Tim Burchett

What affluent donors to President Trump's pet projects expect to get from Trump in return?

A mailer from Americans for Prosperity supports Sen. Marsha Blackburn but lacks detail on the Regulatory Freedom Act it promotes.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Roots" was temporarily banned in Knox County high schools before the decision was reversed.

Recent primary election data shows low voter turnout among young people in the area.

U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett continues to speak against government waste while remaining silent on President Donald Trump's plan to build a multimillion-dollar ballroom adjacent to the White House and a "Triumphal Arch" between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.

Trump now is saying the ballroom is essential for security after the April 25 shooting at the Washington Hilton, where he was attending the White House Correspondents' Dinner. He says all funding for the ball room and most of it for the arch will come from private donors, but no one says if the donors will be made public. The more relevant question to me is what these affluent donors expect to get from Trump in return for financing his pet projects?

Meanwhile, a positive mailer for U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn and state Rep. Elaine Davis went out from Americans for Prosperity backing the Regulatory Freedom Act. The problem with it is that nowhere are we told what this act does.

What red tape does it cut?

Blackburn says "it is time to put liberal bureaucrats in their place," referring to state government.

Fellow conservative Bill Lee is our governor. Surely she is not suggesting Lee has harbored big-government bureaucrats in our state for the past seven and a half years?

Bill Haslam did not do that either during his eight years as governor. If Americans for Prosperity is worried about the growth of state government, they should single out State Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, who has allowed his office to grow by more than 40 employees and millions of dollars since he became AG some four years ago.

The recent May 5 primary showed almost 80% of the total votes were in the Republican primary. Only a few hundred were first-time voters. Less than 4% of total voters were 29 or younger. The sad fact is that young people do not vote. I urge you to vote in the August county general election and state primaries.

Sequoyah Hills has a new location, at 631 Scenic Drive, on the National Historical Register.

Brandon Huckaby, Democratic nominee for Knox County Commission District 3 in West Knox County, spoke out against Knox County Schools' (since reversed) ban of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Roots," authored by Alex Haley.

Superintendent Jon Rysewyk reversed the ban after widespread outcry from across the political spectrum, including from former Republican governor, U.S. senator and University of Tennessee System President Lamar Alexander, who was a longtime friend of Haley. Haley lived in Knoxville in Sequoyah Hills for several years as well as owning a place in Norris near the Museum of Appalachia.

What is surprising is that it happened at all. Surely the superintendent knew banning "Roots" would become an embarrassment for him, the school board and the whole Knoxville community? Slavery was terrible, and any history of it must recount events that were reprehensible. The book is back on the shelves for students to read.

The book was banned under Tennessee's Age-Appropriate Materials Act. In Knox County Schools, a three-member district committee made up of top administrators meets behind closed doors to consider its potential actions. The three committee members are Dr. Keith Wilson, assistant superintendent of academics; Dr. Erin Phillips, executive director of teaching and learning; and Sarah Searles, supervisor of academic resources.

Birthdays

June 19: Bob Fischer is 67. Rhonda Rice Clayton is 59. Rachel H. Schneider is 39. Former U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper is 72. Former city greenways coordinator Donna Young is 81. Legislative candidate Bryan Goldberg is 43. Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma is 81.

June 20: Charles Coleman and Mark Medley are 80. Donald J. Bruce is 54. Kim Kedrich is 59. Katie Kline is 69. Jennifer Baxter Reynolds is 44. Respected retired banker Bob Page is 80.

June 21: Prince William of Wales is 44. Phyllis Nichols is 75. Dr. Bill Muse is 83. John K. Hoffmeister is 57. Sharon L. Dorman is 66. Sandy Edlein is 82.

June 22: Roger Gum is 88. Zaidee Robertson is 74. Tom Hall is 83. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is 77. Susan Brown is 62. Linda Gay Blanc is 73. Stanton Oster III is 62. Jennifer Arthur is 63.

June 23: Patience Melnik is 52. Savannah D. McCabe is 33. Attorney Mary Farmer is 78. LaKenya Middlebrook is 46. Artist Tommie Rush is 72. Patsy Vittetoe is 87. Andrew M. Holt is 37. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is 78.

June 24: Lindsay Conrad is 41. Andrew Hillmer is 46. Janet Lawson is 72. Stanton Webster is 50. Jane R. Armstrong is 84. Jennifer Linginfelter, who is on U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett's staff, is 41. Doug Dickey is 94.

June 25: Retired city fire chief Gene Hamlin is 85.

Victor Ashe is a former Knoxville mayor and former ambassador to Poland. He is a columnist for Shopper News.

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