Amendments that will be on the ballot

[Randall53]

I found a place that seems to be a good place to obtain a better understanding of what they are and what they will do if passed.

 

http://ballotpedia.org/Tennessee_2014_ballot_measures

[Hozzie]

Thanks for the link.  Info with facts and background on who is pushing what.  Hard to find these days.

[Steelharp]

Thanks!

[surfabilly]

thanks for posting this.

[hlb14]

Thank you for posting

[DMark]

My method to understanding these Amendments is simple.

 

- If the Tennessean newspaper is for it....., I'm against it.  :down:  

- If the Tennessean newspaper is against it......, I'm for it.  :up:  

 

This personal voting guide based on the Tennessean's endorsements has been near 99&44/100% correct for me ever since the Nashville Banner ceased publication in 1998.  

[Hershmeister]

My method to understanding these Amendments is simple.

- If the Tennessean newspaper is for it....., I'm against it. :down:
- If the Tennessean newspaper is against it......, I'm for it. :up:

This personal voting guide based on the Tennessean's endorsements has been near 99&44/100% correct for me ever since the Nashville Banner ceased publication in 1998.

Sounds like you are taking groucho's advice


http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xHash5takWU

[Steelharp]

My method to understanding these Amendments is simple.

 

- If the Tennessean newspaper is for it....., I'm against it.  :down:  

- If the Tennessean newspaper is against it......, I'm for it.  :up:  

 

This personal voting guide based on the Tennessean's endorsements has been near 99&44/100% correct for me ever since the Nashville Banner ceased publication in 1998.  

Well... today they came out for NO on 2. Unusually conservative of them.

[kieefer]

YES on 1, planned parenthood supports a No vote. If you're against Abortion vote yes, for abortion vote no.

YES on 2, Allows voters to elect Judges. A NO vote allows Judges to be appointed by bureaucrats.

YES on 3 - ensures TN won't have an income tax.

YES vote on 4 - Empowers the legislature to permit lotteries for events that benefit 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(19) organizations.
Veterans could have their own TN Lottery? This one is not real clear to me but from what I've read it would benefit Veterans.

So is the way I understand it. Edited October 16, 2014 by kieefer

[Oh Shoot]

YES on 2, Allows voters to elect Judges. A NO vote allows Judges to be appointed by bureaucrats.

 

??   A yes vote on #2 calls for the governor to appoint them, subject only to legislature confirmation (or not, depending).

 

- OS

Edited October 16, 2014 by Oh Shoot

[kieefer]

?? A yes vote on #2 calls for the governor to appoint them, subject only to legislature confirmation (or not, depending).

- OS

http://voteyes2.org/about/faqs/

Must have that one backwards, still sorting through the jargon.

"Amendment 2: Who chooses judges?
Currently, it is up to voters to choose judges in the Supreme and Appellate Courts, but that might change if Amendment 2 passes. Language in the measure says judges would first be chosen by the governor, followed by two-thirds majority approval by both state houses. Voters would have their say after a judge's eight-year term, whether to retain the judge for another term." Edited October 16, 2014 by kieefer

[btq96r]

YES on 1, planned parenthood supports a No vote. If you're against Abortion vote yes, for abortion vote no.

 

I've never seen this issue (and this ballot question especially) as an either or proposal.  People can be against abortion on principal, but not wanting it to be decided by anybody except the person in that situation and lest of all by legislative decree.

 

 

YES vote on 4 - Empowers the legislature to permit lotteries for events that benefit 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(19) organizations.
Veterans could have their own TN Lottery? This one is not real clear to me but from what I've read it would benefit Veterans.

 

Sort of...5019(c)(19) is the IRS designation for a Veteran's Organization that applies or gets tax exempt status.  This would just add them to the list of who can apply to the TN General Assembly and hope for a 2/3'rds vote allowing an annual event for their benefit.  This one is really just bookkeeping that has to be done by ballot vote since it involves changing a section of the TN Constitution.  If it was in the TCA, it would be a simple legislative vote and we would never have to be bothered with it.   I'll be voting for it.

[Steelharp]

NO on 2. Yes removes our vote. Vote NO on 2.

