Rose Mary Drake- The Perfect Choice for HD 39

Beekeeper-Lawyer-Songwriter and more: a wonderfully surprising, TN raised, and well-rounded candidate

Friends, I usually don’t start my Post with the candidate singing a song but I was so taken by Rose Mary Drake’s original and moving piece on the impact of gun violence that I thought you would be as well.

It was fun to become reacquainted with Rose Mary whom I first met in the early 1990’s when I was working with women entrepreneurs statewide and she was operating a Bed and Breakfast on her family’s homestead in Goodlettsville. And now she’s running to represent House District 39 (Franklin and Marion Counties).

Among the many hats Rose Mary has worn over the years, she was a Campaign Worker on Jimmy Carter’s second Presidential campaign, an Advance Woman for Geraldine Ferarro -the first female Vice Presidential nominee, Lawyer, Legislative Intern, Criminal Appeals attorney for the Tennessee Attorney General’s office, night court judge, bed and breakfast operator, property manager, college professor, beekeeper, songwriter, and would-be woodworker.

Obviously, Rose Mary is a woman of many talents who is always willing to learn new things while also applying the expertise she’s gained from skills honed over her lifetime. She would be an amazing asset to the Tennessee legislative body where flexibility of mind, a strong heart, solid common sense, and an understanding of down-home Tennessee values are a strong asset.

If you wonder where House District 39 is located… it covers Franklin County (where the University of the South in Sewanee is located) and Marion County to its East, sharing a border with Hamilton County (where Chattanooga is located).

Among Rose Mary’s Endorsements are: •TN Advocates for Planned Parenthood • TN Families for Vaccines

Rose Mary was also awarded the Moms Demand Action Candidate Distinction.

To learn more about Rose Mary, offer campaign support, or arrange a meeting (Sewanee is a treat!) contact her at: • rmd4tn@gmail.com •facebook.com/rmd4tn •Instagram: rmd4tn

Tell your friends, family, co-workers, and anyone who knows anybody who lives in the beautiful communities of Franklin and Marion Counties that they will never regret voting for Rose Mary!!! She is the real deal.

Hoping for long national coat-tails and lots of voter turn-out, Michele

PS- Scroll to the end for another song by Rose Mary- Birdbrains- about the former President- it will surely make you chuckle!

Question 1: When asked to share a bit about her background, Rose Mary first identified herself as a native Tennessean who has visited every county in the state. After living off and on in Franklin County over the years, she moved there permanently 5 years ago after purchasing property close to the University of the South in Sewanee, near the Franklin/Marion County line, right in the middle of District 39.

Before retiring from her law practice, Rose Mary was an attorney for over 30 years handling a variety of criminal and civil cases. She was both a prosecutor and defender at the State Appellate level and a night court judge. She’s “seen a little bit of all of it.”

Rose Mary describes her property as “20 beautiful acres” where she continues to manage her 20-year-old bee-keeping business. Oak and maple trees flourish on her forested land, offering plenty of opportunity for her new adventure, learning the art and craft of timber framing.

Photos and “The Buzz on Beekeeping” Article by Beth Riner, The Grundy County Herald (8/22/24)

Rose Mary was “more content than at any time” in her life before deciding to enter the campaign for House District 39, but she found herself “disturbed by the state of politics in Tennessee and decided it was time” for her to “become involved and run for office.”

While attending college at the Univerity of the South, Rose Mary was the first person from the school ever to apply for a legislative internship. When she arrived at the Legislature she was assigned to the Senate Finance Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Democratic Senator Douglas Henry - during the time of a Democratic Majority in the Senate - and Vice Chair Leonard Dunavant, a Republican, financial expert and supporter of a state income tax. The, who shared an office, held many differences of opinion, but “worked together respectfully and collaboratively to get a good budget for the State.” Reflecting on this example of bipartisanship, Rose Mary offered “I think you get a better governing product, a better response to citizens, and better legislation if there are a variety of voices heard. And we don’t have that today.”

Question 2: Elaborating on her trajectory, Rose Mary said her father was in Knoxville studying using the GI Bill when she was born. “I was always told he had to quit school and go back to Old Hickory where both of my parents grew up because the hospital bill was so high they needed to pay it off. A couple of years ago we found that hospital bill- and it was a little over $100.”

