NASHVILLE - Republican Gov. Bill Haslam today sought to laugh off the latest attack from the Tennessee Tea Party in which the group asserts Haslam displayed "socialistic" principles when he was mayor of Knoxville.
"I've said all along I'm not going to get in the name-exchanging business with anybody," Haslam said. "Again, I don't know how to be more clear. We're trying to focus on things that really matter, and I'll leave all that stuff to somebody else."
Arch-conservatives have become increasingly confrontational over Haslam's refusal to back legislation that strips teachers of their collective bargaining rights. Instead, Haslam has preferred to focus on his own initiatives to make it harder for new teachers to win tenure protections and open up charter schools.
Last week, Haslam swung his support to a scaled-back version of the collective bargaining bill that would limit but not end teachers' ability to negotiate over wages, benefits and other areas.
Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, prefers the outright ban and has attributed the governor's position to the state's relatively new chief executive's lack of experience.
But Ramsey was sharply critical of the latest attack by the Tennessee Tea Party, which last week derided Haslam as "weak." One Tea Party activist has likened Hasalm to the late television children's show host, Fred Rogers.
"That's absolutely ridiculous," Ramsey told reporters of the "socialistic" characterization. "The governor and I are working closely on these issues and I feel like we'll have some resolution at the end and hopefully be closer to the Senate bill than it is the House bill. That's been my goal."
Ramsey had strong Tea Party support last summer in the three-man GOP gubernatorial primary he lost to Haslam.
"As far as it comes to the issues of smaller government, 10th Amendment rights and things of that nature, I still agree with them on the issues, and I think I was most closely aligned with them during in the governor's race," Ramsey said. "But that still doesn't give them an excuse to do name-calling. That's just wrong."
In their email, Tennessee Tea Party activists said , "One only needs to look at his [Haslam's] track record as mayor of Knoxville and his embrace of the socialistic principals [sic] such as sustainability and his Agenda 21 initiatives. His two-faced approach towards 2ndamendment freedoms should have been telling."