State's first female Speaker of House addresses Women in Business 

By CAROL STUART
For Brentwood Home Page
State Rep. Beth Harwell (R-Nashville), the first female Speaker of the House in Tennessee, told the chamber’s Women in Business gathering that she wouldn’t let partisanship get in the way of solving important issues.

In a question-and-answer session after her address, Harwell on Friday called the current U.S. Congress dysfunctional in response to a question about the economic, financial and budget crisis in the nation.

“I think our time is limited, and this is a very critical time in our nation to address what we're facing,” Harwell said. “ … Surely the American public is frustrated with Washington, D.C., and Congress and how totally ineffective this Congress is. It is dysfunctional.

“And I told my colleagues, I mean obviously I'm a strong Republican, but I said we will never become so partisan that is the issue. I will not allow that to happen in this General Assembly. I appreciate it because I am a strong Republican, I believe in Republican principles, but we are not going to sit and be dogmatic about partisanship. We are going to get done what is best for the state of Tennessee. And I feel like they have lost that in Washington, and it's tragic. We're paying the price for it.”

Harwell said she believes eventually severe federal spending cuts will come and also that taxes won’t be raised. And she said the state of Tennessee is preparing for “huge cuts coming our way,” citing leadership from the commission of finance and the finance committee chaired by Rep. Charles Sargent.

But the House Speaker also admitted that there were reasons the U.S. government has trouble balancing the budget after going through that process as leader in the state General Assembly.

“You know why they can't balance the budget at the federal level? -- It's hard,” Harwell said, drawing a big laugh. “I sit with that state budget and we agonize, agonize of cutting programs, because you have to look at a colleague and say ‘I know you want this community health center in your district, I know how much it means to you, we can't fund it and I'm sorry.’ And that's tough.”

Harwell said, in a dream world, how she would handle some problems of the federal government is, for instance, to disband the Department of Education.

“Send all that money back to the state and local government -- we would never ever worry about money in education,” she said. “And here's why we should do that: All last week, how many children did someone in the federal Department of Education actually touch? How many children has the federal Department of Education actually taught how to read? And yet we have to look at our school teachers and say we don't quite have enough money for you, for your supplies this year.”

Harwell said she wasn’t “an extremist in states' rights views” and believes there’s a role for the federal government but it’s “extremely limited.” She would have all domestic programs handled at the state and local level “where they can be properly administered and overseen.”

The former political science and history professor with a doctorate said tax dollars are less wasted at the state level than the federal level, and at the local level than the state level.  And one big reason for that she said is that you can look up a number in the phonebook for local or state officials and would likely get a call back within 24 hours (which is her policy), but couldn’t talk directly to a U.S. senator or representative.

Shortly after her comments, one attendee of the women’s monthly luncheon by the Brentwood Cool Springs Chamber of Commerce wanted to know where to get “our Beth Harwell for President” items?

“I love this group!” Harwell replied.

Other highlights from her speech and Q&A:

Harwell said it was “quite an honor” to become the first female Speaker of the House in the state, a historical moment, especially in the year commemorating Tennessee’s part in giving women the right to vote. She said she stands “on the shoulders of a lot of wonderful women that led the way, not only in the world of politics but in every endeavor.” She also noted that she didn’t campaign on the fact she was a female –and that she had to thank her male colleagues for making it possible.

She also told about a photo of “little eyes” framed on the wall of her office. She said about 10 years ago, when her daughter was about 7, they were walking around the lake and “as all mothers do” she asked her girl what she wanted to be when she grew up.

And she looked back up at me with these big beautiful eyes and she said, ‘Oh, Mom, I want to be just like you. I want to be a Mom and a Republican,’ ” Harwell said, eliciting hearty laughter. But Harwell said she asked her husband to take the photo of her little girl’s eyes as a reminder in the intense world of politics that she never wanted to say or do anything that she’d be ashamed for her daughter to see.

Harwell also said she has a three-question litmus test that as Speaker she told House members she wants them to ask before they vote:

 1) Does it increase the size of government? “In all my years of service, I have seen a lot of good government programs, but one thing I've never seen is a government program that ends. At what point do you wake up and say, ‘We've had enough of this government program, we can end it, it's met its goal, we're finished with it’? You don't see that in government the way you do in the business world,”

2) Does it make it easier to start and operate a business in this state? “We understand at the state level, that government doesn't create jobs. It creates an environment that's conducive to businesses that create jobs. … It's been so nice today for me to hear what all of you do, it's great to hear that they enjoy their work and realize the contribution they're making to the economy of the state of Tennessee. … If we bring our nation around it will not be the government -- it will be because of businesses.”

3) Does it continue to move us forward in education? She quoted Thomas Jefferson saying that “we must educate all of society, for the people are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.” She said taxpayers would be astounded how much of their state and local budgets go to education. “I will tell you as taxpayers you should demand the very best out of our education systems. And I will also quickly add, our children deserve nothing less. They are our future, it is non-negotiable, and if we don't do right by them we are in huge trouble as a nation.”

She also told the audience that Tennessee is the lowest-debt state in the nation, drawing a big round of applause. “We cannot squander the future of our next generation,” Harwell said. The Speaker recounted a story of courage about former First Lady Dolly Madison, who while British soldiers were marching down the street to burn the White House took time to remove the famous painting of George Washington because it was “a treasure of this nation for future generations.”

“I want you to know that I walk closely with you to cherish our treasures to leave the next generation -- and hopefully, to leave it a little bit easier for the next woman that comes along,” Harwell said.

In answering a question about getting through the “good ol’ boy system,” Harwell said she had observed differences between most female and male politicians – neither which is necessarily better than the other. Women tend to try to educate about why someone should support their bill or issue and convince them, while men leaned toward a give-and-take to see how they could help each other out.

“I won't say one's good or bad because I can see benefits of both. Obviously, education's always important to me. But I also know it is important to help others. You know, we need to say I'll help you in what you're trying to do, sell real estate, by the way would you send me work in this? Men aren't ashamed to do that. Women are hesitant to do that.”

When asked about Tennessee’s low ranking of women on corporate public boards, Harwell said it wasn’t government’s role to require that – but government can promote women in the public sector to help make businesses notice. “It's slow and agonizing, but most great movements are. Knowing how far women have come, we're headed in the right direction, we're certainly not moving backward at all,” Harwell said.