Federalist Party NPC Elections HQ

[Joseph Cao]

Memphis, Tennessee

All right, everyone. Thank you for coming out this morning, Memphis! Thanks for having us, and thank you to the state Senate candidate who kindly invited me here. I've been called the Congressman from Little Egypt one too many times, I guess, and someone finally decided to ship me down here to see some pyramids.

There is another institution that's as old as the pyramids, which is just as much of a base provider of support for the people of Memphis, and Tennessee, and the South, and Atlasia in general. You won't need me to tell you that that is the family. Families are the first point of contact for most all of us coming into the wider circles that ripple across the nation. Their efforts or the absence of their efforts shape successive generations of this nation's citizens. And more to the point, the effects felt by our families here in Memphis and other places like it are inescapable in the dealings of a place like Nyman or Nashville or even the city hall here. As a wise man down south once said, you don't get a good handle on anyone's lives – certainly not to the extent needed if you are to legislate for them or represent them – without standing in their skin and walking around in it. Nobody begins to get that handle unless they can dedicate themselves to understanding the shapes of families, the holes left behind when they separate and the people who fall through the cracks, and the many others who still struggle inside and outside of those first relationships.

I want to be very clear about this. The administration which Governor Monson has overseen these past seven months stands absolutely firm in its dedication to that understanding. They know well the importance of supporting new families and their continued mission of survival and growth, as many of our fellow politicos do. Just ask your Senators Yankee and Spark about that. But beyond that, I think there is a tendency for government to get blinkered by these nice parts of the picture, forgetting that those arrangements we deem successful don't tell the full story. That pyramid has a wide base, a base that covers families whole and broken, coasting and struggling and lost, many who need more help but aren't in a position to ask for it themselves. And our understanding isn't complete without them.

The Governor and the legislators by his side have made clear through their actions the necessity of attending to these folks, the orphans and widows and widowers and divorcees and deeply scarred children and parents left behind by the forces that tear these same institutions apart. Certainly the state Senate candidate here with us this morning will shortly be able to tell you all about her own contributions and the paid family leave extension proposal currently working its way through the city council. COVID-19's economic effects haven't quite stopped and as she will be able to explain, this is a proposal that will take a massive load off Memphis's citizens as they deal with the aftershocks. This care for one's fellow man is evident throughout our state, going down through all levels of government, and I'm glad that the public-minded citizens of Memphis are taking notice of what can be done here in the city and over in Nashville.

We in the government are only one part of a society full of moving parts, and not a very efficient one at that. Government shouldn't pretend to have all the answers – nobody has all the answers – but this state and its people are going to be caught at the other end of the downswing if we, or any one of those other moving parts, waver from our commitment to these principles. I hope that in the coming weeks the public servants of Tennessee will continue to further explain the breadth and depth of their dedication to protecting all this state's people, those in families and those without, but for the time being it isn't my place to talk about those further. Please welcome your next state senator, Amber Coleman!

[Joseph Cao]

Pine Bluff, Arkansas

Good afternoon, Pine Bluff! I couldn't be more pleased to be here with you all and I trust you feel the same way about braving this August heat to get to know your candidates. So I'll keep my own remarks brief.

It's back-to-school time for Arkansan families and their kids and there must needs be a reckoning for the policies that have been in force over the past school year. I am going to skip all the sound and fury that you folks must have heard while stuck in that political football that others were kicking around this time last year – those in the Tulsa media market have seen it up close and personal. Let me instead get straight to the point. Suffice it to say that the actual effects that our kids and parents have experienced this past year have flown severely under the radar; with COVID nearly in the rearview mirror, it is the Arkansas Federalist Party's position that that needs to change, and they have the legislative activity to show for it.

Schools across this state need a cohesive plan for lifting some of the obvious drags on our kids' learning and comprehension that were put in place during COVID's worst and least understood period, and which Governor Chapman hasn't touched since assuming office as the pandemic began its downswing although he has had all that time to do so. And it is perhaps all very easy to just ask the districts to decide for themselves and call it a day. I’ve seen some local operatives all too eager to paint that sort of strawman as some sort of clever political attack on our party. But have we seen the state of our districts? Dumping this all-important series of calls on them at the busiest time of the year is not going to go well.

