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Contributed commentary by Montgomery County Democratic Party Chairman Charles Uffelman:
Both Rep. Ronnie Glynn and Allie Phillips are campaigning on policies that support working families and strengthen the middle class. They are fully committed to lowering costs of living by eliminating the grocery tax and freezing the gas tax, as well as protecting our freedoms by restoring women’s reproductive healthcare rights and fully funding our public schools. This agenda is overwhelmingly popular with the voters with whom I have spoken as we knock doors across the county. People want a thoughtful agenda that will put money back in their pockets, respect individuals’ freedom to make their own decisions, and provide our kids with an opportunity to succeed.
Ronnie and Allie live their lives honorably and embody our Clarksville values. Allie is a working mother who has committed herself to serving our community after tragically losing her daughter as a result of fatal fetal anomaly, which resulted in having to leave Tennessee just to receive the healthcare she needed to protect her own life. Ronnie is an Army veteran who settled here and opened a small business. Now he continues his service to our country and state by fighting for our public schools as a state legislator. Public education is a passion of Ronnie’s, because Tennessee’s public schools are what gave him an opportunity to pull himself up from humble beginnings to become a master sergeant in the U.S. Army. His and Allie’s stories are similar to those of so many other Clarksvillians. We believe in working together, respecting each other, and fighting for our freedom.
In stark contrast to Rep. Glynn and Phillips, Tennessee Republicans often show how out of step they are with Clarksville’s values.
Rather than eliminating the grocery tax for the benefit of all of our families, Rep. Jeff Burkhart and the Republican supermajority in Nashville passed a $1.9 billion handout for corporations, most of which are out of state, and also gave those same corporations a $400 million annual tax cut.
Rather than investing in our children’s futures and funding our public schools, the Republican supermajority pushed forward a voucher scheme that would divert hundreds of millions of dollars away from our underfunded schools.
Rather than heed the public’s call for at least a partial restoration of women’s reproductive healthcare rights, the Republican supermajority refused to even create exceptions for rape and incest. Instead they passed a vague law requiring doctors to make legal decisions rather than medical decisions in the operating room, further risking our women’s lives.
Because the Republican Party and their candidates are so out of touch with Clarksville families, they have been sending out mail on behalf of Rep. Burkhart and Jamie Dean Peltz that targets Allie’s 7-year-old daughter and Rep. Glynn’s family in an effort to distract from the real issues facing our families. These shameful Republican hit-pieces further illustrate the stark contrast between the respective candidates’ values and their character. On Nov. 5, we have a clear choice between Clarksville values or the same, old, failed, Republican representation.
I am confident that we, as Clarksvillians, will see right through Republicans’ dirty campaign tactics and focus on the issues that matter to us all: supporting working families by lowering costs, protecting our freedoms and creating opportunities to succeed.
Charles Uffelman