Speaker Jimmy Naifeh
19 Legislative Plaza
Nashville, TN 37243-0181


Dear Speaker Naifeh:

I have recently become involved in an effort to
promote "open government" legislation. We call our
informal grass roots effort "Stop-the-Secrets."
Our web site is www.stopthesecrets.org. The
ultimate goal of our group is simple:

We would like every Tennessee citizen to be able
to walk to their nearest library, logon to the
internet, and find out how their elected
representatives in the General Assembly voted
during the previous week's committee, subcommittee
and floor votes. Also, voters should be able to
find out who contributed to their representative's
campaign and all other financial disclosure
information.

Our group became involved in this issue after
hearing of  Rep. David Davis' package of bills
aimed at more openness and accountability. I
approached him and asked if  we could help promote
the legislation with a website. (I am not in Rep
Davis district and have no ties to him, political
or otherwise.) To promote our efforts we printed
'Voter Blindfolds' to dramatize how vital
information was being withheld from voters and
taxpayers.

Our efforts have been met with one roadblock after
another. After two subcommittee meetings on
Wednesday, March 14 and again yesterday on the
28th the bills that make up his package have been
deferred and stalled with every legislative trick
in the book. This is my first experience with
promoting legislation so I maybe naïve about the
political realities but here is what we are
hearing from the press: You and your associates in
the House leadership are doing everything you can
to kill this legislation. One newspaper said it
was a shameful display of arrogance and virtually
all other major Tennessee newspapers have
condemned the manner in which this legislation has
been handled.

Like most Tennessee citizens I have not met you so
I have no personal knowledge of your motives, but
I would certainly appreciate your explanation of
why you are actively opposing these bills or even
more to the point, why you are not actively
supporting them.

Please be assured I am serious about this request.
I would respectfully ask that you not waste your
time or mine with political rhetoric or the
details of how the legislative process works.
Also, if this is simply a matter of preserving
partisan power, then please don't bother with a
reply.

My only interest is in finding out if you have
valid, defensible reasons for opposing this
legislation in principle. If so, we can then start
a useful dialogue about our differences. 

I know you are busy but your personal attention
and reply will be appreciated. 


Respectfully,


Ben Cunningham