Instead of THE Rep, How About MY Rep?

I was in five meetings yesterday. That my brain isn’t oozing out of my ears is quite an accomplishment.

I’ve been thinking about this whole Rep. Stacey Campfield thing, so I have an idea. Instead of writing about him, let’s write about something else.

Let’s write about what our state reps are doing, instead of The Rep. If he is The Rep, let’s talk about Our Reps. I know individual politician’s legislation impacts the whole state. I just am so tired of the starstruck manner so many are giving this guy. So, let’s talk about OUR REPS.

I’ll start with my rep, Mark Maddox. Today I’m going to get a list of things he’s presented in the house this legislative session. I already know to a degree, but I want to be precise so it will be up when I have it all together. Later today (or when I have some time) I will post some of the legislation he’s working on. Let’s see what he’s got out there and how it will impact the entire state of Tennessee. In the next few days, I will also focus on Sen. Roy Herron and my Congressman John Tanner. Doesn’t matter if your rep is Republican, Democrat or Independent, what are they doing and what do you like/dislike?
Why? (You may be thinking Newscoma, this isn’t nearly as thrilling as your adventures with cough syrup or the big retreat you went to over the weekend.) Well, it’s not, but here’s the thing. We all talk about Stacey Campfield. And that’s what he wants. I think I’ve been pretty clear on how I feel about some of his legislation. Even if he were to do something fantastic, his antics over his time served in public office have put a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths, left and right wing (including mine.) So I’m going to step back and just watch what he’s doing. And I’m going to focus on what my elected officials are doing and why aren’t they getting cyber ink.

So my suggestion is simple. We talk about our guys instead of him. Because the more we talk about his behavior, the more cyber ink he gets. And the line between what people think about him is pretty entrenched in the blogosphere. Now, with that said, he warrants discussion at times, but there are other Representatives and Senators out there doing things that fall to the wayside with the Campfield coverage. A lot of us have already been doing this. I can’t help but think I don’t want to talk about Campfield as a personality anymore, I want to talk about what things are going to impact the children that are being discussed today. We’ve been through the porn/corn thing. We’ve been through death certificates for fetuses. Let’s take it one day at a time with him. I get his shtick of being the underdog Republican.

So, I’m only going to talk about him as a legislator and not the underdog personality. He’s a legislator, not a rock star. And we HAVE talked about his legislation, and we do need to watch what he’s doing, let’s just talk about what our guys are doing as well.

I don’t know. Do what you want to, but I’d rather read about what other people are doing and not read Stacey 24/7. Not to say that he won’t give us reasons to talk about him, but let’s give him a break. (Translated: Let’s give all of us a break because I’m tired of the Stacey Chronicles.)

Inspired by some of the comments from this post and thread, if you were wondering.