going to let Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and his partisan allies hijack the Democratic Party’s primary process. The 66 elected members of the state executive committee did the right thing, following the law passed in 1972 and signed into law by then-Gov. Winfield Dunn, a Republican, which authorizes both political parties to choose their nominees.”

Local Dems also took note of Kurita’s apparent leaning toward the Republican political view as cause for concern, with some pundits voicing the expectation that any future bids for political office will come on the Republican ticket, an possibility re-enforced by the appearance of Kurita Write-In materials at Montgomery County Republican Party Headquarters at 1820 Madison Street, a few doors down from the Kurita campaign office.

“In spite of what Lt. Gov. Ramsey and his supporters now claim in their fundraising efforts on behalf of Sen. Kurita’s write-in campaign, the Democratic State Executive Committee followed the law. While some (including members of our own party) may not agree with the decision, those claiming this difficult decision was reached behind closed doors simply did not take the time to come watch the proceedings.,” Sasser said.

Even as Sasser made his case for the procedures in the ongoing Kurita/Barnes battle, the NRA (National Rifle Association) spoke out with an endorsement for the incumbent Senator, who, in her last bid for this seat used a series of ads that included an image of her holding a rifle.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) has endorsed Senator Rosalind Kurita (D-Clarksville) in her write-in campaign for re-election to the 22nd district in the state Senate.  The group had endorsed Sen. Kurita during her primary victory and has now endorsed her for the general election in November.

“I am pleased at the continued support of the National Rifle Association and their membership. I fully support the constitutional right to bear arms.  It is important that elected officials fight for all constitutional rights, whether they be speech, voting rights or any other of the precious freedoms written into our founding documents.”

~~ Senator Rosalind Kurita

The Write-In effort for Kurita is in full swing both at her headquarters and at the neighboring Republican headquarters. To volunteer for Rosalind Kurita for State Senate, go to http://www.rosalindkurita.com/ or call 931-542-9912

When the Supreme Court made the wrong decision to decide the presidential election in favor of Bush and not count the votes, I was dismayed.  My vote was stolen.  We all know the ramifications that has had over the past eight years.

1 Person, 1 Vote?

Jessica Cameron made a statement at last night’s session without saying a word.  She is a veteran of the Iraq war and a strong advocate for the environment.  Last year, she was the president of the APSU’s Students Organized to Advance Renewable Energy.

Protesting last night's tri-county convention and its selection of Tim Branes as state Senate District 22 candidate, Jessie Cameron protested the disenfranchising of 4000+ Kurita votes in the primary.

Incumbent Senator Roslaind Kurita campaigns outside St. Bethlehem Methodist Church Thursday, August 7.

Nineteen votes. That narrowest of margins gave victory in the District 22 Senate race to incumbent Rosalind Kurita, who spent election day campaigning at wards across Montgomery County and the rest of the district that continues to support her. District 22 includes Montgomery, Houston and Cheatham counties. Sen. Kurita was unable to be reached prior to posting the election result.

Kurita defeated challenger Atty. Tim Barnes by 19 votes, a true “horse race” as elections go, with each candidate taking turns at the lead post until the final count gave victory to Kurita. Barnes has said that due to the closeness of the race, he will request a recount.

Voter turnout, including both early voting and the actual Thursday primary, was 11.86%. A total of 5238 Montgomery County voters cast ballots in the two-week early voting period, while another 4486 voted in the August 7 primary.

According to the Montgomery County Election Commission website (10 p.m. 8/7/08), Montgomery County voters favored Barnes 52.02% to 47.96% or 3369 to 3106. District wide, the numbers were Kurita 4477 (50.1%) to Barnes 4458 (49.89%).

Tim Barnes and supporters campaign at St. Bethlehem School on Wilma Rudolph Boulevard

At the Riverview Inn in downtown Clarksville, Barnes and his supporters waited for two and a half hours as the tally trickled in, first with a victory in Houston County. As the numbers were crunched in Montgomery County, though, the range between the two candidates was at most a one percentage point difference. Kurita ahead by 64. Barnes ahead by 110. Kurita trailing by 20 votes. Barnes ahead by 10. A true horse race between veteran campaigner and the new kid on the political block.

As the final numbers trickled in, victory was momentarily declared in the Barnes stronghold, but moments later a re-check of the numbers brought defeat by the slimmest of margins: 19 votes. A collective exhale sent the air from the room and the initial euphoria of victory died.

This young lady watches as the intricacies of a voting machine are explained

Challenger Tim Barnes, a local attorney, ran a challenging campaign that came to a head earlier this week when a series of controversial oversized postcard ads began arriving at the homes of local voters. The ads challenged Barnes’ legal practice and said he worked on behalf of criminals (drunk drivers, domestic abusers) via his representation of the defendents in such cases. Thirty-eight local attorneys came to his defense (and the defense of a Constitution that guarantees fair and equal treatment under the law), citing Barnes work as an adoption attorney and the rights of all people to a legal  defense.

In other races, 7th district incumbent Rep. Marsha Blackburn won an easy victory over opponent Tom Leatherwood, 1880 to 330, while incumbent John Tanner, 8th district representative, retained his seat with a 1590-5 vote.