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P.O. Box 160223 Nashville, Tn 37216-0223 615 262-1119 - Office
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December, 2002 Well, the election is over. Did your candidate win? Did it go the way you figured it would? Personally, I won some and lost some. How did we do as an organization? Well, the first measure of that was if our membership participated. Did you go out and vote? Did you volunteer for a candidate? Did you research the issues and determine where your candidate stood on important issues to you? Or, did you vote for a particular party because granddaddy always did? But, did you participate? I want to personally thank each and every one of you who participated even if you couldn’t vote no matter what group, charter or club you belong to. Thank you for supporting this country and the Constitution. How I love this republic experiment devised by our forefathers over two hundred years ago. Do you realize how special this is? The second measure for us is how our ‘friends’ did. The biggest issue was that Van Hilleary lost. He was a supporter of our legislative efforts. Governor-elect Phil Bredesen has not officially committed to us what he would do if some of our bills made it to his desk. He would never answer our questions –and we tried. I don’t think that’s a good sign. Fortunately, to override a veto in this state only takes a simple majority. In the legislature we had some successes and failures. Mae Beavers was elected to the Senate and will be a great advocate for us. Phillip Johnson was elected out of House Dist. 78 and will be our friend. . There are several others as well that were elected or re-elected that we can count on. We are still analyzing the results. Unfortunately, Bobby Carter and Redneck Gartner both lost their bids. They ran great races and maybe their opponents will take notice of who supported them and give us the time of day when we go talk to them at the state house or in their offices. Sorry guys. Senator Carter, thanks for everything you’ve done. You are a true fighter. Redneck, what can I say? I wanted to come to the victory party. What can be done now? Well, talk to these new representatives and senators. A bill doesn’t have to be before the floor for them to be interested and for them to realize that they should want the bikers on their side. Get to know them. Let them know that we are fighting for insurance, training, education, vanity plates and many things that might just be of interest to them. We are not a single brand or single issue. They have to know this. However, we do not have a Legislative Officer. Without one we are mute. I can’t do it. Nancy can’t do it. Dean can’t do it. None of the Charter Legislative Officers can do it. We look amateurish if we try to do it without real leadership. That hurts more than it helps. Our image and perception in the statehouse, with bikers across the state, CMT/ABATE members and the public is extremely important. It is what will carry the message. On a personal note (not as the director): As for the legislature, please forgive me for going off a bit in this column. This isn’t politically correct but where were all the bikers in Clarksville on Sunday, October 20th to help defeat our biggest state foe? Yes, it rained a bit. Show up in a car! This isn’t directed to any CMT/ABATE members, charters or any other motorcycle group specifically because we can’t ‘officially’ support a particular candidate. It is directed to the many motorcyclists who just happen to be members of one or more of these groups in that area and surrounding areas that told me in person that they would be there. They wanted a voice. They didn’t want the status quo. They wanted to support someone who supported motorcycle rights. Sam Cross lost by less than a thousand votes when Tommy Head was out there saying he never voted for an income tax bill – HIS INCOME TAX BILL. Tommy Head also stood in front of every piece of motorcycle rights legislation proposed in the last few years. Did the Clarksville newspaper point this out? No. He was allowed to slide and lie AGAIN – just like he lied to Bikers Who Care last year about our helmet modification legislation. I spoke personally as a concerned voter to at least two hundred bikers – many of whom will never see this column. At least fifty said they would show up. They assured me. You know who showed up? – Purely by coincident it was four members of Harpeth River Charter of CMT/ABATE and the head of the Vietnam Vets Motorcycle Club. That was it – five of us. In the short period of time we had as individual bikers (not representing any group) passed out hundreds of paper box stuffers. Did we make a difference? I don’t know. Sam lost by less than a 1000 votes. Did that get Tommy’s attention for the next legislative session? I doubt it. Could we have made a difference? Sure, if the bikers I spoke to would have shown up. As I have been told by representative of several motorcycle groups, “We aren’t a political rights organization.” I look at them and say, “Yes, I know. But your members are voters and they need to know the issues. They’ll be claiming not to be politically active right up to the day the safety or environmental police take their bikes away from them.” Then they’ll come to us and ask, “How could you let this happen?!?!” Remember HIPAA, EPA and End of Life legislation? I’m not making this stuff up. It exists and it threatens every biker – in a political rights organization or not. What good are Toy Runs if you can’t afford the insurance to roll the bike out of the garage? The quote in last month’s paper by Thomas Paine was, “Those who expect to reap the blessings of Freedom must undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” Anyone out there thinking this stuff just shows up in the legislature and gets voted on is dead wrong. Sputnik, founder and leader of TMRA II (Texas Motorcycle Rights Association II): Created something he calls the Mirror Test. Every morning when you go into your bathroom to brush your teeth or fix your hair, look into the mirror, look straight into your own eyes and ask yourself the following question - "Have I done all that I can to the best of my ability?" If the answer to yourself is "no" - find something more to do that day. Did you do what you could do leading up to Election Day? Until later, just ride…. Steve |
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