Faulk Tennessee State Senate

Dear Friends,

The close of this year’s General Assembly marked the half-way point through my first term in office. Since you helped me get elected, I thought I’d take the time to let you know about my first two years in the State Senate.

You may recall I ran for this office promising I’d push for a lean-limited government that does a few essential functions well but doesn’t try to be all things to all people. It pleases me to tell you that we have less state government, fewer state employees, less spending, less pork and no general tax increases through my first two years!

Even with all the budget cutting, the Basic Education Program (BEP) has been fully funded. This is an example of the prioritization of expenditures I talked about on the campaign trail. Even though it took some convincing for me to vote for it, the reforms we enacted in our special session in January helped Tennessee win the federal “Race to the Top” competition and an extra half-billion dollars to help transform our schools.

Claiborne, Grainger, Hancock, Hawkins, Jefferson and Union Counties have finally begun to see their fair share of state expenditures on infrastructure. Millions of our tax dollars have been returned to our counties as interest-free school bond money. New schools and school renovations are under construction as a result. A segment of four-lane highway construction is underway on Highway 33. The new 44’ wide bridge over Norris Lake is being built. A new four-lane segment of U. S. 11W in Grainger County will begin in the next two years.

Many, many people deserve credit for this progress. I’m convinced the partnerships we’ve forged with the five State Representatives and with our city and county governments have paid off handsomely for the six counties of the 4^th Senate District.

The e-mails and calls received in these two years number in the thousands. I strive to read every e-mail and every message. .I’ve averaged driving over 40,000 miles each of the last two years traveling back and forth to Nashville and to events and meetings within these six counties. All the travel is consistent with my campaign pledge to “show up“ and to “listen”. Dad always said, “God gave you two ears and only one mouth for a reason!”

Constituent service is a big part of my focus in these first two years. My staff in both Nashville and Church Hill are absolutely committed to providing answers to your questions regarding State benefits, regulations and services. We often serve as liaison between constituents and various state departments and agencies. But we can’t help if we’re not asked. So I’ve encouraged folks to call.

As Senator I‘m called by many names. The term “public servant” largely defines what I do. I’m also called “lawmaker”. I think we have too many laws. You won’t often hear me say, “There ought to be a law . . .” But, I also want you to know about my efforts as lawmaker. I have concentrated primarily on subject matter I know well. You may know I’m an attorney whose primary practice involves suing drunk drivers who injure others and sometimes bars, beer stores, and taverns that sell to minors or over-serve drinkers.

Tennessee’s streets are safer because of laws I sponsored or co-sponsored and passed. Drunk drivers lose their license at their first court appearance if they refuse to take a blood or breath test. Second and subsequent offenders can’t keep putting off their DUI trial in order to avoid stiffer penalties. The look-back period is now measured from arrest-to-arrest instead of conviction-to-conviction. Automobile interlocks are now required for second offenders or first offenders with high blood-alcohol content. And, District Attorneys General and prosecuting civil attorneys now have a consistent, uniform definition on the books for “visibly intoxicated“ to aid in pursuing drunk drivers.

Seniors can now qualify for auto insurance discounts by taking on-line courses. Dairy farmers can brand their milk “Tennessee Prime” if the good stuff in the milk - enzymes and proteins - that is the non-fat content of the product - meets enhanced standards. Hancock County can operate its own home health agency. Rogersville keeps the state portion of the sales tax revenue generated by Hale Springs Inn until the debt is paid on that facility. The Tri-Cities may now form a Regional Airport Authority and two or more cities and counties may combine to form a medical school authority. Testimony on speed recorded by traffic cameras is now admissible only through properly trained technicians. Local Education agencies now have more flexibility in extending the school day to make up for lost snow days. Grandparents have a better chance of obtaining visitation with grandchildren when the grandchild’s parent is deceased. And homeowners may not have to face deficiency judgments after foreclosure. All these law changes resulted from bills I sponsored and stewarded through the legislative process.

