A Republican state senator from Chattanooga has distanced himself from the positions of his GOP peers on certain immigration policies, insinuating others are afraid to do the same out of fear that they will be primaried — and labeled a Republican in name only — when up for reelection.
“You have to be willing to find an issue you can work with everybody on and try to get something accomplished,” said state Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, in an interview. “The fear of not being 100% and having to answer to the far right wing is a dangerous situation, and it doesn’t make for good policy.”
In January, Gardenhire unsuccessfully tried to amend a bill that made it a felony for local elected officials to vote for policies that make their city a sanctuary for unauthorized immigrants. The provision was contained in a hefty immigration package, co-sponsored by state Sen. Bo Watson, R-North Chattanooga, that passed during Gov. Bill Lee’s special session.
When Gardenhire introduced his amendment, he said the immigration bill could set a dangerous precedent of penalizing elected officials for voting their conscience and proposed the deletion of any references to such criminal penalties.
In retrospect, Gardenhire said he made the amendment too broad and that he should have zeroed in on the voting part of the bill, instead of trying to eliminate all felony charges.