Potential bloger/Guest Bloger

A fellow legislator who is thinking about starting a blog wanted to see what it all about so I told him he could do a guest spot on mine if he wants to give it a try and check response off of it .Let him know what you think.


Dear Stacey,

I want to alert your readers to a real threat to our state’s sovereignty. CAFTA, like NAFTA, contains an extensive bill of rights for foreign businesses. These rights grant special legal protections and new rights to foreign corporations doing business in other countries covered by the trade agreements. Foreign companies can, under NAFTA, and CAFTA if it passes, actually sue the state of Tennessee in a Trade Tribunal -- not in the Tennessee State Courts nor even in the U.S. Courts.

Imagine that you and I, after having passed a law in the state legislature, could then face the prospect that a foreign business in Tennessee could get around it – even those business which are controlled by their governments – thereby escaping the state law if CAFTA is passed. This means Congress will be giving foreign companies more control over our laws than our own state government has.

This isn’t a conservative or liberal issue. Both Phyllis Schalfly’s Eagle Forum and Public Citizen share the same concerns over sovereignty. Your readers can check out the Eagle Forum position here, www.eagleforum.org/alert/2005/06-16-05.html , and the Public Citizen position here, www.citizen.org/trade/cafta/articles.cfm?ID=11085. Americans for Fair Trade also has information here, //www.americansforfairtrade.com/media/sov.pdf.

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on the measure the last week of July. I encourage your readers to study the issue and share their views with their Members of Congress.

The Tennessee delegation is:

Rep. Bill Jenkins
Rep. John Duncan
Rep. Zack Wamp
Rep. Lincoln Davis
Rep. Jim Cooper
Rep. Bart Gordon
Rep.Rep Marsha Blackburn
Rep. John Tanner
Rep. Harold Ford, Jr.


http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Is a link his readers can use to write their Congressman.

Best wishes,
Mike

Mike Kernell
State Representative (D-Memphis)
mikekernell@mindspring.com