John M. Gregory's Newish Pharmaceuticals Business Cranks Up --- In Maryland

cGMP Manufacturing Company - UPM Pharmaceuticals

Elmer Gantry's Top Ten List Of Stupid Representative Mattthew Hill Tricks

I seriously doubt that David Letterman knows much of anything about any pending legislation before the Tennessee General Assembly, let alone any of that legislative dribble that Rep. Matthew Hill is filing with the Tennessee General Assembly...

HB0659 by Hill, Swafford, Crider.
Taxes, Sales - Exempts sale of food or food ingredients, except candy, dietary supplements, and prepared food, from state sales and use taxation. - Amends TCA Title 67, Chapter 6.

[Hill's HB0659 removes taxation from a stable revenue source currently and thereby will subject his Washington County constituients to a state government fiscial crisis and resultin state income tax should state expenditures keep increasing while state revenues collections shrink from tax cutting.]

HB0660 by Hill.
DUI/DWI Offenses - Makes ignition interlock devices mandatory for all DUI offenders, including first-time offenders. - Amends TCA Title 39; Title 40, Chapter 33, Part 2 and Title 55, Chapter 10, Part 4.

[Hill's HB0660 as stated creates yet another layer of punishment for first-time offenders: A first DUI offense can result in a possible sentence of 11 months and 29 days to a minimum sentence of 24 hours in jail for those over 21-years-of-age, 48 hour in jail for those between 18 and 21-years-old, or a minimum of 7 days in jail if the accused was tested to have a blood alcohol level of .20 percent or higher. Also included in a first DUI conviction in Tennessee is 24 hours of mandatory litter pick-up, probation, license suspension, DUI school, and a minimum $350 dollar fine.

Did I mention here that Rep. Matthew Hill accepted campaign contributions during the 2006 election year from both Johnson City beer baron Bill Breeding and former Alpine Package Store co-owner Ben Garrison?]

HB0662 by Hill.
Criminal Offenses - Makes punishment for child rape same as punishment for first degree murder. - Amends TCA Section 39-13-522.

[Hill's HB0662 is similar to the bill that he filed last year --- Hill's 2006 version failed within the Constitutional Protection subcommittee most likely due to concerns with U.S. Supreme Court decisions regarding "proportionality" and concerns that Hill's child rape legislation would further endanger the lives of child rape victims from attackers who may consider that they would have nothing left to lose by killing their victims.]

HB0663 by Hill.
Handgun Permits - Reduces handgun carry permit application fee from $115 to $100; removes $15.00 from fee that is earmarked to TBI for background checks. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 13.

[Hill's HB0663 proposed fee reduction would take away revenue from the operating budget of Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and make TBI more reliant upon a greater share of state general revenues (including those sources originating from the sale of grocery items in Tennessee), in effect hindering the ability of the TBI to investigate criminal cases and make arrests of perps (e.g. drag racers, drunk drivers; child rapists, etc.)]

HB0664 by Hill.
Pensions and Retirement Benefits - Adds new Group 1 service retirement provision of age 55 with 25 years of creditable service for public safety officers. - Amends TCA Title 3, Chapter 9, Part 1 and Title 8.

[Hill's HB0664 dole out earlier retirement dates for local and state law enforcement agencies, thereby increasing the future demand for local and state tax revenue allocations toward law enforcement recruiting, selection, and hiring on the entry side and more tax dollar allocation toward meeting earlier law enforcement retirement obligations.]

HB0904 by Hill.
State Government - Requires the state budget to be prepared and adopted on a biennial basis rather than annually. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 3, Part 10 and Title 9, Chapter 4, Part 51.

[Hill's HB0904 is likely to be known by the popular title "Tennessee Lazy Bastard Legislator Act of 2007".]

HB0905 by Hill.
Education - Requires schools to notify parents of clubs and organizations [sic], including the mission or purpose of the club or organziation; requires written permission of parent to join school club or organization. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 6.

[Hill's HB0905 legislation is simply another piece of --- an unfunded state mandate that will require local school systems to make the choice to either:

a) divert local school system revenue toward of such things as postage, photocopying, envelopes, personnel, filing, record keeping, public inspection, etc, instead of classroom academics or legitimate school and classroom expenditures, or;

b) simply do way with all student club or organizations --- and you can then kiss goodbye to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.]

HB0906 by Hill.
Guns - Prohibits the confiscation or seizure of lawfully possessed firearm or ammunition during an emergency or disaster unless peace officer reasonably believes that disarming a person is immediately necessary for the protection of the officer or another individual. - Amends TCA Title 58, Chapter 2, Part 1.

[Reads like Rep. Hill got his panties bunched-up in a knot following the news accounts of the Katrina hurricane ripping through New Orleans --- someone should whisper into his ear and remind Rep. Hill that it was most widely reported in the Katrina news accounts that it was members of President Bush's federally deputized and private Blackwater "contractors" who were spending a lot of their time disarming New Orleans residents. HB0906 would not have any effect upon federal law enforcement, military, or federally deputized private contractors.]

