O The f f Blue i Pages... c e O f tre hargett, Secretary of State January 2011 - Vol.2, No. 1 “the Mission of the Office of the Secretary of State is to exceed the expectations of our customers, the taxpayers, by t operating at the highest levels of accuracy, cost-effectiveness, and accountability in a customer-centered environment.” h e From the Desk oF the secretary... earlier this week, the 107th General assembly On another historic note, 23 new legislators (22 S convened its organizational session and continued in the house; one in the Senate) took the oath of to make history. Lt. Governor ron ramsey, office. a s Secretary of State and as a tennessean, i e r-Blountville, was re-elected and became the continue to be impressed with these new legislators. c longest-serving republican Speaker of the Senate. they have received the message that tennesseans r the house of representatives elected Speaker of the sent at the polls in November of 2010. the house Beth harwell, r-Nashville, as tennessee’s messages of smaller government, fiscal restraint, e first female house Speaker. Senator Jamie and government accountability will no doubt be t Woodson, r-Knoxville, was re-appointed Speaker strong principles during the legislative sessions of a Pro tempore of the Senate and representative Judd the 107th General assembly. Matheny, r-tullahoma, was elected Speaker Pro While i extend my congratulations to all of r tempore of the house. tennesseans can be proud those taking the oath of office, i certainly want to y of each of these dynamic leaders and their hearts particularly note the freshmen of the 107th General for public service. We are fortunate to have such assembly. capable leadership in these critical positions. O continues on page 2 f inside this edition from the Desk of the Secretary... pg1 Special elections in robertson, Sumner and Shelby counties Set for Jan. 20 ���������������������������������������������������� pg2 S Office of the Secretary of State Mission Statement Sets high Standard for customer Service ��������������������� pg3 Supreme court records Preservation Project Gets assistance from friends of the tSLa. pg4 t rule Making hearings and Lists of rules ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� pg4 a Building closure Doesn’t Shut Down the Office of the Secretary of State ��������������������������������������������������� pg5 t e 1 O continued from page 1 f Sen. Jim Summerville, r-Dickson f rep. David alexander, r-Winchester rep. Don Miller, r-Morristown i rep. Sheila Butt, r-columbia rep. Mark Pody, r-Lebanon c rep. Scotty campbell, r-Mountain city rep. Dennis Powers, r-Jacksboro e rep. Linda elam, r-Mt. Juliet rep. John ragan, r-Oak ridge rep. Jeremy faison, r-cosby rep. Bill Sanderson, r-Kenton O rep. John forgety, r-athens rep. cameron Sexton, r-crossville f rep. Jim Gotto, r-hermitage rep. Mike Sparks, r-Smyrna rep. Steve hall, r-Knoxville rep. art Swann, r-Maryville t rep. andrew holt, r-Dresden rep. ryan Williams, r-cookeville rep. Julia hurley, r-Lenoir city rep. tim Wirgau, r-Buchanan h rep. Kelly Keisling, r-Byrdstown rep. richard Womick, r-rockvale e in addition to those listed, Senator Mike Bell, and has already begun to work on the difficult r-riceville (two terms in the house), and Senator issues facing tennessee. i am confident he and S Stacey campfield, r-Knoxville (three terms in the legislature are both eager to deliver the quality e the house), were elected to the Senate for the first government that tennesseans so richly deserve. time in November. they join Senator ferrell haile, c r-Gallatin, who was appointed to fill the vacancy it is hard to believe that almost two years ago, i r left when congressman Diane Black resigned her became your Secretary of State. While i am proud e Senate seat after she was elected to congress. of our achievements, i know the best is yet to come. Governor-elect haslam will assume office thank you for the privilege of serving our great t as tennessee’s 49th governor during inaugural state. a activities on Saturday, January 15th. he continues r to assemble his cabinet as he prepares to take office y special elections in robertson, sumner anD O shelby counties set For Jan. 20 f Special primary elections will be held Jan. 20 Sumner and robertson counties, is vacant because S to fill two vacant seats in the tennessee General former Senator Diane Black was elected to assembly. congress in November. the candidates running to t early voting for the house District 98 and Senate replace Senator Black in the republican primary a District 18 primaries will end Jan. 15. are Bryan Bondurant, fred congdon, Joe Warren t the Senate District 18 seat, which represents Jones, Kerry roberts, William Slater and Jeff continues