Following an executive meeting of the Davidson County Republican Party (DCRP), Chairman James Garrett issued the following statement upon news that up to 10 percent of the Tennessee National Guard face being discharged for refusing a COVID-19 vaccination.
“As the Republican Party of the State Capital, our leadership and members call upon Governor Lee to step-up and order Major General Holmes to halt the discharge of our Guardsmen,” he said.
“Attorney General Slatery must immediately coordinate with other state AGs to file an emergency injunction against the DoD, forcing them to reverse adverse actions against any National Guardsman for refusal to get a vaccine known to cause widespread negative health reactions and to honor those with religious objections,” continued Garrett.
“As Commander in Chief of the Tennessee National Guard, Governor Lee has the power to right this wrong and give conservatives across Tennessee another good reason to vote for him on August 4th. We are counting on him to respond to media inquiries and do the right thing,” he said.
The DCRP is the first local GOP organization to call on Governor Bill Lee to help the National Guard members who are about to be fired due to their refusal to comply with the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The Tennessee Star previously reported that several outraged Tennessee National Guard members reached out to The Star Wednesday morning immediately after Lee’s interview earlier in the day on Supertalk 99.7 on Nashville’s Morning News with Dan Mandis.
One guardsman delivered a message on behalf of several that was very simple: “We are even more outraged at Governor Lee’s lack of support and action than we were before he opened his mouth full of hot air on the radio. He doesn’t seem to care about us.”
During that appearance, Lee made no commitments in regard to the men and women of the Tennessee National Guard who are about to lose their jobs over the federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate, the deadline of which is Thursday.
“We’ll have to see exactly what’s going to happen here, but we’re working to defend our men and women,” Lee said.
“We’re not sure what Governor Lee says he’s doing, but the one thing that is clear is he is not doing anything to help us,” one guardsman said.
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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, Truth Social, and Parler.
Photo “Tennessee National Guard Members” by Tennessee National Guard.
