Bredesen projects deficit of up to $600 million; he'll cut wth hatchet; ask candidates for promise not to support Naifeh for House Speaker

Gov. Phil Bredesen told the editorial board of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal that plans are in place for a state budget deficit in the current fiscal year of a whopping $600 million or more.

Yet Bredesen has no intent on raising taxes or the integrity to push a state income tax that would lower the take from two-thirds of Tennesseans' wallets.

To read about the meeting, go to: http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/oct/16/tenn-deficit-could-reach-600m/

He says he plans on taking a little from the Rainy Day Fund and TennCare reserves "to soften the blow." What he doesn't want to say is that he going to cut the hell out of existing programs and appropriations, including those that hard-working Tennesseans count on.

That means less of a state share to local funding for basic government services. Who will pick up the difference in higher property taxes -- you and me.

Rep. Frank Buck, the lawmaker of the most integrity on Capitol Hill in Nashville, told me that a big reason why he did not run for re-election is that he knew the size of budget problems to come.

Buck would have been needed as a voice of reason, but he sacrificed enough in his health and his own household's income by serving the needs of the people first at the General Assembly.

Without Buck, there will be no voice in the House to stop these cuts. Speaker Jimmy Naifeh won't say a word against Bredesen's orders. He let TennCare be gutted. Now he won't speak up for the most vulnerable. While the House may be in some danger of going to a very slight Republican majority, Naifeh has always had a handful of GOP House members in his pocket to win re-election to head the chamber.

If you are a working Tennessean, you should be asking those candidates running to be your House representative if they're going to support Naifeh's re-election as Speaker. If they are, then the General Assembly is going to be raising your property taxes. You need to get a promise that these candidates will not vote for Naifeh for Speaker if elected.

The better choice is House Majority Leader Gary Odom of Davidson County.

The stakes are high folks. Bredesen knows how much will have to be cut in January. And he is going to make you and the most vulnerable hurt, in an economy near Depression.

You can stop the governor in 2009 by stopping the election on Nov. 4 of those House candidates who won't promise to keep Naifeh from being House Speaker again.