Her family lived in Old Hickory for the first 12 years of her life “among all kinds of family. I was lucky enough to know all of my grandparents and one set of great-grandparents well into adulthood.”

A product of public education, after elementary school in Old Hickory the family moved to Huntsville, Alabama where Rose Mary attended a public junior high and high school.

Upon acceptance at the University of the South in Sewanee, Rose Mary moved back to Tennessee to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in American Studies. After college, Rose Mary worked at Nantahala Outdoor Center and directed a Girl Scout camp before securing a position on Jimmy Carter’s 1980 re-election campaign, managing the Get-out-the-Vote effort and phone bank in Nashville (Walter Mondale was his Vice President- they lost to Reagan-Bush ). “Everybody was really flattered to get a phone call back then from a political campaign.”

After Carter lost that election, Rose Mary attended Vanderbilt University Law School and upon graduation was hired to “go on the campaign trail” with Geraldine Ferraro, the first female Vice Presidential nominee on a major party ticket (Walter Mondale was the Democratic Presidential Candidate in 1984- they also lost to Reagan-Bush). “I was right in the middle of history, traveling all over the country, setting up events for her.”

Rose Mary opened a private legal practice serving clients in Nashville and Washington, DC for 30+ years. During this time Rose Mary wanted to operate a Bed-and-Breakfast at her family’s 1850 Antebellum farmhouse in Middle Tennessee- long before Airbnb- but to do so legally she needed to change the law, so she successfully lobbied the Tennessee General Assembly and Metro Council to allow a bed-and-breakfast operation in an agricultural area.

Rose Mary served part-time in the Tennessee Attorney General’s office working on criminal cases at the Appellate level. In the late 1990s, Rose Mary left her practice briefly to manage the Univerity of the South’s 150 properties. Once again in 2018 when her mother became ill, she paused her legal practice to care for her. Shortly after returning to Nashville, Rose Mary was robbed in her front yard. The combination of grief over her mother’s death and the trauma of gun violence resulted in her decision to once again return to Sewanee, purchase land, and set down roots.

Question 3: Rose Mary shared that she was “greatly disturbed by the almost total ban on reproductive health care services in the state of Tennessee,” even though polling indicates that a majority of Tennesseans support choice. “Women in rural counties already know how much difficulty is involved in finding health care… They know what it’s like to have to travel when you need help. Now there’s the burden of traveling many many hours and many, many states away to receive access to services… We’re putting quite a lot of people at risk” by not giving them access to a safe and legal abortion.

Rose Mary continued, “It’s ridiculous to me that rather than a woman being able to make her own decisions about her own body, guided by people who are important to her and with medical advice, instead we have an 85% male legislature imposing their own opinions about what a woman should do with her body and I don’t think that’s right.”

Referencing the horror stories she’s heard from across the country, Rose Mary said that families are being affected. She’s worried about “People who want a family and have problems with carrying their pregnancy to term.” She’s also concerned about “those who become pregnant as a result of rape or incest or some other situation that makes it difficult for them to carry a pregnancy.”

Rose Mary then related a story of a couple who were excited when their daughter and her husband decided to move to Tennessee after graduation to begin their own family. However, the hopes of these potential grandparents were dashed because their daughter relocated to another state after the abortion ban became law here because “of the dangers that might be involved if she faces a difficult pregnancy…”

“These laws that deny women reproductive health care choices affect the whole family system.”

Question 4: About firearm safety in Tennessee, Rose Mary said, “I was so disturbed by the Legisaltures’s failure to act in response to the Covenant School shooting… Even before that, they’d loosened up all the regulations regarding carrying, owning, and using firearms. A culture where people are slinging guns is not appealing to me at all…”

Rose Mary grew up with guns in the home and was taught how to shoot and manage them safely, but “The AR15 type assault rifles.. what does anybody need those for? They are weapons of war… How many killings does it take before some appropriate action is taken?… We need common-sense gun safety legislation…With guns being the number one cause of death of children, how can we sit by and not address that?

Question 5: In response to a question about the state of education in Tennessee and previous efforts to pass School Vouchers, Rose Mary said, “I’m lucky enough to have a number of friends who are public school teachers” and are “incredibly dedicated to the work that they do. I think we’re leaving them hanging.”

Rose Mary related that Tennessee is 45th in funding for schools. “I don’t have any problem with people deciding that they want to send their children to private schools for whatever reason but that should be on their own dime, not the taxpayer’s dime.”

