Senator talks controversy with UT club

State Sen. and UT alumnus Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville, discussed controversial bills, scandalous politics and party lines Tuesday in the UC Auditorium.

The UT Economics Club hosted the senator, who received a bachelor’s degree in education from UT. Junior Todd Skelton, president of the Economics Club, said he was excited about Burchett’s return to his alma mater.

“I’m part of SGA, and we’ve worked with Sen. Burchett in the past. He’s a very interesting guy who has helped us a lot,” Skelton said.

A 14-year veteran of the state legislature, Burchett has spent time in both the House and Senate and serves on a number of committees, including the Finance, Ways and Means Committee.

The senator said the statewide ban on smoking in restaurants was the result of lobbying by those in the food service industry.

“The restaurant association came to us and wanted a total ban,” he said. The senator said lobbying was due to class action lawsuits in California. A number of retired food service workers and non-smokers with lung cancer are suing the restaurants who kept them working in smoke.

“(The association) can see that coming, and they want to stop it from happening here,” Burchett said. “It really didn’t have much to do with the public health. ... It was more about dollars and cents. That’s the bottom line in any political process, unfortunately, but it’s the truth.”

The senator spent an hour with the audience, talking and answering questions. Burchett discussed other ways lawmakers earn an income, which can sometimes mean resorting to illegal methods. Speaking of the need to supplement the less than $18,000 a state senator is paid for “a part-time job,” Burchett noted that many of his colleagues had turned to consulting.

“Of course, some of my colleagues who were consultants are now felons,” he added. The senator also said he thinks corruption and pork-barreling are still rampant in Nashville.

“There’s a lot of politics, and I don’t like that,” he said. “I see a lot of waste.”

Burchett was especially critical of the 2005 Tennessee Waltz sting, in which seven state lawmakers were arrested and indicted on charges of bribery.

Burchett said that although he was pleased the sting had exposed corruption in Nashville, law enforcement officials only aimed at the most obvious targets.

“The reality of the Tennessee Waltz is, in my opinion, is that the (Tennessee Bureau of Investigation) and the FBI ... in some instances, I think they got the low-hanging fruit. They ran a sting that was ... in my opinion, it was bush-league,” he said.

Burchett proposed the so-called “road kill bill” that granted permission for Tennesseans to eat animals killed by a motor vehicle, and he sponsored the recent ban on smoking in restaurants. But Burchett is better known by other state lawmakers for a lack of adherence to either recognized party lines or conventional forms of politics.

“I’m actually more of a Libertarian,” he said. “I believe that my fist is my responsibility until it touches your nose. And I have a lot of problems with a lot of the laws that we enact. It seems like (the legislature) act(s) like … we know what’s best for you better than you do.”

Burchett even went so far as to say he sympathizes with increasing public support for anti-incumbency movements or third parties.

“Anything to keep (lawmakers) honest,” he said. “And I’ll give you a perfect example … immigration.” Burchett said the Republican Party believes they will gain anti-abortion voters because of immigration from predominately Catholic Mexico, and Democrats think immigration will get them votes on social issues.

The result, Burchett said, is that “both parties are selling themselves out, and selling our country out. (The parties) just want numbers; they just want to win.”

Skelton said Burchett’s lecture is the first in a series of three events the Economics Club plans to sponsor this semester.