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How remarkable --- in 2001, Rep. Jason Mumpower ranted before a large assembled group of church-going lottery haters and reportedly stated something such like enactment of the Tennessee Lottery would "prostitute our children":
Rep. Jason Mumpower, R-Bristol
LOTTERY: A ONE WAY TICKET TO NOWHERE
A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE ON LOTTERIES AND GAMBLING
Indian Springs Baptist Church Brotherhood Breakfast, Kingsport, TN 37664
Reported by Ann Bennett 2-3-01
http://www.isbc.org/lotto/lchurch.htm
"The Lottery, our Kids' Ticket to Nowhere" was the theme of the Indian Springs Baptist Brotherhood breakfast Saturday morning, scheduled 3 months ago to be held Feb 3, at the Indian Springs Baptist Church Christian Life Center in Kingsport. Little did anyone planning the meeting know how timely that Brotherhood meeting would turn out to be. According to featured speaker Sen. Ron Ramsey (R-Blountville), "There are no coincidences with God. How would anyone, even as late as last week, have thought we were about to have an information meeting on the lottery just days before the scheduled final vote!"
...In planning the meeting, they decided to invite Sen. Ron Ramsey, a vocal gambling opponent, and invite people from other churches and neighboring Associations to hear him speak. However, with the first lottery vote taking place Feb. 1, people from all over started calling asking for tickets. By meeting time, a full house with people from 23 different churches representing 7 different denominations were attending the meeting.
...
Rep. Jason Mumpower (R-Bristol) also spoke to the group. Stating that he was the only state representative between Mountain City and Knoxville to vote against the lottery referendum. He shared that he thought abortion was a violation of the commandment against killing, and state-run lotteries were a violation against the commandment against stealing. He said that his Biblical views shaped his political votes against the lottery issue, and that he and others were often criticized for voting their Biblical beliefs. Stating that he had a degree in economics, Mumpower shared strong economic opposition to the lottery. He stated that lotteries take away money from real goods and services in Tennessee, sharing various economic myths about lotteries. He shared that when Kentucky instituted a state lottery, then the largest tax increase in the state's history followed just to pay the administration costs for the lottery. He shared that an income tax was proposed last year to solve state costs. The projections were that the income tax would have generated $2 billion. The lottery will generate only $120 million. "Now $120 million dollars would be a huge amount in my bank account. But in the state of Tennessee's bank account, it's not a very large amount of money."
Mumpower brought the Oath of Office he takes at the start of each legislative session. He keeps a framed copy on the wall in his house. It states, "I will not propose or assent to any bill, vote or resolution, which shall appear to me injurious to the people of Tennessee". Mumpower stated, "The issue of the lottery has been well-documented to be injurious to people, so much so that if I assented to that referendum bill, I would be in violation of that Oath. I think when we push a lottery by saying the money is going for education, we are prostituting our children to use them to pass something like this."
The meeting ended with a call to prayer for protection for our state against passage of gambling legislation and encouragement for each person to call and e-mail their Senators immediately.
Packets of material with information on the lottery and its effects on Tennessee were distributed to representatives from each church in attendance. Packet material and a slide presentation on the lottery and the Rocky Top bingo scandal are found on the web site www.isbc.org/lotto/Lhome.htm
And how soon we forget... News Stories: Mumpower anti-tax
This is Google's cache of http://www.starhq.com/news/html/news/articles/articles.asp?day=Monday&article=e2560bc-tn-mumpower-issues.html. It is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on Dec 15, 2008 23:15:59 GMT. The current page could have changed in the meantime.
NASHVILLE (AP) -- Republican state Rep. Jason Mumpower got his start in politics by knocking on doors for then-Rep. Ron Ramsey. Next month, he could follow his mentor's lead by being elected speaker of a chamber in the Tennessee General Assembly.
Ramsey, of Blountville, was elected Senate speaker in 2007. And with the one-seat advantage won by Republicans in the House in November, the 35-year-old Mumpower is poised to be elected the first GOP speaker of the chamber since 1969.
Mumpower, of Bristol, was elected in 1996 at age 23 to represent House District 3 when Ramsey was voted into the Senate. Mumpower then rose steadily through the House GOP ranks by aligning himself with social conservatives and steadfastly voting against tax proposals.
...
Mumpower was a staunch opponent of creating the state lottery, which primarily funds college scholarships. He laid out his opposition to a state lottery in a speech to the Indian Springs Baptist Church in 2001.
"When we push a lottery by saying the money is going for education, we are prostituting our children to use them to pass something like this," Mumpower was quoted as saying on the church's Web site.
He was among only 15 House members who voted against letting the proposed lottery constitutional amendment go to the state's voters in 2002. And even after voters approved the lottery, Mumpower in May 2003 voted against the legislation setting up the way the agency was to operate in what he described in a recent Associated Press interview as "a vote of consistency."
Despite his public opposition to the lottery, the Bristol public relations firm that Mumpower works for, The Corporate Image Inc., in August 2003 applied for a $125,000 contract to market the new agency.
Materials submitted by the company identified Mumpower as being in charge of "new business development." The company did not get the contract, and Mumpower says now he doesn't recall if he was involved in the application process.
Mumpower said he doesn't find it inconsistent to have opposed the lottery in the Legislature and then have the company look to promote it.
"You know, I don't own the company," he said.
Rep. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol (he does)
Mumpower's boss, Jon Lunberg, has since been elected to the House as a Bristol Republican.
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