on page 3 e 2 O f Stromatt. Ken Wilber is the only candidate in the to replace him are Jannie c. foster, Stephanie f Democratic primary. Gatewood, Brenda Oats-Williams and antonio “2 i the house District 98 seat, which represents a Shay” Parkinson. No candidates qualified to run in c portion of Shelby county, is vacant because former the republican primary for that seat. representative Ulysses Jones recently passed away. the general election for those seats will be e the candidates running in the Democratic primary March 8. O f office oF the secretary oF state mission statement sets high stanDarD For customer service t Government differs from private enterprise in “Our people who answer the phones, the people h many ways. But in at least one very important who are regularly in contact with the public, e respect, their goals are the same: the focus has to have some of the most important jobs in our be on serving the customer. organization,” Secretary hargett said. “any time that is the philosophy behind someone from the public has S the tennessee Office of the contact with our office, i want e Secretary of State’s new mission that experience to be as positive statement, which was introduced as it possibly can be. We need c to the staff in a department-wide to exceed the expectations that r meeting on January 7th. citizens have about the type of e the statement says: “the service we provide.” mission of the Office of employees of the office t the Secretary of State is to received copies of the mission a exceed the expectations of our statement at the end of this r customers, the taxpayers, by month’s meeting. the mission operating at the highest levels of statement will also be featured y accuracy, cost-effectiveness and prominently in other literature accountability in a customer- produced by the office and “The Taxpayer is our cusTomer.” O centered environment.” sec. hargett employees were encouraged to in introducing the statement make the mission statement part f to department employees, Secretary hargett of their e-mail electronic signatures. repeatedly stressed the concept that taxpayers “i want to make sure employees are frequently S should be treated as customers. reminded about our mission statement,” Secretary in some cases, a taxpayer’s only contact with a hargett said. “the mission statement needs to t state government employee for years might be a be more than words on paper. it should be the a phone call to the office. therefore, that phone call heartbeat of our efforts, driving our actions in all t must leave a good impression. our work-related activities.” 2 e 3 O f f supreme court recorDs preservation proJect gets assistance From FrienDs oF the tennessee state i library anD archives c a project to preserve historic records of the leaders plan to use funding from the friends of e tennessee Supreme court is moving forward, tSLa to supplement staff, supplies and equipment thanks to assistance from the friends of the so that work may proceed at a much quicker pace. O tennessee State the Supreme court case files, with 11,000 Library and boxes containing approximately 250,000 cases, f archives. the are a treasure trove of historical information for friends group researchers. the project database - which will t received a include names of plaintiffs and defendants as well $70,000 grant as causes of action and topical information that h from ancestry. would be of interest to historians, genealogists, and e com, a leading others - will be available online soon. the online provider of index will be updated regularly as additional work online genealogy is completed. S information, and has agreed to devote the funds to “We are delighted that the friends of tSLa are e help open the Supreme court case files stored at helping move this project forward,” Secretary c tennessee State Library and archives (tSLa) for hargett said. “Many thousands of tennesseans research. were involved in these court cases. they reflect r One of the project’s goals is to restore, index the history of the state in disputes over land grants, e and create a searchable database for the court’s slavery, railroads, civil rights and many other topics. t case files att SLa, which date from 1796 to 1950. Students, historians, lawyers and genealogists will the project was launched with funding from the all benefit from bringing this information to light.” a Supreme court historical Society and the edward r r. Byrne Grant Program in 2007. the project’s y rule making hearings anD lists oF rules O rule making hearings are open to the public. the web link below will provide information about f the location and times of the hearings. information about the rules going into effect includes changes or additions to rules.