No, our children's educational and development prospects are not an area where state government can kick up its heels and let others do the work. Not when the Governor possesses tools to help fix the problem rather than prolonging it or kicking it away. We have the vaccination data, the state of our school districts’ funds and organization, and the all-important line to Nashville. There is a very straightforward plan that might be followed, with a better way to oversee the whole picture and make recommendations to individual school districts via a statewide task force that already exists, which you can find on our gubernatorial candidate's platform. What are we doing with all that useful stuff? If the state of the school board meeting I just dropped into earlier today in Watson Chapel is any indication, not much at all.

As I invite its architect up here to elaborate on our proposed system, let me just say one thing that has been hovering around most of our minds – certainly the minds of the Federalist legislators whose good legislative efforts have run aground on the breakers of a stubbornly partisan governor's office. If our Governor is unable or unwilling to use the data and compilations and advice available to anyone in his position, we in the Federalist Party would like to borrow them for a time. We are not beginning the school year over again with a plan designed for last year's battle; we need one for the present and for our kids’ futures. On that note, let me invite you all to join me in welcoming Senator Jay Hammersmith, the next Governor of Arkansas!

[Joseph Cao]

Houston, Texas

Houston! Thanks, everyone, for waiting. Thank you for coming, and happy Friday! I'll take my chances with today being the 13th. If there's any bad luck to come I think the welcome you've given us this evening more than makes up for it.

This city is on the move – out of COVID, out of the economic straits that left thousands out on their ear, into a future with enough potential to lift up everyone who lives here and calls Houston home, if we can commit to continuing Mayor Ferrera’s dedication to leaving nobody behind. Houstonians have seen more than their fair share of getting displaced by new four-lane highways, but the highway this administration has been building over the past several months through their community-driven policies strives to do the opposite: keeping everyone together and able to enjoy the fruits of their amazing city.

It should be stressed that this is not the kind of “I alone can fix it” we hear too often in political circles. Nobody alone can fix it and Houston is no different; even the mayor of Texas' premier city knows it precisely because other fellow Texans and Southerners and Atlasians take a keen interest in its affairs. So she's worked with whoever she can. Governor Bryant and the legislature like to ham it up for the campaign trail, but as far as Mayor Ferrera herself is concerned there's no need for that. Houston thrives on differences. It was built by people who held their mutual differences in kind and named for someone who very much knew the stakes that those differences gave rise to. And so, today, in the year of our Dave 2021, do we.

Those differences are obvious even to the average citizen, as are their fruit: the policies of a successful push for better housing, a smaller carbon footprint in municipal services, and an increased spotlight on the city's own innovations both economic and industrial which have brought innumerable benefits to Texan workers. The city leadership holds a great number of cards in its hands with which to help Houstonians. In this next round of Houston's own city-wide hold'em, Mayor Ferrera is not going to back down from continuing to play those cards. Here to tell you all about how she's been doing that in Houston so far, please welcome the mayor herself!

[Joseph Cao]

[Along with Governor Monson, who he was tasked to introduce, the Senator joined some state legislative candidates in Brentwood to assist and highlight local Federalist GOTV efforts. All activities, including the speech below, were carried out with COVID vulnerabilities in mind.]

Good to see you all here today, Brentwood! The heat is something else, and I have no doubt many of you have places to be this weekend, so I’ll keep this brief.

I guess the first thing on my mind is to thank everyone we’ve seen on the road so far. Not just the Governor, and not just the people who have been running for the legislature in this neck of the woods. Senator Scott was in Nyman yesterday the same time I was and we had a nice cordial chat about legislative business, and although I suspect he’d disagree somewhat, I intend to keep our side of the campaign here an equally civil one and applaud the instances where he’s done the same. Not that there aren’t some instances where the people of Tennessee deserve to see the record set straight.

One thing first: Labor is surely correct when its leaders talk about coming together. That is indisputably something we need, nowhere more so than here at the local level where so much of your policy is decided. But where I disagree, and where your Governor and the state representatives and senators who have been fighting for Brentwood in the legislature disagree, is with where our friends across the aisle are coming from.

I will take the vote I just cast in the Senate, which our august PPT talked about earlier this afternoon. It’s unsurprising that I supported that bill when my voting history has been consistently for a reasonable application of government resources, a theme I have highlighted from my very first campaign. The other Senators who voted for it no doubt have different reasons for their stance – the activists at ground level who have pushed for the bill no doubt have reasons of their own for having thrown their support behind it. There are plenty of them in Atlasia and more than enough room for all the varying viewpoints that are represented in the Senate.

That’s the kind of coming together we need more of: people beginning from different positions and backgrounds who can find common ground. Good policy comes from just this kind of widely differing background. That's the governing approach that Governor Monson and the legislature have favored in a state where inviting everyone to the table has had to be a fact of political life. But it certainly will not be continued with a Labor-led state government that relies on national arguments for its viability – which says plenty about where its priorities in office will lie.

