Gov. Lee's August Special Session cost taxpayers $100k to Protect GOP special interests, and Criminalize citizen's for peaceful protests

The Maryville Huddle Report: Gov. Lee’s August Special Session cost taxpayers $100k to protect GOP corporate special interest, and makes it a felony for citizen’s to have non-violent protests on government and other properties.

Ruth Holloway, Blount County political activist

Results of General Assembly Special Session: The COVID-19 liability immunity bill passed. A group who gained the most from the bill is the private prison industry, which cannot be sued now if inmates become ill or die from the virus. HB8004 that would have given the State Attorney power to prosecute criminal cases was taken off notice after many local District Attorneys complained. HB8005, the anti-protestor bill passed. All of our local Reps and Senator voted for the bill. See vote tally here. (Follow Action 1 below to voice your concerns to this bill.)

Assault on US Postal Service: Trump stated in an interview this week that he is withholding money from the USPS in order to hurt mail-in voting. Stories were subsequently published on the removal of sorting machines and public postal boxes in numerous areas across the country. USPS said removal of postal boxes would temporarily halt Friday evening but that is still unconfirmed. There are reports of Washington DC residents going weeks without mail delivery. (Follow Action 2 below to contact the Board of Governors of USPS with your feedback.)

Absentee Voting: TN is one of the states that received a warning letter from the USPS that they will not be able to meet the delivery deadline of November 3^rd for absentee ballots mailed after the final request deadline of October 27^th. If you plan to vote absentee in the November election, consider requesting the ballot now from the Blount County Election Commission or use this pdf. You can then scan and email the request in to elections@blounttn.org , fax it to 865-273-5927, or mail it to Blount County Election Commission, 383 Court Street, Maryville TN 3804. Note that the election commission does not accept a digital signature, so you must hand sign the ballot request. You cannot drop your completed ballot off. It must be sent via USPS, Fedex, UPS, e

Actions for Week of August 16, 2020

Ask Governor to Veto HB 8005 – TN made the national news this week when it passed this onerous anti-protestor bill. The bill makes camping (such as placing food, water, personal belongings after 10 PM) out on State property a Class E felony; makes marking government property (even with chalk) a crime; imposes automatic 12-hour jail hold times without bond for protest-related offenses, etc. Please ask Gov. Lee to veto the bill at 615-741-2001 or via the website.
Contact USPS Board of Governors – Please consider contacting Postal Service’s Board of Governors with your concerns about the administration’s undermining of the USPS during this critical time. Note that the Chairman, Robert Duncan, is also chairman of the Senate GOP Super Pac. Be sure to include any personal experience you’ve had with mail delays.
1. Robert Duncan: mduncan@inezdepositbank.com
2. John Barger: barger.jm@gmail.com
3. Ron Bloom: ron.bloom@brookfield.com
4. Roman Martinez: roman@rmiv.com
5. Donald Moak: lee.moak@moakgroup.com
6. William Zollars: DirectorAccessMailbox@cigna.com
7. Complete mailing addresses and phone numbers for these men are available in this screen shot.
8. Postmaster General responsible for these changes is Louis DeJoy: louis.dejoy@usps.gov or 202-268-2608. The House requested to meet with Mr. DeJoy but he postponed the meeting until Sept. 17^th.

GOOD NEWS

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Dolly Parton spoke out in support of Black Lives Matter this week. It was not an empty sound-bite. She dropped the word “Dixie” from all her commercial properties.

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