While it’s the highest honor of my lifetime to serve in the State Senate, I awake every day having learned something new about what a special privilege I’ve been given. I want to make the most of the time you’ve given me in the Senate. Once again thank you for your help. Don’t hesitate to call on me if I can be of service to you.

	Sincerely,

An Introduction by Congressman Bill Jenkins

My Fellow East Tennesseans:

Mike Faulk is the 8th generation of his mother’s family that has called Hawkins County home. Mike is what some folks call a “Mountain Republican.”

The Scots-Irish blood that flows through his veins, like that of Ronald Reagan whose mother was Scots-Irish, in large measure defines who he is. Mike says he is an old fashioned, leave-me-alone, common-sense conservative and a self-sufficient, rugged individualist who believes in small-government and values individual liberty most highly.

His people are farmers and factory workers. Mike, too, has spent his share of time in hay fields, tobacco barns, and on factory floors.

He’s proof that the American dream is alive and well in Tennessee. Mike Faulk is the first of his family to graduate from college. His mother, Rose, will tell you he had to work his way through college, graduate school, and law school. But Faulk says there are plenty of folks who deserve the credit for helping him along his way.

I first met Mike during a political campaign in 1970 while he was still in high school and working at WMCH Radio in Church Hill. We became reacquainted in 1982 when he managed the Tennessee Supreme Court campaign for my friend, Tom Hull, who is now a retired Federal Judge from Greeneville.

At the end of that campaign, Mike decided to move his family home – to Church Hill to be a country lawyer. When you sit down at his office conference table you'll see a quote from another pretty fair country lawyer, Abraham Lincoln, which has guided Mike Faulk in his law practice in East Tennessee. It reads: "Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can . . . As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough."

His legal career has been exceptional. I know first hand. I was Circuit Court Judge in Hawkins County. A young lawyer named Mike Faulk became Hawkins County's first certified Civil Trial Specialist.

From t-ball coach to Juvenile Court Referee, to County Commissioner, to Vice-Chairman of the Hawkins County Republican Party and as the Vice-Chairman of the Tennessee Human Rights Commission, Mike Faulk has shown the heart of a servant.

I strongly recommend you take the time to get to know Mike by reading his story below. And get to know him personally. You'll find him easy to talk to, down to earth, and as hard working as they come.

Your friend,

Bill Jenkins

ABOUT MIKE

Born in Kingsport on September 10, 1953, Mike Faulk was the first of three children born to Glade Faulk and Rosella Dykes Faulk. Mike had two half-brothers, too. Talk to Mike Faulk for more than two minutes and you’ll hear about his pride and joy – his two exceptional children, Katy and Andy.

In his early years Mike delivered newspapers, bagged groceries, butchered meat, stocked shelves, worked tobacco and hay fields and disc jockeyed at local radio station WMCH all while he was in high school. His classmates, as a harbinger of things to come, elected Mike Faulk as Mr. Church Hill High School.

Mike says attending the University of Tennessee at Martin (UTM) was a godsend. Any place bigger and he may never have graduated. With the Mississippi River, Kentucky Lake and Reelfoot Lake all nearby, there were plenty of opportunities for a college boy like Mike to hunt and fish. Learned from his dad, he’s always had a great love for the outdoors.

Faulk graduated from UTM in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration as an economics major.

Before graduating from college the political bug bit him. In the spring of 1974 Faulk was popularly elected as the President of the UT Martin student body. In the fall of that year another young politician, Lamar Alexander, from Maryville, recruited Mike and Mike’s student government vice-president and best friend, Art Swann, also from Maryville, to jointly head Lamar's campus campaign for Governor.

From UT Martin it was off to Memphis for a Masters Degree in Public Administration and a law degree. While in Memphis, Faulk taught economics and business law at Draughons Junior College, worked as a Management Analyst in the Shelby County, Tennessee Office of Budget and Management, and served Chancellor Robert Hoffmann as his courtroom clerk.

Alexander recognized the talent he saw in Faulk back in 1974 and asked Mike to run his 1978 campaign for Governor in House District 91 in Memphis while Mike was still in law school. Graduating in 1979 from law school, Memphis State University gave the Kirby Bowling Award to its most outstanding labor law student – Mike Faulk.