Tennessee voters are looking for leaders who will pay attention to the specific needs of their communities, as Governor Monson has done: he’s focused on the issues which this state's citizens have faced and brought solutions to the table which are tailored for the communities he serves. And the people of Tennessee will get to decide the best option for their state government: one focused on adding yet another voice to the national position, or one where they can keep building on the progress they make when the  national and regional and state governments are able to find common ground from differing positions. Thanks for the time, Brentwood, and please join me in welcoming Governor Andrew Monson for a few remarks!

[Joseph Cao]

[Continuing the day's campaign, Senator Cao and an assortment of state legislative candidates from the area took the time to stump in west-central Tennessee. The following speech was delivered to a masked and/or vaccinated audience in Waverly.]

Waverly! Thank you, once again, for having us. And we’re happy as always to see so many of you vaccinated – the more the merrier!

We must also thank the state senator, of course, for inviting us here to talk about a pressing issue. Flooding has been a recurrent threat in recent weeks thanks to severe rainfall; it’s always places like Waverly that get hit the hardest. Our first responders do a fine job in limiting the damages and injuries, of course, but they can’t be the last resort when faced with recurring threats like this. And unlike hurricanes or earthquakes, the public servants you elect have had the capabilities to do something about those. The municipal council has been enormously helpful in mitigating the threat of excess stormwater, crucially by planning and overseeing the restoration of streams that will flow and capture that excess during flash flooding conditions. And the state Senator here, together with the Governor, in turn has been up at the state Capitol pushing for funds for more such efforts and a statewide coordination of natural barriers against floodwaters.

Furthermore, the legislature and Governor Monson have had one overarching goal, underneath all the policy nitty-gritty they've brought to you over the past six months, beyond the natural restoration and the attention to the Tennessee Valley and the protections for homes and small businesses that have helped so many in this part of the state. For all its faults, our political landscape is still one where people like you can reach across communities and recognize the worth that everyone holds. It matters still that this state has problems and solutions to those problems that cannot just be solved with what works at other levels of government. The Federalist goal here, in accordance with our founding and history, has been to take those basic separations into account so as to maintain a civic environment wholly within the control of Tennesseeans, in which those problems and those solutions can be best considered.

We Federalists don’t pretend to have all the answers, but we do recognize what works about those lines that lie between the local and the regional and the federal: they give the people of Tennessee the best way to work out policies that work for everyone – not just partisans on either side. A party that blurs those lines and conflates what matters to your community and what doesn’t is not a party that will be a good steward for the people it wants to serve. That way lies a flattening of the political landscape and a breakdown of what has worked for addressing the specific issues each community faces.

Nobody benefits when those boundaries are broken, least of all you, the people in the path of those floodwaters. And we will work just as hard to protect the people of Tennessee from those politically driven floodwaters as we’ve done with the physical ones. That is a word that every Federalist up and down this state can be counted on to keep, not least the man who has been out here on the front lines with you all and done something to address the issue: your state senator, Silas Baumgartner!

[Joseph Cao]

[Mr. Cao joined the Governor and several state legislative candidates at an outdoor rally, subject to vaccination conditions, to close off the day’s campaigning.]

Good evening, Oak Ridge – I know everyone here with us today has been vaccinated, the folks back at the entrance have seen to that, and for that I must thank you all sincerely. Following the science can sound overused, what with the actual science-following many of you carry out at work. But it really does matter for each and every citizen to continue to recognize the efficacy of our vaccines and the lives they save.

The state representative has had much to say; I won’t rehash everything that she’s told you about. But keeping with my opening remarks, I want to focus in on the telehealth initiative she got through the legislature three months ago which has further boosted eastern Tennessee’s healthcare infrastructure. Thanks to that bill we’ve seen the opening of new rural clinics with the capabilities for remote consulting and diagnosis, including via landline, which the facilities at Oak Ridge have made possible. It is all part of the thriving sense of community that the Atomic City has built and taken the initiative in trying to assist other communities around them. We owe much to those little uniquenesses both in technology and in community spirit that stand as a beacon for the future of East Tennessee.

