Friday Recap for August 1st, 2025
My Comment
Things are heating up with the BOMA races and D7 congressional race. We are, and always have been, at a crucial point in the history of not only the USA, but the whole world. after 79 years of treading terra firma, I have noticed that we humans are perpetually confronted with world changing issues. It seems that every election is the most important ever and the winners will irrevocably change the world either for bad or good depending on one's perspective.
Well, here we are again. Who is going to lead us for the next four years in Franklin and who will be representing us for the next year in congress?
The state of the Republican Party in Williamson County
If you have been following my recaps for any length of time, you are aware of the split in the Republican Party in our county. With important GOP races coming up, it is important to understand what is going on in our party and who is fanning the flames of this division.
The Williamson County Republican Party (WCRP) is the Tennessee Republican Party’s sanctioned GOP county party, and its board members were elected by voters at the March 4 reorganization convention.
Their opponents were the Williamson County Conservatives (WCC). They lost 8-0, yet they continue to openly oppose the WCRP and compete with it as a non-sanctioned GOP group. Essentially, the WCC has formed a de facto third party in Williamson County to thwart the duly elected WCRP leadership.
What is crucial to understand is that two of our state representatives, Lee Reeves and Jake McCalmon, as well as our state senator Jack Johnson, have allied themselves with the WCC. None of them has attended any WCRP events or meetings since the March 4th convention, yet they have found time to attend competing WCC events.
Not only that, but the WCC challenged the results of the March 4th convention by accusing the WCRP — along with numerous volunteers and public officials (including me) — of “rigging” the election and breaking party policy. These are very serious charges that were not backed by the facts.
The state Republican Party recognized these accusations were bogus and voted 59-0 against the WCC’s appeal of the election results. The WCC then proceeded to accuse ALL 59 State Executive Committee members of “corruption and collusion” and of using Soviet-like tactics because the vote didn’t go their way.
This is the group that Jack, Lee and Jake are supporting and, I assume, will be supported by.
So, my question to all three is this: How can you call yourself a bona fide Republican in the State of Tennessee if you openly and continually repudiate the duly elected, sanctioned WCRP and support a rival group that accuses the TNGOP of corruption and collusion?
I am told that the current WCRP leadership has reached out to these three more than once, to no avail. It seems that they are not interested in any form of unification here in Williamson County.
For an excellent overview of the situation, please read Don Beehler's opinion piece titled, “Sen. Jack Johnson and Rep. Lee Reeves support GOP split in Williamson County,” which was recently published in The Tennessean
The race for D7
At the latest count their are 21 people who have pulled petitions, 14 Republicans, three Democrats and four Independents (TN SOS) and who knows how many there will be ultimately, but things are heating up and I expect there will be a lot of mud slinging before long. A perfect example is this article from TriStar Daily. I am certain that attacks like this will be leveled at other Republican candidates by the democrats, and sadly, between Republican candidates as well. Note since the above linked article was published, the Gino Bulso.com issue mentioned in the article has been resolved.
The BOMA race
All four wards are up for this election, but only two have challengers.
Ward 1 Incumbent Bev Burger is running unopposed.
Ward 2 Incumbent Matt Brown is being challenged by Erinn Watkins (Erinn is still finalizing her website).
Ward 3 Incumbent Jason Potts is running unopposed.
Ward 4 Incumbent Patrick Baggett is being challenged by Rodney Taylor.
We have two strong challengers for this election who will push the incumbents and we need to make sure that we hold all their feet to the fire. We are at a pivotal point in the growth of Franklin and Williamson County and no matter who wins, we need to stay engaged and make sure our voices are heard. I will have more to say about these races in the coming weeks. In the meantime, do your own research on each candidate and, when you decide, get involved, volunteer your time, donate money. You have more influence than you think.
Some interesting statistics for Williamson County
There is a Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations that can be accessed at TACIR . They put out a report every year that examines future needs and costs for the entire state. As part of their report, each county gets a separate report and you can see the Williamson County report below:
This should give us an idea of what, potentially, lies ahead for us in the next few years, and infrastructure is a big one. Incidentally, our own mayor, Rogers Anderson is a member of this commission.
Harlin Project hearing
If you are concerned about the continued development in Franklin and Williamson County, there is a meeting scheduled for August 6th at Fellowship Bible Church, 1725 Columbia Ave., Suite 100, from 6-7:30 p.m. This is an important meeting and citizen input is essential. More and more Williamson County citizens are becoming concerned about the rate of growth and the future of our county. Our leaders, both at the city and county level, need to hear from the people. Come out and make your voice heard.
Rogers Anderson
It's official, Rogers Anderson, after 23 years as mayor of Williamson County, is retiring. Another frantic race is about to start. I can't wait to see the list of candidates. I know who I am for and will reveal that once we get official announcements.
this past week the following committees/commissions met:
Tuesday July 29TH
- Special Design Review Committee met to present details on the new City Hall Building.
The AI program I use is pretty accurate, but it does make mistakes from time to time and I don't always catch them. I provide agendas and videos/audios when I have them available and recommend that you watch the video and follow along with the summary to get the most accurate report.
One of the limitations of AI is that if a participant's name is not called out, then they are listed as participant 1, 2, etc. A limitation with audio, as opposed to video, is that one cannot always identify a person by voice alone. As imperfect as these AI summaries are, they still give a pretty good account of a meeting.
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Williamson County School District
Nothing this week
Next Week
Monday August 4th
Policy Committee meeting at 6:00 PM in the Training Center on the 1st Floor at the Williamson County Administrative Building. The Administrative Building is located on the first floor at 1320 West Main Street, Franklin Agenda Audio you will need to scroll down to the policy committee video on Monday at 6:00 pm to watch or anytime afterward to watch a recording.
Williamson County Commission
Special Note: Since Williamson County does not record any meetings other than the commission, budget committee and planning commission meetings, I am recording all the meetings that I attend on my iPhone. We are in the process of reviewing a technology upgrade that will allow the county to record more meetings as well as include agendas, minutes and packets on our website. I will keep you up to date when progress is made
Williamson County Commission Committees
There was nothing this week
Next Week
Wednesday August 6th
The Highway Commission meets at 8:30 am at Williamson County Highway Facility 302 Beasley Drive, Franklin. There is no agenda for this meeting.
Board of Mayor and Aldermen
Tuesday July 29th
Special Design Review Committee Met Agenda Presentation There is no video of this meeting, but just the presentation should be enough.
Next Week
For meetings next week, go here
Election Commission
Nothing this week and nothing next week
If not me, who?
If not now, when?
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11:1)
“We work hard with our own hands. When we are vilified, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer gently.” (1st Corinthians 4:12-13)
Blessings,
Bill
Community resources
If you like Friday Recap, check out these other grassroots conservative projects!
- Williamson County Citizens Provides free tools and information to help grassroots conservatives exercise their citizenship here in Williamson County.
- Tennessee Voters for Election Integrity is helping restore confidence in Tennessee Elections.
- TruthWire Local news and commentary.
- Williamson County Republican Party is one of the most active parties in the state and captures the conservative heart of Tennessee.
- Mom's For Liberty Williamson County is dedicated to fighting for the American family by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.
- Tennessee Stands produces video media, podcasts, and live events, and provides social commentary on relevant issues in our state.
- M4LU is a new site developed by the national Mom's for Liberty but generated right here in Williamson County. The mission of M4LU is to to inform, equip, and empower parents with knowledge, understanding and practical tools.
- WCSB Substack. This site reports on the Williamson County School Board meetings. It provides accurate summaries of all WCSB meetings.
Help educate citizens of Williamson County
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