Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy, conservative country music star John Rich endorsed Jody Barrett for state representative.
Barrett is running for Tennessee State House District 69 in the Republican primary, which is scheduled to occur on August 4.
Rich has known Barrett since high school.
Barrett is an attorney and owns a title company. According to campaign materials, Barrett has spent most of his law practice time on “the management of the day-to-day operations of both the law office and title business, as well as handling legal matters arising from real estate-related issues, probate matters, wills and estate planning, business formation and consulting, and general civil litigation.”
Born and raised in the 69th State House District, Barrett is also active with the YMCA, First Baptist Church of Dickson, Dickson High Noon Rotary Club, the Dickson County Chamber of Commerce, and TriStar Bank’s Community Council.
According to Barrett’s website, the issues that are important to his campaign are education, election integrity, and border security.
“We can dramatically improve our education spending in Tennessee, and thus dramatically improve the quality of our public education system, without raising taxes at all,” he says about education. “We could easily dedicate every penny of budget surplus to our education system and guarantee that our state will continue to prosper as a result of a better educated and more prepared workforce.”
On the issue of election integrity, his campaign says, “Tennessee should be the model for the nation by adopting policies and procedures that will reduce the risk of voter fraud and election tampering. Voter machines and all technologies associated with the voting process in Tennessee should be independently audited and reviewed by the State Election Commission to determine what security risks exist with each vendor.”
“While technology and internet connectivity may add convenience, it cannot be argued that it does not also create vulnerabilities. We can and we must limit or eliminate those vulnerabilities,” he says.
On the issue of border security and illegal immigration, the candidate says, “The Tennessee General Assembly must put Tennesseans first and take aggressive steps to protect the taxpayers of Tennessee from this federally supported threat to our state’s economy, safety, and culture,”
“We must make it clear to Washington, D.C., that Tennessee demands that the federal government enforce our immigration laws, completes President Trump’s border wall, adequately funds and staffs the U.S. Border Patrol and ICE, and does not interfere with the State of Tennessee’s enforcement of its own laws and policies regarding illegal immigration,” he adds.
The 69th State House District seat is an open one, as there is no incumbent running for re-election in that district.
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]. Follow Aaron on GETTR, Twitter, and Parler.
Photo “Jody Barrett” by Jody Barrett For The 69th Tennessee House District. Photo “John Rich” by John Rich Music. Background Photo “Tennessee State Capitol” by FaceMePLS. CC BY 2.0.
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