Those uniquenesses are worth preserving: as the representative demonstrated, they save lives and get communities back on track. In aiming to preserve them the partnership between local and federal agencies is a necessary but delicate one and we’re glad, we in the Senate, of the opportunity to work with people like Representative Piper here who have had the vision to guide their communities in implementing better health services where they’re most needed. It wouldn’t have been possible without the work that community partners like the Baptist Association put in; work from the ground up has been the driving force behind the realization of these and many other bills that help ordinary Tennesseeans. And if Joan here and her fellow state legislators and Governor Monson are reelected, they are more than ready to carry on that important work of keeping the people of Tennessee on an equal footing with their state and regional and federal governments.

That’s a promise we make to the people of Oak Ridge and all the other Tennesseans watching this evening. Others on the campaign trail have decided the best course of action is to make us radioactive and tear down the men and women who deserve none of the attacks they’ve been getting – we won’t do that. Radioactivity may mean one thing to the rest of the country, but here in Oak Ridge we know quite well the little uniqueness it has led to and the scientific immortality it’s given the great state of Tennessee!

Uniquenesses are worth preserving, whether physical or political or in the lives of all our citizens. Thanks, Oak Ridge, for hearing me. Please join me now in welcoming the state Senator!

[Joseph Cao]

[An early-morning gathering in Sharpstown saw Mr. Cao join the Mayor to stump for the upcoming election and headline GOTV efforts in western parts of the city. The speech the Senator delivered to a masked and/or vaccinated crowd is reprinted below.]

Thank you, Sharpstown. And good morning! I’ve seen Mayor Ferrera’s idea of a lovely morning and if it includes so many of you keeping each other safe with the vaccination and continued mask-wearing in its absence, I must say I’m inclined to agree with her.

Sharpstown’s seen a bit of a controversy with the rules update that its civic association has been going through with the community, and while I won’t weigh in on the nitty-gritty of it – the Mayor will have plenty of time to treat it with the justice it deserves later – I do want to briefly outline how things have shaken out in the context of some wider trends that Houston has seen. And it also seems prudent to give everyone a framework within which they can think about this and hopefully reach a solution, as ongoing a process as that might be.

Set aside the little details for a moment. At the core of things there was a basic fear from the people it would affect, you folks here in Sharpstown, of adverse consequences from the conversion to a homeowners’ association: the annual fees, for instance, and the threat of foreclosure that was introduced by the change. And when people made noise about these, there was a protracted process that ended with checks on those powers being added to the language of the new rules. Regardless of the amount of making the political personal that went down during this process, people were willing to accommodate for those with less physical or financial capabilities in their thought process. Even in the heated debate that comes over people’s ability to stay in their homes, you get the resolution you did thanks to the willingness of people on both sides of the divide to listen and act on what they heard.

We still need to listen. It gets thankless at times – scratch that, most of the time nowadays – and people often don’t listen back. I would know; Nyman hammers that into your brain sooner or later. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t continue trying. It especially doesn’t give us carte blanche to go in the opposite direction and continue driving wedges between our fellow citizens: that goes for local activists here in Houston and the people who piled into Texas to campaign and, yes, the Southern Governor. Listen to your neighbors, open channels with them, keep making sure you have the facts and don’t pound the table if you don’t have them. We have an increasing shortage of officials willing to keep to that, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t still recognize those who do.

Mayor Ferrera knows quite well the importance of the trust Houston placed in her. And in the face of attempts to poison the trust between Houston’s citizens and turn a serious election into a proxy monkey-knife fight, we will continue as Federalists in the goal of repaying that trust and aiming in everything we do for this city to create a more welcoming Houston and a better physical and political environment for all of you. Please join me now, Sharpstown, in welcoming the Mayor. Come on up, Mayor Ferrera!

[Joseph Cao]

[Moving through northwestern neighborhoods of the city, the campaign swing with Mayor Ferrera made a stop in Inwood Forest to talk about a pet issue of the mayor’s. Mr. Cao introduced the mayor at a COVID-compliant event with remarks of his own along the same theme.]

Before I say anything else, I want to thank every candidate in the race who has done something to lower the temperature of the race, build bridges and keep a positive tone. It means a lot to me and, I’m sure, to many of the proud Houstonians who will head to the polls soon; we want to keep this city a welcoming one for all its disparate communities.

There’s plenty we can do to help those communities and one way is to invest directly into them with their input. Take the initiative the Mayor’s taken up to build opportunities in underserved and underresourced communities around which their residents can build further improvements to their community life and livelihoods. It is a rather new project compared to the other initiatives the Mayor has been pursuing, but it’s the initial communities of focus like Inwood Forest that it’s meant to help the most; happily, Inwood Forest and others like it appear to be taking very well to the opportunity thus far.