After two years of practice as a labor lawyer and starting a family in Memphis, Faulk accepted the call of the Tennessee Republican Party to serve as the statewide campaign manager for the three GOP candidates for the Tennessee Supreme Court in 1982 that included east Tennessee’s own Tom Hull who later became a federal judge in Greeneville.

Apparently Congressman Bill Jenkins isn't the only one who thinks Faulk is an exceptional lawyer. He is one of only a handful of northeast Tennessee attorneys known as a civil trial specialist certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Practicing as a solo attorney since August 1996, Faulk maintains a peer review rating of AV - indicating very high to pre-eminent legal ability as established by confidential opinions from members of the Bar.

Mike Faulk was first elected to Who’s Who in American Law in 1987-1988. In 1993 he was chosen as one of America’s Leading Lawyers and was listed as one of the Outstanding Lawyers of America in both 2002 & 2003. Just recently Law & Politics named Faulk as one of the 2007 Super Lawyers of the Mid-South.

Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander appointed Faulk to the Tennessee Human Rights Commission in 1985 where he served a six-year term. From 1989 to 1991, Faulk was the Vice-Chairman of the State Commission. The Juvenile Court Judge for Hawkins County, Tennessee, the Honorable G. Reese Gibson, appointed Faulk to serve as Juvenile Court Referee in 1986. Mike conducted Court in that post until 1989.

He is a past-President of the Hawkins County, Tennessee Bar Association and served a term on the Board of Directors of Legal Services of Upper East Tennessee, Inc.

Faulk is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States of America in Washington, DC, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals headquartered in Cincinnati, and the United States District Courts in Tennessee. He is licensed to practice in all courts of the State of Tennessee. Mike served the Town of Mt. Carmel and the City of Church Hill as their city attorney for many years.

As the years passed, Mike Faulk's practice evolved. He has been called the state's leading authority on alcohol-related injuries. In fact he penned the cover story for the May 2007 Tennessee Bar Journal, "One Too Many." He writes extensively on the subject and actively promotes the prevention of drunk-driving by freely giving of his time to teach classes for the Town of Mt. Carmel's alcohol server training program, offering seminars to businesses on the same subject, and providing public service announcements to local cable television.

You know, a lot of folks don't care for lawyers. We all know lawyers whose behavior makes us feel that way. Many times when a lawyer offers himself for public office his opponents try to say the lawyer's personal views are the same as his client's views. Fred Thompson went through some of that during his presidential run. But Mike Faulk has made his reputation by prosecuting drunk drivers in civil court. It's called dram shop law.

By no means does being an attorney define Mike's life in East Tennessee.

Mike is an outdoorsman and conservationist. For over a decade he served as the Chairman of the Holston River Chapter of Ducks Unlimited raising thousands of dollars for wildlife conservation. He is an active member of the Holston Valley Sportsman's Club and a long-time NRA member who exercises his Second Amendment right on a regular basis. And, Mike Faulk has been a Cherokee Lake clean-up volunteer in both Hawkins and Grainger Counties. He enjoys whitewater rafting and snow skiing. He is an avid hunter and fisherman. His love for our great outdoors is often seen in the wildlife articles he writes for hunting and fishing publications that you may read at his sportsman's blog, Strum Island Journal.

Kids love Mike and Mike loves kids. A t-ball and little girls softball coach, Mike taught 2nd graders Sunday School for five years at his home church, Oak Grove Baptist, in Mt. Carmel. He routinely takes time during lunch hours to read to kids in the local libraries' summer reading programs. Besides being Hawkins County's Juvenile Court referee for years and Volunteer High School's Mock Trial Team coach, Mike was the founder of a highly successful program in Hawkins & Hancock Counties to fight childhood obesity called "Get a Hit: Stay Fit."

