Faulk Tennessee State Senate

Dear Friends,

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." I can't say it often enough or loud enough.

Our great victory on November 4th was most certainly a collective effort. The razor-thin margin in this race for control of the Tennessee Senate was a mere 249 votes out of nearly 60,000 cast. If you think about it, there are literally dozens and dozens of folks to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for individually making a 249 vote difference in this election.

For many years folks in these hills have blessed me and my family with plenty of friendship, business and support. Your support by way of advise, encouragement, labor, financial contribution, prayers, and well wishes sustained my staff and me throughout the effort - on both good days and bad.

I was taught it's important to listen. Dad always said, "God gave you two ears but only one mouth for a reason!" So we put thousands of miles on my truck listening to and visiting with you, and friends like you, in Claiborne, Grainger, Hancock, Hawkins, Jefferson, and Union counties. If we didn't personally meet and visit along the way, I invite you to call on me now whether you voted for me or not. From the near one-hundred temperatures of late July to the early snows of mid-October and on to Election Day, we continued to focus on listening to you by knocking on doors in neighborhoods like yours. In all, I personally knocked on over 6000 doors in order to listen to you.

Here's what I heard over and over again: deliver a message of common-sense conservatism - the message of mountain republicans - to Nashville. I heard a lot of folks say they are sick and tired -sick and tired of crooked senators, sick and tired of elected officials forgetting their roots, sick and tired of politicians staying in office too long, sick and tired of politicians saying one thing but voting another way, sick and tired of partisan bickering, and sick and tired of decisions that seem to challenge good old common sense.

My plan is simple: concentrate on doing a few things well - things that really matter in making our own communities good places to call home, good places to work, and good places to raise our children.

During the American Revolution, Thomas Paine authored a pamphlet we all know as "Common Sense". But he authored other works. I'm fond of "The Crisis" which Gen. George Washington read aloud to his troops the night before he crossed the Delaware River and took the fight to the Brits. Paine's words were as follows: "What we obtain too cheap, we esteem to lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value." I deeply value this job and the trust you have placed in me.

As you may know, I'm no stranger to hard work. And, if you don't yet know, I promise that you'll see. And, it's ok to let me know how I'm doing. A little constructive criticism won't hurt my feelings.

Thank you for taking your time to visit this site. And, please know that I deeply appreciate all that you've done so far.

	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

Tennessee chosen as finalist in 1st round of Race to the Top Funds

(NASHVILLE, TN), March 4, 2010 – “There’s good news and bad news this week on Capitol Hill”, said State Senator Mike Faulk. “Tennessee is one of 16 states that were chosen as first round finalists for ‘Race for the Top’ funds.” The announcement was made in Washington DC on Thursday by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Forty states and the District of Columbia submitted applications in January to compete in the program, which will provide $4.35 billion to qualifying states.

The premise is to reward states that show the greatest willingness to push innovative ideas to improve student achievement through greater testing standards, improved data collection and better teacher training. In January, the General Assembly passed legislation in a Special Session on Education designed to put Tennessee in position to be a leader in the Race to the Top competition. That action could help the state secure up to $500 million in federal funds for education in Tennessee. “Much of this extra money will be used to help train teachers to better use the mountains of data collected over the last two decades on student performance,” Faulk said.

In the next step of the competition, Tennessee will send a team of up to five people to make a presentation to defend the state’s applications to the Department of Education later this month. A panel of outside judges is assisting the U.S. Department of Education in choosing the winners. First round winners will be announced in early April, while second round winners will be revealed in early September.

Budget Woes: More Bad News

The State Senate continued to spend the majority of its time this week hearing budget proposals from various agencies and departments of state government, amid news that Tennessee continues to fall short of budget projections for the current fiscal year. Budget Director Bill Bradley of the Department of Finance and Administration told Senate Finance Committee members on Tuesday that February revenues were worse than expected and that the administration will likely bring recommendations for further reductions in the budget presented to the General Assembly on February 1.

The budget proposal assumed the state would fall $153 million short of the budgeted tax estimates in the general fund for the current 2009-2010 fiscal year. As of January, the state was already under collected by $152 million. There was also an assumption that the budget collections would improve in the second half of the fiscal year, which began on January 1.

“I would certainly think that the collections when we close for February are likely to be worse than we had hoped for,” said Bradley. “I think there is a good prospect that we may have to lower our revenue estimates some more. I would think there is the prospect that we would have to bring you some recommendations on further reductions but I can’t be very precise at this point.”