People need to have homes and neighborhoods where they can feel secure. It’s another thing altogether, however, to stimulate the rather more intangible sense of pride in each and every one of Houston’s communities. Like Inwood Forest, many of them have been left at the physical and economic margins of the city; what we want to do, and are working towards with the collaboration of people like you and the local civic association, is get communities’ input on what they most need to create more dynamic and close-knit neighborhoods. The vocational center being planned right now is going to provide small business resources and job-training opportunities. And as with others in the planning stage with other neighborhoods across this city, they will also provide residents with a community area and the amenities Inwood Forest most needs.

Of course, much of this operates according to the classic Federalist mantra of the autonomy which communities need if the people living in them are to see a better life and better livelihoods. We’re not about to forget the importance of Inwood Forest and others like it to the myriad opportunities that Houston has provided and will provide, and in our efforts to help everyone share in it we view the concerted involvement of these communities as key. Mayor Ferrera will continue to give the people of Houston an equal voice and a say in how best to make improvements to this beautiful city – if you likewise give your say in the mayoral election. Thank you all, remember to go vote, and please welcome the Mayor of Houston!

[Joseph Cao]

[While Federalist volunteers continued their work in Houston’s eastern neighborhoods to finish the past three weeks’ GOTV efforts, Senator Cao and the Mayor assisted in efforts in Houston's Third Ward and addressed some of the residents’ pressing concerns. The speech reprinted below was delivered to a vaccinated and/or masked audience at an outdoor livestreamed event.]

Thanks to the Mayor for that excellent speech. And thank you, Houston, for having us here!

I don’t think I am exaggerating when I say that you folks here in the Third Ward have consistently been in the Mayor’s thoughts. Eastern Houston needs every bit of help it can get: homes all across this part of Houston have flooded before, have been hit by rolling blackouts before, have braved extreme summers and winters before, and undoubtedly will again. We all understand this very well, the Mayor included. And the threat that Houston faces from this is something that demands mayoral action faster and sooner than almost anywhere else in our country. If anyone thinks a Federalist isn’t equipped to face that kind of threat down and protect the people under their watch, they’d be mistaken – that’s exactly what Mayor Ferrera has done.

The people who live in harm’s way every time a hurricane runs up the Gulf or a cold front parks itself over the South need to know how they’ll be kept safe in situations like these. As these get more common, it becomes even more imperative that the response to them is as targeted as possible: Houston officials work with what forecasts they have of these things and need to make a judgement of how severe the threat will be to get the proportionate response. This isn’t an easy job, but thanks to an overhaul of Harris County’s emergency operation plans – which the Mayor undertook in consultation with state officials – we are past the old binary of evacuating the entire city or leaving everyone to stay put while remembering the lessons of previous unsuccessful evacuations. The Third Ward, especially, is always at rather higher risk of these events and so the need to pay attention to our municipal and state weather reports cannot be stressed enough.

There’s also the component of housing and infrastructure to consider. Every winter storm or summer flood that hits is going to leave thousands of homes damaged in some way. Again, this has been moving forward with the ongoing review of our city’s building codes and their resiliency and risk of damage from these weather events, and attention paid in particular to providing stormwater systems with greater drainage capacity. City leadership is already coordinating with state officials, once again, to find funds and manpower for the next step of fixing high-risk sections of Houston and that is an ongoing project that, for the sakes of Houstonian lives and livelihoods, I hope will be continued by whoever steps into the mayor’s office next month.

Houston is going to judge Mayor Ferrera based on what she has done while in office, as a public servant accountable to you all, and on no other metric; once again it is imperative that the people of this city know quite clearly the role they are playing here, and not fall for the misdirection which other campaigners have engaged in regarding this important question. We’ve been accountable to you and we will tell you where we stand – and the rest we leave up to Houston to decide. Win or lose we’ll stand with a present and future that protects you all. Go cast your vote, folks, and thank you all.

[Joseph Cao]

[In the afternoon, a state representative was observed at an event hosted by the Tennessee College of Applied Technology in the company of an exhausted Senator Cao, who gave the following speech to another COVID-compliant audience.]

It’s great to see everyone out here in Shelbyville this afternoon. Special thanks to the good folks of the local technical college who invited the state representative and I here, and I am of course very happy to see that everyone’s continuing to keep themselves safe from COVID. Keep those vaccinations going if you haven’t gotten them yet!