She continued, “The data from states where they have tried voucher programs indicate that they become a huge drain on the state’s budgets and people who benefit primarily are those who are already sending their children to private schools… The vouchers are a very bad idea and I hope they will be killed again in the next legislative session.”

Question 6: In her Facebook post Rose Mary talks about Medicaid expansion so when asked about why this is important to her she said, “We have a whole population of people who are falling through the gaps. There are people of a certain income level who qualify for subsidies under Obamacare… and then we have others with coverage under TNCARE, that’s our Medicaid program, for people who are really destitute or have serious medical problems” but “There’s a whole population of people who make too much money (for these programs) …but not enough (for private insurance) so they don’t get preventative health care…So when they have a health problem it’s usually much further down the road before they get help because they can’t afford to get things addressed until it’s an emergency.” Expanding on the problem, Rose Mary said, “The other effect is that hospitals and health care providers have difficulty getting paid when that person does seek medical care because they’re not covered by Medicaid or TNCARE (or private insurance).

Medicaid Expansion would address this gap but instead, “Right now, (our money is) going to all the other states that have Medicaid expansion and we don’t get our money back that our taxpayers paid in.”

Hospital closures have added to the burden faced by rural residents. “We have had a lot of rural hospitals closing as a result of not having (Medicaid Expansion) income coming in.” As of May 2024, only 10 states have not expanded Medicaid- Tennessee is one of them.

Question 7: Rose Mary has been involved in a local environmental struggle with Stop Jumpoff Quarry, a group affiliated with SOCM (Save Our Cumberland Mountains.

“I live as the crow flies, maybe 2-3 miles, from the location of where a sand quarry is proposed. This is a rural, residential, farm community- just a gorgeous area. Many of the residents around this proposed quarry rely on well water for their drinking water.” Some having lived for generations… in this “quiet, bucolic environment.”

Where the quarry is proposed “…used to be a family farm” that “was put up for sale unknown to the children of the family that grew up on this farm. A buyer made an offer and it turned out to be a gravel, sand, asphalt road supply company…placing that quarryinn that particular location that has several small lakes and creeks … that have already been designated as highly significant for their water quality… and feed into other bodies of water that also have high quality… became a great concern.

The estimate is that there will be 50-70,000 pound trucks going up and down the road, which affects all of the neighborhoods that feed off of JumpOff Road because it’s the only feeder road to all of those neighborhoods. So people going to work and taking their kids to school, people out walking or cycling…will be faced with this kind of traffic.. which the roads are not meant to handle. The community is very concerned and opposes the quarry.”

Marion County has no zoning and when it had the opportunity, the Marion County Commission decided not to adopt the “County Powers Act,” which would have given them authority to prohibit a quarry in that location.

“I think Marion County is going to have to look at what their entire situation is, with regard to zoning. If you have no zoning, yes, you have lots of freedom, but…There’s a lot of tourism related to backpacking and climbing and camping so you have to make a choice. Are you gonna have a peaceful place for people to live, a beautiful place for people to visit or are you gonna let the land be raped by this kind of heavy industry in what was previously beautiful residential, agricultural areas.”

Question 8: When asked about the concerns of local people, Rose Mary said, “I think people are concerned about… reproductive health care, and all kinds of health care… and affordability of health insurance.”

Rose Mary added, “They’re concerned about food. These are not wealthy counties that I would be representing. There’s a good bit of poverty and food insecurity. Remove the sales tax on food.”

Regarding guns, “I have heard some who are concerned about gun safety… The two counties in my district are not going to have teachers carrying guns. They don’t think it’s a good idea.”

Question 9: Rose Mary is running against Republican Incumbent Iris Rudder, elected in 2018. Addressing Rudder’s community involvement, Rose Mary said, “The only time I’ve met Iris Rudder was at a “Stop Jumpoff Quarry” meeting when the neighbors were first getting organized. They asked her to speak and she said she doesn’t really involve herself in local issues… I thought it was very interesting … because she voted for the proposal to reduce Nashville’s city council by half and to remove the airport authority from Nashville and all the other legislation that affects Nashville and Memphis and other places that are very local in nature.”