Reductions would not only effect this year’s budget, but have a ripple effect to lower the recurring base for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, meaning further reductions for the upcoming budget year. Bradley said the shortfall is also likely to alter the state funding board projections. Among other duties, the Funding Board is responsible for providing the Governor and the General Assembly estimates of state revenue for the current and upcoming fiscal year. The governor’s budget proposal is crafted from the high end of the revenue figures adopted by the Funding Board at the 1.9 percent growth rate. The Board is scheduled to meet on March 31.

Unlike Congress, the Tennessee General Assembly is constitutionally bound to balance the budget. The weakened economy means legislators must be vigilant to make sure that taxpayer dollars are spent in the most efficient and effective manner.

Clawback payments -- On a more positive note, officials from the Bureau of TennCare told lawmakers this week that the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services have announced that Tennessee could keep approximately $120 million of the “clawback payments” associated with prescription drug coverage. The change will help soften the blow of Governor Phil Bredesen’s proposed $200 million in reductions from TennCare.

Some Tennesseans who are Medicaid-waiver enrollees are also enrolled in Medicare. The federal government requires the state to contribute some of its TennCare funds in lieu of paying twice for the benefits that both programs cover, called “clawback payments.” Temporarily, the federal government will be forgiving those payments, thus saving the $120 million.

Tennessee joined several other states in asking the federal government to suspend the payments, because the federal stimulus aid for Medicaid meant the state would have paid less for prescription drugs in the next two budgets. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently agreed, leading them to temporarily suspend the payments.

Transportation funds -- Budget hearings in the Senate Transportation Committee included testimony this week showing the federal government has rescinded $686 million in Tennessee’s highway funding since 2005 and officials expect another $80 million to be rescinded in the upcoming budget year. The funds were part of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act (SAFETEA-LU) which is the federal government’s surface transportation program for the states’ highway, highway safety and transit needs.

“When they took away our planned expenditures, we now have zero flexibility,” said Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) Chief Engineer Paul Degges. “As of September 30, 2009, we have spent every single available dollar of apportionment in our regular work program.”

“Additionally, there were funds in the recision that were actual cash taken from us,” Degges added. “The discussion you hear in Washington is that really doesn’t effect the states, but I will tell you that is one hundred percent wrong. It has a direct impact on projects that we have currently under design and development and so the recision has taken away our ability to deliver projects in the state of Tennessee.”

SAFETEA-LU expired on September 30 and Congress has failed to pass new legislation, opting to patch through a series of continuing resolutions which do not give states and local governments the ability to plan for needed road projects. States and local governments across the nation maintain a long-term authorization bill is needed to provide the financial stability and funding predictability that is necessary for transit systems and businesses to plan for the future and develop major capital projects. Most states prefer a multi-modal, multi-year transportation authorization bill that focuses on all modes of travel to improve the nation’s transportation infrastructure, which will in turn, creates new jobs.

The Tennessee General Assembly didn't authorize all the transportation bonds the governor asked for in his budget due to the uncertainty of this Fund under an amendment that was placed on the bill by Senate Republicans. This has proved to be a fiscally prudent action since the federal funds needed to pay interest on these bonds may not be available. Last year, Governor Bredesen had requested authority for about $340 million in bonded indebtedness. Under the Senate Republican amendment, the state took a year-to-year approach to make sure that federal funds are available to pay for the bonds.

Bill addresses responsible sale of beer at drive-through establishments

Legislation sponsored by State Senator Mike Faulk was approved in the Senate State and Local Government Committee this week that requires anyone selling beer through a drive-through window, curb service or drive-through to be certified under Tennessee’s responsible vendor law. “Our aim is to see that clerks selling alcohol are trained to identify fake or altered identification to prevent under-age sales and to recognize the effects of alcohol to help prevent drinking and driving,” Faulk added.

The responsible vendor act, approved in 2006, requires clerks to attend a certified training course within 61 days of employment, with a follow up renewal each year. It is currently a volunteer program with 459 participants. The program has helped to reduce the sale of beer to minors in Tennessee by 30 percent, according to Danielle Elks, Director of the Alcoholic Beverages Commission.

Issues in Brief

Private higher education institutions -- The full Senate has approved a bill authorizing any private non-profit college or university that is chartered in Tennessee to purchase and contract for the purchase of any materials, supplies, and equipment through the Department of General Services in the same manner as all departments, institutions, and agencies of state government. The measure, Senate Bill 3512, gives the 35 non-profit higher education schools serving 39,000 Tennessee students the use of the state purchasing plan to help them realize savings.

Eliminating government duplication -- The full Senate has approved a bill to eliminate the General Assembly’s Education Oversight Committee, a duplication of the efforts of the House and Senate Education Committees. Passage of the bill, Senate Bill 2408, would save the state $28,300 in travel and per diem costs. The Committee was created to oversee implementation of the Master Teacher Program, which has since been phased out.

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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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