Faulk served a term on the Hawkins County Commission during which the county began a new building program resulting in a new elementary school and the renovation of other county schools. A new, safer highway, Bradley Creek Road, to a regional landfill was built and the Commission increased appropriations for volunteer first responders - all without voting for a tax increase. Since his time on the County Commission, Faulk has continued his commitment to the volunteer firefighters of Hawkins County by donating computers and raising funds to provide insurance coverage for the brave men and women who risk their lives daily to protect life and property.

Mike Faulk's approach to life came from advice from his dad: "There'll always be someone smarter. Just make sure they don't out work you." And so it has been for 54 years. Mike Faulk won't be outworked. And now he's ready to work for you!

From the Desk of State Senator Mike Faulk

On the Hill This Week

2010 Legislative Session Adjourns

(NASHVILLE, TN), June 10, 2010 -- The 106^th General Assembly adjourned to become a part of Tennessee history in the early morning hours of June 10. Although the state’s budget and the education reforms adopted during the Special Session highlighted this year’s action, the 2010 legislative session will also be remembered for passage of several other important measures. This includes money-saving legislation overhauling the way the state contracts for goods and services, a new law to curb drunk driving by increasing the use of interlock devices, job creation initiatives and several measures continuing the state’s war against violent crime and child sex offenders.

The budget was the overriding issue during the regular 2010 session. The budget approved by the legislature decreases the size of state government, decreases spending, decreases pork projects like the Carter County fish hatchery, does not raise taxes and focuses on maintaining essential services. “Given these economic times, I’m right proud of this budget,” said State Senator Mike Faulk.

The General Assembly also continued to make improvements in the war on crime during the 2010 legislative session despite adoption of a lean budget. This includes approval of measures to crack down on sex offenders and the next phase of the “crooks with guns” legislation to attack violent crime. In addition, the General Assembly passed legislation addressing the concerns of small businesses regarding a new workers’ compensation law. The new law finds common ground to address gaps in coverage for workers in the various construction fields without harming small business owners by providing a mechanism for exemption.

The 2010 legislative year was highlighted by the passage of the education reforms in January. The first week of the two-week session on education focused on improving K-12 education and putting Tennessee in position to be a leader in the Race to the Top competition, which helped the state win approximately $500 million in federal funds. The second week saw the legislature turn its attention to the goal of how to get more Tennesseans to pursue a post-secondary education that fits their academic and workplace needs. It also included a focus on measures to help ensure that students are successful in completing their college degrees or post-secondary academic programs.

General Assembly approves legislation calling for jails to send information regarding prisoners who are in the U.S. illegally to ICE

In the last week of action on Capitol Hill, the Senate and House approved a conference committee report and sent to the governor legislation calling for Tennessee jails to send information to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement office (ICE) regarding prisoners who do not have documentation that they are in the U.S. legally. The legislation, Senate Bill 1141, requires the jail keeper to fax, email or send a copy of the booking information.

The legislation simply makes sure that ICE and Homeland Security are informed regarding anyone who has been booked into Tennessee jails who are in the U.S. illegally.

Lawmakers worked out differences in the bill in a conference committee during the last two days of the session.

The legislation calls for statewide standards to be developed by the POST (Police Officers Standard Training) Commission. This provision helps to ensure that Tennessee will not be open to lawsuits that have been problematic in other localities with similar laws. The bill does not apply to any county or municipality that enters into a memorandum of understanding with the United States Department of Homeland Security or ICE concerning enforcement of federal immigration laws, which has more stringent standards.

Senate approves Health Freedom Act for second time this session but measure falls 6 votes short of passage in House of Representatives

The Tennessee Senate approved legislation this week to protect the freedom of Tennessee patients to make their own health care choices, regardless of federal action taken in Washington. The action marked the second time the Senate overwhelmingly approved the measure. The bill, however, failed by six votes in the House of Representatives along party lines.

The Tennessee Health Freedom Act, Senate Bill 3498, was approved in the State Senate on February 18 by a vote of 26 to 1, with 5 members abstaining. That bill was killed in a House Subcommittee last week.