Rose Mary indicated that Rudder, “primarily tows the line with the Republican party. That’s how she’s been elected- she has an R by her name. I don’t think it’s an endorsement of her personally… It’s people really not knowing…”

Rose Mary related that the turn-out rate for the last Primary was just 8-9% of eligible voters, “…which is just horrible. So when 90% of your registered voters don’t vote, they’ve given up on the process. That leaves a lot of room for growth for anybody else who wants to come in …to listen to people about their local concerns and their concerns about the state.”

When asked about campaign contributions, Rose Mary said that Rudder, “had one donation from a human being and the rest was PAC money” including Road Contractors, medical and real estate organizations, pay-day lenders, firearms manufacturers, the NRA, and anti-abortion groups.

In contrast, 100% of Rose Mary’s contributions have been from individuals. “I’ve gotten a lot of support from the Sewanee community, near and far. A lot of alumni are very concerned about what happens to the home county of their alma mater and they remember me from college, so I’ve gotten a lot of support.”

Rose Mary went on to say that she is “…actively involved in the church community in Mt. Eagle” and has “a lot of support from folks that I’ve met as a result of being involved in that community and its outreach.”

Rose Mary said she is “very grateful for the support I’ve received. I think I’ve already received maybe 3 times what any other previous candidate for this seat for the Democratic party has received. Of course, that’s nothing when compared to the vast sums of PAC money that Iris Rudder has received. I noticed that historically she receives a nice chunk of money each time after she’s elected, between election day and when the legislative session begins. They’re prohibited from donating once the session begins so they have to get those donations in right away.”

Rose Mary concluded, “It doesn't sit right with me. It seems like these organizations are trying to buy access.”

Asked about Rudder’s position on Vouchers, Rose Mary said, “My understanding is that she supports vouchers…I think the money that we have should go to public schools…

“Community life evolves around school life so if you offer vouchers that’s going to encourage those who are the most able to pay … to move to private schools if they’re not already there and that means their interest, their time and their resources are going toward private schools and not public schools. It creates a split in the community between the haves and the have-nots and I don’t think that’s good for a community.”

QUOTES

(NOTE: The following quotes are from Southern Cultures-Center for the Study of the American South: The Rhetoric and the Reality of the New Southern Strategy. This was a conversation between Courtland Cox (1960s SNCC leader), Nsé Ufot (New Georgia Project), and Charles V. Taylor (NAACP-Mississippi leader), then edited by Emilye Crosby (SNCC Legacy Project).)

Quote 1: “How can millions of voters beat billions of dollars?”

Rose Mary shared, “I think it may be more possible in rural areas than in urban areas because we don’t have television stations here, our broadcasts are from Nashville and Chattanooga, and for the most part they’re not going to be covering local legislative races…

You can organize by knocking on doors and word-of-mouth. Those things take effort and not necessarily money. I am hopeful that being willing to work, and knock on doors, and talk to people can make a difference in my district.

Quote 2: “The Co-Governance Model is how we win in the New Southern Strategy”

Rose Mary said, “I really like that idea…people don’t necessarily follow day-to-day what’s going on in Nashville unless there’s a big bru-ha-ha like The Tennesee Three or the lack of response to the Covenant School shooting by the Legislature.

“We do have a new opportunity to be in closer communication with folks back home because of the Internet. A lot of my district has rural broadband and you can use all sorts of methods to communicate with your constituents via the internet by doing a podcast on particular issues, periodic updates, and having places where they can respond.”

CLOSING REMARKS

“I want to emphasize how important it is to move away from a Supermajority Legislature. It is not healthy no matter which party is in power. You don’t have a free exchange of ideas if one party has so much power they can stifle the voices of anybody else.

I’m old enough to remember when my District was a Democratic district, or a mix of Democrats and Republicans. We have the opportunity to move in that direction (again).

There are a lot of people who say ‘I don’t vote the party I vote the candidate.’ This is your time to take a close look at my record, experience, and background, and take a look at the record Iris Rudder has established in the legislature, and make a decision.”

SUPPORT

Rose Mary said she “…would love to have your support.” She can be reached at:

Website: www.rmd4tn.com AND www.rmd4tn.com

Facebook: rosemarydrake4tennessee

Instagram: @RMD4TN

To make a DONATION, go to:

https://secure.actblue.com/directory?query=rose%20mary%20drake

The final gift: Rose Mary’s original composition, Birdbrains.