HB0907 by Hill.
Teachers, Principals and School Personnel - Authorizes loans and requires pay bonuses for National Board certification and requires state board of education to recognize certification for certain licensure requirements. - Amends TCA Title 49.

[Who pays? State government? Local government? Local school boards?]

HB0943 by Hill.
Public Funds and Financing - Enacts "Transparency in Government Act." - Amends TCA Title 9, Chapter 4 and Title 67.

[This bill should have another legislative twin titled "Transparency in Tennessee Non-Profits Act", requiring all Tennessee non-profits filing an IRS Form 990 "Return Of Organization Exempt From Income Tax" or similar IRS exempt organization document and maintaining an exempt organization web page soliciting donations from the public via an internet web site --- such as Rep. Matthew Hill's Appalachian Educational Communication Corporation, d.b.a. WHCb 91.5 FM --- post the exempt organization's IRS filed Form 990s at the orgganization's web site or hyperlink to another web where the exempt organization has posted copies of IRS Form 990s...]

Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey Supplements Executive Assistant/Former Lobbyist's State Pay With PAC Money

MSNBC.com
Lawmaker aide's pay from PAC questioned
By Andy Sher, Nashville Bureau
The Chattanooga Times Free Press

Chattanooga, TN - NASHVILLE -- A top aide to newly elected Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, received $47,800 in "supplemental pay" over the past two years from a Ramsey-controlled political action committee whose contributors included special interests, records show.

The Republican lawmaker's leadership PAC, called RAAMPAC, paid $11,700 in 2005 and $36,100 last year to then-Majority Leader Ramsey's executive assistant Matt King, according to filings with the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance.

Contributors to the PAC at the time included tobacco giants R.J. Reynolds ($1,500) and Altria Group Inc. ($1,000) as well as other interests with issues before the General Assembly, including the Tennessee Realtors Association ($7,500) and beer wholesalers ($1,000).

The PAC payments came on top of Mr. King's taxpayer-funded legislative salary of $81,042 in 2005 and $66,381 in 2006, records show.

"In order to bring me back to the level of income I'd had from my last job, the leader agreed to supplement my income through RAAMPAC," Mr. King said.

[...]

Mr. King is a former state Republican Party executive director who later worked for the National Federation of Independent Business and then as a public affairs consultant and lobbyist [with the Ingram Group of Nashville] before joining Sen. Ramsey's staff in 2005.

[...more at link.]

King's lobbying clients in 2004 included; Ampharm, Parsons, Tennessee; Coleman Technologies, Orlando, Florida; Covansys Corporation, Farnington Mills, Michigan; M/A-Com, Inc., Lynchburg, Virginia; Memorial Health Care, Nashville, Tennessee(?); Metro Nashville Airport Authority, Nashville, Tennessee; Tenn. Assoc. for Child Care, Nashville, Tennessee.

Associated Press Study finds Senator Ramsey's PAC avoided contribution limits

Study finds Ramsey's PAC avoided contribution limits

By ERIK SCHELZIG
Associated Press
Published: Thursday, 01/18/07

Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey

Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey's political action committee avoided campaign contribution limits by giving money to another PAC, which then directed money to key Republican candidates, an Associated Press analysis of campaign finance records has found.

During the beginning of 105th TNGA (January 2007), the Associated Press released the results of an AP analysis of Tennessee campaign finance records and concluded that Ramsey's political action committee (RAAMPAC) circumvented state law pertaining to PAC contribution limits by $15,000 to former state Republican Party chairman John "Chip" Saltman's SALT PAC.

Ramsey's committee, known as RAAMPAC, gave the maximum of $15,000 to each of three Republican candidates during the 2004 and 2006 election cycles. His PAC then gave money to a separate committee, SALT PAC, which in turn gave more money to the same candidates, the AP analysis showed.

[...more at
link

WPWT 870AM & Marx E. Simpleton: Conservative Cretin Half-Truths

The sound of it brings a smile to my face: WPWT 870 AM morning talk host Marx E. Simpleton self-promotion tagline "conservative Christian truth"...perhaps, but let's see what Mr. Webster (and the ancient Romans) might have to say about all of this:

cretin

Main Entry: cre·tin
Pronunciation: 'krE-t&n
Function: noun
Etymology: French crétin, from French dialect cretin, literally, wretch, innocent victim, from Latin christianus Christian
1 often offensive : one afflicted with cretinism
2 : a stupid, vulgar, or insensitive person : CLOD, LOUT

Why does Simpleton find the need to repeat the phrase "conservative Christian truth" ad nauseam? Probably for the same season that the Soviet Russian newspaper under Lenin utilized "Pravda" ("Truth") for the newspaper masthead: a crutch to help distort the truth.

