Multi-millionaire John Rose is running in the GOP primary for Diane Black’s seat to represent the 6th Congressional District. He will face off with proven ultra-conservative state Rep. Judd Matheny, self-described conservative retired judge Bob Corlew, and the whoever-heard-of-them candidates Christopher Monday and “U-turn” LaVern Vivio.
Roses’s big sister is Rhedona Rose, head of the Tennessee Farm Bureau (TFB).
TFB’s parent is the American Farm Bureau Federation, a non-profit organization with affiliate farm bureaus in all 50 states, including Tennessee. The TFB is reputed to be the largest farm bureau in the country.
Little brother John Rose, former Commissioner of Agriculture during governor Don Sundquist’s administration, is running on a “I’m a non-career politician” type platform. Oh yeah, right, you were never elected to any political position, you were just a political appointee, chaired the Tennessee State Fair Association and held a seat on the boards of the Tennessee Board of Regents, the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission.
And then there’s big sister’s head honcho position with the Tennessee Farm Bureau.
No politicking there – sure.
Big sister Rhedona Rose is the first woman head of the statewide TFB. She used to be the executive vice president and chief registered lobbyist for the TFB and like little brother John, was a political appointee of Gov. Bill Haslam to a seat in higher education.
No establishment political connective tissue in this farm family. Nah.
Under Rhedona’s watchful eye and leadership the Tennessee Farm Bureau proudly endorsed Haslam’s gas tax increase and in-state tuition for illegal alien students in Tennessee, positions that the overwhelming majority of Republican voters reject.
If Rhedona gets tired of defending the TFB’s establishment posture on these issues, she can always blame her unquestioning allegiance to the American Farm Bureau (AFB).
In 2013, like the AFB, the TFB issued a statement of support for the proposed comprehensive amnesty immigration reform bill that the Congressional Budget Office said included a category of “legalization” for illegal immigrants currently residing in the U.S.
The Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation is proud to stand today beside our friends with the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry and our fellow business families in support of S.744 the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act. We believe this bipartisan immigration bill is a balanced reform bill, it includes fair and workable farm labor provisions, and it will help ensure an adequate supply of farm labor.
After Congress failed to pass the 2013 amnesty bill, the AFB joined with the big-business-cheap-labor lobby organization the Partnership for a New American Economy (PNAE) and released an ad pushing for comprehensive immigration reform.
At the state level, the TFB supported the Gardenhire/White bills pushing in-state tuition for illegal alien students. In August 2016, TFB President Jeff Aiken joined with representatives from TIRRC, (La Raza Randy’s beneficiary) Conexion Americas, Associated Builders and Contractors of Tennessee, the TN Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Ming Wang and the Bakery Cos., in the PNAE sponsored National Day of Action to “showcase new research on the positive economic contributions of immigrants in Tennessee and to highlight the critical need for immigration reform.”
Soros-funded TN Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) and Conexion Americas founder and director Renata Soto who serves as the Chairman of the National Council of La Raza and an anti-Trump Indivisible organizer, pointedly acknowledged the TN Farm Bureau’s support of the in-state tuition bill.
Maybe Renata will take time out of her busy “resist” schedule and teach Rhedona how to do that heart thing with her fingers.
A sister-brother political team – one intimately tied to state and federal legislators and the big-business-cheap-labor lobby. The other working to embed himself and big sister in the D.C. establishment.
If elected to Congress, how hard do you think it will be for big sister Rhedona to get little brother John on the phone? Speed dial? Or will she, head of the largest state farm bureau in the country, have to go through his secretary? Wanna bet her buddies at the American Farm Bureau and their PNAE lobbyists who in 2017, launched another campaign for amnesty, will also have easy access to Tennessee’s former Ag Commissioner.
Oh and by the way, John Rose who said, “I will have President Trump’s back and fight the Washington liberals and elites, while putting Tennesseans first every single day” launched his campaign with a treasurer pick who was committed to helping Jeb! get elected and by announcing early and sizable donations from Nashville uber-liberals.
More recent donations to Rose’s campaign are coming from Haslam and Boyd’s East Tennessee cronies and folks like “I’m a different kind of Republican” state Senator Steve Dickerson.
Come to think of it, or maybe Dickerson’s already thought of it – pot and agriculture – a match made in…
