[Mumpower] is a very talented man, he really is, and his background, if you look at the General Assembly, is exactly what this office needs – budget, financial responsibility, ethics, integrity. This is what he did in the General Assembly, and I’m happy to have him here.  He’ll also help us very much with the General Assembly, and we’re involved with a lot of legislation, and we’ll review most of the legislation for the General Assembly.

State Representative and House Majority Leader Jason Mumpower (R-Bristol) announced Thursday that he will not seek re-election this November to the 3rd State House District. In a statement to the Tennessee House of Representatives on the House floor Thursday morning, Mumpower expressed his gratitude to the people he has represented in the 3rd District during his 14 years of service in Nashville. He was only 23 and was a recent graduate from King College when he won his first term two-year term as a state representative. “I am so grateful to the people in Sullivan and Johnson Counties for their support of me,” Mumpower said. “It has been an honor to serve them, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. I’ve lost a lot of hair and put what I can only guess is more than 270,000 interstate miles on my cars driving from Bristol to Nashville to serve the 3rd District. I have made many, many friends, and I thank all of you for those friendships.” In 2008, Mumpower led House Republicans to the first ever House Republican majority in the history of Tennessee. He was elected by his colleagues in December 2006 to serve as Republican Leader, and was re-elected to the position in 2008. Mumpower was first elected to the Tennessee House in 1996. “Jason Mumpower is my representative, my longtime friend, and my ally,” said Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey. “I’m proud he led the House to its first Republican majority in history. I have been proud to call him my representative for these past years.” In his remarks to the House, Mumpower told the story of an interview with Bill Watterson, the creator and writer of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. At the height of its popularity, Watterson simply stopped writing Calvin and Hobbes without explanation. Fifteen years later, in a rare interview when Watterson was asked why he stopped, he replied, “It’s always better to leave the party early.” “Leader Mumpower has led the caucus with distinction for four years,” said House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada. “He has held together this caucus through some very difficult times. I have been fortunate to be able to work alongside him and to call him a friend.” Mumpower said he looks forward to the rest of this session of the 106th General Assembly. He added he “looks forward to the challenges ahead,” after his current service comes to a close. “The benefit of having been first elected at the young age of 23 is that I could serve for 14 years here at the legislature and still be able to start a new phase in my career before I turn 40,” Mumpower said. Mumpower will serve out his term through the end of 2010. A new representative for the 3rd House District will be elected this November.

House Majority Leader Jason Mumpower (R-Bristol) and House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada (R-Franklin) today called on House Democratic Caucus Chairman Mike Turner (D-Nashville) to apologize for his statements calling Tennesseans who oppose President Obama’s federal government takeover of healthcare racists. Mumpower and Casada held a press conference in Nashville to express their outrage and called on all Democrats in Tennessee to denounce Turner’s statements. On Monday Chairman Mike Turner was quoted as saying Tennesseans who are opposed to the federal government takeover of healthcare are “against Obama because he’s African-American.” “I’ve heard from countless citizens who are opposed to Obamacare and it isn’t because they are racists. For the Democrats to call racist anyone who opposes an out of control federal government from taking over their healthcare, that is offensive and out of line,” said Mumpower. “Clearly, they are devoid of ideas and are resorting to name-calling.” “We saw it in the last election and I’m sure we’ll see it throughout the election campaigns this fall,” said Casada. “When conservative candidates oppose Obama and big federal government, all the Democrats know to do is wag their fingers in our faces and call us racists.” Over 1.5 million Tennesseans voted against Obama in November 2008, and the overwhelming majority of Tennesseans today oppose the massive federal bailout and outrageous federal takeover of healthcare. Mumpower and Casada said the purpose of their outrage today was to defend all Tennesseans who on principle oppose Obama’s takeover of healthcare against Turner’s charge of racism.

Mr. Baker was right when he noted in his article that things were moving in a positive direction at Speaker-emeritus Jimmy Naifeh’s annual Coon Supper. But to characterize this as “surrender” could not be further from the truth. The coming together of all the constituencies for party unity is something I hoped would happen and could not be more pleased with how this has taken place. He also wrongly states that the “deal” requires that I hire an executive director picked by the governor and reporting directly to the governor. This is completely untrue. What we have decided to do is bring on a top-flight communications director (something that I, in fact, campaigned on while running for chair) to more aggressively combat the continued failings of the Tennessee Republican Party which has been hijacked by extremist right wing zealots like Rep. Jason Mumpower, Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and the current TNGOP Chair Robin Smith. Given his history as a successful entrepreneur, Governor Bredesen looks at operations from a business perspective and in discussions has suggested that the party develop a business plan to help guide its operating activities, which we are in the process of developing now. The kind of leadership that the governor has given the state in these turbulent economic times is just the kind of leadership he has demonstrated for the Party. What we are really all doing is having the entire team play to its strengths—the governor’s fundraising prowess is key to our statewide financial success, an “all hands on deck” candidate recruitment process that seeks, identifies, recruits and trains the best candidates for 2010, empowers the 72 members of the state Democratic executive committee in a much more visible leadership role, re-engages our 95 county parties, brings the grassroots activists from across the state into the Party and new 21st century communication tools (like our brand new web site www.tndp.org) that creates a community of committed Democratic activists—to do the single most important job we all have—win in 2010. There has been no “surrender” — just the unification of our Party for the battle ahead.