[Mike.357]

maybe sort of OT but please vote NO on wine in grocery stores.   Keep your dollars in TN.

 

Money spent at your local wine shop stays in the community.  Money spent at Wallys and Kroger as well as others goes out of state.

[hipower]

:stunned:  :ugh:  :squint:   Can I just vote a "definite maybe"?

 

This trend for the last several decades towards such ambiguous language in all the proposals is insane. It's difficult to understand what we are voting on most of the time.

[Smith]

http://voteyes2.org/about/faqs/

Must have that one backwards, still sorting through the jargon.

"Amendment 2: Who chooses judges?
Currently, it is up to voters to choose judges in the Supreme and Appellate Courts, but that might change if Amendment 2 passes. Language in the measure says judges would first be chosen by the governor, followed by two-thirds majority approval by both state houses. Voters would have their say after a judge's eight-year term, whether to retain the judge for another term."

I thought in TN the attorney General appoints judges (at least sc) without oversight. My understanding was that this amendment gives us more control because the legislature can check appointees, much like in the federal level.

[gun sane]

YES on 3 - ensures TN won't have an income tax.

So is the way I understand it.

 

A Yes win will ensure we won't have a tax on earned income.  Folks who live on investments will still have to cough up.  I wonder if they'll increase that 6% rate if other revenues fall short.  Remember, they always have a way of getting their pound of flesh.

[Oh Shoot]

http://voteyes2.org/about/faqs/

Must have that one backwards, still sorting through the jargon.

"Amendment 2: Who chooses judges?
Currently, it is up to voters to choose judges in the Supreme and Appellate Courts, but that might change if Amendment 2 passes. Language in the measure says judges would first be chosen by the governor, followed by two-thirds majority approval by both state houses. Voters would have their say after a judge's eight-year term, whether to retain the judge for another term."

 

Total lies from that faction. Voters do not choose those judges now, haven't since 1971, so that's all based on hooey to begin with. Whether failure of the amendment to pass will actually lead to them being elected or not is debatable at the least.

 

 

NO on 2. Yes removes our vote. Vote NO on 2.

 

Again, hooey from the antis. We haven't elected those judges since 1971. The only vote we have now is retention vote. This would not change if amendment is passed, retention vote still there.

 

 

I thought in TN the attorney General appoints judges (at least sc) without oversight. My understanding was that this amendment gives us more control because the legislature can check appointees, much like in the federal level.

 

No. Supreme and appellate judges have been appointed under the "Tennessee Plan", which is not by the Attorney General, but by Tennessee Judicial Selection Commission and then by the Judicial Nominating Commission, submitted to the governor, where he could yea or nay them.

 

That latter Commission is currently in limbo due to complicated rules regarding failure of review of said Commission.

 

http://judgepedia.org/Tennessee_Judicial_Nominating_Commission

 

I'm not sure what will eventually happen if amendment 2 fails. But if it succeeds, yes it will be similar to the federal procedure, except we will still have retention votes on them in the polls, same as the current procedure.

 

- OS

Edited October 16, 2014 by Oh Shoot

[Erik88]

 

maybe sort of OT but please vote NO on wine in grocery stores.   Keep your dollars in TN.

 

Money spent at your local wine shop stays in the community.  Money spent at Wallys and Kroger as well as others goes out of state.

 

 

I just don't see how this is that big of a threat to the package stores. We have plenty of liquor stores in Florida that seem to do quite well. Bob will still have the lowest prices in town.

 

I never buy my wine at Publix. It's expensive.

[gun sane]

No. Supreme and appellate judges have been appointed under the "Tennessee Plan", which is not by the Attorney General, but by Tennessee Judicial Selection Commission and then by the Judicial Nominating Commission, submitted to the governor, where he could yea or nay them.

 

That latter Commission is currently in limbo due to complicated rules regarding failure of review of said Commission.

 

http://judgepedia.org/Tennessee_Judicial_Nominating_Commission

 

I'm not sure what will eventually happen if amendment 2 fails. But if it succeeds, yes it will be similar to the federal procedure, except we will still have retention votes on them in the polls, same as the current procedure.

