NASHVILLE - Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, said today that the state's largest teachers union, the Tennessee Education Association, made a "failed attempt of everything they could" to keep both him and House Speaker Beth Harwell, R-Nashville, from being elected speaker.
But Ramsey said that has nothing to do with a raft of legislation from Republicans that seeks to ban collective bargaining by teachers unions, remove TEA representatives from state boards and end government payroll deductions for the group's dues.
"Absolutely not. Absolutely not," Ramsey told reporters. "My philosophy is the same as it was five years ago ... but they did make a failed attempt of doing everything they could to keep me from being speaker, doing everytign they could to keep Beth from being speaker."
The group endorsed Democrat Mike McWherter over Republican Bill Haslam in the governor's race and the teachers' PAC gave McWherter $15,000, according to state Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance. The teachers' group also made substantial contributions to legislative Democrats and gave the state Democratic Party $25,000.
Ramsey said TEA in the past has "blocked" issues such as tenure reform and making it easier for charter schools to operate.
"I just think that this will be a chance to promote what has normally been a Republican agenda of more school choice, of charter schools, of reevalatuing tenure and not giving lifetime tenure and all those things we wished to push in the past. There's no payback."
In other remarks, Ramsey laughed at the Tennessee trial lawyers' organization hiring former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., to lobby against legislation curbing awards for noneconomic damages in lawsuits.
"I love fred ... [but] let me assure you that's not going to affect how anybody votes on any bill in the state legislature," Ramsey said.