I’m happy to be here for reasons beyond that, though. This is ground zero for some of our nation’s most important work, work which I was beyond pleased to be able to bring to the federal level with my recent bill. The folks on the ground here will see much of the cybersecurity legislation implemented under their watch; none more keenly, I’m sure, than Shelbyville and its long-running specialized IT program and databases which provided the impetus for the cyber reporting system established by my bill.

Cybersecurity has become an economic and national security issue all its own, so places like TCAT are and remain invaluable for training students and bringing people from all sectors of the cybersecurity field into contact with them. By giving trainees hands-on work on the frontlines of the cyber industry and access to the pipeline of industry openings which their newfound skills open up for them, places like these are creating jobs and anchoring communities and breathing new life into the critical infrastructure upon which our nation runs. It’s unsurprising that the program was launched in response to that very issue.

In fact, the infrastructure here at TCAT is critical in more ways than one. Brian here would know. He’s one of the youngest members of the state House thanks to having cut his teeth at this very program as a TCAT alumnus, living proof that technical and community colleges don’t put you behind in the world. And beyond his focus on national and state cyber infrastructure (the subject of a bill he’s still working on, I’ve heard) he wants to get national employers to start thinking the same way. For huge numbers of Tennesseans and Southerners these colleges are the most viable path towards a good career. Their caliber rivals those of the more big-name colleges in areas like these, where up-and-comers can find their way into the future that Brian and his classmates faced and bring new jobs and opportunities to their communities.

Other programs like it are going to be the backbone of Tennessee’s future workforce and we in the Federalist Party are more than happy to have folks like Brian lead the charge for this new economy. Look at Governor Monson’s track record on education funding and the work he’s done to help our kids keep learning – look at Brian and his fellow legislators and the steps they’re taking to bring all Tennesseans along for the ride. It’s a record that can continue to help each and every person in Tennessee if you come out and get them back in office. Thanks for the time, Shelbyville; please now welcome the man himself, your alumnus and state representative, Brian Agnew!

[Joseph Cao]

[On a final stop before heading to Nyman, Mr. Cao joined the Governor and some state legislators at an evening outdoor rally in Johnson City which was subject to vaccination requirements and, in their absence, audience masking. His speech is reprinted below for public release.]

I want to thank the Governor for his excellent speech, first of all, and thank you all here in Johnson City for having us. Being here all the way at the end of the state with you all, and seeing so many of you vaccinated, is a rather good way to cap off the day. If media reports of your achievements in the culinary and performance arts are accurate, I couldn’t think of a better place to be this evening.

The going’s been pretty tough this past year. But people here don’t give up easily when the going gets tough, as the Tri-Cities Independent Restaurant Group has demonstrated. COVID did an especially big number on the dining industry; here in this part of the state, as with others all over Atlasia, it’s been a long slope back up from the dire straits we saw at the height of the pandemic. Recovery’s lagged more than it ought to for the small business owners here in Tennessee. In such times restaurants need to get in touch with their elected officials at all levels of government, and likewise all levels of government need a handle on the issues faced by restaurateurs and small business owners more broadly.

So what happens when neither party knows where to look or what to look for? Those here in the Tri-Cities are nothing if not eager to get the ball rolling and join hands to keep each other afloat, as several dozen of them did this time last year when they formed a coalition to tackle some of the more pressing issues and loop in elected officials to help do the same. Thanks to their well-publicized efforts to share knowledge of the common issues they’re facing, Representative Mikalatos here has been able to do just that, with a special focus on a group that often gets passed over when talking about the restaurant industry.

In his work with the group and the subsequent legislation which he brought onto the House floor this past spring, Mark has paid special attention to the thousands of employees who are represented under the group but don’t necessarily get a say in what happens. Employee retention and recruitment’s been a big issue during the pandemic; coming together as a group has allowed the Tri-Cities restaurateurs to experiment with new ways to create better conditions for staff and help build careers out of the specialized jobs they’re often called upon to do. It’s tips like these that have convinced our state legislature to pass Mark’s bill, which also includes some suggestions to alleviate other problems faced by the restaurant owners – I’m sure many of you will recall the spirited debate over changing the liquor tax. The ways across the issue that have come up in the course of that debate will naturally be of great interest to restaurant owners here in Johnson City and all across the state.

Tennessee knows the value of elected officials who respond to their constituents’ concerns and repay the concern in kind – as Mark has done; as your state Senator Brown has done; as Governor Monson has done. It’s up to you folks now to make a judgement about the kind of leadership you want to see for your family, your friends, your neighbors and your state over the next six months. Thank you for listening, folks, and here’s Mark Mikalatos for a few remarks of his own. Please give him a warm welcome!