Today I went to the State Capitol in Nashville to work on a couple of road projects that are in various stages of completion.  My meeting was with several State Senators, the Chief Engineer for TDOT and the Commissioner.  I arrived quite early while there was still a Joint Study Committee meeting for the Tennessee Department of Transportation.  Rep. Philip Pinion heads the House portion and Senator Jim Tracy heads the Senate side.  Basically, lawmakers listen to presentations by various TDOT, county and city officials about all matters pertaining to transportation.  There were the usual reports with new growth numbers and some great news.  Looming like a storm cloud over the hearing room, however, was something we all knew.  TDOT is about $280 million dollars in the deficit just over the past 5 years. 

            This shortage comes from many factors, but the Governor taking considerable funds to balance the budget, coupled with the federal government taking back tens of millions of appropriated dollars are two.  In addition, the cost of building a road in the past year has gone up 20%, and the gas tax revenue which primarily funds these projects has gone up 1%.  An increase in the cost of asphalt, cement and other raw materials for building roads has been affected by higher oil prices to quite a degree.  Some counties in this state will only be able to pave each road every 100 years under their current funding formulas.

            This problem is BIG.  Count on it becoming a true giant on Capitol Hill when the debates begin.  No matter what is decided-a new gas tax, toll roads, etc., something must be done.  I am sure there are ways to rearrange some current funds and I will conduct thorough due diligence on those possibilities.

            Both parties are going to have to work together and we will need a lot of help from the general public.  I encourage folks to talk to me if they have bona fide experience in this area.  You can talk to me about anything, but I am anxious to learn more about toll roads, their authorities, track records, etc.  I have but one vote in Nashville, but so does everybody else.

           Today I attended a breakfast with U.S. Congressman Lincoln Davis in Manchester.  The event was sponsored by the cities of Manchester and Tullahoma, much in the tradition of an event I put together to advocate for CBAT (Common Battlefield Airman Training) and to host U.S. Senator Bob Corker.  The breakfast was impeccable, as usual, when meals are prepared at the Coffee County Conference Center.  The event was well decorated and flowed smoothly.  Congressman Davis gave a very credible bi-partisan update on many of the major federal issues concerning our community.  He said some things I particularly liked….things I have been saying for years.  We have to get away from democrats and republicans and start thinking like Americans.  I agree.  Our problems are too severe to try to extract political capital from issues such as health care, defense and education.

            Congressman Davis also updated the community on CBAT, as I often do.  Once again we agreed on something wholeheartedly-that everyone is working together, pulling the same direction and not allowing petty jealousies to deter economic growth.  I beam with pride each time I see our various cities and chambers, democrats and republicans all communicating and working together.  We are truly unstoppable when we work together in this fashion.  We all realize that a small group or perhaps just one person could be capable of disrupting this unprecedented productivity, so we are very proud of our fellow citizens for putting their differences aside to show unequivocal support for CBAT and other economic opportunities coming our way.

     PET…..yes, yet another acronym.  After eight years in the military and almost six in politics, I too have heard enough of them.  As much as we have to mention initiatives and programs during negotiations, acronyms are necessary or we’d never get anything done.  PET stands for Preparing for Emerging Technologies.  PET is my favorite project and the one I believe can create the most positive macro change for all aspects of our society.

     PET was conceived by a group of very dedicated educators and administrators from both k-12 and higher education.  One fifth of this original group are from Warren County.  Fortunately I have the privilege of representing this school district (among others) in the legislature.  Always proactive, the leaders of the Warren County school system invited legislators to a seminar in Brentwood, TN some years ago.  We were there to learn how other states were dealing with the acute need to infuse technology into every aspect of our educational system.  Incorporated into this was the need to prepare our students now for what will be the norm in a few short years…..using nanotechnologies, personal computing and self motivation as key educational tools.

     In only three years we have gone from being excited about a clear vision on how to get started with this initiative to actually having a subculture of students, teachers and institutions identified and laying the groundwork.  Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville has been the standard bearer, putting their money where their mouth is and making things happen since day one.  Two years ago the school used existing resources (it very well could have done anything with) and held their first President’s School on Emerging Technologies.  Today, Governor Bredesen has embraced the plans and helped us appropriate almost $200,000 to begin a school on New and Emerging Technologies.  We will take kids from all over the state with a natural propensity to accelerate in math and sciences (or any of the related fields) and offer them an intensive summer training program.  Instructors are primarily those that are currently experts in these fields…but there are not enough of them.  As we build our student base, we will do the same with our instructor base.  We believe there are more than enough students for this part of the program already, but we want to make sure every single school age child in Tennessee is exposed to these opportunities and technologies over the span of their entire educational career. 

     We have an antiquated curriculum in Tennessee.  Many of the things we teach are still pertinent, but how we do it is obsolete.  Technologies can increase efficiencies in the classroom, parental participation and opportunities that we may think are unimaginable.  The rapid transformations being brought about by quantum improvements in technology are and will forever change what my generation and generations to come can expect with regards to employment opportunities, quality of life and individual capabilities.  We can either continue in earnest with this program and make it a priority with our legislature today, or we can start it 5 or 10 years down the road and wish we had the foresight to make it a priority years earlier.

Who Is Judd Matheny?  Since you’re here you’re obviously interested, and I am proud you are.  For starters, read my professional resume on this site and that will catch you up on my background from that angle.  The other, more complex angle we have is our philosophical side. 

            I believe in hard work, both physical and mental.  Work hard and work smart.  I believe there is an opportunity of a lifetime available to everyone in this country if they look for it and are willing to go with it when it comes.  To do that, you have to be prepared.  Education….education….education is the only way to prepare.  With the exception of marching bands and drill teams you should never mark any time.  Every job you have undertaken, recreational activity you are treated to, civic organizations you belong to should all be geared toward facilitating the realization of your opportunity of a lifetime, whatever it may be.

            Successfully implementing a broad, technology based education curriculum from the earliest level thru college is my single largest goal in the Legislature.  Other short term goals will always arise.  They will be dealt with vigorously also, but we’ll never take our eye off the game ball:  Teaching educators to teach new and emerging technologies and providing them with the infrastructure they need to walk our students out of a manufacturing based curriculum.  We must implement a curriculum fully utilizing every opportunity offered by the computer, its peripherals and the internet.  Each individual student will literally have unlimited opportunities for learning, inventing, manufacturing, efficiently addressing social issues and entertainment.

            Probably by far the greatest part of being a State Representative, to me, has to be speaking to classrooms.  Whether a graduate school or a pre-school, I always feel I contribute the most there.  It also provides me with an excellent opportunity to continue to build support for the inevitable need to transition from the ‘old curriculum’ to the ‘new’ one mentioned earlier.  The Tennessee Lottery took 20 years to finally be implemented in

            Public safety is another one.  I often say when I speak to people in the district that I believe the two pillars and therefore priorities of the government are education and public safety.  All other things are enabled by these two, and you can’t have one without the other.  I will always push for enabling our public safety agencies to be able to hire the best people, provide the best equipment and readiness training and want to bolster the overall quality of our private protective services currently protecting our assets on the lowest bid.

I have extensive law enforcement experience and was fully involved in a business of securing over a billion dollars of high profile venues during the epiphany we had on September 11, 2001.  I was a passionate police officer and still maintain some law enforcement authority and like to assist the departments personally if needed.

I could literally write for days supplying the details of these plans we’re working on.  The good news is that I’m 5 years into this business and we accomplished an extraordinary amount so far.  It has been with your help, and for that I am also proud.

Stay cool these days.  It will be over 100 degrees for the 10^th day in a row in the 47^th District today.