AECC Officer Compensation & Other Salaries: 2000-2005

2005 ACEE Filed IRS Form 990
"Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax":
2005 Part II Line 25 Compensation of officers, directors, etc.
(A) Total $60,451*
change from 2004 Form 990: -$8,374

2005 Part II Line 26 Other salaries and wages
(A) Total $323,123
change from 2004 Form 990: +$41,334

2005 Part II Line 26 Other employee benefits
(A) Total $83,931
change from 2004 Form 990: +$80,998

* Does not include $12,000 AECC President and CEO Kenneth C. Hill receivied in 2005 from AECC for leasing of his warehouse building for storage located at 3950 Weaver Pike, Bluff City, Tennessee.
* Does not include the additional $14,400 President Kenneth C. Hill receivied from AECC in 2005 for leasing of his land in Abingdon, Virigina for a tower site.

---

2004 ACEE Filed IRS Form 990
"Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax":
2004 Part II Line 25 Compensation of officers, directors, etc.
(A) Total $68,855**
change from 2003 Form 990: +$3,936

2004 Part II Line 26 Other salaries and wages
(A) Total $281,789
change from 2003 Form 990: +$31,241

2004 Part II Line 26 Other employee benefits
(A) Total $2,933
change from 2003 Form 990: -$189


** Does not include $12,000 AECC President and CEO Kenneth C. Hill receivied in 2005 from AECC for leasing of his warehouse building for storage located at 3950 Weaver Pike, Bluff City, Tennessee.

---

2003 ACEE Filed IRS Form 990
"Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax":
2003 Part II Line 25 Compensation of officers, directors, etc.
2003 (A) Total $64,919

2003 Part II Line 26 Other salaries and wages
2003 (A) Total $250,548

2003 Part II Line 26 Other employee benefits
2003 (A) Total $3,122

---

2002 ACEE FiledIRS Form 990
"Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax"
[not filed with the IRS by AECC]

---

2001 ACEE Filed IRS Form 990
"Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax":
2001 Part II Line 25 Compensation of officers, directors, etc.
2001 (A) Total $79,077

2001 Part II Line 26 Other salaries and wages
2001 (A) Total $195,966

2001 Part II Line 26 Other employee benefits
2001 (A) Total $19,659

---

2000 ACEE Filed IRS Form 990
"Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax":
2000 Part II Line 25 Compensation of officers, directors, etc.
(A) Total $84,032

2000 Part II Line 26 Other salaries and wages
2000 (A) Total $165,352

2000 Part II Line 26 Other employee benefits
2000 (A) Total $12,487

New Name Selected For Edgemont Avenue: Martin Luther King., Jr. Blvd

Local news reports are indicating that the Bristol, Tennessee city government has voted to approve a name change for Edgemont Avenue to Martin Luther King Jr., Blvd. during Black History Month.

The Gregory owned Leitner Pharmaceuticals Building is located on the newly named Martin Luther King Jr., Blvd. (as are tenants Appalachian Educational Communication Corporation, Information Communication Corporation, Tennessee Conservative PAC, State of Franklin PAC, Leitner Pharmaceuticals LLC, SJ Strategic Investments LLC, et al)

Former 1992-2005 Alpine Package Store Co-OwnerFriend, Contributor of State Rep. Matthew Hill

I was reading through the Sunday, June 25, 2006 edition of the Johnson City Press when I noticed a campaign ad paid for the Friends of Matthew Hill (see earlier posting "Restaurant Inspection Score=82") and scrolled down the list stopping at the first couple named before Rep. Hill's own parents (Dr. Kenneth and Janet Hill) --- John and Janice [P.] Garrison.

Wait a minute. Is this "Friend of State Representative Matthew Hill" the same John Garrison who, according to Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission ownership records, was licensed as a former co-owner of the Alpine Package Store (308 N Broadway, Johnson City) from the approximate dates of 1992 to June 2005? A quick search of the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance also reveals that the Friends of Matthew Hill Campaign Treasurer Jennifer Dier reported $1,200 worth of in-kind contributions from both John E. and Janice P. Garrison during year 2005, although the actual specifics of the Garrisons' in-kind contributions were not listed on the disclosure form filed by theFriends of Matthew Hill:

MATTHEW HILL
2006 Supplemental (2005)

CAMPAIGN FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
[...]

GARRISON, JANICE P.
1209 BEECHWOOD
JOHNSON CITY, TN 37604
09/19/2005
$500.00 In-Kind Contribution
FUNDRAISER
For primary election

GARRISON, JOHN
1209 BEECHWOOD
JOHNSON CITY, TN 37604
09/19/2005
$700.00 In-Kind Contribution
FUNDRAISER
For primary election

Rep. Hill's 2004 Pre-General campaign financial disclosure statement also lists a non-specific $275.00 in-kind contribution "...for food and beverages" by a Janice Garrison, but this Hill disclosure fails to specify a date or street address for this particular Garrison contributor.