John Ray Clemmons – Memphis Flyer

State Democrats called for statewide transportation reforms Tuesday to address Tennessee’s ”growing traffic crisis,” and the state’s “crumbling transportation infrastructure,” laying blame at the feet of the Republican supermajority.

In a Nashville news conference, lawmakers launched the “Rocky Top, Not Rocky Roads” campaign, highlighting road conditions and traffic congestion. They pointed to an annual state infrastructure audit that said the state now faces a $34 billion backlog in transportation projects.

Billboards carrying the “Rocky Top, Not Rocky Roads” message will be placed in areas of the state where Democrats said commuters feel frustrated — Rutherford (Murfreesboro), Davidson (Nashville), and Montgomery County (Clarksville).

”Potholes and congestions aren’t just inconvenience, they’re symbols of neglect plaguing our state’s infrastructure under Republican control,” said Rep. Ronnie Glynn (D-Clarksville). “I want to co-sponsor this transportation legislation because instead of relying on the pie-in-the-sky [ideas], like toll lanes, we need intelligent, sustainable solutions.”

Last year, the Republican-controlled House and Senate passed Republican Governor Bill Lee’s Transportation Modernization Act. Central to the new law are “choice lanes.” These will be lanes added to existing interstates (like I-40 and I-24) by private companies. Drivers can only use the lanes if they pay extra.

Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) mocked the idea as “the only solution that the Republican supermajority and Governor Bill Lee could come up with.” Meanwhile, he said, congested drives cost urban commuters $989 per year and rural drivers $670. The issue, for Clemmons, was one of rising costs for working Tennessee families.

“Since Republicans took over in 2011, they have doubled our state budget,” Clemmons said. “Have your roads gotten any better? No. Have you seen less traffic on interstates? Have you seen safer bridges and less potholes? No. So, where’s the money going?”

Here, Clemmons criticized the GOP’s $1.6 billion tax refund to what he called a “secret list of corporations, 53 percent of which were out-of-state corporations.”

”Without leadership and courage, we’re not going to be able to lower the cost of living that directly impacts every family that we represent,” Clemmons said. “Again, the question working Tennesseans should be asking themselves is, ‘Where’s all my money?’”

Tennessee roads are dangerous. The state ranked 9^th for the highest rate of traffic deaths last year, according to data from the National Highway Safety Administration. Traffic deaths rose almost 9 percent in the state from 2022-2023, from 607 deaths to 661.

Substantively, Rep. Aftyn Behn (D-Nashville) announced intentions Tuesday to file legislation in next year’s session of the Tennessee General Assembly to reform the state’s financing process for road projects. She and other Democrats called Tennessee’s current financing method for big transit projects — such as road construction — “outdated.”

“One such way to fix our roads is to end the pay-as-you-go funding mechanism,” she said. “It will allow us — once we end it — to leverage our AAA bond rating and take out debt in order to lock in the cost, which means more bang for our buck.”

For clarity, Aftyn was asked why the debt method is better than the current, GOP, pay-as-you-go method.

“… because you are paying the most amount of money for the least amount of product,” she said. “You are locking in inflationary percentages every time you buy product and you take out money. Whereas, if we take out debt, we lock in that amount and we’re able to pay it off over time, we will pay less in the long run.”

Issuing debt rather than relying on in-hand revenues increases the state’s ability to invest in large-scale infrastructure programs, the lawmakers say.

A Tennessee Democratic leader said the state’s Attorney General has gone too far in an transgender-care probe and is, in general, widely deviating from his role in order to “promote his own political agenda.”

State House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) blasted Tennessee AG Jonathan Skrmetti in a Tuesday statement. Clemmons said the AG is seemingly “weaponizing and abusing” his powers in the trans-care case. The investigation, he said, comes in a series of politically partisan moves by Skrmetti, the former Memphis lawyer given the post last year.

Skrmetti recently required Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) to hand over patients’ medical records and the employment records of some of the hospital’s health care providers. The AG said a doctor there had “publicly described” how she manipulated medical billing codes to get trans care covered by insurance. The investigation is to determine whether the act occurred and if it broke state law.

Skrmetti defended his action in the case. He said getting medical records is done in “dozens of billing fraud investigations” and his office investigates and litigates “numerous” medical-billing cases each year.

The Nashville hospital starting giving him the records more than six months ago, Skrmetti said. His office has kept the investigation confidential for more than a year and he said he was “surprised by VUMC’s decision to notify patients.”

“The Attorney General has no desire to turn a run-of-the-mill fraud investigation into a media circus,” reads a statement from Skrmetti’s office.

The investigation is directed at the hospital, not the patients, he said, and the records will be held “in the strictest of confidence.” He also said “we understand patients are concerned that VUMC produced their records to this office.”

But Clemmons said the investigation is targeting trans care and by entering private medical records into the public record, it seems Skrmetti “intentionally created a significant threat to medical professionals and their patients’ privacy and safety.”

“Given the specialty areas General Skrmetti is targeting, his actions give the appearance that he is improperly weaponizing and abusing the broad CID powers of the Attorney General’s office to carry out an intimidation campaign against one of our state’s preeminent healthcare facilities and its providers and patients for the purpose of promoting his own radical political agenda or that of an extremist faction within his political party,” Clemmons said in a statement.

Clemmons said the conduct ”is only a continuation of the politically partisan manner in which Jonathan has conducted himself since day one.”

The Flyer has written about Skrmetti’s moves since he was sworn in in September here, here, here, here, and here. He was also loud and proud about Gas Stove-Gate.

On Tuesday, Clemmons listed ways he thought Skrmetti used his office politically. Here’s his list:

• [Skrmetti] headlined an event hosted by IWN, an ultra-conservative women’s group, titled “We Know What a Woman Is” to praise new discriminatory state laws

• Used state resources and personnel to promote a fundraising campaign for anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy centers” to celebrate the anniversary of the Dobbs decision

• Unnecessarily entered into an agreed order in a federal lawsuit filed by a California gun rights group to overturn a state law regarding firearms permits

• Unnecessarily involved his office in a suit involving a Kentucky wedding photographer who refused to perform services for a same-sex wedding

• Unnecessarily supported a Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn a rule allowing the U. S. Department of Veteran Affairs to provide access to abortions and abortion counseling for veterans

• Unnecessarily joined a Texas lawsuit challenging the Biden Administration’s border patrol policies

• Unnecessarily joined yet another lawsuit against Yelp that would end a disclaimer the online company uses on advertisements for “crisis pregnancy centers”

• Unnecessarily filed a brief supporting Florida’s ban on using Medicaid funds for gender transition procedures

• Using taxpayer money to beef up his office, adding a 10-attorney “strategic litigation unit” to continue fighting for what Skrmetti calls “proactive litigation.”

Clemmons said: “Nowhere among the dozens of statutes in the Tennessee code is there an authorization for the Attorney General to use taxpayer resources and his office to promote his own political agenda or that of his political party.”