The content of that legislation, however, was attached as an amendment to another bill that was advancing through the House of Representatives. That legislation, Senate Bill 2560, was approved by both the House and Senate on the last legislative day, but in different forms.

A conference committee, made up of both House and Senate members, was appointed to work out the differences in the bill and came up with a solution acceptable to the Senate. That version did not seek to “nullify” any federal law, as it would have still allowed individuals the option to participate in a federal program. However, it acknowledged the right of Tennesseans to refuse to participate in a government-run health insurance program. It also called on the state’s Attorney General to take action in the defense or prosecution of rights protected under the legislation.

Financial experts predict that the federal healthcare plan will consume any anticipated growth in Tennessee’s revenues once the economy recovers, crippling the state’s ability to make future improvements in critical needs like education, job investment and public safety.

The federal health care law will also penalize citizens beginning in 2014 if they do not buy insurance.

Two bills advance in final legislative hours to protect children

Two bills designed to protect children from sex offenders were approved in the final hours of the 2010 legislative session, including one measure to set up a Tennessee Second Look Commission to review cases and procedures related to child sexual abuse.

The Commission would review cases from the initial report of alleged abuse through to a finding or criminal conviction of abuse. The bill is an important first step in understanding how the system fails endangered kids.

The Commission will review cases and procedures related to severe child sexual abuse to determine if they were handled in a manner that provides adequate protection to the children. Only two percent of the 750,000 pedophiles identified by computer in the United States have been investigated according to expert testimony provided to the legislature last year. The Commission would be administratively attached to the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth.

The legislation, Senate Bill 2701, now goes to the governor and would be effective upon his signature.

The second bill approved by the full legislature before adjournment, prohibits any sexual or violent sexual offender who is required to be on the Sexual Offender Registry from establishing a primary or secondary residence with two or more other such offenders. Similarly, no person, corporation or other entity may knowingly permit more than three such sexual or violent sexual offenders to establish a residence in any house, apartment or other residence.

The legislation, Senate Bill 3290, comes after a residence of multiple child sex offenders was established in Nashville. Parents of children in the neighborhood expressed great concern that such a residence could be located in a family-oriented community.

Tennessee is the Volunteer State.

Without Volunteers we can't win and now is the time that volunteers are crutial. Please share a little about yourself by using the form below. Many skills are needed. Let us know when you're ready, willing and able to start.

There will be many things to do. Do you know a good sign location? Tell us. Do you want to be a surrogate speaker? Mike can't be in two places at the same time. Will you host a small get together of family and friends to meet Mike? Will you put a sticker on your car, a sign in your yard?

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We're not going to tell you one thing and then do something else. A wide and varied contributor base is expected in this campaign including some political action committees. But the most important contributor base consists of individuals such as yourself interested in restoring some common-sense conservatism to state government.

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Faulk for Senate Committee
P. O. Box 2080
Church Hill, TN 37642

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Links to learn more about Mike:

Tennessee General Assembly
The Faulk Law Office
Strum Island Journal
Tennessee Dram Shop Law

Links to GOP organizations:

Hawkins County GOP
Jefferson County GOP
Union County GOP
Tennessee Federation of Republican Women
Tennessee Senate GOP Caucus
Tennessee GOP

The Battle of Kings Mountain - October 7, 1780
1/9/2010 1:33:36 PM

As the Revolutionary War raged east of the mountains, a band of about 900 mountain men assembled in 1780 at Sycamore Shoals in what is now Carter County, Tennessee. Their plan was to confront British Col. Ferguson who had promised to lay waste to the people and crops found over the mountains here in east Tennessee. These brave men became known in history as the Over Mountain Men who won the Battle of Kings Mountain, South Carolina.

According to Teddy Roosevelt, one of my political heroes, the decisive and swift defeat of Ferguson by the rag-tag over-the-mountain men was the turning point in the Revolutionary War. Up to that point the colonists were losing the war.

One of my ancestors, Daniel Jones, was one of those men. You see, my family has called Hawkins County home for eight generations now.

In the battle,

Mike Faulk