 

Succinctly put, the legislature wants to legalize the procedure they've been doing illegally for decades.  The only plus I can think of for voting Yes is it keeps out-of-state money from influencing the election of judges.  This is the like the mess that began when the U.S. 17th Amendment was ratified and took election of senators from the hands of the legislatures and put it up for popular vote.   I wouldn't want George Soros' money fueling a Tennessee Supreme Court election.

[Dennis1209]

NO on 2. Yes removes our vote. Vote NO on 2.

 

I have the official ballet in hand that will appear when you vote. You almost need to be a legal eagle to figure it out so I sat down and wrote down the response from a Republican poll person.

 

Constitutional Amendment #2

Currently the Governor appoints the supreme court and appellate court judges. This would require the legislature to confirm the appointments and then the judges would be elected in a "retention" election by the voters.

 

So IMHO a "YES" vote is a good thing.

[mikegideon]

Sounds like you are taking groucho's advice


http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xHash5takWU

 

Sounds like he has clearly identified the enemy :)

[Oh Shoot]

I have the official ballet in hand that will appear when you vote. You almost need to be a legal eagle to figure it out so I sat down and wrote down the response from a Republican poll person.

 

Constitutional Amendment #2

Currently the Governor appoints the supreme court and appellate court judges. This would require the legislature to confirm the appointments and then the judges would be elected in a "retention" election by the voters.

 

Again, that's not true.

 

1. The governor does not appoint them from scratch. A committee selects three and gives the gov a choice among those selections. He can reject all three, and they give him three more, at which time he must select one of those.  However, that committee has recently gone defunct, so if the ballot resolution fails, not sure what will occur.

 

2. We already have the retention election by the voters.

 

3. It is true that if the amendment passes, the gov's nominee will have to be approved by both houses of the legislature. This is perhaps the best part of the thing. I guess. And yes, the retention ballot remains.

 

- OS

Edited October 16, 2014 by Oh Shoot

[kieefer]

[Steelharp]

Ok, I asked a friend of mine that is very connected. Here, at length, is some clarification:

--------------------------------

Yes I believe I can help. 

1.) The current system of gubernatorial judicial appointments "beyond the unexpired term," is unconstitutional. Article VII Section 5 

The principal issue surrounding Amendment 2 is whether Judges of the Supreme Court, and the intermediate appellate Courts (29 judges), should be appointed by the Governor or elected in "contested elections," (running against an opponent) like it says to do in the TN Constitution. currently Article VI Sections 3.

["The Judges of the Supreme Court shall be "elected by the qualified voters of the State..."] --- This is language they are proposing to DELETE.

2.) The system where the Governor has appointed one of 3 Nominees is known as the (unconstitutional) "Retention-election Statue", which is at the core of this controversy. 

However, that nominating system which was sunsetted (terminated) by members of the Legislature this past year, resulted in the bizarre appointment of 2 of the five Supreme Court judge, Bivens and Kirby, who bypassed this past August judicial election altogether. Get it? They BYPASSED the Election... and this is the USA.

3.) While the proposed Amendment 2 has a provision for approval by both Houses of the Legislature, there is NO mandatory system for vetting the Governor's candidates and so... long after the appointees are lobbied through the Legislature, subjecting the 132 members of the General Assembly to any large special interest financed Lobbying, the People, with a duration as long as 8 years, will get an opportunity to have an UNCONTESTED (no opposition candidate) -(means no equal incentive to dissent), "Retention-Election" (retain/replace), public-referendum on that incumbent gubernatorial appointee. 

If, as has happened ONE time (Penny White) in the past 43 years (after some 1200 judicial years on the bench), during these unconstitutional retention-elections, the judicial appointee is ultimately rejected by the voters, the Governor is then to free to appoint his/her next uncontested Judge and we'll begin the entire process again.

In the final analysis it is fair to say that there is NOTHING, resembling public accountability remaining under this proposed Amendment's system. 

In essence the People will be PERMANENTLY surrendering their Right to Vote for the judges of the State's highest Courts. 

That is why I am recommending Vote No on 2, and retain our right to vote for the Judges who judge us.

I hope that helps
-tg