FreedomWorks made tremendous progress this year to promote free-market telecom reform in Tennessee. Activists made phone calls, sent emails, and visited one-on-one with legislators to support SB1933 (The Competitive Cable and Video Services Act) through a minefield of parliamentary games intended to stall action on the bill.

Last week’s showdown in the Senate Commerce Committee serves as a prime example. Sen. Tim Burchett fought to keep this important pro-growth legislation from ever seeing the light of day. But, the outpouring of targeted grassroots pressure showed other lawmakers that standing in the way of this important legislation would be risky, and the bill passed out of committee.

This was a key hurdle to get over, but ultimately the opponents of consumer choice were able to block the final passage of the bill. This year, politics and a parochial bureaucratic agenda were put ahead of consumer interests. As momentum for cable choice builds around the country, Tennessee consumers continue to be denied the benefits of competition and will forfeit the creation of new jobs in an expanding telecom sector.

FreedomWorks has been fighting for telecom reform that gets government out of the way at the federal and state level for more than 20 years and will continue this fight in Tennessee.

FreedomWorks Vice-President for State and Federal Campaigns, Rob Jordan, commented:

“The more than 8,200 FreedomWorks volunteers in Tennessee can count on us to continue the fight. Over the next few years, we plan on devoting significant resources towards building up our grassroots infrastructure within the state, not just to fight the next battle for telecom reform, but also to stop tax hikes and work on other issues related to our limited government mission.

Additionally, we look forward to conducting a grassroots voter education campaign that will educate citizens where elected officials, like Senator Burchett, stand on core limited government principles. I think they might be surprised.”

The Tennessee campaign is a part of FreedomWorks' national "Choose Your Cable" campaign, an effort in support of broad nationwide telecommunications reform. FreedomWorks’ efforts have helped enact cable franchise reform in Texas, Michigan, North Carolina, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Florida, Georgia, and Iowa.

FreedomWorks is a grassroots organization fighting for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom. Founded in 1984, FreedomWorks has nearly 850,000 members nationwide. Dick Armey serves as Chairman.